《Contrasting Similarities》60. Hate him too.
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Third POV
Amira stared at the paperweight that was resting on the papers. It was a black cuboid, but it caught her attention nonetheless.
Lucian was trying to be focussed on work, while glancing at her from time to time.
He was getting anxious, because apparently she was sitting a little too far away. Amira seemed completely calm, which only worsened his anxiety.
He couldn't see how exactly she was feeling.
About three seconds of looking at the paper before him, he glanced at her again. She had been staring at the paperweight ever since she took a seat. He didn't know exactly what she found fascinating in them, but he noted he'd have to buy her some if that made her happy.
His hand went limp, releasing the hold on the pen that rolled on the paper and stopped when it collided with the pen stand.
Lucian's hand lowered to the top of the drawer. The empty space above the drawers was occupied by a fluffy blanket, folded neatly and kept there.
He had figured she'd feel sleepy sooner than he'd finish his work. Hence the blanket.
His hand rubbed at the soft blanket, tugging at the corners to relieve himself of some of the anxiety.
Didn't work because what happened next threw him into a panicked state.
Amira was staring at the paperweight without blinking, deep in her thoughts. Somehow her thoughts drifted to bad places and she flinched.
That flinch was accompanied by a flinch of Lucian's own tough self. He didn't mean to but he couldn't help it. At this point, he was more than willing to drop all the tough walls and embrace all the worries bothering his sister.
He was willing to let his guard down to shield her from every bad thing.
He kept staring at her. Amira still refused to take her eyes off the shiny thing.
Releasing an inaudible sigh, Lucian tried to focus back on the papers. He could atleast finish as quickly as he could, so he could finally tuck her in and have an excuse to hold her.
"Lucian?" Lucian looked up, a little too quickly for his own liking.
"Yes, Bunny?" He asked, cautiously. Her voice was weirdly soft and shaky.
"C-can you hold me?" She asked. She bit her lip to hold back the tears. This was against her pride but she couldn't tolerate more. Once her mind entered the bad places, it couldn't return from there.
And that just flooded her mind with the worst memories of her life, that still had an effect on her. That left her scarred. The scars pained everytime those scenes replayed in her mind.
Lucian noticed the minimal moisture in her eyes and he found himself nodding quickly. The panic simmered down a little upon hearing this request.
"Of course. Come here," he said. He pushed his wheely chair back and opened his arms.
Amira stood up quickly, refusing to look at her brother as she rounded the desk eagerly. Sitting by herself was indeed a bad decision. She felt cold and unsafe.
Lucian was quick to wrap her little body in a warm hug they both needed desperately. He released a breath when her head was safely tucked under his chin and he had her arms wrapped around her.
He tilted his head to place a warm kiss on her head.
"What is bothering you, baby?"
His tone was pleading. He wanted her to talk about it freely. To get it off her mind and chest.
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But the wounds were deeper than he expected. The wounds would not go away just by talking. It was deeper than that.
"I hate Jeff too." Mumbled her small voice, indicating she wasn't sixteen now. Indicating the stress had gotten too much and she had, to his relief, decided to let go completely.
"Who's Jeff?" His voice got as many times softer as Amira's did, if not more. This came out natural too, surprisingly.
"Lucas' friend," she said. Her words were accompanied by a soft sniffle.
Again, she couldn't stop as the words started flowing. Th weight on her heart was getting too much and she was getting an urge to tell all of her secrets to Lucian.
"What did he do?" Lucian felt his hands shake a little. Not out of anger but out of fear.
Amira rested her head more onto his chest, putting a little more weight than before.
"Hurt me."
"Like Lucas did?" Lucian asked, silently wishing it didn't get too much for him to handle. He was afraid of what might come next and that he wouldn't be able to handle it and comfort her.
Amira put a little more weight of her head on his chest.
"He-" her soft voice stopped. She took a deep breath. Lucian felt a warm tear fall on his shirt sleeve which had a spontaneous reaction and he tightened his hold.
"He touched me in- in-" she knew what word she wanted to use but she was having difficulty saying it. The word seemed a little too big for her to say.
Lucian froze.
This was actually way worse than they knew or expected. She had been keeping this inside the whole time, just giving them what they already had an idea of.
That was true. She did tell them what they already sensed happened. They saw the scars, she told about it. If they hadn't seen them, she'd have kept that hidden inside too.
"Inappropriately," Lucian said the word for her, sensing what the problem was.
She nodded.
"He did in-"
"You can just say no-no in its place," Lucian said.
"He did no-no things," she said. A hiccup sounded next, making it clear she was holding back her tears.
Lucian felt a sharp pain in his chest. His heart dropped so suddenly, it got painful. He felt physical pain as well as emotional pain that was weighing down on his heart.
"Can I know his full name?" Lucian asked.
"Jeff Allen."
Lucian nodded and in an instant he had his phone out, dialling a number.
"Good evening, Boss."
"Jeff Allen," Lucian said. He used a suggestive tone. He didn't want to word it out in Amira's presence.
"Kill him or bring him to the torture place?" The person asked catching onto what Lucian meant.
"The second one," Lucian said. He was surprised how he managed to keep his voice stable.
He hung up and put the phone back in his pocket. Amira was fiddling with a button on his shirt. She flinched again.
"Do you have something else to tell me?" He asked. Placing a kiss on her head, he proceeded to tilt her head up.
She looked at him through teary eyes. Her eyes clearly showed how much was weighing on her little self's heart at that moment.
And for once, he was extremely happy with this treatment. With this regression therapy, he was finally getting to know about things that could've remained hidden forever. She was letting off the weight.
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"The day Jay found us," She started. "Jeff sneaked into my room. Him and Lucas were d-drunk and he tried to-" she bit her lip and forced her head to face down.
Lucian's hand that was holding her chin fell limp. Fear crossed over his whole being as he stared wide eyed at his little sister, who was wiping her tears furiously.
"Then Rose yelled when Lucas tried to give her some pill and tried to touch her. By the time I managed to escape Jeff, they had ran off," she said. She was staring at the wall opposite them. Her voice shook badly, so bad some words weren't comprehensible.
Lucian shook his head. His mind was stuck on what happened before Amira escaped Jeff. He knew about what happened with Rose and Lucas.
"Bunny?" He asked. He forced her to look at him with both hands on the sides of her face. "What exactly did Jeff do?"
His heart beat rapidly in his chest, painfully fast. He hadn't felt so much pain ever. They were just kids, for God's sake.
She stayed silent. Amira closed her eyes, causing the unshed tears to fall down her cheeks. She was going crazy with all the flashbacks revolving in her mind at the moment.
"Rape?" Lucian decided to be straightforward. That was the only way to confirm it. Her little self wouldn't say it. "Did it get past the point of just touching inappropriately?"
His vision became blurry when she shook her head with her eyes still clenched shut. He wasn't sorry for the relief he felt.
His chest fell up and down as he rubbed his thumb and pointer finger on his eyes that had gathered moisture.
Amira kept her eyes shut as everything played in her mind like a horror movie.
This new treatment had indeed unlocked the hidden part inside her. There was something inside her ushering her to tell her brother about everything. Because all parts of her believed that Lucian will protect her. Lucian will take good care of whoever hurt her.
Just that belief made her spill it when it got unlocked and weighed on her mind.
Her eyes fluttered open when she felt kisses being placed all over face.
"Lucian?" She asked, when he put his forehead against hers. He shushed her and took another deep breath which came out shaky, surprising the girl.
She reached towards her stomach to hold his hand that was resting on the side of her stomach. Clutching his hand tightly she released a breath too. She wanted to provide as much comfort as she could.
Something similar in both of them. They tried to give out as much as they could, giving themselves the last priority.
"Bunny." Lucian released a loud sigh again. Amira opened her eyes again as Lucian pulled away slowly. "Why didn't you tell this before?"
She could've told Asher. They were so close.
"I don't know," she said.
Lucian understood what her 'I don't know' meant. She didn't want attention onto herself. She just wanted it all hidden until she couldn't hide it anymore. Until someone didn't break in and open that door to these nightmares.
They managed to find out about the abuse from the bruises and scars but the scars on her heart were not that easy to point out.
"Please tell me if you're hiding something else," he pleaded. His hands remained at the sides of her face and his thumb stroked her cheek softly.
Amira looked into his eyes for a moment. They were warm. Extremely warm and glossy.
Definitely not something she expected from Lucian.
She thought for a moment before she shook her head.
"There's nothing else," she mumbled. Her head fell back onto his chest, while her hand found the button she was fiddling with again.
Her mind felt some weight. Amira kept trying to push everything back into the hidden part. When it didn't work, she opened her mouth to just let it out.
A phone rang, cutting her off unintentionally.
Lucian pulled his phone out of his pocket. A frown appeared on his face when he saw who was calling.
"Why isn't Levi picking up her phone?" Came the panicked voice.
"Forgot her phone in the room," he mumbled. "How's your camp going?"
"It's good," Rose said. "I went fishing today and did some wildlife photography. Levi's gonna love it."
Lucian nodded his head slowly. His mind wasn't completely present in this conversation at that time. He was kinda grieving for what happened with his sisters.
"Can I talk to Levi?" This time her sweet little voice took an impatient turn.
Lucian slowly lowered his hand and put the phone to Amira's ear.
"Rose?"
"Why does Lucian sound like he needs a big hug?" Rose asked. She kept her volume low so Lucian didn't hear by any means.
"I don't know. Are you feeling okay?" Amira asked.
"A little uneasy." Rose was quick to answer the question. "Why do you sound like you need lots of love too? What is happening, Levi?"
"Nothing is happening, Rose." She was quick to reassure. Even now, she didn't want Rose to worry even the slightest bit.
"Did you fight with Lucian?" Rose asked next.
"No!" Amira exclaimed. "I love him."
She found it ridiculous Rose would think that. Why would they even fight now? When everything was settling down, when both of them had finally accepted the change that had to happen for them to grow close, when she felt safe enough to act this way.
Lucian however froze. Even if his mind wasn't actually interested in the conversation, those words caught his attention. Those words made him feel warmth settle in this chest, radiating off to spread through his whole body.
But that warmth was pushed down again by the terrifying thought, only to replace with coldness.
"Bunny," he muttered, rather weakly. A little too pathetic in his opinion. His next sentence came out more forced and a little cold. "Why don't you chat with Rose, while I excuse myself for a minute?"
Amira looked at him and nodded, too invested into what Rose was telling. The idea of not having any physical touch at the moment seemed horrifying but she could manage for some time. Atleast for the few minutes she was pretending before Rose.
Lucian made her stand before he vacated his designated seat. Amira had just taken one step away from the chair when Lucian caught her and placed her gently to sit in his seat.
She had thought it would be inappropriate to sit at Lucian's throne.
Her wide eyes returned to their normal size as she nodded to whatever Rose said.
Lucian was quick to snatch his office phone and stride out of the room. Once the door was shut firmly, he moved a little away from it and leaned against the wall.
His back rested flat against the wall for some more moments before he slowly slipped down into a crouching position.
He had the phone clutched tightly in his hand, putting more force than necessary. It wasn't because of anger, it was because of his nerves. His hands were indeed shaking badly with the amount of emotions he was trying to keep inside. To keep the emotions held back in the dam he never wanted to open.
And never did he feel so terrified. He had been enduring all the hardships, sharing his siblings' burdens, taking the burden onto himself even. But this felt like it would keep on getting worse. This felt like it was crushing him painfully, slowly breaking something inside of him that hurt more than he could've imagined
The fact that two kids, his littlest siblings had gone through so much and were still going on about their lives like nothing had happened was disturbing to him. All the smiles, giggles and the bright twinkle in their eyes felt fake to him at that moment.
He finally removed one hand from the device. His hand shook as he moved his thumb towards the dialpad. His shaky hand slowly typed in the number and lifted the phone to his ear.
He had to hold the phone with both hands to keep it on his ear. He didn't have enough energy to even hold the phone with one hand.
"Good eve-"
"I can't do this, Nicholas. I really can't." He was quick to cut him off. His voice shook as the emotions threatened to escape. "I'm barely holding myself up."
Hearing so much panic in Lucian's voice, Nico panicked too. He wouldn't have panicked if it was anyone else. Since it was Lucian, he dumped what his therapist rules said and allowed himself to panic.
"What happened, brother?" He asked. His heart had jumped to his throat, beating painfully fast.
"I can't," Lucian said. He lifted one hand to his eyes and rubbed them with his thumb and finger. A shaky sigh left his mouth as he tried his hardest to calm his raging emotions.
Nico figured it'd do no good if they both panicked that way. So he tried to calm Lucian down.
"I need you to calm down, Lucian. Take a few deep breaths please."
"She was sexually assaulted," Came out the words. It sounded very much like a grumble. Kind of like Lucian was cursing himself for everything.
His words were followed by a long stretch of silence. Nico felt like he had stopped breathing. He physically couldn't. His chest tightened on hearing those words while his mind raced as to if he heard his brother right. His hand lifted from his desk to rest on his chest.
He rubbed his hand over his chest, putting some pressure to loosen the knot that had coiled itself around his heart and tied itself tightly.
"What?" Came out a mumble from the other side. Lucian shook his head.
"Bunny was touched inappropriately by some bastard who was Lucas' friend. Several times from what it seems," he said. The plea in his tone was clear as water and Nico sensed it instantly. Still rubbing his hand over his chest to calm himself down, the therapist spoke his next words less shakily than the mumble.
"Is she able to come down to the clinic? Or should I come over?" Nico asked, desperate to have her close. It didn't matter if she was still up to talk about it or not. Just her being physically within his reach would be enough for him to calm himself.
"Please come over." Lucian released a breath. He really needed some support at that time. Just Nico's presence would be enough.
"Alright, Brother. I'll be there in ten. Take care," Nico said. A sigh of relief flowed out of his throat but impatience clawed at him. He hung up quickly.
Lucian lowered the phone slowly.
"I should've tried harder," he mumbled.
He was regretting everything. He still didn't know how they got the information wrong. How they got the information that the girls were staying with Alessandro Mazzanti. The spies couldn't have betrayed him.
It would've saved them from a lot of trauma if he had just tried harder to get in contact with them, instead of trusting that man and believing that their stepfather didn't like it or rather their biological father didn't like it.
He was at peace because he thought they were safe, he thought their father had changed when he learnt he had taken them in.
Only for it all to be lie. He never took them in. It was all wrong information that he got.
His shaky hand lifted to his head, tangling itself in his hair. He clenched his hand into a fist, pulling at his hair frustratedly.
After a moment, he released his hold on his hair, feeling the throbbing on his head. Slowly getting himself up, he walked back towards his office.
"-and we made breakfast today then we talked and I went to sleep." He catched onto the words as he proceeded towards the door. As he pushed the door open, he made direct eye contact with Amira, who was sitting in his chair.
Looking a little too small, while cradling herself from side to side on the wheely chair.
The conversation ceased for a moment, when he entered but Amira continued again. Lucian walked over to his chair silently. Putting the phone back in its place, he turned towards his sister.
"Goodbye," she said softly. She raised her arms as soon as Lucian extended his hands towards her. Picking her up from the chair, he deposited himself back in his seat, tucking her head under his chin again.
"I love you too," Amira mumbled.
Lucian looked down at her bloodshot eyes and her shaky hands as she lowered the phone and extended it forward. Lucian took it gently and placed it in his pocket.
Amira leaned to her side, towards Lucian, to rest her head on his chest. Her hands found the shirt sleeve of Lucian's arm that was wrapped around her. As she fiddled with the fabric, she stared at the wall.
Both of them let the silence consume them fully, none wanting to speak and interrupt the silent heart to heart conversation going on.
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