Chapter 22 Chapter 22
Cynthia's POV
The entire drive back home, Aurora kept sobbing, but I focused my attention on the road. Her arms were folded across her chest, and she didn't look at me, not even once.
The moment we reached home, she jumped out of the car without waiting for me. Her little feet stomped all the way inside, announcing her anger loudly.
I followed her with my head pounding in pain. Lucien's last words were still ringing in my ears. I am just trying my best not to let them overpower me.
Aurora is mine and Adrian's. His power or money will not change a thing!
I watched as Aurora threw her shoes near the door and marched straight to the couch, crossing her arms again like a tiny rebel.
“Aurora,” I warned. “Pick up your shoes.”
“No.”
My patience snapped.
“Don’t test me right now.”
She looked at me with watery eyes and then burst into loud cries again.
I pressed my fingers against my temple.
“Why are you crying now?” I asked, exhausted. “I didn’t even say anything.”
“You don’t love me,” she sobbed.
That one sentence hit me right in the chest.
How easy it is for her to say it after everything I have done for her. The things I would have never done, even if I were dying of hunger.
“You threw my shake,” she cried as I stayed silent, “and you shouted at me. You are so bad."
She cried. I sat on my knees to come to her level and let her cry it out.
"And... you took me away from my friend.”
But I lost it when she once again called Lucien her friend.
"He is not your friend!" I said firmly, "He is a stranger who could have kidnapped you."
"No!" She wailed, "He was a good man; he helped me. He felt..." She sniffed, "Safe."
My heart skipped a beat.
“Enough now,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "All the bad people first feel safe."
I can't blame her for this. I was an adult, and even then, I was manipulated by that person. She is still a kid to understand his real face.
“No,” she cried again. “You are wrong.”
I exhaled sharply.
Now, I was really losing my patience.
I opened my mouth to speak, but the door opened before I could.
Adrian walked in.
The moment Aurora saw him, her crying doubled.
“ADDD!” she wailed.
He dropped his bag instantly.
“What happened?” he asked, worried lines appearing in his face as he rushed toward her.
Before I could stop him, he picked her up in his arms. She clutched his neck tightly, crying as I had beaten her.
Drama queen!
“She shouted at me,” Aurora sobbed, pointing at me. “She threw my shake. She didn’t let me drink. She took me away. She said my friend was bad.”
Aurora pouted and looked at me with those tiny tears in her eyes. Earlier, they were real, but now they felt fake. I am her mother, and I can see straight.
“What happened, Cynthia? Why did you shout at my baby girl?” Adrian asked softly.
I folded my arms and looked at her. I was literally exhausted.
"We went to a café. It was my mistake to let her go and place the order alone. There she accepted a drink from a stranger," I told him.
Adrian now turned his head to Aurora to listen to her side of the story.
"He is not a stranger," she pouted, "he was my friend. He helped me."
"May I know the name of your friend?" Adrian asked her.
She pouted again. When she couldn't reply, she started fiddling with the button of his shirt, avoiding his gaze.
Slowly, he left her on the floor.
"Go and change your dress, then we will go to the nearby shop and buy you ramen. Okay?"
Aurora nodded happily and excitedly ran to her room.
Adrian's head turned to me. "It's fine, Cynthia," he spoke softly. "I understand your concern, but I think you overreacted. Not every stranger is bad or dang..."
"Lucien"
And he froze, leaving his words hanging in the air.
"It was Lucien."
And then I saw his expressions change in a minute. His jaw clenched, eyes turned dark, nose flared, and palms curled into fists.
"That bastard," he roared, "How did he even reach her?" He asked.
I sighed.
"It was my mistake that I let her go alone. I don't know where he came from."
"I think he knew about Aurora from before because that man never does anything without a reason."
I shook my head.
"The shock on his face told me that he met her for the first time."
I exhaled sharply.
"I have told him clearly that she is our daughter and he should stay away from our affairs."
"Do you really think it will keep him away?"
Silence.
A long and deep silence.
"Then what are we going to do?"
Adrian didn’t answer immediately. He walked toward the window instead and looked outside for a long moment.
"I would have to make sure he doesn't come near Aurora."
I stepped forward and stopped just behind him.
"And how are you going to do that?"
My ears turned red as my heart started pounding in my chest. I know Adrian well enough to understand what's going on in his head.
Slowly, he turned around, with dead eyes that were looking anywhere but at me.
I took a small, very small step toward him, and this is when he looked down at me.
My breath hitched.
It wasn’t anger that scared me.
It was how calm he was.
Without answering me, he just walked to the untouchable drawer and pulled out the gun from it.
"Stop, Adrian," I rushed and came in between him and the door. "Have you gone crazy?"
"After everything he has done to us, he deserves to die!"
He tried to reach out for the door, but I didn't let him.
"You will kill him and go to jail. Then what about us?"
He froze for a second. His jaw clenched.
"In the heat of the moment, don't do anything stupid. Don't react like him." I swallowed. "Don't become him."
And his fingers curled as he let out a sigh. The anger slowly dissipated from his body as I placed my hand over his shoulder.
"I have decided something."
"What?" He asked
"We will leave this city."