Chapter 146 I NEED TO FIND HER.
LUCIEN’S POINT OF VIEW.
Fear.
Just four letters, and one syllable; but still so powerful. I thought fear was what I’d felt when I realised, as a child, that my mother was no longer alive, and I was stuck with a parent like Eldric. Years after that, I thought fear was what I felt when I had to rush Sloane to the school’s infirmary.
But now…..I think this is what fear truly feels like.
The twist in your gut, the sudden dry feeling in your throat and tongue, the tremble of your hands, and legs…..hell, I felt hot and cold at the same fucking time. I’d run around the school for the seventh time, searching for Sloane. At the back of my mind, I already realised she wasn’t here… but for some reason, I wanted to cling onto some semblance of hope. I believed in the system of protection I had put in place at this school to safeguard the only other woman I loved fiercely.
But as I slowed down on my seventh run, my chest heaving with pants as I hunched onto my knees, I had to accept one thing;
Sloane had been taken, and it was certainly by the man I call father.
Theo had long given up after the fifth search, choosing instead to rush home in search of his mom and sister. I completely understood him….his father was also one of the demons in his life. He was supposed to be back here if he didn’t find them, but he wasn’t at the moment.
So I naturally thought he’d found them and was actively searching for Seraphina on his own.
“What are we going to do?” Amara asked from where she stood, her eyes red and ripe from her sobs, as Ace, a frown on his face as he typed away at his phone, caressed her arms softly. I stoop upright and mused over her question.
What are we going to do?.....what am I going to do?
And for some reason, I came up fucking blank. A dry chuckle escaped my lips, the sound felt like it came from wherever twisted part of me……and I knew, the promise I made to Sloane and my mother would be broken. Because if I have to unleash every unhinged part of me just to save her…..I would, and I’d take no fucking remorse over it.
I was about to respond to her when I saw the one person I least expected in here after everything that happened weeks ago. Dressed in black jogger pants and a black hoodie, her hair matted as if it hadn’t been washed in weeks, clung to her obviously dry skin. A sick, deranged smile tugged at her lips, as if she knew something we didn’t, as she approached us….or rather, me.
Roxanne stopped just in front of me, her bony, frail hands shaking slightly as she spoke. The second she did, I caught a whiff of something I’d hated ever since I saw my mother try it inside her bedroom. It was after she got news of Eldric cheating on her for the seventh time that month alone, and I think the despair caught up to her so strongly that she felt she needed an outlet.
I remember the haze in the room as she smoked the long pipe, her shaky breaths as she shuddered and sobbed sorrowfully at the same time. That was the first and last time she ever did it, because I’d barged out of the closet, and nursed back awake after she’d stopped moving for some time.
I don’t know how the hell I even knew to help her, but by some miracle, I did.
‘What the hell are you doing here?” I spat, a vicious snarl on my face as hatred coiled in my heart, right beside my anger.
“Lucien.” She drawled, her speech slurring as she shook like a leaf. “That’s not how to greet your girlfriend.” She said with a pathetic pout. It felt as though my ears had betrayed me for a moment, so I turned to ask the other two behind me to make sure they also heard the joke.
“Did I hear that right?” Amara nodded, her eyes narrowing into slits as she fixed Roxanne with a vicious glare.
“How the hell are you even in here after I clearly had you expelled?”
“I got help from Eldric.” She giggled, and I fucking swear, it felt like someone had set fire to my ears at the mention of his name.
“What the hell did you say? Eldric…?”
“Yes. He and I did something to ensure that we can finally be together, Lucien. You know I’m the one for you.” She tried to reach for me, but I took a step back quickly as if she would infect me with some venereal disease.
She probably would, damnit.
Now I need to get this place fumigated and sanitised.
“What the hell did you fucking do?” I hissed, trying to restrain myself from grabbing her and shaking her till she fucking spoke.
“I helped him, silly.” She giggled. “I got the fake janitor inside the building, and from there, he did the rest. Now, Sloane is far away and unable to keep us apart.”
Another dry chuckle escaped me, as I asked her again to be sure; “You fucking bitch!” I yelled as soon as she nodded again with the same stupid giggle.
“Lucien….this is no way to speak to your girlfriend.” She whined with another stupid pout.
“Do you think this is a fucking joke?” Amara hissed and stomped over so she stood directly in her line of vision. Ace moved swiftly, his eyes latched onto Roxanne, his shoulders tight and ready to get on the offence if need be.
“I wasn’t talking to you, pathetic bitch.” She hissed before staring back at me.
“Come on, Lucien. There's no need to pretend anymore. We can finally be together! I got Sloane out of the way. We finally have a chance to be the way we’re meant to be.”
“You crazy….I do not have time for this. Where the hell is she?” I hissed and grabbed onto her arms, my grip so harsh that it caused her to wince. But I didn’t fucking care, not anymore. All I needed was my girlfriend safe in my arms again.
“Lucien….stop this.” She whined, but before I could yell in her face, Amara grabbed onto her hair and pulled tight so she could hiss in her ear while keeping her grip. “I don’t think that’s the answer to the fucking question, bitch.”
“Are you really going to let her speak to me like this?” She asked, a hurt look in her eyes, but I shook her and yelled;
“There's no time for your fuckling antics. Answer the question!”
I think she finally saw the deranged glare I fixed her, and the fact that I didn’t give a fuck what I did to her. I would look past the fact that she was a woman, as long as she fucking spoke.
“I don’t know where she is.”
“Bullshit.” We all said at the same time.
“I swear! I don’t know where Eldric has her. All I know is the janitor took them after I did my part. Nothing after that is privy to me.”
Frustration gnawed at me as I let go of her. What the hell am I going to do now?
“No. You are still useful. So what we’re going to do is we are all going to Ace’s house, and from there, you will use whatever’s left of that connection of yours to Eldric and get him to fess up. Roxanne, I swear on my mother's grave, if anything happens to Sloane because you couldn’t read the fucking room, a nd stay the hell away from me, all because of a drunken one-night stand years ago; I will use every last bit of me to get you behind bars.” I vowed.
“But Lucien….I’m pregnant, and it's for you.”
I didn’t even know when I hunched over to cackle, because that was the biggest joke I’d heard.
“You’re delusional.” We said at the same time. But even as we laughed, I knew one thing deep in my gut;
Sloane needed to be rescued sooner than fucking possible.