As we near the exit I notice Xavier and the rest of the family near it along with our guests. I immediately take cover behind Liam, embarrassed at the scene I had caused back at our table. To my utter relief and astonishment, Liam doesn't approach the rest when he senses my discomfort.
Still a few feet away from the rest, yet in perfectly hearing range, I try to make sense of the on-going conversation between our dad, Xavier, and our guests. While doing so I peek out from behind Liam's back, but soon regret it when I lock eyes with a certain green-eyed guy.
Shocked when I see a flash of worry in his eyes as they gaze into my own, I shortly dismiss the thought assuming that I must have misjudged it because when I try to find it again, all I get is an impassive look.
'Why would a stranger be worried about me anyway?'
"We can pick up where we left off today tomorrow over lunch," Xavier says monotonously yet I can still hear the authority in his tone.
"Of course," the man in the navy-blue suit replies with a curt nod.
They proceed with shaking each other's hands while we stay rooted in our spot until the guests leave. As they do so I catch the soft smile the green-eyed boy sends my way. I try to return the gesture but fail miserably as my mind is still clouded with worry and the images of those daunting texts.
Following soon after we too get off and I stayed glued to Liam's side. Making myself comfortable in the backseat with Jason driving and Liam in shotgun, we let the soft humming from the radio fill the silence.
Glancing down at my hand I notice the white cloth slowly turning red, which makes me wonder, 'how long was I holding that knife?' But one thing I knew for sure is that I would not be able to play in the upcoming game.
"Here wrap this around it and maintain some pressure, it should reduce the bleeding." I look up at Liam and find him holding out a ball of gauze towards me.
I nod and do as I'm instructed without another word. "Do you think I'll need stitches?" I mumble under my breath, my eyes cast down looking at the gauze in my hand.
"I will decide that once we get back and I get a better look at it," Liam answers, and I nod my head in understanding, still not looking up at him.
"What happened back there?" I hear Jason ask, speaking for the first time during the entire ride.
"Nothing," I grumble almost inaudibly.
"You're lying," he states simply.
"I'm not!" I exclaim, my tone noticeably loud.
"Change in your breathing pattern, the look of guilt in your eyes, the sudden change in your posture, and a reply that was too quick, all are signs of lying," Jason explains calmly.
"And not to mention, the way you cut your hand," Liam adds which makes me go dead still.
"How can you know if my breathing or posture has changed? You're driving," I point out in a rush, trying to slow down not to look suspicious.
"That's for me to know and for you to never find out. Now coming back to the topic, what happened back there, and don't even think of lying again," Jason says with a firm edge to his tone which makes me gulp.
Feeling trapped in the situation, I just lean back and rest my head on the headrest of the seat. Closing my eyes, I block the tears from spilling, as I think of a way out of this situation.
"Amor try and understand, we are just worried about you, and if you don't tell us how can we help you?" Jason coaxes, his eyes still glued to the road as I fiddle with my figures careful of my injured hand.
"And what if I don't want your help?" I grumbled stubbornly, just wanting out of this conversation.
"Well rest assured that we will find out what happened, we just wanted to give you a chance to tell us first, which clearly you don't seem to want." Liam's words cause panic and worry to bubble inside me.
"Can't I just not want to tell all of you everything about my life, I need some privacy too!" I exclaim trying to get them to back off at all cost.
"Not when it results in you hurting yourself!" Liam counters, his voice rising a few octaves which takes me by surprise.
"Enough!" Jason's voice interrupts before I can even formulate my next question.
"We will discuss this once we get back, got it?" He directs his question to Liam more than me, which shuts both of us up.
The rest of the ride goes by in pin-drop silence, enough to drive me crazy and comfort me at the same time. I utilize this time to think of a way to get rid of Parker. And the only restore I can come up with is finding something against Parker and trading.
But the hard part is where am I going to find that? That's when the exchange between him and Lindsey comes to my mind. 'Maybe she can help me!' And yet again I face another question, how am I going to get the information out of her without telling her everything?
The car coming to a halt is what pulls me out of my thoughts, momentarily my door is opened and Jason offers me his hand to get out. Heading towards the door, I take notice of the other parked cars indicating that the rest have already made it home.
I'm led to my room and then to my bathroom by Liam, where he motions for me to sit down on the shut toilet while he fetched the first aid kit. He wordlessly gets to work on my hand, while I just sit there while my mind tries to formulate a plan to get the information out of Lindsey.
"You won't be needing stitches. But I do believe your platelet count is low, that's should explain the excessive bleeding for such a shallow wound," he mumbles to himself as he dresses the wound.
"We will have to get that tested," I freeze at this, "but that can wait, don't worry," he reassures which does little to comfort me.
"Here, all done," he announces getting up from his kneeling position, putting the kit back into its place he left without another word.
After Liam left the room I quickly get changed, shower, and jump in bed. My eyes land on my sketchbook lying next to my head, picking it up gently I just run my eyes over it. Sighing I put the book away unhappy that I had to leave it unfinished, collecting the rest of my supplies I place them back in their respective place and get comfortable in bed.
Unlike I expected no one else came in to either check up on me or to ask me about earlier. This for some reason doesn't sit right with me, the urge to blurt out the truth to them starts to dominate my mind.
Before I let this urge get to me, I switch off the lights and wait for sleep to come. Keeping my thoughts at bay is not an easy job, especially when I have so much on my mind. This made falling asleep a serious task, the more I tried not to think about it, the more my mind focused on it.
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"Can't you see little girl nobody wants you, if they did you wouldn't be here." The owner of the voice laughed maniacally as shivers of fear run down my spine.
My hands refused to move just like the rest of my body, I can't even open my eyes yet it feels like I know this place. 'Where am I?' 'How did I get here?' The sound of the laughter doubled and I can feel the presence of another.
"You are a burden on them just like you were to me. I wished I had never left them, especially not for you! It won't be long before they leave too!" I recognize mum's voice as soon as it hit my ears. Tears gathered in my eyes at her words and I slowly start to get my voice back.
"No! They won't leave, we are a family, they won't leave!" I scream as loud as I can, pushing myself further into the small dark corner I now find myself in with my knees to my chest and tears streaming down my face.
"Of course, they will, no one wants the responsibility of a weak cry baby," the voice taunts.
"And let's not forget the part where she goes behind their backs and tries to use that Parker kid to find out their secrets for her," mum adds.
"I didn't mean to, I just... I was angry...I-I didn't know what I was doing..." I sobbed in regret and guilt.
"Just wait until they find out," she laughs scarily as I push myself further into the wall.
"No one wants an ungrateful brat like you, I know I didn't," she says grabbing my jaw in a tight grip and lifting my head.
My eyes remain closed throughout this, but I open them when I lose the feeling of mum's hand on my jaw. My mind goes numb when I realize that the entire room is spinning and slowly disappearing.
________________________________
My eyes snap open at once and the person violently shaking my body ceases their action. I spot a very concerned look Jason sitting on the bed beside me, his lips moving, but I can hear a word of what he's saying.
'Have I become deaf?'
Thankfully my assumption doesn't turn up to be true when I gradually regain my senses. "-someone attacked you," he sighs as he ends his rant which makes little to no sense to me.
"Did you hear a word I said?" He asks judging by the way I'm looking at him.
I shake my head negatively as an answer to his question. Sighing he pulls me into a tight protective hug which I return momentarily. 'It was all a bad dream!' I conclude, still disturbed at the fact that my mum was the monster in it.
"You okay amor?" Jason inquires, slowly pulling away from the hug.
"I-I," I clear my throat in an attempt to get rid of the dry itchy feeling in it. Noticing this, Jason holds a glass of water to my lips, which I drink gratefully.
"I'm fine, bad dream. Sorry for waking you," I mumbled in his shirt as I bury my head in it seeking comfort.
"I know we have tried this before and you didn't quite like it, but I really think you should talk to Miss Heart. Maybe she might be able to help you with these nightmares, but only if you're up for it," he suggests with a hopeful look in his eyes.
"I don't know, talking to strangers about my past makes me very uncomfortable," I express and he nods in understanding.
"Then we won't force you too. But can we at least try and find a way to stop these nightmares, I can't bear to see my baby sister like this," he mumbles into my hair as he kisses the top of my head while we sit in a protective embrace.
"Can she do that without me having to tell her about my past?" I ask looking up at him with hopeful eyes.
'If there is a way for me to stop these stupid nightmares, without talking about that incident, I'm more than willing to try almost anything!'
"Well the only way to find out..." he prompts.
"Is to find out," I finish secretly rolling my eyes at the stupid line we picked up from some movie we watched together.
"So how about some ice-cream to cheer you up?" He asks attempting to pull away from the hug which I refuse.
"Don't really want to go out again today, just want to sleep peacefully," I murmur sleepily, my head rested against his chest.
"That's a first, you never turn down ice-cream," he whispers and I shrug in response.
Truth is that I'm afraid to even leave my room right now, this wasn't like any nightmare I've had before. This one had mum in it and unlike my other nightmares, I didn't know the owner of the voice, neither did any of the other nightmares feel so real.
"Goodnight then," he says kissing the top of my head yet again. Just as he proceeds to leave, my arms tighten around him.
"Don't leave, I-I...stay please?" I ask praying with every fiber in my being that he agrees.
"Sure anjo, what's wrong?" He asks worry evident in his tone.
Jason has never asked me about my nightmares before, he just comforts me without asking the reason, which is also the reason I aglow him to. I tend to push people away when they want to know more about me than I want to tell them.
"You come to me if you ever and I mean ever need or want someone to talk to, alright?" He says sternly and mumbles an "okay," barely over a whisper.
Switching off the lights he gets under the covers with me and I grab a hold of his forearm as a reassurance to myself that I'm not alone and soon sleep takes over.
Author's Note:
So I got this chapter done earlier than planned so here's another update!
So coming back to the copying part (sorry if I'm a bit annoying, but something gets stuck in my brain it's hard for me to let go of)
So, someone says that the award I won was because my book is a copy and that I should delete it immediately. But what I fail to understand is that how can my book be a copy when the plot the personality of my character and my genre are completely different from the book I'm accused of copying!
And to prove this point, I sat down and read as many mafia brother books as I could even though I have exams tomorrow, and true to my previous point, none of them have a character like Astoria.
And yes many books have copied her book, but mine is all MINE!
The idea of mafia brothers may not be mine originally, but other than that the plot is all MINE!
And as for Astoria's age, it's not randomly chosen or copied, I did it because I have something in mind.
And now that I have that off my chest, I would first like to thank all my readers for their unconditional support and love, if not for you guys, I don't think I would have come so far.
So thank you!!!!❤
And now for the question of the day...
What do you guys think Astoria's initial plan with Parker was?
And what is he blackmailing her with?
Stay Safe & Happy
~Kia