CHAPTER XLVII
Her smile wasn’t like the other forced and small ones she used to give him. No. It was a wide one; full of innocence and admiration with gratitude. That was probably the first time she’d ever smiled like that and dammit, her smile was radiant and mesmerizing. It was so innocent and it turned him on. How could a fucking smile, something he hadn’t kept on his face ever since he was a child for more than fifteen years of his life, possibly turn him on?
“Okay then,” He replied. “But how do we do that?”
Sophia tugged on his arm and tilted her head to the side. “Why don’t we go to your- uhh -study first?”
~~~
Sophia’s eyes snapped open and she sat down immediately as tears and sweat trickled down her face.
She had another nightmare; the same one of her three friends. But in that one they were accusing her. Accusing her of being too relaxed with Chase. They told her she couldn’t let him have her and the only way for that was to die. They asked her to join them. Again.
It was taking a toll on her, and she didn’t like it. All she wanted was to be happy. She didn’t want anything weighing on her.
Sophia knew she wouldn’t be calm unless she took milk. So, she got down from the bed and walked towards the room. Before she could open the door, she felt something soft on her feet and she looked down at the black and white fur of her cat.
Charlie. That was the name they had both settled on for her after searching relentlessly on Chase’s laptop in his study.
The cat meowed, and Sophia bent down to pick it. “You’re hungry?” The cat meowed again and leaned into her. A giggle escaped her lips. “I’m sure you’re hungry. Why don’t we go and get milk in the kitchen? That would be great, right?”
Without waiting for the cat to make any noise, Sophia opened the door and padded down the hallway till she got to the kitchen.
When she got to the kitchen, she opened the refrigerator but was astonished when she didn’t see any milk in there.
Sophia gently dropped Charlie and searched the cupboards but found nothing. Why did all the milk suddenly disappear?
“Looking for milk?”
Sophia froze at the sound of Chase’s voice and abruptly turned to face him by the door with a glass of wine in his hands. “I-,”
Chase walked into the kitchen while Charlie rushed to him and rubbed its fur on his feet. “You don’t need it to calm down,”
“Did you take the milk away?”
Chase leaned on the counter and stared at her dead in the eye. “You should be smart enough to figure out,”
“Why did you take it away?” She asked. “That’s what helps me calm down every night,”
He took a sip from his wine and pulled the glass away from his lips, then stared at her dead in the eye. “You have me. All those nights when I used to sleep with you, you never wake up for milk,”
“You’re the reason I find a cause to wake up for it,” She said. “You’re -”
Chase cut her in by dropping the wine glass on the counter. “I know,”
Sophia blinked. “You-you do?”
“I couldn’t let you depend on it any longer, so I took it away,” he replied so causally like he was asking if she had eaten.
“I’m not dependent on it, Chase,” She moved closer to him.
He raised a brow. “Then?”
“I-It helps me feel calm anytime I have -”
He cut her in again. “That’s why I said you have me,”
“How do you know I need you when you’re the one behind everything?” She asked. “What makes you think so?”
“That doesn’t matter, Gattina. All that matters is that I’m here for you,”
{“Kitten”}
“It matters, chase,” She said. “It matters because you’ve done a lot of things to scar me. You’ve mentally scarred me ever since I was a child. Even after finding me again, you stole away my peace by trapping me in -”Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.
Chase cut in sharply. “It’s not my fault you witnessed a fucking murder. I let you go that night when I should have fucking killed you,” His jaw was clenched already.
Tears blurred her vision. “And that was because I witnessed a murder again,”
He shook his head. “Not only that. You’re Agosti’s fucking daughter. No one related to him was meant to live, yet I spared you and your grandma’s lives. The least you can do is to be grateful,”
Maybe it was the right time after all; the right time to get the answers to her questions. Everyone she knew Chase murdered had reasons for dying. Maya, Alessia and Roman had died because of their loyalty for her. Claudio’s family was killed because he had witnessed a murder and he was lucky to live even though he narrowly survived with a lifetime scar. The man she had seen Chase’s cousins kill too died because he betrayed them.
She had to know why then her own family was taken away from her and replaced with horrible nightmares for ten
“Don’t remind me of that,” She stepped closer again. “Tell me why you killed my papa and mama. Tell me why everyone here hates my family. Tell my why you all hate my papa more. Why? Why does Lucas hate me so much? Why does he never miss a chance to taunt or insult me or my papa? Why does he call him names when he should pray for him instead?”
No one questioned him. Chase was angry, and he was on the verge of spilling the damned truth to her. “Do you want to know why? Do you want to know why your fucked up father and mother died in my hands? Importantly, do you want to know why Lucas hates you so much?”
The look in his eyes scared Sophia and it happened to give her a clue that the reasons for her own misery-everything she wanted to know about-weighed more than other victims’ own.
She gulped, then nodded, her milk and Charlie long forgotten. “Y-yes,”
“Fine then. Agosti was -”
A deep voice cut Chase in by the door. “A fucktard. Your father was a fucktard. That was why he was killed,”
Sophia and Chase turned towards the door to face Lucas as he walked into the kitchen, with only his sweats on while his abs were out on display.
Sophia stuttered. “Lu-Lucas?”
He stared at her, pinning her with his resentful gaze. “You want to know why I hate you and your damned parents? You should have asked me,”
Chase growled. “Lucas,”
Lucas ignored Chase, not even batting an eye lash or looking away from Sophia. “I’ll tell you the truth and how your father made us hate him by ruining all our lives,”