Lucas sighed when he found out he’s running short of gas. He left the orphanage a few minutes ago and dropped by a grocery store where he picked up a few things.
He wants to make it up to Sia for coming late by cooking for her, though he’s the least bit sorry ’cause he had wanted to go see the girls immediately after they returned from Yevpatoriya but work tied him down.
Lucas stayed at the orphanage, chitchatting, listening to their stories, and playing hide and seek with them until they got tired. Then they began star-gazing. Actually, he taught them how to star-gaze and Nica couldn’t stop talking about it.
“I’ll do this every day before I go to sleep.” She rambled, curling up on Lucas’s chest.
His connection with the girls is growing every single day. He loves the effects their company gives him. He so loves them that if given the opportunity to adopt them, he’s so going to adopt them.
But the thing is, adopting the girls will mean extract work and he’s not really chanced to be looking out for someone else at the moment.
Unless if he adopts them he’s going to employ a nanny who’d look after them when he’s not around. On a second thought, Lucas feels that adopting the girls would give Sia the impression that he desperately wants a child which is half true.
Yes, he’d love them to have a baby but he’s not desperate for one. At least, he fancies the relationship he has with Sia at the moment and so he’s working toward that together.
Looking at his wristwatch, Lucas saw it’s almost ten at night so he steered his car toward a gas station to have a refill.
Lucas rolled close to one of the pumps and had his fuel tank refilled before diving back onto the road. Just a few miles away from the gas station his phone buzzed.
He looked over at the screen and sighted a private number. He decidedly slide his finger across the screen to take the call.
Lucas’s heart slammed to a stop when he heard a woman panting and crying and croaking into the phone. His stomach turned a ball of nerves as he wondered who was on the line and her reason for being so worked up and worried.
He cleared his throat, shuts his eyes, and fluttered his ears to make meaning of her ramble. Futile, Lucas spewed into the phone. “Calm down please so I can hear you.”
He heard the person take a gulping breath and he tilted his head against the steering wheel after he parked by the roadside to take the call.
“Mr. Lucas. They just came and said something and then they took her away.” Michelle rushed her words as a result of the panic state she’s in.
Nothing of this sort has ever happened before. Sia couldn’t have killed her own husband because she has no heart to do so. All this is Silas’s plan to take over the family.
Silas has wanted this for so long that he will do whatever it takes to become the ruler of the family. He has been at Monson’s neck from the very moment he was pronounced the new ruler and now he’s facing Sia?
What scares Michelle the most is that the measure he took this time around might warrant to Sia ending up behind bars for the atrocities she didn’t commit.
Sia didn’t kill Monson.
Sia didn’t kill Rose Monson.
It’s all an accusation and she deserves justice.
Lucas was confused by her words. The sentence came out vague, hence he demanded clarification.
“I don’t understand. Could you please come more clear? Who did they take away?” He asked, feeling the slow pulsating of his heart.
“Mr. Lucas, they took Sia away. I’ve been trying to reach you but your number wasn’t connecting.” Michelle’s ramble of words made Lucas’s eyes to dilate in shock.
“Sia was taken away?” The question streamed off his lips in a drawl. “Who took her away?”
That’s it. Confirming what she was rambling about is the only proof his heart needed to start thumping crazily against the wall of his chest. He grinds his teeth and runs his fingers through his hair. Frustration ate at his gut.
“The police!” Michelle announced and Lucas slammed his back against the leather seat, words failed to come off his lips.
No, no, no, it can’t be. His mind howled.
What could Sia have done to warrant being arrested? He questions himself.
“What the heck happened?” He blurts out.
Michelle hiccupped and Lucas heard it clearly. He could tell she already cried herself to oblivion before collecting her features to put him on a call.
“She was accused of killing Mr. Monson and having a hand in Rose Monson’s death.” She herald. Michelle heard Lucas fist his steering wheel, making her jerk.
Lucas drew in a long breath and pinched his flaring nose to rein on his anger.
“Thanks. I need to head to the station.” He gushed and without waiting for a reply from Michelle he hung up and steered toward the station.
**
She sat on the cot like the abandoned girl she was years ago. Only this time she’s not looking haggard. She has no tousled hair nor blotches on her skin. This time she looks and smells rich. This time she’s a billionaire.
So she sat like an abandoned billionaire but looking at her reflection in the mirror she sees the girl she was six years ago. The one who cried and longed for comfort. The one who lost her mother and the one who lost the baby she give birth to the night before.
Only this time, she’s not wandering the streets, looking for somewhere to warm her skin against the frosty night.
This time she’s in a cell. Somewhere she never thought she’d find herself in.
She’s biting on her lip to refrain the tears threatening to gush out. She glued her eyes to the mirror wondering what her mother would think of her wherever she is.
‘I didn’t kill him. I didn’t kill him.’ She repeatedly said in her heart. She’s trying to recollect everything that happened the day and night before Monson was declared a dead man.
That’s the reason she pegged her stare on the mirror while her mind rotates back to the things she shelved in the recesses of her mind.
It’s slowly becoming clear. And slowly the tears she wanted to rein on are slipping from her eye duct like a waterfall.
‘So, this is it. This is the reason I changed that night? This is the reason. It all makes sense now.’ She hummed inside her.
Flicking her hands across her face, she wiped the tears.
“Someone’s here to see you.” Sia heard the bailiff say as she opened her door. The chains rattled, lancing through the quiet room. She shot to her feet and charged after the bailiff to the waiting room.
The instant she planted her feet there and beheld him, her heart dropped to her stomach and a stifled smile crossed her lips.
Lucas lunged forward and held her in a tight embrace. When they parted, he crushed his lips on her forehead.
“Baby, have a seat.” He shooed her to sit down.
Sia awkwardly settled on the seat. Her hands trembling.
“Thank you for coming…”
“Don’t thank me. It’s my responsibility to ensure you’re safe. I promised you that until forever and I’m not going anywhere, my love.” Lucas said assuredly, flicking his fingers across her knuckles.
Sia tilted her lips up in a forced smile. “I’m tired. I just came back from work.” She grumbled, hunkering her head low. Standing up, Lucas rounded her back and pressed his fingers softly on her head.
“I’m here to make you comfortable, baby..” He said sweetly to her ears. “Who did this?” He asked.
Without wasting time, Sia responded. “Silas!”
“Shit! I fucking suspected that.” Lucas grumbled under his breath.