Chapter 52 Chapter 52

Chapter 52 Chapter 52
Lydia very quickly slipped off her shoes, exhaling as she was still sitting in the kitchen, heating up everything.

Sophia, on the other hand, looked around slowly, before narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the darkness.

"Your house is really beautiful. But this place absolutely looks haunted at night." Lydia let out a very tired laugh.

"It is not haunted." She said, not offended but fighting off a very loud laugh. 

"It has the energy of a woman in Victorian England, crying near a staircase. I am afraid to look up at your staircase." Sophia said, putting both of her legs on the couch, looking at the staircase in fear. 

While Lydia frowned, still smiling, while lines forming on her forehead.

"That is oddly specific." She muttered.

"I haven't watched multiple documentaries Lydia. And that's all I'm saying." Sophia said and this time what she said actually made Lydia laugh out loud. Sophia was stunned.

"Oh my God... Okay Lydia.. you have to stop that. Stop laughing from the other side of the room." Sophia said, as Lydia chuckled to herself.

"You have watched too ghost conspiracy video Sophia." She said.

"What... I was researching them and research is research. Very important." Sophia said, again Lydia laughed and the laugh was lingering throughout the empty house.

Sofia looked over at Lydia, angry now. But she saw how Lydia was heating everything, and there she was, Sophia noticed that she was living in this house all alone and she wasn't thinking about stories. 

There was a softness that came around Sophia.

There she thought that joking about this and her house was enough for today.

"You should probably go rest a little bit Sophia. You have been with me all day. Maybe we should eat first, and then you should go rest in your luxurious....... lighted house." Lydia joked about the last part.

But Sophia again had frown growing on her face, as she turned around to look at Lydia inside of the kitchen. Sophia was still sitting on the couch.

This time she was offended.

"Excuse me." She asked, very dramatically.

"And abandon you alone in this emotionally tragic mansion?" Sophia asked.

"I Will Survive." Lydia rolled her eyes.

"Questionable really." Sophia whispered to herself.

"Sophia..." Lydia called her out. "I think I will be fin.........."

"No... absolutely not. No." Sophia said, crossing her arms.

"You are stuck with me tonight." Sophia said, stunning Lydia.

"Wait... what?" She said. Coming out of the kitchen with a knife in her hand, and Sophia's eyes went wide open in fear.

"Stop that. Can you please just put the knife down?" She said, waving her hands, afraid of Lydia and suddenly Sophia's expression went extremely bright, as she looked around.

"What? What are you looking for?" Lydia asked.

"Candles... We should find candles." Sophia screamed.

"Candles." Lydia blinked slowly.

"Yes..." She said pointing towards the dark hallway.

"If we are trapped inside this emotional devastation. We might as well make it aesthetic." She said looking around the drawers and actually finding a few.

"Go look for some as well." She said to Lydia and Lydia was simply standing there purely smiling, and it was not small, not restrained, it was so real.

"There you are.." Sophia mumbled triumphantly. But went around looking for more, opening multiple cabinets, finding more and more. And Lydia was standing by the door, watching her digging through her house, like it was her own.

"How do you own a house this large and not know where anything is?" She was mumbling to herself, doing her work religiously.

Eventually they gathered, gathered enough candles to light nearly the entire living room. There was a soft golden, light flickering gently against the wall and the furniture, warming the large space in the way that overhead light never could.

Shadow moved softly around them, while outside the night remained extremely calm and quiet, beyond the windows. The house was no longer left empty, at the same time Sophia disappeared into the kitchen carrying pastries, balanced carefully.

In one hand she had cake and then wine on the other.

Well the food, on the other hand, was still heating up. The shopping bags still untouched near the staircase. The candles burning for the first time in days. Lydia wasn't thinking about funeral or betrayal or even fear of the unbearable weight sitting constantly inside of her chest.

She was just sitting on the ground, no longer lonely. 

____________________________________________________________________________

August was at home, as the city had already disappeared into midnight. Looking out the window he was still thinking about what had happened in Arthur's office. He remembered Arthur's hands wrapping around his throat and that, that stayed with him.

August immediately went back to that memory .

This morning, August knew he should have stopped, but he did not want to. He wanted to see something, he remembers standing right in front of Arthur.

His head tilted slightly to the side.

"How is Lydia?" August asked and everything changed right there and then. 

Marcus felt it immediately. The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees as Arthur's eyes settled fully on August. Again dangerous, but this time not controlled anymore. August noticed that almost immediately and he enjoyed every second of it.

"She's been through a lot lately." August continued thoughtfully.

"Her father in the hospital. Her grandmother dead." He said, looking sharply at Arthur.

"And you..." He stopped right there. Arthur did not move, he did not speak, but the tension pressing through the office before suffocating.

"I heard she's struggling....... mentally." August added and Marcus stepped forward immediately.

"That is enough." He said, seeing Arthur's veins coming out of his neck, his eyes red as well.  August ignored him completely, because Marcus was nothing to him. He wanted a reaction from Arthur. The King himself. 

He never took his eyes away from Arthur. 

"I have seen people react differently. Some survive it and some..." He said pausing for a few seconds.

"Some end up like........ her mother." He said, and this.... this made Arthur move before anyone could react. He grabbed August violently by the collar and slammed him backward against the wall, hard enough to shake the glass beside them. 

Weapons withdrawn almost immediately and both the side of men step forward.

Marcus Moved sharply and called his boss by his name.

"Arthur..." 

This was only once in a while, that it happened. But Marcus knew he had to calm Arthur down. 

However, Arthur barely listened to him. For the first time since August walked into the building, real fury showed up openly. This was fire that was burning inside of Arthur.

Arthur was grabbing onto his neck so tight. This man was showing his true colors.

"You say her name again..... and I will bury you so deep in, your own men wouldn't find what's left of you." Arthur spoke loud.

August should have looked threatened right there, instead he smiled through it all. Because this is exactly what he wanted, Arthur. Mad.

"There you are." August mumbled roughly against Arthur's grip. A senister smile creeping up in him.

"I was wondering how long it would take to bring the real you out of you Arthur." He said, and Arthur shoved him harder against the wall, and Marcus grabbed his arm.

"Arthur stop." He said sharply this time. The King's breath remained control, but the rage was visible behind his eyes. Then slowly he let go and August finally could breathe.

The man was turning red. Nevertheless, he adjusted his jacket while Marcus signaled Arthur's men to stand down. August smooth the coat.

"My apologies. I seem to have touched a very sensitive nerve." He said and Arthur looked like he could kill August right there and then.

"And, thank you so much for your time............... Mr. Romero." He said, turning around and walking away from there. 

August took a sip of his glass, slowly looking out at the city. Calculating beneath his breath as a small faint smile returned on him, slow and very patient.

This was his celebration.

Arthur Romero could be hurt. Not through bus
iness. Not even through violence, but just through one person and it was his wife.... Lydia Romero.