a change of heart | e.k

Chapter Eleven

Domino observed Lane as she stared blankly ahead.

She couldn't imagine what the girl was going through. Perhaps it'd been cruel, but she'd been standing around the corner as Lane's father revealed everything he'd done. She hadn't been able to bring herself to intercept sooner. It was almost hypnotic, the way he slowly unraveled his actions during the past few months.

Domino broke the silence. "I'm so sorry, Lane."

She witnessed, for the first time since they'd met, Lane crying. The girl sniffled and rubbed a sleeve under her eye, not meeting Domino's gaze. "I jus don't know what ta do."

Slowly, Domino approached. "You do what we talked about before yer faddah ruined everythin'. Yer gonna go back, 'n yer gonna face Frisks, you'll probably find a way ta end all dis on yer own, 'n everyone will live happily ev-ah aft-ah."

"What about Trek?"

"I dunno," she admitted. "But... I guess we'll-"

"If you say trek dat path again, yer gonna be in for it," Lane warned stiffly.

"No," Domino assured. "I was gonna say I guess we'll have ta think 'a places he could be."

Lane grunted. Clearly, it wasn't the right thing to say. "I really expected him ta be different, y'know? Even with all dat he'd done... I didn't think he could ev-ah betray me like dat." She sighed, resigned. "I've been let down by too many folks. I shoulda seen it comin'."

"He's yer faddah," said Domino. "No one's gonna hold dat against you."

She shook her head, leaning back on the bench they sat on. "You heard how detailed his plan was. You know we ain't gonna be able ta stop him now. But if I'd jus been a bit strong-ah..."

"No one expected you ta kill him," Domino said quickly. She'd long since recognized these patterns in Lane's thoughts. Lane figured, sooner or later, everything would come back to her and her own failures. And then she'd spend hours thinking about how she could've twisted fate, made it work in her favour. But that simply wasn't the way the world worked.

She knew, because she thought often the same way.

Her mother had been brought up. If Delancey hadn't been lying, her mother was alive. She suddenly knew exactly how Lane had felt when she'd gotten news from Snyder about her own father's survival. Domino had merely brushed it off at first, thinking it impossible and a waste of time as Lane continued searching for answers.

How ashamed she was now.

All she knew was that Maria Hinley was out in the city somewhere, waiting to be found. That, she was sure of. Who could possibly enjoy being with the likes of Kyle Delancey? With this thought, it occurred to her that that was the way Lane had grown up. Manipulated and discarded by the man who was currently holding her mother hostage. She suddenly had an overwhelming sense of sympathy for the girl across from her. How had she done it? How had she managed to endure all of that and still come out with hope that her father was a man with something resembling a heart?

She didn't know. But she knew she didn't want the same thing happening to her mother.

She would find her.

Domino turned to look at the crying girl beside her, opening her arms hesitantly. Lane slowly leaned into the embrace, sobbing into her shoulder for the man she'd once known.

It was Domino's turn to take risks.

She would find her.

A few days later, when they found the heart-wrenching letter sent to them by the newsies, it was only made more clear what she had to do. And how she was to do it.