Page 90 of Harbor

The days crawled by before Lucia really understood what was happening. One melted into two, then three, and four. It was like a daze had come to settle over her, and no matter what she tried to do to rid herself it, the bitch clung on. It kept her quiet, and stuck in her head. Replaying moment after moment, making her see mistake after mistake, and the only thing she knew for certain was that Renzo’s freedom had been sacrificed for hers.

She knew it more now than ever as she watched a handcuffed, and still bruised Renzo be taken from the back of a Sherriff’s van and then dragged past waiting reporters as they did what her family would call a perp walk. He looked like hell—like he hadn’t showered in days, and he didn’t get a wink of sleep, either. His gaze drifted to the camera, and paused for a second before focusing on something else.

She saw it, though.

In his eyes … he looked dead.

It wasn’t like she had anything else to do except watch the goddamn news. Her father took away anything she might use to contact someone—her phone, laptop, and tablets. Her house was on fucking lockdown, now. Enforcers all over the place the second she stepped outside for a breath of fresh air, or just to get away from her dad.

Her mother wasn’t so bad. Jordyn mostly left her alone, and let her do her own thing. She didn’t attempt conversation because frankly, Lucia wasn’t willing to talk to begin with.

Her father was an entirely different story.

Tension didn’t begin to describe what was happening between the two of them, honestly. She hadn’t spoken one word to her father since that night on the porch. If she could help it, she didn’t even look at him. Sometimes, he tried … she would dead stare at nothing until he finally walked away.

Whatever worked, really.

So, yeah.

All she had was the goddamn news.

Lucia had been scouring the news channels for days in search of anything about Renzo. Or even about Diego. But since Diego was still a minor, apparently someone had put a media ban on his name. So other than the information that had been shared about the Amber Alert for the boy, nothing else was being said.

Renzo was another story.

Charged with kidnapping, and robbery. Grand theft auto, too. It seemed some of their mess had gone by unnoticed, like Vegas. Lucia didn’t know whether she should be grateful for that … or terrified. According to the reports she had seen, the police were looking for a dark-haired girl who had been reportedly seen with Renzo. They had a first name, they said, but they weren’t releasing it to the public just yet. The first public briefing the police chief did let her know that Renzo wasn’t saying anything, and denied anyone else had been with him and Diego.

That just made Lucia cold all over.

His freedom for hers.

Lucia felt numb as the news program switched back from showing Renzo to the anchors at the station. They discussed the event, and the fact that the child in question was reportedly safe in CPS custody. That made Lucia want to be fucking sick.

“You’re quite lucky, seems he isn’t talking at all,” came a voice behind Lucia.

She didn’t even turn to face her father. She hadn’t heard him come into the living room, but now that she knew he was there, she certainly wasn’t going to acknowledge his presence. Not that it seemed to matter to him. He kept talking regardless.

“See, for all the effort I have had to go through in order to scrub your presence from a lot of this mess … to keep you safe, it would have meant nothing if that young man decided to open his mouth and give you up,” Lucian murmured. “Had to wait and see if he would, I suppose. I couldn’t be sure.”

Lucia refused to speak.

She wouldn’t.

Even if she did want to tell her father to go fuck himself.

Lucian came around the side of the couch to sit on the arm. He rolled up the sleeve of his dress shirt on the right arm until it was firm around his elbow. He did the same to the left side, never looking at her all the while. Not that she gave a damn. She couldn’t stand to be near him, but he didn’t seem to understand.

It was easier to say nothing at all.

“See, that is something you seemed to forget,” her father said, glancing up to meet her cold gaze. “You are my blood—made from half of me, Lucia. And because of that, because you are mine, I will always protect you first. But him … I couldn’t have cared less about him. Right now, that doesn’t matter. You need to understand that you’re staring at his future. He’s not getting out.”

Her throat tightened.

Lucian nodded. “Still nothing to say to me?”

“Telling you that I hate you doesn’t seem to be good enough, really.”

And nothing she would say would be enough. That was the problem. She was never going to be able to tell her father all the things she felt. She would never be able to say enough to hurt him the way she was hurting.