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"Took you quite long to come back." Luca said.

I frowned at him, backing against my slightly opened front door.

"I...was busy." I said, my heart still beating fast. I always hated when people crept up on me. It always took me off guard.

I hated that feeling.

"I didn't ask you what you were doing." His gaze lingered over me before he looked away, stuffing his hands in his black hoodie.

I couldn't not frown at that. Luca never liked black. But lately, whenever I saw him, it was mostly that color he wore. As if he didn't care about those colors now.

He loved colors. He loved painting.

A strange ache bloomed inside my chest at that thought. I remembered his love for paints. He loved it more than anything.

Did he not paint anymore?

"I was waiting for you." He said.

I looked at him in surprise. "Why?"

He looked back at me then. His gaze narrowing a bit before it trailed off to my slightly opened front door. "I found Chase's location."

Sudden disappointment filled me out of nowhere, or maybe it was just the exhaustion. "You did?" I straightened up. "Where is he?"

Luca's eyes flew back over me before he raked a hand through his curls, making my eyes trail off towards them.

"Pennsylvania." He said, before his gaze narrowed even further. "Where are your parents?"

My eyes widened a little at that. "What?"

"Where are your parents?" He repeated, looking quite patient than the other times he was around me, which was not normal. I felt my palms getting sweaty as my heart raced.

"In...Manhattan." I said, my voice sounding small even to my own ears. That was the truth. They were there.

They were in Manhattan.

His eyebrows raised up slightly. "Right. I thought...they came back with yo—" I was shaking my head way before he could've finished that sentence.

"Yeah. Um—" I spoke up, changing the topic. "Where in Pennsylvania, though?"

Thankfully, he just blew out a sigh and stepped back. "Philadelphia. And if you really need to talk to him, you need to leave now."

"Now?" I asked in surprise. "I can't go now."

"Of course, you can." He stared at me before taking another step back. "I'll take you there."

To say I wasn't surprised would be wrong. Extremely wrong. Because he was the last person I was expecting to say that, right now out of all the times.

"You will?"

"Yeah." He gave me a blank look. "You don't know anything about Chase. Or his men. He'd be anything but nice with you."

I frowned at the way he said it. "I know what kind of people they are. And I know how to take care of myself."

He eyed me at that, almost as if that was the most stupid thing I could've said. Then he took another step back, his face glowing under the moonlight in a painfully beautiful way.

My heart skipped a beat as his lips curved into a slight smirk. "You think you know people," He said. "And then they surprise you."

•••••

I couldn't believe I was going with him. Heck, I couldn't believe we were going to Pennsylvania right now. It was almost midnight right now and I was in Luca's car as he drove.

I closed my eyes, covering my face with my hands.

Maybe this was right.

This was the only way I could find out something about my parents. The only way I could find out about Jack.

The only way I could see him again.

I felt a small lump growing in my throat. A feeling of isolation creeping in my stomach.

I'll see him again.

Placing my head against the car window beside me, I looked out of the window at the trees that passed by. The moon glowed brightly up in the dark sky. Luca was strangely quiet, but then again, I didn't see any reason for him to talk either.

I wish I could've told him how much I had missed him back in Manhattan. I wished to tell him everything.

I will. But not when he hates me so much.

Under the slight hum of the driving car and the strangely comforting silence, I felt my eyelids drooping themselves. I felt myself drifting off to sleep.

Which was a bad idea. Because something about sleeping with such thoughts transformed them into dreams, sometimes even nightmares.

And so I dreamt of my family. We were all in a car; Mom, Dad, Jack and I. Dad and Mom were in the front, chatting happily as Dad drove. We were going somewhere, I think. Jack looked excited. And everything was perfect.

But that was the problem. When everything seemed perfect, it crumbled down into ruins almost immediately. That was exactly what happened.

I saw my dad stopping the car abruptly. I saw the blood on my parents. I heard Jack's screams. I saw the darkness. I felt the pain all over again.

And then I woke up.

I jerked up and looked around, my stomach slowly loosening the knots it had developed itself into. I was in a car. A car which was nowhere like the car I had seen in my dream. Strangely, I was alone in here, and it was almost morning, the sky casted into a bluish glow.

Luca.

I looked around the car once again but didn't see him. The car was stopped around the corner of an unfamiliar street and Luca wasn't here. I gulped and looked out of the window. The street was completely isolated.

And I didn't think it was our town.

Maybe we had reached Philadelphia already.

Before I could've gotten out, which I'm sure I couldn't have judging by the way my stomach clenched and unclenched itself, I saw Luca coming back towards the car. His hair was tousled like always. And he was just wearing a white T-shirt, no jacket.

I looked down at the driver's seat and saw his jacket. Half draped over me and half on his seat. I quickly pushed it away from me just as I saw him coming back.

He opened the door and came inside, two cups of coffee in his hands.

He never drank coffee.

The slight memory made my stomach churn even more.

"You're awake." He stated, glancing at me. I just stayed silent, staring at him while he handed me a cup.

I slowly took it, the warmth spreading into my fingers. I blinked and leaned back against my seat.

"I thought you left me." I heard a whisper escape my lips.

He glanced back at me, a small smile forming on his lips. "The thought was tempting." He confessed. "To leave you here all alone."

I clenched my jaw but decided not to say anything. He was just trying to annoy me. Instead, I placed the rim of the cup on my lips and drank.

The steaming warm liquid ran down my throat. It was comforting at first, the same feeling I got whenever I drank coffee.

But then my stomach clenched.

Oh God.

"Is there...any—" Before I could've finished my sentence, which I'm sure I couldn't have, I opened the door and rushed outside.

No way was I throwing up in his car. No freaking way.

I placed a hand over my mouth and ran towards the café he'd just bought the coffees from. Thankfully, it was kind of filled up with people so nobody really gave me the odd looks as I rushed inside.

My eyes frantically searched around the area before settling on a white door with restroom written over it. I had barely reached inside one of the stalls when I threw up. Everything.

I should've known. I should've known.

I pushed back my hair away from my face, groaning lightly and closing my eyes shut when I felt a presence behind me.

"Let's just pretend I didn't see you throwing up first thing in the morning." Luca said. I straightened up immediately, nausea clouding over my body. My knees felt weak. My legs felt tired.

Don't, Grace.

I was surprised when I felt his hand on my back, a ghostly touch. Maybe he was just sympathizing, or maybe he was just helping me so that I won't fall. Either way, I was glad he wasn't being mean.

"What did you eat last night?" He asked. "I didn't know you got carsick so easily."

I turned around and sidestepped him, walking out of the stall and towards the sink. Opening up the faucet, I splashed some water on my face, closing my eyes.

"Rose—"

"I get carsick easily." I repeated his words, the lie coming out of my mouth a bit too easily. "I shouldn't have slept in the car."

When I turned back towards him, he was already staring at me with a frown. We kept staring at each other for a whole minute until he broke his gaze away.

"All right." He said. "We should get going."

I just nodded in response.

This wasn't going to be as easy as I had thought.

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Crystal 🌿