Lena Martins

Chapter Eleven

"Don't worry, the right ones won't leave"

BILL'S POV

I hold back a grunt as I walk past various prisoners who are definitely louder than usual and even the guards seem unable to calm the atrocious mess

A challenge to get back to my cell where the rest of my friends were milling around, a serious expression on their faces, it would have surprised me in other circumstances but their state was understandable.

Our friend is still missing and we have absolutely no news.

"Bill" Jay slowly approached me , his Adam's apple bobbing

"Yes?"

"We've heard from Lena."

What?
Why did I have a feeling that there was bad news waiting

"She was found a week ago"

A week ago? How come we didn't know about that? Why didn't they say anything sooner?
What if she is....

"Don't tell me she's dead "

Before he could answer, we were interrupted by Lena walking in the cell, making me temporarily lose my breath, and I was pretty sure that the others had too.

Her uniform was flapping against her, she had lost a lot of weight as if she had been starving, her hair was freshly washed and sticking on her skin , her bandaged arms remained at her side while her eyes had started to stare at the ground as soon as she caught a glimpse of us.

Feeling shaky, I approached her, wanting nothing more than to give her a hug, I was very quickly rejected, having to watch our friend walk away from us as if she felt repulsion towards us, it stung but I didn't take it to heart.

Her bandages covered most of her wounds but her face couldn't fool any of us, especially her eyes.

They were so empty that you could almost mistake them for a corpse's, I have absolutely no idea what Albert did to her but this monster clearly managed to destroy her more than she already was, on the physical side and definitely on the mental side.

Our baby has suffered so much and I have to say that the fact that she is still standing in front of us makes me proud, prouder than I have been for myself.

She's not going to give up.

After suffering so much at their hands, it was impossible to spare their life and even if she decided not to do anything to them we would do something, we would take care of them because just the idea of knowing that the two people who hurt her the most are still breathing the same oxygen as her was outrageous, insulting even.

For now Lena is still traumatized by the past events and probably doesn't want to have to talk or see any of us but no matter what happens, if she decides to push us away, we won't let her down, we couldn't, even if we wanted to, we'll be there for her, all the same it won't stop us from respecting her wishes, if she wants space we'll give it to her without forcing.

With time she will realize that with one look she has all of us at her feet and that we would do anything for her because she means too much to us for us to leave her life.

LENA'S POV

I feel like a big and utter asshole.

All they have done is love, cared for me, allowed me to be myself around them without feeling judged?

By not uttering a word to them or even sparing them a glance?

Earlier Bill had tried to hug me and I had immediately rejected him as if his touch burned. He was not Albert or one of those perverted and disgusting men of the brothel but my body did not seem to understand that

When I spotted his eyes flicker with hurt, I felt my heart break even more , almost wanting to reach out my usually so joking and joyful blonde tattooed friend but he offered me a small smile that stopped me.

It was almost as if he understood me. He didn't seem to resent me or even be offended.

The others who saw the interaction between Bill and I didn't try anything with me, probably afraid that they would trigger me, they just looked at me from a distance as if they didn't want to make me feel uncomfortable and that action alone was enough to make my heart stutter and my eyes water.

They knew what I wanted before I even knew it.

I wanted time, space and they seemed willing to give it to me.

They would do anything for me, they are ready to help me to fulfill my revenge and I was ready to help them to solve the mystery revolving around the robbery that sent them here. I can't bring the dead back to life but I'm sure as hell I can find the famous friend and for some reason I doubt that he was killed too.

| Flashback |

"We were ex-robbers, we always robbed in the posh areas and occasionally banks. We did this for a living but unlike the others we only robbed,sometimes we had to fire shots to scare the ones who tried to rebel themselves but there was no physical harm, no killing . In the beginning we did it to survive to be able to afford food and everything we needed to live. We were the forgotten of the society. Little by little we got richer and had more than enough to get out of this shitty country and peacefully live for the rest of our lives but when a friend came to ask for our help after he got into trouble and had a debt to pay that was greater than our earnings, we were forced to do one last heist to help him out . At the time there were 5 of us; Zayn,Adam ,Nathan and me . " Bill said Nathan with a hint of bitterness
" Nathan double-crossed us and in his greed, he left us and ran off with all the money and gold we had stolen . By the time we came up with a plan to get out of there safely, the cops were already there " He chews on his bottom lip

"What about your friend, his debt and Nathan?"

"We never heard from our friend ever again, he may have made it out but the chances are slim or he got killed which is more likely. As for Nathan, he didn't get very far. A few weeks later it was discovered that he was murdered, but we never knew by whom and for what reasons."

"Oh shit "

"I know" he chuckles

"So... do you have family that visits from time to time? ".

"No, we are all orphans who were taken in by a foster family that neglected and despised us, no matter how hard we tried, we were not enough, never enough. 10 years ago they threw us out, leaving us without a roof over our heads or food to live on and no one seemed to care."