All I Need

Chapter 47 - Goodbye

Kaia

It felt like my heart was going to explode inside my body. My pulse was beating so fast that it couldn't have possibly been healthy. I should see a doctor after I kill Nathaniel, or within the next two minutes to make sure I didn't die from a fucking heart attack.

What gave it away?

Did Nasir rat me out? Maybe...maybe he said something before he died. Maybe he exposed me for who I was, and Elias just kept it quiet until today. But what if he didn't know for sure? What if he didn't know at all, and he was just asking because he was curious?

Less than five minutes ago, Elias fingered me into telling him that I was a liar. I just came all over his hand, and now I was faced with a life-and-death decision. Do I tell the truth, and have Alexander kill me as he promised? Or do I give him a fake name, and hope for the best?

I'd experienced so much fear and anxiety in my twenty-three years of living.

I'd been sexually assaulted more times than I could count. I'd been beaten by men when I tried to tell them no.

I had to see my brother come home every week with a new stab or bullet wound. I had to hold him in my arms, attempting to stop the bleeding when I thought he was going to die.

I watched my parents fight when I was a kid, afraid that one day my father would snap and do something he couldn't take back.

I watched my mother slowly deteriorate until she couldn't even recognize her children anymore, until one day she didn't wake up.

This was one of those times when I wished I could vanish out of thin air. I wished my skin would stop vibrating from nervousness, and I wished my hands would stop shaking so much.

But most of all, I wished I could take it back. I wished I never came here. I wished I never met Elias and went along with my father's plan. I wished I could exist in a world where I didn't have to lie anymore.

I didn't even know how long it had been since he asked the question. Time seemed to slow down as I thought of the outcomes of this situation and how badly it could end for me.

"You..." I trailed, unsure how to answer. Unsure whether he thought I was sweating because I was afraid, or because he just touched me so intimately. "You want to know my father's name? That's your question?"

"Uhh...yes." his voice was shaky like he was just as nervous as I was. Elias continued to stare at the ground in front of him like he couldn't even bear to look me in the face. "That is my question."

"My father's name," I started speaking before I even knew what to say. "My father's name is--"

"Why did nobody invite me to breakfast?"

When I tell you I could have jumped out of my seat and kissed Rachel on the mouth, I mean it. That would be the only way to express my happiness, although I frankly wanted nothing other than for her to be dead. But she saved my ass. I could never tell her how grateful I was.

She appeared beside our table, dragging a chair up and sitting on the side, in between Elias and me. Rachel was wearing a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a hot pink top with some horrible floral design. It was truly atrocious, I had no idea how Mr. Torres even dated that.

Her blond hair was tied in a low ponytail, draping over her left shoulder. She obnoxiously took the fork straight from my hand and started eating my pancakes like they were hers. I let her do it. Anything to distract Elias from the question I had not answered yet.

"Kaia, sweetheart, are you alright?" her tone was sarcastic. Her blue eyes met mine, and I could tell from just looking into them that she was about to cause some sort of commotion. "You look terribly pale. Is something wrong?"