POV: Eloise
“Then tell me! Just tell me what’s going on!” she begged me, my heart racing. She looked into my eyes, looking so sad. She stretched her hand and placed it on my shoulder, for a brief moment it looked as if she wanted to say something to me, but she hesitated and withdrew her hand from my shoulder, turning away from me and sobbing into her palms, looking so pitiful and pathetic.
I have the urge to tell her the truth, I really want to but I can’t do it. It would break her heart and crush her spirit. God, she would hate me for the rest of her life, she would never speak with me again and I will go back to being childless and lonely again.
“I can’t… I can’t, I just don’t want to talk about it. It’s too dangerous and it’s now in my past. Just stop asking questions and listen to me, Victoria. Listen to your mother, for once, listen to me.” I told her firmly, turning to look into her eyes, her teary sad eyes that break my heart to look at. She looked devastated, I could tell that she wanted to yell at the top of her voice and scream at me like never before.
But Victoria has always been a perfect child with a good heart. She could never hurt a fly, she cannot say something to hurt me or anyone else. The tears in my eyes are like a trigger warning to her, she would never hurt me as long as I have these tears in my eyes. That’s the only reason why she is holding back, and that is the only way I am going to convince her to listen to me and do exactly what I say. I will have to capitalize on her soft heart and manipulate her to do exactly what I want.
“Dangerous?
What do you mean, dangerous?
Is Miguel a bad person, is he dangerous, is he going to hurt me?
Tell me everything, Mom, don’t hold back Mom, you’re scaring me!” she begged in fear, looking very confused.
“Good! You should be scared!” I snapped at her, my voice rising again to show dominance and control. I have to be fierce and stern with her to force her to listen, and at the same time, I still have to be manipulative and extremely calculative to keep the situation under control and blackmail her emotionally to get what I want.
“You don’t know what you’re playing with, Victoria!
Stop seeing that boy and stay away from him. The Myers family, they are so bad, so evil. They have a history, a dark history. They use people and hurt them, and try to manipulate everyone in this city to do their bidding. Do you think you can just waltz into their lives and everything will be fine? You have no idea what you’re getting into!
They are worse than your father, they will not accept you into their lives, and they will hurt you and break your spirit. Just listen to me, please,” I told her, sounding a bit stern and yet pleading for her to listen to me.
“What do you mean? What history?” she kept asking, refusing to listen to me. This was more easier when she was younger, she used to listen to everything I said, and she used to be more submissive. She started thinking for herself and doing her own things when she met Raphael Hawkins. He’s the reason my family is in the spotlight today, he’s the reason why everything is falling apart around me.
I’ve tried so hard to keep my family under the radar and avoid unnecessary attention. Even when Austin threatened to hurt me, I still endured it all because of them. I endured his torture and humiliation just so he wouldn’t expose my secret and destroy my family. After all my hard work and suffering, these bastards want to ruin it for me and turn my girls against me.
Never!
I won’t let that happen, not on my watch. I was deep in thought for a few minutes and my expression softened for a moment, revealing a flash of weakness. She took a few steps close to me, holding my hand, bringing me back to reality. I jerked my hands off hers and restored my stern gaze, glaring at her fiercely,
“They’re not who they seem. I don’t want you involved with them. I’ve lost your sister, I can’t lose you too, I can’t bear that pain, I won’t survive it. I’ll just die,” I told her sadly, crying pathetically and reminding her of her sister’s betrayal.
“I’m not going anywhere, Mom. I’m here. But you need to trust me. I can handle things.” She assured me, pulling me into her arms. Her eyes filled with tears, and for a brief moment, her fierce anger melted into sadness and I realized immediately that bringing up her sister gets her to feel sorry for me.
“I just want to protect you, my baby. I’ve lost too much already. I still miss Claire, I have nobody but you, and you are soon going to leave me too,” I sobbed, turning away from her to cry into my palm. She stepped forward, wrapping her arms around me, feeling the tremors of fear and love mixed together.
“I’m not going to let anyone take me away from you. But I need you to talk to me. Please. I’m going crazy mom, I have so many questions I want to ask you and I don’t even know where to begin. ” she sobbed along with me, holding me so tightly. It was in that fragile moment that I realized that if I wanted to restore the love and unity in my family, I needed to take my girls out of here, I needed to take them far away from here.
The world outside faded, leaving only the two of us, bound by fear, love, and the unspoken darkness that loomed over our lives, a darkness that is inevitably coming towards us. You know, actually wanted to give her a chance to break up with him and end her friendship herself, but that’s not going to happen, not now not ever.
Her curiosity is making her tougher and harder to deal with. She is beginning to ask the very question that I never wanted her to ask me. Right now, she is so hell-bent on getting answers to all the questions in her head and that is not good for me. Out of curiosity, I decided to ask her what questions she was referring to just to be sure I was not overthinking things.
“Not now Mom, you need to get some sleep.” She told me sadly, trying to get me to walk towards the stairs and go back upstairs. But I held her hand firmly and stopped her, looking her in the eyes,
“Ask, Victoria. I’m here to answer all your questions.” I told her with a warm smile, coaxing her to tell the truth.
“I don’t know if it’s the right time to be bringing this up Mom, but I need you to tell me the truth about the rumors that Claire spoke about. She said Dad is right about our paternity, is that true Mom?
I don’t want to believe what anyone is saying. I want the truth to come from you mom, it’s only you that I’ll believe because only you can tell me the truth.” She told me, smiling warmly at me. I returned her smile, holding her hands and looking into her eyes,
“It’s all lies, my daughter. They just want to tear us apart,” I told her.