Chapter 36 Restless
Just like you guessed, I couldn’t sleep. I tried so hard to sleep but just couldn’t.
Meanwhile, Carlos is over there snoring like a baby, loud, content, and completely unbothered, while I’m stuck here drowning in my thoughts. As if my mind racing wasn’t enough, I have to endure his snoring on top of it.
I groaned for what felt like the fifth time in just a few minutes.
God, Carlos isn’t only irritating when he’s awake. He somehow manages to be just as annoying in his sleep.
His snore feels like it gets louder by the minute. It’s so annoying and I can’t help but wish I could punch him in the face so he would just stop.
Again, I groaned in annoyance.
I quickly grabbed a pillow and shoved it against my ears, desperate to muffle the sound. But it didn’t work. His snores still came through, loud and clear as if he’s deliberately trying to make me lose my sleep.
Frustrated, I turned to him and pinched his arm. He winced but didn’t wake up. Instead, the snoring grew even louder, pounding against my skull.
I absolutely hate this. I can’t take it anymore.
This time, I turned to him again and kicked him hard. To my relief, it actually worked.
I let out a satisfied sigh. “Finally, some peace,” I murmured, closing my eyes and trying once more to sleep.
Seconds passed.
Then minutes.
But still nothing. Sleep just wouldn’t come.
Carlos’s snore isn’t just my problem, my mind is. My mind wouldn’t stop spinning with thoughts of Erica. For some reason, I couldn’t get her out of my head.
Erica looks exactly like me but somehow she’s not me or is she? I keep thinking about it but it’s just not making any sense to me.
I had never felt this restless thinking about something before. Even when I found out I was adopted, I wasn’t this restless. I guess it’s because I’m trapped here or because I’m scared of what would happen when Carlos decides to end the mission, after all, I am just a mission to him.
The more I thought about the whole thing, the more I badly wanted to connect the dots so I could finally rest. At this point, I just want to know who Erica is. I couldn’t care less about leaving this prison-like mansion. I just want to know the truth. Is she me? Am I related to her? What is it exactly?
I kept thinking about it but nothing I could think of relived me. I couldn’t even think of options to use to figure it out. Asking Carlos is the only option that made sense to me, but I didn’t trust him. Not even a little. And if he found out i know there is someone named Erica he would explode.
I couldn’t even imagine how furious he’d be.
I tried to shove the thoughts aside and force myself to sleep, but it didn’t help.
I rolled over and looked at Carlos again. He was still fast asleep, looking perfectly peaceful.
Just look at him. Sleeping so soundly while I’m stuck here feeling like my brain’s on fire.
I wish I could punch him in the face and wake him up. I should be the one having peace. I should be the one sleeping peacefully, not him. I deserve more rest than he does, after all, I’m the victim here not him.
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.
“Maybe I should wake him up,” I thought. I reached out to touch him when a sudden idea popped into my head.
Maybe I should go back to the study and find more things about Erica. I would have more time to search properly now that he’s asleep.
I checked to make sure Carlos was actually asleep before I quietly slipped out of the bed. I didn’t bother to take my shoes as I walked barefoot out of the room.
I know this is very risky and might be a bad idea but right now I’m out of good ideas and I really just want to find out everything about Erica.
I quickly made my way to his study. As always, the door was open. That man has never known how to use a key. How can someone keep top-secret information in a room and not even lock the door?
I walked in and gently closed the door behind me. Heading straight to the desk, the first thing I did was check the files again. Now that I had more time, I needed to make sure I gathered as much information as possible.
I started with the first file. Even though I had already gone through it before, I wanted to check again in case I missed something.
As I flipped through the pages, one thing caught my eye again—the woman’s photo. I had seen it before, but this time, something about it tugged at me. She looked so familiar, and the more I stared at her, the more I wondered who she was.
Was she related to me? And if she was, why wasn’t she ever a part of my life?
I set the file down and opened Carlos’s laptop. I began searching Google for the name Erica Menendez. There wasn’t much information attached to the name specifically, but the surname was linked to a Russian mafia king.
I quickly searched for the mafia king, but details about his family were very limited. Still, the photo of his wife looked exactly like the woman in the file.
Maybe she’s Erica’s mother. But if that’s true, why is there no information about Erica anywhere online?
I turned back to the file and decided to look up some of the Spanish words written in it. But just as I was about to start, I heard footsteps approaching from outside.
My heart dropped.
It had to be Carlos.
Panicked, I started putting everything back in place, trying to be as fast and quiet as I could. But before I could finish, the door creaked open and Carlos walked in.