Chapter 7: Trap

“Elliard,” I whispered, taking the step back.

My hands were already vibrating, but I clenched my fist and struggled to take a hold of myself. I couldn’t let fear take over, not now, not ever.

His smile was still as villainous as I remembered it. Psychotic and sickeningly disgusting; a reflection of who he truly was on the inside. And why wouldn’t it be? He was my dad’s most trusted– his second in command for a reason. They were carved from the same wicked coin.

“Oh, princess. You still remember me even after all these years?” He mused, taking slow steps closer to me.

Intuitively, I pulled out my stun gun that was In my back pocket and pointed it at him.

“Where are they?” I spat out through clenched teeth.

The moment I asked that question, my mom screamed my name. I looked to my left towards the living room, and then I saw her. She was hugging Sylvia tightly in front of her. Both of them looked stricken with fear, and I knew why. Three heavily built men stood behind them, two of them holding a gun to each their heads. All the blood in my body rushed down to my feet.

“That little toy you’re holding wouldn’t do you any good. Put it down and do everything I say if you don’t want any problems,” he said, now only a meter away from me.

I looked at him, fear and anger trying to take a toll on me.

“What do you want? How did you even find me?” I asked, refusing to lower my only weapon.

Elliars chuckled. “All that doesn’t matter now, child. Like I said, do what I say and there wouldn’t be any problem. I might even decided to answer a question or two. Now, put that thing away and follow me.”

He turned immediately and began heading back to the door. His men seemed to have gotten the hint that he was leaving and began pushing my mum forward. In as much as her eyes were terrified, I knew it held questions– questions which answers I thought I had buried long ago.

We walked towards a SUV parked in front of our house, one I hadn’t noticed before. They pushed us all in to the back while they stayed in front.

The leather seats of the car were suffocatingly soft, a luxury that brought back way too many memories. Beside me, my mom was trembling so violently that the vibrations traveled through the seat and settled into my own bones.

I didn't dare look at her. I couldn’t bear to see the guilt etched into her tear-streaked face. She hadn’t wanted to make that call. I knew that. But when a man in a tailored suit walks into your living room and holds a gun to you and your youngest daughter’s head, you make the call, even if you didn’t want to.

The car drove out of our little suburb into the much busier streets of the town.

“Syvania…who are these people?” My mum finally asked. She’d been quiet since we got into the car that I thought she’d not say anything. I was hoping so.

"I… they’re my family," I said, staring out the tinted window as the city skyline loomed closer. “My dad’s men.”

I felt her turn to face me, Sylvia as well, and that broke my heart all the more. We hadn’t told her I was her biological sister yet. We had wanted to wait for the perfect time to break the news to her. Guess this was the time fate wanted me tell her.

“My parents didn’t die in that fire. I ran away from home– from my dad. Those bruises on my body weren’t from trying to escape from the attackers, he gave them to me,” I said, my voice breaking towards that part. I sniffed back the tears that were threatening to fall and continued. “I’m sorry for lying, or bringing you into any of this. If I knew this would happen, I’d have never approached you that day and—“

“We’re here,” the voice of one of the goons cut me off.

The car slowed, pulling into the semi-circular driveway of the Deluxe Hotel and suites, the biggest hospitality center around. It was the kind of place where the air conditioning smelled like old money and buried secrets, the kind I was once used to.

"Out," a goon commanded.

The door clicked unlock. My legs felt like lead as I stepped onto the pavement. The humid city air clashed with the chill inside me.

"They stay down here," Elliard said as the goons pulled my mum and Sylvia away from me. "The both of them stay in the lobby. You come with me."

"No," I stepped forward. "I’m not going up there, or wherever it is alone."

Eliard didn't blink. He just tapped his earpiece. "I can have the car turn around and take the little one for a very long drive. Is that your preference?"

I froze. My hands curled into fists at my sides, my nails digging into my palms until the sharp pain grounded me. "Fine. But if you touch them..."

"You are in no position to negotiate, Sylvania." He gestured toward the revolving gold doors. "Shall we?"

I looked at Mom and Sylvia one last time, hoping within me it wouldn’t be the last. She was weeping silently, held back by a security guard. "I’m sorry," I mouthed, fighting tears of my own. Then I turned and walked into the belly of the beast.

There were people around the hotel, walking around, but none of them looked towards them, or were bothered by the scene. From what I know, in this setting, you either mind your business or tend to the bruises that followed from not minding it.

The elevator ride to God knows where felt like an eternity. The numbers ticked up—20, 30, 40—each one taking me further away from the life I had built and closer to the hell I thought I had escaped.

The doors finally slid open revealing a short hallway. We walked to the end of it and Elliot’s swiped a card across the door.

It opened to show a vast suite, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city lights. It was beautiful and cold, a contrast to the dark figure standing in the fireplace.

He had his back to me. He was wearing a charcoal suit, cut to perfection. He held a tumbler of amber liquid in one hand. Even from the back, the posture was unmistakable. Rigid.

The elevator doors closed behind me, sealing me in. The figure standing by the fireplace turned around. That figure was my father.