Chapter 12 CAGED BIRD (Demilia’s POV)
For some moment, everywhere was silent. He calmly set the glass down, and made his way toward me. "You think this would be the end?" He asked me, but as calmly as ever. That can never be my darling. That key you were holding not long ago, the one you used to open the drawer...it would interest you to note that it's only but a piece of what your brother started. A greater part is yet to be unveiled, and I wonder how you would be holding up till then."
My heart skipped the moment he said that. "What exactly do you mean by that?"
He smiled faintly, not the genuine kind, but the one that wasn't afraid to hide too many sins. "Ask yourself the reason your brother preferred selling you to be than to others. Ask yourself if there's was actually something he was running away from."
Before I could gather the right words to talk, le leaned closer to me, too close to the extent his lips were on my ears. "And by the time you are ready to finally hear the truth...all of them..." He released a warm breath on my body, my skin cooling because of it. "... I'm sure you would wish you never searched for it. That you never collected the vkey."
With that, he walked away, not with any other word, and I was left trembling. Thousands of questions rang in my head continously, and the more I contemplated on them, the more each of them was becoming darker than the one before.
The photo was still lying lazily on the desk, and the more I looked at it, the masked I wore stated back at me, like it wanted to reveal a secret.
And for the first time, I couldn't tell if I was actually the victim of Ethan the way I had nursed myself to believe. Or was I victimized by only own bloodline, and Ethan was innocent.
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"You're simply not going anywhere tonight, that's all I want you to know, Demilia." Ethan's voice rang in my head non stop.
But I wasn't some fragile porcelain doll, the kind people can easily shove into a shelf whenever they pleased, and however they want it. I was done being played around, the kind that can be caged like a little bird.
I quickly grabbed the small bag, the one who had packed earlier on, then muttered a few words to myself. "If I stay here just one more night, I know for site that I wouldn't have anything left of sanity."
The room for no reason felt heavier than before, my steps too heavy, not to talk of my heartbeat that was increasing every minute. The silence was too strange to keep quiet and not act. It was almost like someone was following me, as though the walls were indirectly warning me.
Just the very moment I reached the elevator, I heard a familiar voice, bey smooth and sweet.
"Well, well, well," Vanessa drawled, and I could see that she was ready to cause trouble. She leaned against the elevator wall, an annoying smirk plastered all over her face. In her hand was a glass of champagne, the kind that the cost could cost a fortune."Who else if not our little runaway bride."
I froze, my heart beating unsteadily. "What exactly are you doing right here?"
She smirked again, still not ready to leave the way for me to pass. She took a lazy sip, the kind that made me want to spank her. "I could ask you the exact question. Could this be considered as midnight stroll? Or do I take it that you are finally running away from your owner? How pathetic of you."
"Move out of my way!" I snapped. "I'm not in the mood for any useless talk this minute."
"Oh sweetheart," she cooed sweetly, taking few steps closer, her heels making a mocking sound. "You were banking on love to be saved? That was a terrible mistake, and a dangerous survival tactics. You are in this mess, and would be here for a very long time."
I clenched my jaw in rage, holding back from hitting her. "You wouldn't be in the position to understand, not even when I do my best to explain."
"On the contrary, my darling, I don't need you to explain anything. I understand perfectly well what you're doing." She said, her tone wrapped in mock sympathy. "You are doing everything possible to run from guilt. To be far away from your shame. From the fact that you were stupid enough to fall heads over here for same cruel and ruthless man that didn't hold back in buying you like a commodity. Like you worth nothing."
Her words were like poison, sending daggers into my heart. "That's nothing to be called love." I snapped unable to hold myself. "And I'm very sure you wouldn't know what it means to love only yourself."
Vanessa chuckled softly, and that alone made me more angry. "Touche. But at least, I didn't pretend to not know. I'm honest about everything I said." She moved yet another step, untill she was right in front of me. "You know, I was wrong the moment I considered you to be naive. But now, I see through everything you've been doing, pretending to be weak so that no one would pay more attention to you. But you are forgetting something, you are just stupidly brave without knowing."
"Get out of my way this minute, Vanessa." I warned with a harsh voice.
She shifted he head one side, feigning victim, like my words hurt her so badly. "Or what would happen? You will go ahead and slap me?"
The smirk on her face increasing every second. I had no idea when my temper glared. I landed a heavy slap on both checks, the ones she never saw coming. The echo travelled as far as the hallway, even to the point it could wake people that were deep in their sleep.
Vanessa staggered back, trying so hard to maintain balance. Her eyes wide open with shock mixed with pain. Then suddenly, her lips curled into a smile, a sinister kind of smile, masking the pain traveling fldown her whole body. "Oh my sweet darling," she whispered like a lunatic. "You've just succeeded in making this much fun for both of us."