twenty-three

                                    

                                          
LILITH


When I opened my eyes this morning, the other side of my bed was unmade which meant Lucian spent his night here. The curtains were closed but I was able to hear the rain hitting the glass of the windows.
I got up, showered, dressed up and went downstairs. The house was quiet.
What I didn't expect today was the words Lucian told me. 
As much as I was glad that he was not keeping things from me, I wished I never heard the sentence that he voiced. 
"Your parents had some type of business with Luke at the time of your abduction. He was involved with the human trafficking organisation." 
Human trafficking. 
My stomach turned upside down and I had to throw up everything out. My heart trembled and my body shuddered as the words played in my head over and over again.
Tears were rolling down my face yet I felt numb. 
"Please eat something." Lucian's voice reached my ear and I turned my head to him. His eyes filled with worry roamed over my face. There were dark circles around his eyes and I felt my chest ache with pain. 
We were seated by the dinning table, having a breakfast. The food on my plate untouched. I couldn't eat. 
"I can't." I murmured. 
"At least few bites. Please baby, you haven't eaten since last night." He gently rubbed my back and pushed the strands of my hair back. 
I nodded my head and took one bite of the bruschetta and placed it down on the plate. 
Lucian leaned towards me and placed his lips on my temple. He also didn't eat and both of our plates stayed full. 
I only took a sip of the water before we stood up from our chairs. 
Filipa started to walk over to the table to clean while Lucian and I made our way to the living room. 
The space was slightly cold. The grey clouds decorating the sky, only lightly illuminating the room. The rain has eased down but it was still dark outside. 
I wrapped my arms around me and sat down on the sofa, tucking my legs beneath me. Lucian joined me and I immediately pressed myself to his side. 
This morning he told me all about his conversation with his friend Artemio. Every little detail that he was able to find out. 
"My man will bring the maid, Maria here and she will tell us everything. She has to know exactly what happened." He spoke slowly. 
She was the only one who was able to tell us. 
Lucian said that we can't immediately ask questions to my family and raise panic. They will know what he is up to and he can't risk that. If our assumptions are true, I'm sure they'll try to run away and disappear. 
Lucian's family was way more powerful than them and they would know what awaits them. 
"If it's truly as you said the..." I couldn't say the words but I tried my best to explain what I meant. 
"There must have been more kids like me. Taken away from their families and... and put into..." A sob broke through my lips and I further pressed my face into his bicep. He carefully circled his arms around me and scooped me closer to him, placing me into his lap.
"Shh, don't think about that." 
"How can I not? Who knows where they ended up. At least I was safe, taken care of." As much as the thought of being taken away by my "parents" disgusted me, at least I was safe. No one was able to do anything to me while I lived with them. 
"I know, baby but don't think about it now and stress yourself. We'll figure everything out. Once we get the answers from Maria, we'll know what to do." 
"What will happen to them if all of this is true?" I lifted my head and looked at him. He ran his thumbs under my eyes, wiping away the tears. 
"I won't let them live in peace, Lili. They can't do that and get away with it." I gulped the lump in my throat. 
"Do you think I'm overthinking? Maybe it's not true. Maybe they are my parents and I just assumed wrong..." I so wanted that to be true but in my heart I knew something was wrong.
He cupped my face and kissed my forehead. 
"Let's do something today. You shouldn't be thinking about this all the time." I knew I was only putting myself in a more stressful situation but it was hard for me to take my mind off of this. 
"You are not going to work today?" I asked, my eyebrows creasing up in curiosity. 
"No, I'm not leaving you alone." He closed the distance between us and placed his lips over mine. 
My eyes closed as I kissed him back. I fisted the t-shirt he had on and felt his arms tighten around me.
I let myself drift into his embrace and let him hold me close to him. I needed him the most now.
"Can we stay like this for a while, I don't wanna do anything." I asked him in between the soft kisses. 
"Whatever you want." He pressed another kiss on my lips and then on my forehead and eyes. I loved how gentle he was. 
I buried my face into his neck and curled my body like a ball on his lap. Rain started to pour down again and a lightning struck through the sky, illuminating the dark room. 
I sniffed and closed my eyes, trying to relax. 
My mind went to our conversation earlier and anxiety flooded my mind yet again. 













                            

                                
                            
                              
                                  
                              
                              
                                
                                  
                                  
                                
                              
                             
                            
                            
                          
                          
I'm sorry again for not posting regularly but I have had the worst writers block in the past few weeks😔 
Also I have participated in a competition on instagram for a short story, and I won the second place. Guess what? I didn't receive the certificate and everything they promised... I have emailed them and got no response and it feels like my work was for nothing🥲
Anyway, thank you everyone for reading this book even though it's not turning up as good as I wanted it to be. 


🖤🖤🖤