Chapter 15
Ariel
Liora’s face held different emotions, the dominant one being fear. If I guessed correctly, she could be going through some disorder and it made me want to know what happened.
Unfortunately, no one wanted to tell me anything, not even Dmitri.
Another thing I noticed was that she rarely spoke to anyone. The only thing she did was to tell shriek and cry and that bothered me the more.
She was going through a lot of pain and no one could understand her.
“Do you want to talk to me? I’m here for you,” I offered, my tone light and warm.
She blinked and inclined her head and that encouraged me to draw closer to her. At least she wasn’t tearing the walls down with her screams.
“Alright, Ariel is going to feed you now,”
That was it.
She raised her head sharply and pressed her lips, her eyes watering. I shook my head and took a step backward, kneeling on the floor.
“No, don’t cry, baby. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to help out,” My lips trembled and my eyes were already glistening with tears. “Don’t you want to eat? I promise you’ll like it,” I sniffed.
She shook her head and shrank backward.
Footsteps rang along the hallway toward Liora’s room and my heart skipped a beat as I froze on my knees. I listened carefully and immediately I knew I was doomed.
Those steps weren’t light or attempting to be soundless; they were fluid and filled with intensity, sounding heavily on the tiles and they belonged to him.
I’d barely gotten to my feet to find a place in her room to hide when he opened the swiftly.
I covered my face with my palm and immediately, Liora burst into tears, frustrating my efforts to keep her calm. No man had ever succeeded in making me scared, not even my father, but the icy stare that Dmitri pinned on me made me bolt away from the room before he could ask me to leave.
Never have I experienced his anger, and this wasn’t even an expression of his fury. It was an emotion I couldn’t figure out and that was strange because he hardly displayed any emotion. At least, not in front of me.
My heart thumped hard against my chest as I flew down the stairs and got to the living room. Returning to my room seemed like a suicide mission so I turned toward the facade.
One thing I had to do if I ever escaped Dmitri’s wrath was to know where the basement was. It would be important in times like this.
My plan to disappear from the house was almost successful until I heard my name behind me.
“Where are you going to, ma’am?” Fedor asked and I spun around, sending him a glare.
Why did I have to be plagued with this pest of a bodyguard?
I dug my teeth into my lower lip and clenched my fists. “You can follow me to Jupiter if you want,” I replied snidely and found my way to the garden, leaving him to decide if he wanted to follow me or not.
It was quiet; serene enough to calm the storm of trepidation raging within me, and then I caught the sight some of flowers being trimmed by Irina. It made me wonder if she had ratted me out to him or if he just found out on his own.
Filled with curiosity, I veered toward her and the moment she noticed that she was no longer alone, the shears dropped from her hands, confirming my suspicions that she was the snitch.
I could understand her motive, though.
“Are you alright, ma?” She asked softly, evading my gaze as she kept her attention on the shears on the ground.
“I might have been dead if not for my good disappearance skills. Why did you tell on me?”
She gradually lifted her face and her eyes blazed with remorse and nervousness. Guilt too. “Because if I didn’t, the boss wouldn’t hesitate in throwing me out of his house and that’s me putting it mildly. After what happened at his other house in Texas, he warned me never to allow you to stay alone with his daughter,”
“But why?” My exasperation echoed in my question.
How was I going to survive if no one wanted to accept me?
“Because she’s triggered by strangers trying to get close to her. She has post-traumatic stress disorder from her mother’s death and currently, she’s dumb. The only people she’s comfortable staying with are the boss and me. Even his brother isn’t allowed to come close. Liora is seven years old but she has missed so much in life because of her disorder,”
It was surprising that I hadn’t broken into tears after her explanation. Now I understood why Dmitri was against my getting close to her. He was trying to protect her but that wouldn’t suffice.
I had to tell him that the only way to overcome his fears was by facing it. Keeping her locked up because she would react negatively would only make her condition deteriorate and someone as beautiful as Liora should be shown to the world, not hidden.
“Thank you for telling me this. I promise I won’t do anything to put your job in danger. I’m so sorry,”
She nodded and gasped, biting her lips while peering behind me.
The hairs on my skin stood and I clutched onto my dress, counting from one to ten. Irina picked up her shears and continued trimming the flowers while I thought of several ways to prevent him from punishing me.
However, he was faster than me and he grabbed my wrist, pulling me roughly into the house. Strangely, I lacked the energy to protest about how he manhandled me even though my wrist was hurting.
He dragged me into his room and slammed the door so hard I felt the ground shake.
“I’m sorry, Dmitri…”
“Not another word from you,” He fumed. “What did I tell you?”
“You asked me to stay-”
He growled and I snapped my lips shut instantly, fiddling with my clammy fingers. My body was already jittery with fear and my legs had turned to jelly. The heat of his anger was hot enough to melt anyone.
“Why are you so adamant, Ariel?” He thundered. “Even if you hate me so much, do you have to transfer your anger to my daughter?”
I lifted my face and shook my head in disagreement.
“I thought about punishing you for putting me under so much stress when you absconded, but then I changed my mind and decided to forgive you because I thought that you were just being childish now you’ve shown me that I made a grave mistake,”
My breathing became labored and my eyes widened as I tried to correct him.
“No, please. I was just trying to help,” I chipped in.
“You weren’t,” He objected. “You were just trying to portray your hatred for me by making Liora agitated. I’d take anything you do to me but not she, and that’s why I’ll keep you locked up in the basement until you learn your lesson,” He walked toward the door while l lurched toward him. He shrugged me off roughly and halted. “I’ve been looking for a good reason to kill Freud, you just gave me one,”