asset [h.s.]

fifty three // pain

Alicia

As soon as Owen's words fill the air, my heart all but stops. It suddenly feels like there's a weight being pressed against my chest, preventing me from moving, from breathing, from doing anything at all.

All at once, every single drop of blood running through my veins seems to drain from my body and I suddenly feel extremely cold. Freezing. My mouth is dropped open and my eyes are as wide as they can stretch, although my head is spinning and my vision is blurry, tainted by the tears brimming in my eyes.

"N-no, that's-" I shake my head, my voice coming out shaky. "My mum died in a car accident."

"Yes, that's right," Owen nods, his eyes still staring deep into my own. "Although I don't think I'd use the word 'accident' to describe it....."

I can hear the thumping of my own heart vibrating in my ears. My fingers are curled into fists, my bitten down nails digging into my palm, the pain it causes the only thing that convinces me that I'm actually here, that this is reality and not another one of my twisted nightmares.

"That was you, wasn't it? You caused the crash?" I manage to choke out and he nods again in confirmation.

"I'm afraid so," he says, although he doesn't look the slightest bit remorseful.

"Why?" I ask, my voice sounding choked up. "Why would you do that?"

"It was when I first contacted your father. I knew that he worked for a software development company and therefore had a lot of access to things like the MI6, the FBI or CIA," Owen explains and I feel my eyes widen. "And I wanted that access. But let's just say that your father was.....reluctant to help me. So I had to convince him."

"And you had to kill my mother to do that?"

"I actually just threatened her at first. But he still wouldn't agree, so I had to take things a bit further," he shrugs. "Needless to say, he gave in after that and finally worked with me. But then he started to double cross me, and he took some information from me, so obviously I wasn't very happy. That's why I ordered Harry to kidnap you in the first place, because I needed some leverage against him. But then things got a bit.....messy."

"You don't say," I mutter under my breath before I can stop myself, but Owen just grins at me.

"Just like your mother, you weren't supposed to be involved in any of this. But just from being involved with your father, your mother automatically was too, and of course, you were born into it."

"Wait," I say, my heart skipping a beat in my chest. "This all started happening before I was even born?"

"Yes," he says simply. "Your father has had mafia links for years, he was just never prominent until he became an asset to us. Like you are now."

"So....my mother was just collateral damage? You just killed her so you could make my father do what you wanted?"

Owen nods. "Exactly right."

"How did you do it?" I find myself asking next, the words leaving my lips before I can stop them. "How did you....cause the crash?"

"It was simple, really. We messed with the brakes, created a distraction while she was driving, and then it was all over," he says as if it's so casual, no emotion in his voice whatsoever. "Off she went, crashed through the barrier and drove right into the lake."

My breath hitches in my throat and it suddenly feels harder to breathe, like all the oxygen is being sucked out of the room. "You're s-saying that m-my mum crashed her car into w-water?"