AllFreeNovel
Share Us
If only we survive through this...I thought as darkness closed upon my sense.
4
Lucia
My brother forced me to return home. The blacked-suited men who accompanied him dragged me away. No matter how much I protested, they turned a deaf ear to me, remaining like silent boulders of muscle whose sole intention was to follow Callum’s command.
An hour crawled by while I waited for him to return with John, Rafael, and Danny. Sitting by the window, I gazed out toward the gates in the distance, hoping they’d return soon.
Anxiety gripped me by the throat. I still had no information on Dad. Callum refused to give me any detail about the accident. He wouldn’t even tell where Dad had been admitted.
He’s punishing me, I realized, remembering the way my brother liked enforcing emotional abuse rather than physical blows.
Callum gave me the silent treatment whenever he got mad at me. Only after I’d apologized and cried my eyes out, he’d agree to talk to me again. Back then, I’d been too young to recognize his ways.
I’d almost forgotten what he was like during these past five years. His absence transformed me from a sullen, quiet child to a happy young woman who enjoyed the company of her close friends and loved hanging out in book stores.
Mere hours passed since Callum came crashing into my life and I was already an anxious, sobbing mess.
Please let John and his brothers be okay, I prayed, hoping Callum wouldn’t hurt them.
The purr of a car’s engine startled me.
Sitting up, I peered out of the window. Callum’s silver Mercedes was almost at the main entrance of the house.
Wiping off the tears clinging to my lashes, I jumped off my perch and dashed down the hallway to reach the staircase. My feet flew down the steps, eager to reach the entrance hall.
Callum was just entering through the door when I reached the room. I desperately ran past him to stare all around the empty lawn.
No matter which direction I looked in, I couldn’t see John, Rafael, or Danny.
“What are you doing?” Callum’s voice came through the door. “It’s cold. Come inside already.”
I marched back inside the house and faced my brother who’d sat down one of the couches.
“Where are they?” I demanded in a loud voice.
“Who?”
“Where’s John, Rafael, and Danny?”
“Forget about them, sweetie,” he said with a satisfied grin. “They’ll never bother you again.”
“What do you mean, Callum?” I asked, feeling a surge of fear chilling the blood in my veins. “This is their home. They don’t have anywhere else to go.”
“They’re dead, Lucia,” Callum said in a calm tone. “Stop with your tantrums already.”
“How can they be dead?” I asked, refusing to believe a thing my brother said.
“They’re dead. They’re never coming back.”
An ache went through my chest. “You’re lying,” I shouted in a broken voice.
He fixed me with an exasperated look. “I’m not lying. I took them to the same place you picked them up from. They’re dead and rotting away in a pile of garbage.”
I ran toward my brother with raised fists. “Tell me where they are!” I shouted, hitting him viciously. “Bring them to me right now!”
“Stop it!” Callum roared, grabbing my wrists and throwing me onto the couch. With a deft move, he straddled my legs with his thighs and used his weight to pin me to the sofa.
