CHAPTER 0157
CHAPTER 0157
The hospital air feels too quiet and too heavy, and Ciel is almost suffocated by the whiteness of the wall. He sits by Xerxes’ bedside. It’s been two days, and the man has shown no sign of consciousness while his chest rises and falls slowly.
Ciel hasn’t moved an inch from where he sits, fearing he might miss it when Xerxes finally wakes up. Ciel shouldn’t be this worried when he has memories of the man, but the pain in his chest and the fear nibbling at his bones is real. His eyes don’t move away from Xerxes’ pale face, his breathing slowly while the machines around him beep steadily, like they are counting down something Ciel doesn’t want to name.
Ciel hates the feeling growing every second in his chest, this helplessness, the not knowing, and the confusion.
If Xerxes has been poisoned for decades, how has he managed to survive for so long? Who poisoned him? Who could do such a cruel thing? Ciel sighs at the unanswered questions yet again.
Suddenly, the door clicks open and Ciel finally tears his gaze away from Xerxes and looks at the guests that come their way. It's a lady, yet again yet familiar but not familiar if that makes sense.
She gets closer, her heels clinking gently on the floor, dressed in a sleek gray coat, her hair tied back neatly and her eyes, grey, sharp and cold, resting on him unwavering.
Once she is in front of him, she pauses. “I am Camila Laurent,” she introduces herself simply. “I am Xerxes’ older sister. We have met a few minutes since you’ve been engaged to my brother, but you don’t remember that anymore. I came here as soon as I heard Xerxes had been rushed here.”
Ciel stares at her, a bit baffled. He is starting to wonder if every member of the Laurent family is this cold and blank. First, his seemingly uncaring mother and his sister who has nothing in her soulless eyes as she gets close to the bed and stares down at her older brother but to Ciel's surprises, she sighs heavily, her shoulders slumping with a look of worry and sadness in her eyes that Ciel isn’t sure is she faking or she's feeling.
“I never thought there would be a day like this, to see Xerxes so helpless like this, sometimes I forget he is human like everyone else. Look at him now, I can barely recognize him.” she tears her gaze away from Xerxes pale features and looks at Ciel. “I have not come for my brother alone, I also come for you Cel.”
Ciel raises a questioning brow. “What do you want?”
”We have never been on good terms, but today, I want us to put them behind us and talk civilly. I won't waste both our time, I am here for Tina. You have to save her.”
Ciel’s eyes hardened. “I’m not going to do that.”
“I’m not here to defend what she did.”
“Then why are we having this conversation?” Ciel snaps.
Camila steps forward, her voice calm. “Because a child’s life is involved.”
“She wants to use that child to trap Xerxes. That baby was born out of assault, what she did was inhumane,” Ciel growls lowly.
“Yes.” Camilla agrees. “And she should pay for what she did, but punishing a child for the sins of its mother? That’s not justice, that’s cruelty.”
Ciel looks away. No one was this concerned when he was in his mother’s womb and born in cruelty.
“She deserves every bit of pain she’s getting for what she did to my brother,” Camila adds coldly. “But if you leave her there, chained, starved, and pregnant… then what makes us better than her? I’m not asking you to forgive her, I’m asking you to make the right choice. Help the baby to prevent future regret. That’s all I have to say. Take care of Xerxes. Be better than what this family has always been.”
Patting a hand over his shoulder, she leaves soon after and Ciel sighs and sinks back in his seat, his mind spinning. Right choice? What did she fucking mean by making the right choice?
He doesn't even remember these people and suddenly, they all show up acting like they care, telling him to do something he isn't part of and doesn't understand.
With a sigh, Ciel reaches into his pocket for his phone, taking it out and speeding dialing a number. “Lucas,” he says the second the call connects. “Come to the hospital, bring a car and gloves, something heavy, and some cash,”
He only hopes he doesn't regret this but that future Ciel's problem.
~
Ciel and Lucas arrive at the warehouse at sunset, two guards stand at the front, smoking and laughing amongst themselves.
“So, we are going to knock them out?” Lucas wonders out loud, looking over at Ciel who has a determined gaze as he eyes the guards.
“Yeah. Hope you brought something really heavy. You take one, I take the other one, let's go,”
~
Knocking the guards out wasn't a big deal, it's two on guard, Ciel can easily take both out on a good day.
Inside the warehouse is cold and it's dark but Ciel doesn't have time to ponder about the darkness, they only have a few minutes.
They find Tina, curled up on the stoned floor, looking worse than the last time Ciel saw her. Her lips are cracked, her face stuck to her face, her stomach getting heavier and her body trembling from cold and hunger.
“You came back, please, help me,” she whispers.
“Don’t talk, we need to get you out of here fast,” Ciel takes off his jacket and throws it over her shoulders while Lucas works on unlocking the chains on her wrists and ankles, then they helps her to her feet, hooking both of their hands under her arm as support.
The guards still lay unconscious when they came out of the door and hurriedly heads for the car, helping her into the backseat, Lucas takes the wheels and Ciel fastens his seatbelt at the front passenger's seat and they are on the road.
No one speaks, not until they know they have gotten far away and suddenly, Lucas finally kills the engine after an hour's drive, stopping in the middle of nowhere.
Ciel gets out first, Lucas follows, both of them helping Tina out of the car.
She looks up at them, confused. “Where… where are we?”
Ciel pulls out a bag pack of money from the car and shoves it to her. “That should be enough to feed yourself, find shelter, I don't care what you will do, so whatever.”
Tina blinks. “You are letting me go?”
He meets her eyes for the first time that night. “You will disappear,” he says firmly. “You’ll never come near me, or Xerxes, again or I will have Xerxes kill you right away. As long as we have a deal, you are free to go,”
Tina swallows hard, holding the bag to her chest. “I… I understand, thank you Mr. Reid, I never thought you would be this kind,”
“You might be a monster but the child is innocent,”
Her lip trembles “Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Reid—”
“Don’t thank me,” he cuts in. “I didn’t do this for you.” He turns and walks back to the car. Lucas follows, quietly.
Ciel doesn't look at her, doesn't give her a second glance before Lucas starts the engine and drives off.
Ciel sighs and rests his back. “Do you think I did the right thing? I just don't want that baby to die. He deserves to see the world,”
Lucas smiles, his gaze on the road. “Yeah, I think you did the right thing. Now, can I say what's been on my mind the whole time?”
“What?”
“You don't find it suspicious that we did that rescue thing so easily?”
“You think Sebastian let us do it?”
Lucas nods. “I think so.”