"Ouch." Kai, Killian's brother, who I didn't even know he had but looked familiar when I saw him, hissed in pain.
âIt can't hurt that much." I put the cloth with disinfectant on the table. "You're done. You're welcome." I straightened up and started cleaning the bloody rags from the table.
"Where's Killian?" He stood up, which obviously hurt him. No wonder. It is quite possible that he has a broken rib. Maybe more than one.
"Where could he be? Locked in the study."
"And you don't care?"
I exhaled heavily and turned to him. "What do you expect me to do? There's nothing I can do."
"It's about Lucy. If there's nothing you can do, you'll find something. You're sitting here instead."
"Again, you're welcome. If you've already forgotten, I treated your wounds."
"That won't mean anything if something happens to Lucy. Truth? Whatever happens to her will be on you." He turned and started walking away. I did nothing to stop him. It's not worth it.
"Everything all right?" A man appeared in the doorway.
"Theo, right?" He nodded. "Yes, peachy." I faked a smile.
"Luna and Killian are trying to find Lucy. They also called Nyx, but even that won't be enough. You know very well they need you."
"Me?" I snorted. "You do realize that this is happening because of me, right? Everyone knows, but only Kai decided to say it out loud. So if you think they need me, you should start going to therapy. I can even arrange someone for you. " I turned my back to him.
"Doesn't it bother you in the slightest? That something might happen to her?"
I clenched my jaw and grabbed the edge of the table. "What do you want me to do? Run off to find her and kill everything in my path?"
"For example."
I snorted. "If only it were as easy as you all make it out to be." I pushed myself away from the table and walked over to him. "My advice if Jocelyne has her? You'll never find them in time."
I slipped past him and walked away.
This is my fault, but there is nothing I can do.
"We need to think before we do anything. They could hurt her at any time." Luna spoke.
"We need to find out where they are first. Then we can start talking about a plan." Charles spoke from the other side of the office.
"And how do you plan to get to their locations? They don't want money, so they won't call."
"They will want Eris. We all know that." They argued.
"So you want to trade them? Are you crazy? We won't do that." She threw up her hands.
"Of course not. I wouldn't do that."
"So what is your plan?" I lifted my head from my hands and looked across the table at them. "Because you've been talking about nothing for the last ten minutes. Nothing you say is going to help her. We're wasting time here while she's locked up somewhere and probably scared to death."
"Killian, I know how you feel..." He didn't have time to finish.
"Don't you dare tell me you know how I feel." I stood up and slapped the surface of the table with my palms. "You have no idea how I feel right now!"
"Look..."
"If your next words aren't going to be a plan, don't say anything. You're wasting my time." I pulled away. âI'll go find my daughter myself." I started walking towards the exit when he grabbed my arm and stopped me. "Let me go." I said between my teeth.
"You're upset and if you go out we'll have to deal with not only her disappearance but yours as well. Get your head together, boy."
"Fine, Lyssa will come with me then." I tried to break free from his grip, but in vain.
"I can't believe you can even think about that? Do you even know what she's going through right now?" He looked between me and Luna. "Her life is coming back to her in bits and pieces. Thirty years of life. We can't even imagine how hard it must be for her. You take her into the field and it's only going to hurt her. She's not ready."
"You have no right to speak for her." I broke free from his grip. "You want to be a coward and sit here? I don't care. But I won't let anything happen to my daughter. So try to stop me again and I'll break your arm." I walked past him and left the office.
"Whoa." Lyssa bumped into me. "Where are you headed?"
"To get Lucy, you coming?"
"What?" She laughed. "Tell me that's a joke."
"Where could they have taken her? You must know."
"Killian if you think I'm going to tell you where they are, you couldn't be more wrong. First of all, you'd be dead before you even saw her. Second, I don't know where they could have taken her."
âYou're as helpful as the two inside." I nodded my head to the office.
"You won't help her in this state, but you might just hurt her. Jocelyne won't kill her, she has no reason to, so don't give her one."
"She's my daughter and she's in danger, you want me to sit here and do nothing? You've all lost your minds!" I raised my voice.
"I'm sure they're just trying to help. Your head is somewhere else and you should..."
"You know what?" I interrupted her. "You don't want to help me? Fine. But don't tell me what I should and shouldn't do."
"I'm just trying to help you." She frowned.
"Really? Then come with me and help me get Lucy back."
"Killianâ¦" She breathed heavily.
"No." I snorted. âI don't care. Truth? I don't care about anything but Lucy being okay. And a year ago you would've done the same thing. You would burn the whole fucking world down just to find her. But maybe I was wrong." I don't know if that's the anger talking or just me. "Maybe everyone around me was right. You're not Lyssa."
I moved closer to her and grabbed both of her hands, more specifically the bracelets and placed my fingerprint on them.
They clicked open and fell at our feet.
"You can leave. And when you do? Don't ever come back. Because I don't want to see you anymore, Eris."
I've had enough of everyone. Her too.
Lucy is in danger and no one has any plans to help her.
I don't need them. I didn't need them before, I don't need them now.
I can save my own daughter by myself.
He called me by my name, so why does it hurt?
Why does everything he said hurt? Why does everything hurt?
Go to Hell.
Do not touch me.
Coffee? Are you serious?
Angry? I'm pissed off. And you can't imagine how much. We had a deal.
I don't know who's more stupid. You, who didn't tell anyone you were dying. Or me, the idiot, who thought, you trusted me enough to confide in me about something like that. I feel like it's me.
I would give anything to make it quiet. Memories that are not pretty come to the surface. My head can't take it anymore.
"So if I understand correctly." I raised my head when I heard a voice from the door of the room. Nyx. "Your boss kidnaps a little kid and you sit here and do nothing. And I thought I had bad parents." She crossed her arms over her chest.
"What do you want?" I asked tiredly.
âI never thought I'd say this, but I want Lyssa back."
"You're out of luck. I'm not her. Even Killian doesn't believe anymore."
"Stop me if I'm wrong, but you don't have bracelets so you can leave, why are you still here?" She frowned.
"I don't know." I shrugged my shoulders. "I have nowhere to go."
"You could go look for Lucy. Just an idea."
"I have memories that may not be real, but I still know that Jocelyne is dangerous. And if she took that little girl, she's going to kill her sooner or later."
"And you don't mind?" She frowned.
"What do you all expect from me?" I stood up from the bed. "That I'll find her and save her? I've killed more people than you can count, I'm no hero!"
"Trust me, I know." She snorted. âBut I never thought you were a coward."
"Get out."
"With pleasure, but just so you know, your memories will come back one day, and when that time comes, it will be too late. You'll never forgive yourself."
âI said to out."
"Killian's study, bottom drawer. If you want to know who you are." She pushed herself away from the door frame and closed it behind her.
It took me a few minutes to calm my breathing and organize my thoughts.
After that I didn't even think about it anymore and headed to Killian's office.
I stopped in front of the door with my hand on the handle and hesitated.
I shifted my gaze to the front door.
I can leave and never come back. Maybe start a new life. Leave everything behind. Let the past be the past and focus on the future.
And yet I opened the door and entered.
I sat down at the table and opened the bottom drawer. There was a large envelope and a mobile phone.
I took both of them to the table and looked at them carefully.
I can still leave.
I don't have to be here.
Exhaling heavily, I reached for the large envelope and opened it. There were two papers.
A drawing that made me smile. They were three little figures and a dog. Lucy had to run out of black crayons, since Odin is blue.
I put it on the table and looked at the other paper. Adoption papers.
My gaze fell on the last line where the signature was located.
It was mine.
I reached for the mobile phone and played the recording that was the only one there.
"Hi Killy. It's me Lyssa. Which you probably know."
I was listening to a recording in which my voice was.
"I love you, and I don't even know when it happened. It just happened."
Flashes of memories flashed through my head.
âKillian you are my home."
Every word I heard hurt me. As if someone stuck a knife in my heart and was slowly twisting it.
"I fucking love you Killian James Acker."
And then it stopped.
I looked at the things on the table. They are as real as the memories that come back.
I lived a different life for the eleven months while they were here. And they thought I died.
How could this happen?
I stood up from the chair, but at that moment my head was spinning. The whole room spun and I wasn't fast enough to catch the table.
I fell to the ground unconscious.
I don't know how long I was out. But I felt when someone started shaking me. Luna.
âShit, we can't leave you alone for even a few minutes."
"Luna." I got over myself and tried to open my eyes.
"Thank God you're alive." She breathed heavily. "Are you okay?"
When I opened my eyes, I saw her scared look.
"I remember." Tears welled up in my eyes.
"What?"
"I remember everything."
*****
You all sure love me for endings like this, don't you. ;)
Hope you enjoyed. <3