Eyes So Blue I Drown

31| Little Girl

ARABELLA

Once I make her sit in the bed, beside me, my mind filled with so many questions. "Your mamma? Where's she?" I ask her

She nods her head, smilingly, "Vivo con lei. Mamma"

What did she say? I feel her mom is here too, because of the smile she had.

Suddenly, Lucius shows up and a smile touches Lucius' lips when he sees Tess. "Oh so you guys have finally met each other" he clamors.

I look at him with blank expression. Who is she to him? He offers a small bag to Tess, "Ecco i tuoi cioccolatini. Vai in camera tua, ci vediamo lì"

Hearing him, she stares at me. "Resterai qui?" she asks in a small voice.

"What did she say?" I ask Lucius.

"Asked if you'd stay here"

I smile, "I'd be leaving soon, Tess"

Lucius translates it to her and her face breaks. My heart drops to my stomach. Kids are so... intriguing. The quality of intensity they surround you with could never be ignored by you.

"Puoi... stare qui per un giorno?" she plead.

I look at Lucius and then back at her. "She asked if you could stay here for a bit," he tells. That's the last request I could imagine hearing from a child. "Tess, deve andarsene urgentemente" Lucius tries to make her understand but she shakes her head.

"Voglio che rimanga qui. Sarà così felice di incontrare la mia mamma" she cries out.

"No Tess, ha avuto una giornata davvero faticosa e ha bisogno di riposo--"

"Allora perché non può riposare qui?" her voice calms down, she fists the shirt of Lucius on his stomach and pulls speaking something in Italian.

Lucius sighs tiredly and was about to say something but I interrupt, "Lucius, it's ok, I can stay here for a day if it's fine for you. I'll leave early in the morning tomorrow" I tell and look at Tess, "Is that fine?"

Lucius tells her in Italian and she smiles brightly before nodding.

Once she left with a small bag of chocolates, Lucius stood against me. "Who is she?" I ask.

"My niece,"

"And where are her parents?" I ask, "I'm sorry I'm just curious"

He sighs, "It's ok, my brother and his wife died in an accident last year. I adopted her. She misses them alot"

That poor girl. "I'm so sorry." A moment of silence falls between us.

"Mamma" we hear Tess' voice. Who is she talking with?

"She... still tries to talk to her mother" Lucius' voice was laced with grief by now, "I need to check on her"

How cruel this world can be with such a little innocent kid. I sigh sadly, sometimes empathy hits so hard. 

After Lucius left me alone, I try calling Luca. It rings, and it keeps ringing. I dial again and hear the beeps sound numerous times.

Somebody picks it up and I put it on speaker, "Who is this?" Fantino's voice comes and I smile, at least somebody answered the call.

"I'm Arabella. I wanted to inform you that--"
"Boss! Arabella is on the call" he shouts and I pause, "where are you? He has all of us here running on thin ice for you"

"I-" the sound of mobile grasping away from one hand to another filled the air around me. But no sound came from there for the first five seconds.

"Where are you" his clear tone now is undercut with a choking heaviness.

My heart clenches inside my chest. Calm the fucking down.

"A guy saved me from the kidnappers. I'm at his place right now" I tell and another silence crept in. "I'm safe" I add.

"Did you get hurt?" he asks.

I look at my wrist and shake my head, "Yeah, but it's nothing serious."

A heavy sigh is all I receive from there. "Give me the address."

I purse my lips in a thin layer. "I'll be staying here for a night," I say and pause. A strange feeling is making me pause several times. "You know... there's a little girl here that lives with him. She requested me to stay here for some time, I couldn't deny. . ." I hope he understands I have a very genuine reason.

"I don't care. You're not safe there, Bella. Just tell me the address I'll pick you up" he finally raises his voice a little.

"I am safe. Believe me" I insist.

"I don't consider you safe until I am with you." I hold my forehead at his sentence. I'm troubled.

"Boss, Gabriel informed me three bodies are found. Badly injured with one of them dead from a shot in his head" Renzo's voice interrupted.

Three bodies... one dead...

"Does he own a gun?" Luca asks back and I feel my feet getting cold.

My throat itches while speaking, "They got shot with their own gun"

"Hm." he mumbles. 

He even reached the place I was kept at, by those kidnappers. I know he would know everything, he has a great team to search it down for him.

He might even know the address here by locating the phone I'm talking with.

~~~

After having dinner Lucius brought for me, I began to walk in the small, narrow hallway to see Tess. This house feels so comfy, the wooden furniture here gives me a relaxing vibe.

I watch a painting hanging on the wall here. A girl with half face injured and a worm sticking out of her. . . hell no. This seems so similar. Feels like this style of painting is so normal around here. Disgusting.

"Arabella" Tess calls me, standing in front of her room, "Come" she gives me a very welcoming smile.

I walk inside her room with her by my side. A very small and cute room for her. Only the plushies on the bed seem to belong to her. Lucius has taken good care of her.

"Arabella," she points to the piece of paper she was drawing on. Crayon colors are all over the sheets. I pick it up and see a scenery drawn over it, half-colored.

"Wow, this is beautiful" I say and she shakes her head. She stands against me in the bed and grabs the paper back from my hands, pointing to the small humans she has drawn near the yellow-watered river. "Oh, is that you and... Lucius?"

She again shakes her head, "Mamma"

"That's cute." I smile. She smiles back at me and picks up her crayons. This is so much coloring she needs to do. Her fingers would be aching holding those small colors.

I look around at the nightstand kept away in the corner of the room. I see painting colors on it and bring them to her, "Tess, why don't you use some paint?"

Suddenly her eyebrows come down and together, the eyes glare, and there is a narrowing of the lip corners. She shifts closer to me just to shove the paint box down my hands aggressively. The loud blare made me step back. What happened to her? She just keeps staring at me and her glares are urging me to... leave this room.