Seven

Chapter 75

LILIANNA'S POV

Seven follows me ingeniously, unsuspecting of the certitude I will be serving him. I have no idea how he will take the words scribbled in my fathers journal that I came across last night. I stayed up till the early morning reading my fathers rushed and haunting account of what took place over many years of his time by Ivan, Seven's fathers side.

He doesn't say anything as he follows through the trees a step behind me. I can hear the twigs snapping under our feet, the fallen autumn leaves now damp and rotting as the winter cold rots them on the forest floor. My fathers journal pressed to my chest as I walk us down the uneven steps to the concrete platform.

It feels strange being here. I came back once since Seven left. It wasn't long after I had got out of the hospital, I was so desperate for some kind of nature far from a building or any beeping equipment. I just wanted some peace and this place came to mind. It took me some time to properly locate it on my maps for an Uber to bring me here, but I found it eventually. I sat alone on the platform that day for hours, thinking about everything and nothing all at once. I had never thought I would ever come back here again after that and most definitely didn't think I would be returning with Seven.

It looks different now; the once inviting turquoise waters are dark and choppy with the wind, the sun hides behind the clouds but it is still as magical a place as I remember. When I feel Seven's warm hand reach for my own I turn around to him, glancing down at his touch. My hand tingles from the simple gesture but he drops it quickly.

"You're probably wondering why I asked you to drive us out here." I look over his tired face as I speak, inspecting it closely. Counting the three freckles by his mouth.

"I hope it's not to swim." Seven jokes dryly. I can tell from his lack of smirk he is wary.

"I brought you here because this is where your parents were married." I drop my first revelation on him. Seven's parents were not a contractual pairing for the sake of procreation like he had told me. In fact his parents were very much a couple. A couple in love, who lived together and got married. Right in this very spot we're standing in.

"I know." He surprises me by saying.

"You know?" I don't hide my surprise.

"Not that this is where they were married but I know they were married. I only recently found out." Seven looks around the platform, taking it in with new meaning.

"How did you know?" He asks me.

"My fathers journal. He and your mother's sister were their witnesses." I explain gesturing to the worn book.

"So you know about your mother staying with your father? She raised you until-"

"Until she was killed when I was three. Yeah I know." Again I'm surprised he knows this but also relieved I am not the one breaking the important news to him.

"And you know about your sisters?" I question. He had talked about his siblings only a few times to me but I could tell he cared about them. I was heart broken to read my fathers accounts of Ivan and Larissa's heartbreaks with their children.

"You mean my lack of sisters? I have one that survived, Mya. She lives with my aunt somewhere, no one can find them." Seven looks out over the water.

"Do you want to find her?" I ask curiously.

"Why?" He snaps his head to look at me.

"Do you know where they are?" He asks.

"No, no I don't know. I was just wondering." I answer honestly. I wish I knew where his sister was, but not even my father knew and he wagered that Ivan didn't even know the location of his sister in law and daughters hiding place. Wherever it is I just hope it's as far away from Victor as possible. The accusations my father made against Victor being involved somehow in the death of one of Seven's siblings who was a baby at the time made me physically sick. But the more I read about Victor the less it shocked me of the awful things he did.