Creed of the Leviathan I

18 | E

 Emmanuelle

Almost a week had passed since the accident. Everyone kept to themselves as we barely spoke to one another. Marissa was home more often. Unable to focus at work, she said when I asked her about it.

Marco on the other hand, always seemed to be in a rush. He had been skipping meals for quite a few days and though Tia was worried about him, she never did more than ask him to join us but he always had an excuse ready.

It was a Friday afternoon. I was snuggled into my bed when there was a loud bang on my door before it flew open.

I turned as quickly as I could only to see him standing there, observing me.

"Get up." Marco said in a cold voice.

"Why?"

He did not answer my question. Instead he walked out, leaving the door wide open.

"Marco, what's going on?"

"I need you to do something for me."

"Like what?"

He scratched the back of his head, his eyes avoiding direct contact with mine.

"I need to know where Tobias was that night."

"What night?"

"The night Mattia got into an accident."

"What?" I could not believe my ears. "Do you really think he has something to do with this. Tobias would never—" I attempted to argue.

"You don't know him well enough to know how is."

"Tobias is his friend, your friend—"

"Associate. One of the people we deal with because we have to, not because we want to. Now, go get dressed and tell him that you want to meet him."

"No."

I swear I saw smoke coming out of his ears.

"NO?" He tilted his head to the side, his eyebrows pushed together. "It wasn't a fucking question. It was an order." His warm breath hit my face as he towered over me.

I gulped, held in my breath whilst my heart pounded hard against my breast.

"He didn't do it." I confidently stated, assured that Marco was loosing it.

Marco grabbed my wrist, pulling me down the stairs all the way to Dimitri's office. I do not know where everyone was, because no one seemed to be noticing him doing this.

He did not say as much as one word as he closed the door behind him. Instead he walked over to the desk and went through Dimitri's drawers, pulling out a gray-ish laptop.

Half way through typing something he stopped and flopped down into the chair. He let out a loud sigh as he covered part of his face with his right hand.

"Are you—okay?" I asked, knowing that I should stay out of business that does not concern me. But, still I asked.

"Yeah— I. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought you here."

"What were you going to show me?" Curiosity piqued through me.

"No. Nothing. Forget about it."

"No, I insist."

"This doesn't concern you, Nuelle. This was a mistake."

"You dragged me down the stairs so for a moment you thought it did. Now, show me." I demanded.

He squinted his eyes, shifting them from me to the laptop before he continued typing afterwhich he turned it towards me.

I walked closer to better my view of the video. It was a video of a crossroads, the place was dark but I could clearly see a car. Dimitri's car.

"Is this—"

"From the crash."

The roads were quiet. Only Dimitri's car was in sight. When the light turned green the car moved forward only to be slammed into by a truck coming from the opposite side.

I jumped at the sound of the crash. The truckdriver's face could not be seen.

"W-what makes you think that Tobias had anything to do with this?" I questioned, my eyes prickling with tears.

"The truck— the company it belongs to. It's his family's."

"It could just be a coincidence. Accidents happen everyday."

He shook his head. "Not when people like James or us are involved."

"People like us—" My face scrunched up.

"People who'd do anything to get rid of their opponents in the hope of regaining what they believe was always theirs."

"What?"

I was utterly confused by the riddle he was talking in.

"Listen. I need you to trust me. That's all."

"Do the others know about your theory?"

"I would appreciate it if we could keep this between us. Now—" his jaw flexed. "Are you going to help me or not?"

"What do you want me to do?" I asked, knowing that I did not actually have a choice in this matter.

"Find out if he has anything to do with this."

"H-how?" I dramatically breathed out.

"Text him, say that you want to meet up. Report back to me and we will take care of the rest."

"We?"

By his reaction I seemed to have caught him off guard.

"Take care of your part. That's all you need to worry about." He said, beckoning me towards the door.

I walked out of the office with a confused mind and an unsteady heart. Tobias had been nothing but kind and this is how I was going repay him? I thought to myself.

I passed Anthony on my way to the living room. He stopped me by grabbing arm, only then did I look up.

"What's wrong?"

I almost blurted out everything, but then I remembered Marco asking me to keep this between the two of us.

I shook my head with a small smile, but Anthony knew me well enough to know that I was lying.

"Nuelle, if there's anything on your mind that you need to talk about—"

"Everything is allright."

"You heard her. Everything is allright." Marco's voice roared behind me, making Anthony let go off my arm.

Whatever the hell was going on, it definitely felt like the people around me knew more than they were claiming to know.

I rushed to my room. This time I made sure to lock the door. My stomach turned at the thought of what had just happened— what might happen. I kept asking myself if Marco could be right, or if he was just loosing my mind.

Next thing I know I had unlocked my phone. My hands trembled as I wrote Tobias a message, asking him out. Hours had gone by and there was no reply. I grew tired of waiting, but just as I was going to call it a night my phone lit up.

I quickly tapped the screen to read the message and to my surprise it was not the reaction I expected.

Tobias— the Tobias that would have taken every chance he had to hang out with me declined to have lunch with me.

Is he really busy? Or does he really have something to do with Mattia's accident?