MERCEDES | SEBASTIAN STAN

THIRTY FOUR

TRUTH

034.
❝Sebastian, I think you need to come over.❞

━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━

Bentley sprinted through the front door, swung it open and letting out a deep breath. His hands rested on his knees as he panted.

"I'm so so sorry that I'm late, mamá, I lost my phone and I couldn't-" His eyes flickered up to his mother, father and siblings who were all stood in front of him an anxious look on their faces.

"Bentley, have you seen your sister today?" Lucía questioned her son.

"No, mamá, why what's happened?" He looked around the room and saw the three officers stood in the corner of the kitchen talking to his father. "Where's Mercedes?"

Bentley couldn't stop his hands from shaking. The last time she went missing was eighteen years ago when she was taken.

"Mamá." He looked across to his siblings. Astra had clearly being crying and Cruz was only just reigning his tears in. "Cruz?"

"You didn't answer your phone. We tried to call you." Cruz spoke up but nobody missed the way his voice shook.

This was his worst nightmare, losing his baby sister again. He barely coped last time, he couldn't go through something like that again.

"I lost my phone. It's why I'm late. I-I was looking for it." Bentley stuttered, his bottom lip quivering slightly. "Cruz, where is Mercedes?"

"Lexus is missing." Lucía spoke calmly. Her voice didn't shake and her face remained expressionless.

Something in Bentley snapped once he heard the name. He heard his sister's cries and he couldn't take it anymore.

"She hates being called that. Don't fucking call her that. You know she hates it." Bentley shouted. "It's Mercedes." His knee's buckled beneath him and he fell to the floor, covering his mouth as he let out a sob.

Cruz rushed over to his younger brother, his hands gripped his bicep firmly and pulled him up off the ground.

"Astra, vamos." Cruz instructed his younger sister to follow him.

He lead the pair into Bentley bedroom, which was the closest. He sat Bentley on the bed and Astra sat beside him.

The dark haired boy paced back and forth, his hand running down his face frustratedly. He bit his lip and tried his hardest to hold back his tears.

"How much do you remember from when Lou went missing?" Cruz questioned, turning and facing his younger siblings.

His tone was almost snappy but both, Bentley and Astra knew it was just because he was frustrated.

"Nothing." Astra whispered, she was only three went the event occurred and only knew things because she read about them on the internet or from what her parents had mentioned.

"Bits and pieces." Bentley grabbed Astra's hand. His thumbs ran over her knuckles soothingly.

Cruz knelt down in front of his younger siblings, placing a hand on each of their knees so that they would give him their full attention.

"If this is like last time, if the same thing happens again." He was getting choked up just thinking about it. "We'll find her. We won't rest until we do. But you guys need to stay strong."

"Someone should call Sebastian and Fleur." Astra whispered, resting her head against Bentley's shoulders.

Cruz jumped up, nobody had called them yet.

"Dios, ¿cómo pude ser tan estúpido?" Cruz questioned himself as he pulled out his phone to call Fleur.

The phone rang a few times, causing a pit to form in his stomach. If she didn't answer either then maybe it was both of them who had gone.

"Cruz, is everything okay?" Fleur said softly. Cruz never called her unless it was important.

"Is Mercedes there?" Cruz questioned almost instantly.

"No. Why? Is everything okay?" Fleur asked, her voice laced with concern. Her heart started to race once he remained silent. "Cruz, what's going on?"

Cruz's hopeful smile fell from his face and his siblings knew that it meant that Mercedes wasn't with Fleur either.

"Fuck." Cruz's heart was pounding and he hated it. "She's gone again, Fleur. She's gone."

"I'm coming over. I'll be there in two hours." Fleur announced as she ended the call.

Bentley felt his sister's sobbing become more hysteric. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into his chest. He knew it wouldn't bring her the comfort that she needed but he had hoped it would help.

Cruz's thumb hovered over Sebastian's number. When at comic con, Mercedes gave it him incase there was an emergency and she wasn't able to answer her phone.

"Sebastian?" Cruz questioned as he answered the phone almost instantly. "Is Mercedes there?"

"No. Why?" Sebastian furrowed his brows, not quite understanding why Cruz thought that Mercedes would be with him.

"She's not answering her phone and I-we think she's gone missing." Cruz stuttered over his words.

"She'll just be off doing her own thing, don't worry." Sebastian attempted to reassure the girls older brother.

That was when Cruz realised that Sebastian probably had no clue about his sisters past. He had been kept completely in the dark and even if he searched up 'Mercedes Colemen', he wouldn't get the truth.

"Sebastian, I think you need to come over." Cruz said, trying to remain calm as he spoke.

But he knew that he would have to explain to Sebastian why they were so worried about Mercedes being missing.

"Is everything okay?" Sebastian asked anxiously.

"Sebastian, please, just come over. Fleur will be here when you arrive."