Beyond the lies

Chapter 14

Sofia's tough childhood meant she was more alert than most people her age and was not to be underestimated. That was Aliyah's first mistake.

Her brothers were not the type of people to just let her go home with a friend and what she had found even more suspicious was the fact that she had somehow forgot to get her phone when she distinctly remembered already doing it.

When she checked the unopened messages from Rocco, she clicked on his profile to find that his number was different. The girl had made sure to memorise all of her brothers' phone numbers in case of emergencies, emergencies such as this. However to be certain of this she tried calling the contact called Luca and found he didn't pick up.

Her overprotective brother who usually answers all texts and calls within seconds not picking up? Even more suspicious.

Sofia then came to the conclusion that her phone had been somehow taken from her sometime after school and one of the same model had been placed in her locker. She had realised this even before she had left the school, yet decided to go along with Aliyah's lies.

Once she had asked the older girl about how she knew Rocco and was given the reply of 'we're dating', she recalled a conversation she had with him a few days prior.

"No dating until you graduate from school?"

"Yep," sighed Rocco, "it's a pretty strict rule in our family."

"I thought that rule would only apply to me."

"Nope, the others went through that as well. Thank God this is my last year."

Her brother looked at her mischievously, "that's why don't even think about getting into a relationship."

"I'm not!" She glanced at him curiously, "so has no one even secretly dated either?"

"Sof, our family has eyes everywhere, there's no such thing as secret dating. No one's ever risked it before." He paused before adding, "that and all our older brothers are snitches because they want us to suffer like they did."

The girl shrugged and said it wasn't suffering to her since she had no interest in dating, causing the boy to burst out laughing.

Right now she was stuck in the car with a possible kidnapper and was doing her best to overwhelm the other girl to extract information all whilst keeping her calm facade.

"H-how did you know?"

"Well you did a great job of leaving lots of clues so I found it quite easy to figure out actually."

Aliyah's surprised face turned into a blank one as she dropped her mask of friendliness. Her eyes narrowed and glared at Sofia with pure hate and anger.

She smirked, "so the Carmine princess isn't dumb after all." She leaned back into the drivers seat  , keeping her eyes on the younger girl, "and my real name is Aliyah."

"I see. So why did you try and take me away then? If you had wanted I'm sure you could have just knocked me out and ran away."

"That is a great plan but I'm afraid the person who I'm supposed to be taking you to wants you in perfect condition, so it was necessary that I deceived you into thinking I was taking you home. You should be grateful."

The other raised an eyebrow, "grateful?"

"Yes you brat. I even bought you a phone!"

"Of course," Sofia spoke monotonously, "thanks for the gift. But I'd appreciate it more if you hadn't approached me in the first place."

Aliyah continued to glower at the other, who was for the most part unaffected by the spiteful gaze. 

"Tell me Sofia, if you already knew of my plans then why did you play along?"