𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝘆 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗲

34- 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀

Elias walked past the front gate to the Romero Mansion, a bag in hand containing pancakes and French toast. It was Natalia's favourite, which is why he left early in the morning to surprise her.

In the other hand, he held a cup holder with two coffees in it, but he dropped them to the floor once he saw what was in front of him. Brown liquid stained the concrete floor beneath him as he looked at the sight in front of him.

The Romero Mansion was on fire.

He rushed towards the building, smoke filling his lungs as he saw Azaiah holding Amara close to his chest. Beside them, Ines was comforting Arabella whilst Enzo stood behind them both.

"What's going on?" Elias asked as Enzo turned around.

"Natalia is still in there, she's not going to make it," He regrettably told him, but then they all turned around- expressionless looks on their faces.

"It's your fault," They all spoke in unison. "You left her in there to die."

Elias' heart was racing now, looking towards the Mansion as tears fell down his face. It had happened again. But the next words that they said tore his heart open.

"She's dead because of you."

Elias woke up, startled as he sat up in his bed. Looking beside him, he wished to see Natalia, but she wasn't there. "Natalia?" He spoke, his heart rate increasing as his panic grew.

"Natalia!" He was shouting now, anxiety clawing inside at him as his breathing became quicker, frantically looking for Natalia.

"I was just brushing my-" Natalia started, walking out of the bathroom but stopping as she saw Elias.

Without saying another word, Natalia rushed over to him, wrapping her arms around him. Elias embraced her, hugging her tightly and afraid to let go.

"Y-you were gone. It was on fire...and you were in it," Elias spoke, his body trembling as Natalia held onto him.

"I'm not going anywhere, Ellie," She assured him, "it's just the two of us, forever."

"Always," Elias breathed into the crook of her neck, his heart rate settling and his breathing coming close to normality.

They stayed in each other's embrace for a while, not saying a word. Natalia didn't truly know how much her death affected him, and she knew this was just a small portion of his pain- but even this killed her inside to see.

"Do you remember what happened at that hotel? When you had that nightmare?" Natalia asked, her voice soft and gentle.

"I couldn't forget," Elias told her. It wasn't only because of Natalia's company, but because of the nightmare he had that night.

"What was it? Your nightmare?" Natalia asked, careful at approaching the question as Elias swallowed the lump in his throat.

"If you don't want to tell me, it's-" Natalia started but Elias cut her off.

"No, I want to tell you," Elias spoke as Natalia sat back, ready to listen to whatever he was going to tell her.

"I did have a girlfriend once before as a teenager. It wasn't really a relationship and I didn't really love her, it more like friends with benefits- but we were still friends," Elias started, cutting himself off as he started to look distant.

"Darius forced me to shoot her after I broke his rules. He said I shouldn't care for anything and that's exactly what I did- I stopped caring," Elias continued and Natalia placed a soothing hand on his arm.