The Storm In Their Hearts - Aching Hearts Series #3

She killed her

CHAPTER 40 - SHE KILLED HER

REBECCA'S POV

I did my best not to fidget, but I was nervous, very, very, very nervous, and how couldn't I be? From one second to the other, my father, my actual father would come open this door Lucas had just knocked on, and I would see him, I would set my eyes on the man that might have saved me from that Hell, had he only made the very simple effort of, you know, acknowledging me. Nothing too complicated, right?

When I heard footsteps on the other side of the door, I inhaled deeply, my breaths remaining caught in my throat, unable to come out. I have stubbornly stopped myself from forming any kind of expectation or visualization, I want nothing from this man, nothing but the truth: why did he leave me before I was even born? Did he even know I was on my way to coming into this world?

My mother never mentioned him, not once, it was the twins to gleefully inform me that we don't have the same father, which, according to them, explains why I'm the pathetic scum I am: I've certainly taken everything from that other pathetic excuse for a human being that is my father.

So I know nothing about this man, and I was actually starting to regret not reading that file. I would have come to this meeting just a tad bit more prepared, to the very least, I'd have known how old is my father, what does he do for a living, if he has a family ... thingies like those. I don't want to ruin anybody's life, I just want to look my father in the eyes. That's all.

The handle creaked under the pressure made to twist it open, and I gasped lowly, lifting a hand to my heart, feeling like it would implode any moment now. Damnit, if only Will were here with me! 

I would rejoice of the comfort his embrace gave me, I would feel not tranquil, but maybe not as nervous while he rubbed my scalp soothingly ... instead he's not here, he's probably at home, working on his thesis, certainly glad I'm not there to ruin his mood.

I told the guys I was gonna work through the weekend, it was very easy to lie, not because I'm a good liar, but because neither of them really paid attention to me as I spoke, well, Will didn't even listen, Byron was too distracted. I could have said I was going to leave for Mexico to become a drug dealer and neither of them would have noticed. I understand Byron, he's in such an awful state, you can't help pitying him, but Will ... Will chooses voluntarily to act as if I didn't exist.

Not the right moment to think of that, though. I focused on the seconds ticking by, weirdly slowly, or so I felt, as the person on the other side of the door opened it at a snail's pace, Lucas standing beside me, wearing a warm smile that was supposed to calm me down but, well, didn't really work. Only Will's smile could work that magic. Or Tom's.

I held my breaths as the door opened, only to release them all in one single gasp once I found in front of me a beautiful and elegant old lady in her early 70s, wearing a fine black suit, glasses on her nose, blondish hair barely reaching her neck. I was ... astounded, not because I had no idea who she was, but because she was ... well, breathtaking in her beauty. Even while being 70-something.

"May I help you?" She asked softly, her voice silvery with hints of croaky, uncommonly and unsettlingly charming for an old lady. Even the wrinkles all over her face held a higher meaning, as if they were stubbornly kept there to mark the time passing, yet they did nothing but enhance her beauty. Who the heck is this woman? She can't be human.

"Mrs. Jacobs, it's me, Lucas Grant. Your daughter Nina was my part time babysitter." I heard Lucas explain, his charming tone out there to kill any woman's brain cells.

The old lady frowned for a slight moment, then her beautiful countenance brightened with a wide smile as she, losing her phlegm for a second but still remaining utterly classy, the queen of England kind of classy, called: "Oh! Richard's son! Of course!"