14. ALL HELLS BROKE LOOSE

I was in a spin as I stood outside the slightly ajar door, frozen and completely unable to move. Just the mere thought of my Eliza getting kidnapped and about to be sold into human trafficking business made me want to puke my guts out or better yet made me want to wrench the guts out of the person who kidnapped her for such a vile reason. I was growing more disgusted by the second as my brain processed everything.

Her disappearance all those months ago, her getting paranoid over everything and looking over her shoulder over and over were all the signs that I needed to figure out that something was definitely wrong. That something bad had happened. How could I be so blind to all of it? I always brushed it off thinking that she's always been anxious over the smallest of things.

Then why wasn't I informed? Why was I kept in the dark about this whole situation? Eliza was mine, if every single thing from the very start hadn't made this crystal clear I don't know what will. And if they did understand, the question remains; why did nobody tell me?

Didn't they think it was important enough for me to have knowledge about?

I was still caught up in the chaotic thoughts inside my mind when the door pulls open and I come face to face with Elijah. His eyes widen for a fraction and he looks back inside the room before craning his neck back to me with a solemn look on his face.

"Nick." he acknowledges.

"Why?" I manage to whisper out the first word that comes to my mind.

He opens his mouth to speak but Eliza comes in my line of sight and my vision blurs as tears gather in my eyes. She appears to be both shocked and terrified to find me standing right outside her bedroom door.

Her mouth opens and in a shaky voice she asks, "Did he- did he hear?"

I scoff at her question and shake my head, "Yes, I did hear."

Her eyes widen as she looks t Elijah who stands there with his lips set in a straight line and a serious look painted across his face.

"Nick, you weren't here-" Elijah begins to speak but I cut him off with a humorless chuckle.

"Really, Elijah? That's the best excuse you could come up with? I wasn't here? Well, newsflash, I could have come here if you had told me. IF ANY OF YOU HAD TOLD ME." I speak in an accusing tone.

His jaw clenches and my eyes avert to Eliza, all traces of tears now gone from my eyes, "Why?" I whisper ask her.

"What's going on here?" Savannah and Adam comes rushing up the stairs.

I turn around to face them when Elijah answers, "He found out."

Just those three words had me closing my eyes in sheer agony as I clench my jaw and swallow the lump in my throat to keep my emotions at bay. Why are they talking like I was not meant to know it?

Both Adam and Savannah now have a deathly serious look etched on their face as they look at me, "We were going to tell you." Savannah says.

"You're a little too late." I reply.

"Nick, let's sit down and talk." Adam takes a step forward but I shake my head.

The sound of his voice is stern but it has an underlying tone of plea. Guilt is swimming in both of their eyes and just then a thought hits me.

"Does my parents know? Does Ezra know?" I question.

They both avert their eyes and it gives me my answer. I scoff yet again and nod my head looking down at the floor, "Of course, of course, they do. Everybody knows except me." I say more to myself but I think they hear it since Savannah looks up with tears in her eyes.

"N-Nick." I hear her call my name.

The voice that lights my insides up, the voice that consumes my entire being in a good way, the voice I so desperately had missed when we weren't talking, when  we were away.

I  turn in her direction, teary eyed, and look at her, "Don't." I say quietly.

Her bottom lip wobbles and my heart squeezes inside my chest. As much as I want to, I would not reach out to her and wipe her tears. I need time to process this newfound information. So, I turn around with one last look at everybody's apologetic expressions and walk away.

This is too much.

If anything, I deserved to know it as soon as it happened. Even if I hadn't been able to do something, I still would have been here for her, with her.

I knew it was bullshit when they told me that she had flown to Moscow during summers to spend time with Natasha.

Fuck.

I hit the steering with my right hand and the first tear falls down. I pull over on the side of the empty road and rest my head against the steering, full on sobbing as my shoulders shake from the impact.

My phone vibrates and I look to the passenger seat to see Ezra's name flashing on the screen. I pick the phone up and turn it off before throwing it in the backseat, carelessly.

The last thing I need I right now is to talk to someone who decided to hide shit from me just because I was away. He knew, all of them knew, how much she means to me. If it were up to me, I would never have left.

Well, now I know why she had always reacted the way she did when my absence in all those years was being mentioned.

Fuck, I should have listened to my gut. Should have known that something is not right. I could feel it. How could I be so stupid?

How had she survived? Did she have trouble sleeping? Did she need me?

FUCK!

Wiping my face with the back of my sleeve, I rev the engine and make a U-turn. I really have no idea how long it has been since my car was parked there.

Parking again in the familiar driveway, I slam the car door shut after getting out and walk inside. The house is quiet so I climb up the stairs and see everyone standing outside her bedroom door with a worried expression.

"What's going on?" I ask in concern.

"Nick, you're back." Savannah breathes a sigh of relief.

"She's locked herself inside and isn't opening the door. She's put the double lock and it can't be open with the key. It's been an hour." she tells.

"Okay, don't worry." I assure all of them and turn around to go downstairs again.

"Where are you going, man?" I hear Elijah ask.

"I'm gonna climb the pipe up to her window. Don't worry, she'll be fine." I shout over my shoulder and walk to the back of the house through the back door.

Walking out, I see the tall pipe and begin to climb up hastily. My heart was pounding against my rib cage. I really hope that she is fine.

Finally reaching to her window, I breathe out in relief to find it open and slide it to the left side before putting one leg inside and then the other.

I look around to find no one and panic sets in when I find the bathroom empty as well. A moment later, I hear muffled sobbing coming from behind another door and I sprint to it only to find it locked. I shake the door knob but nothing.

"Eliza." I whisper.

At once the sound of crying stops and silence falls over us, "Baby." I call out.

She does not reply.

"Please open up, will you?" I speak softly and place my forehead against the door.

I hear the shuffling on the other side and a couple of seconds later, feel something light press against the door just where my forehead is leaning. Is she leaning, too?

Placing my palm flat against the white wooden door, I plead in a soft voice, "Let me see your face, bambi. I shouldn't have acted out, I am sorry. Please, open up, amore."

I hear her sniffle and breathe out shakily before she whispers in a broken voice, "Go away."

My heart breaks when I hear her say that and I shut my eyes tightly, "Mi dispiace, bambi. Per favore! Tu sei il mio mondo e il mio tutto." I whisper sliding down the door and on my knees, helplessly.

(I am sorry, bambi. Please! You are my world and my everything)

"I don't understand." she says quietly.

A small smile breaks through my lips and I sigh, "I will have a heart attack, bambi. Just come out, please."

I wait for another few minutes as she says nothing and then I hear it. The click of the lock followed by the opening of the door as she finally reveals her tear-stained and flushed face. I gaze at her from where I am sitting on the floor. She looks so shaken up yet so beautiful at the same time in her white cotton dress. Her right hand is holding the door knob and the left is resting on the door frame as she meets my eyes before a sob racks through her body and she falls on her knees in front of me.

I, immediately, pick her up and place her in my lap as she continues to cry in my chest mumbling apologies every now and then.

"I am so sorry, baby. I am so sorry. I shouldn't have left you alone, I was so selfish. God, I am so fucking sorry, baby." I apologize and kiss the top of her head repeatedly.

"Ssh, ssh, I am here now. It's alright. Nobody will ever touch you, again. I promise." I try to calm her and she looks up at me with an adorable pout sitting on her lips.

She wraps her arms around my torso and I pick her up, effortlessly, as we walk to the bed and sit down on the edge with her still in my lap.

I bring my hand up to her face and wipe all the stray tears to reveal her flawless face, "It's okay. It's not your fault." I whisper as I push the hair back from her face and place a kiss on her forehead after cupping her cheek.

I pull away to see her eyes closed as she leans into my touch which lights up a small smile on my face.

"Liza, open your eyes." I demand rubbing her cheek with my thumb.

And when she does, light grey clashes against midnight blue and I feel like somebody has just knocked the breath out of my lungs.

And for the nth time, I fell in love with her.

A/N:

So what did you guys think about this chapter?

Was Nick fair?

So, we've established that he's always going to put Eliza first no matter however much he's hurting. Ah, young love. 😂♥️

PS. I'm so sorry for the late update.