Grace's POV

"Cynthia." A small whisper escaped my lips as she looked at me, the smile still plastered on her face—the same smile that increased the sense of dread inside me. Especially since she now had the thing that had caused all of this in the first place.

This can't be happening.

"Wasn't expecting to see you again, Gracie." She made sure to emphasize on my name, looking around the small room. I couldn't help but notice how the tall, muscular guard behind her seemed to block the only way to escape from, guarding the metal doorway. Even if the thought of running away seemed highly appealing right now, I was sure it wouldn't be too easy

"But I'm glad that you're here." Her piercing gaze came back at me as she added in a small, sugary laugh. "Nice hair, by the way."

I could've asked her to let us go, maybe even begged at this point. But my eyes kept on flickering over towards the delicate necklace in her hand and I knew how useless it would be. I knew her, and I knew that she wouldn't even care before killing every single person in this room.

"I really didn't know you'd pull this little act and come here. Obviously, no one noticed." She stated, eyeing Alice and then me. "But we did notice that...other friend of yours."

I didn't understand what she was saying until she added, "What's his name? Ah, yes, Lucius."

I was aware of the wide eyed stare directed at me from Alice. Though I kept on staring at Cynthia, the dread inside me slowly morphing into absolute terror.

"Where...where is he?" I asked her, not even wanting to hear the answer. I didn't want to hear what they did with Luca. I didn't want anything happening to him.

Cynthia smiled at me and I felt bile rising up my throat. The next words that left her mouth weren't what I had expected at all.

"He left." She said with a casual shrug, her auburn hair looking almost dark black. "Safe and sound out of this department."

I blinked at her and she must've seen the confusion on my face.

"You see, honey, you need to work with that trust of yours." She added, raising her arm and letting the necklace dangle from her hand. "He gave this to us and now he's safe."

I gulped heavily and for some reason, I couldn't help but acknowledge the sudden tears brimming at the corners of my eyes, stinging harshly, just like the heavy reality that sank into me.

This can't be true.

It was the same necklace I had handed over to Luca, right before he left for the back passageways to find that tank. The same necklace that had destroyed so much for me.

And even under the dark, I saw the small blood-red stone glowing fiercely inside the bottle shaped pendant.

Cynthia had it now.

I couldn't believe this. It was just too hard to believe; Luca would never do that, I knew it.

"I'm glad that he gave this to us without any fight from his side." She said, holding the bottled pendant with her forefinger and thumb.

I finally found my voice. "You're lying." And it was just a mere whisper.

I felt Alice's gaze on me but I didn't look back at her. I was so confused, so scared to even believe what Cynthia was telling me right now.

I felt like shit.

"Oh, but why would I lie?" She asked with another chuckle as if that mere thought was funny. "I have the red seed in my hands, Gracie. I don't need to lie since you all will be dying here anyway."

I found myself gripping Jack's right flannel sleeve, scared that I might do something really bad.

"H-He would never do that." I shook my head, because this all was just stupid. Luca promised me.

He loved me.

"Well, it's quite a surprise to see how people change." She stated bluntly, giving me a pitiful look. And it was only the presence of Jack beside me that stopped me from lunging at her and throwing a punch on her face, or maybe even strangle her.

"Why would he do that?" I asked her, my voice sounding a bit loud. "He doesn't have a reason to suddenly betray me." Luca wasn't the kind of person to get back at me just because...I left him two years ago. He would never do that.

Cynthia stuffed the necklace back into her pocket and glanced at the guard behind her. "Long things short, Burner helped his father's critical life condition."

I looked at her in disbelief. "His father's dead!"

She raised one of her brows at me. "Really? Well, Burner did everything on his part to help him. He helped that boy out of the...messed up state he was in at that time. The time your father and you tried skipping towns and cities."

My gut clenched at that. If this had been true, Luca would've told me. He would've told me if he had known Burner all this time.

"From the look on your face, I'm guessing he never told you that?" Cynthia asked, a fake wince escaping her lips before she chuckled loudly.

I blinked rapidly, wanting to scream out loud. Why was she doing this? Why was she making up this stuff?

"I'm glad to know that you've learned your lesson, though." She said. "You need to work on your trust."

"Shut up." I glared at her, still gripping Jack's sleeve.

She let out another chuckle. "Some people are more clever than you, Ms Collins. Burner was there when he needed help, and now your friend just returned the favor."

"Shut up." I repeated, although this time, I heard my voice breaking at the end.

Please don't let this be true.

"He made the right decision and now he's going to live." She continued despite me telling her to shut up. "You, on the other hand, along with these two..." She trailed off, glancing at Jack and Alice. "...are probably going to die."

"Shut up!" I shouted at her, hearing Alice make another small, muffled noise.

Cynthia shook her head at me. "You and your family really deserved this, Grace."

The sudden overwhelming emotions were just too much. I felt disgusted, I felt used, I felt pathetic. I didn't know what was right and what was wrong. I knew she wasn't telling the truth, but the necklace which was in her hands few seconds ago told me something entirely different.

Luca wouldn't—

I stood up in a rush and lunged at her, making her slam back against the nearest wall. Her mere presence was pissing me off so much. I hated her and I kept on repeating that in my head as I tried doing something to her, slap her or punch her.

But the guard behind her unfroze from his spot the exact moment and pushed me away without any effort. I even tried fighting him but he was way too big and strong for me.

"You're pathetic, Grace." Cynthia straightened up from her disheveled state and didn't wait any more before exiting the small cell. "I've got a lot to do now. We'll probably meet once more when I've given the necklace to Burner."

My screams went muffled when the guard shoved me back against the rock hard wall, leaving as well and locking the metal bars behind him.

I didn't bother getting up. I didn't bother doing anything. This was just too much.

Pulling my knees up my chest, I pressed down my entire face against them, not even caring to stop the violent sobs that left my mouth, the bitter realization sitting heavily on my shoulders.

•••••

Things remained the same after that. For hours, nobody came to check up on us. Jack didn't move even a bit and stayed unconscious. I spent hours watching him but he didn't respond even in the slightest. Alice didn't say anything either, even though I had somehow managed to pull away the gag from her mouth.

We remained quiet and the silence was slowly eating me up alive as the hours passed by.

"Grace," It was Alice's voice, almost a sad whisper.

I didn't look at her, my eyes still fixated on Jack's face as I leaned back against one of the walls.

"Maybe...we should try to escape." She sounded hopeless even saying that.

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. "I'm sorry, Alice. You don't deserve any of this. I...I didn't know–"

"Don't, Grace." She cut me off and I still didn't look at her. "This isn't fair to you, you don't deserve this either."

And I felt my throat clenching itself, almost as if I was about to cry again. But I wouldn't, as hopeless as this was, I didn't think I could cry anymore.

Maybe I did deserve this.

"Lucius must have a reason." Alice spoke up. "He can't...just do that to you."

I didn't say anything to her. I didn't know what to say.

"Maybe he's just–"

"It's fine." I cut her off, knowing that it really wasn't. "The next time someone comes here, a guard or maybe even Cynthia herself, I'll try to distract them."

Alice just listened to me quietly.

"Take Jack with you and...and just run away, okay?" I looked at her this time and she seemed paler than few hours ago. "This is the only way. You both need to escape. Just run away, don't stop. Maybe Jonathan would see you guys and help you–"

"Grace."

I shook my head at her, silencing her. I didn't want her to say anything. I didn't want anything except her and Jack's safety. "Just take him with you, Alice. I'll make it out somehow."

Both of us went quiet after that. I continued looking back at Jack and realized how much I actually missed him and wanted him to speak. I wanted him to talk to me, tell me that everything would be fine.

Would it be?

Luca was the one who did that; he told me that everything would be fine. He promised me.

Why would he do this?

You can't trust anyone, Grace.

Jonathan's voice rang in my ears, the words so much clearer than when he had actually said it.

I let out a small wheeze, feeling as if the stale air around would somehow choke me. I knew I wasn't claustrophobic, but everything that was going on right now seemed to make me feel as if I was. I closed my eyes shut and rubbed my face frantically, trying to just not feel anything at all. But that was a bit hard, especially if you were stuck in a small underground cellar with your unconscious brother and a friend who was still tied up around the legs.

"He hasn't moved once since they brought me here." Alice spoke up, her eyes trained on Jack. "He's...not dead. They just gave him something to make him unconscious."

I was telling the same to myself again and again. I had even managed to check his pulse after every few minutes between these hours. It was faint, but it was there, and it reassured me to some extent.

Hours passed by and nobody came. It remained silent between the three of us this time. Alice and I both spent the remaining time looking out of the metal bars. There were no windows or wall clocks to let us know what time it was. It felt like hours and days at the same time.

At one point, I saw Alice leaning back against the opposite wall and closing her eyes. Then she dozed off. I tried copying her actions but nothing inside me let me do that. I was aware of so many things at the same time, so many thoughts and horrifying possibilities.

Twice when I felt my eyelids getting too heavy with sleep, and I was starting to drift off to sleep, I'd be jolted awake by faint footsteps. I would then try looking around and find no one outside those metal bars. Maybe it was just my head making them up, but every time I felt more and more messed up.

Once again, I looked around the dark room before sliding closer towards Jack. I could hear his faint breaths between my loud heartbeat thudding in my ears.

I slipped my hand in his and leaned back against the wall, right beside him, trying not to touch any part of the chains.

"I missed you those two years, Jack." I whispered, not even caring to say it louder since he couldn't hear me anyway. "I...I did my best to search for you. I even stayed in Manhattan for two years, just so I could find out where you were."

There was just silence.

"Do you know how much Aunt Kiera was a pain in the ass?" I almost laughed, but a small twinge of pain somewhere in my chest prevented me to do so. "She was constantly looking for ways to just...get me out of her house."

I lightly caressed his cold palm.

"I didn't even know you were here in Hayward and not in Manhattan. I came back here and things...changed a bit." I sighed before a small, sad smile took over my lips. "I even got a small puppy back at home. You'd love him."

Even thinking about Frost right now made me feel like crying.

"I'm sorry that I didn't do much. I tried but it wasn't that easy." I murmured, feeling a small lump in my throat. "Mom and Dad weren't there to help me. You weren't there. There was just...Luca."

I didn't say anything after that, letting the silence stretch on for the next few minutes.

"Do you think Luca did this because...I left him for two whole years?" There was just silence and for once, I really wished Jack would say something, make one of his lame jokes that he used to wear my ears off with when we were younger. "Do you think someone tells you that they love you and then just leave you?"

There was a small rustle and I saw Alice move a bit.

"People just leave all the time." I whispered and felt the hollow pain in my chest again. "I don't want you to leave me too, Jack." It felt too hard to even whisper now. "When you find out about Mom and Dad..."

"Please don't hate me for that." I finished.

It was for just a few seconds that I felt him squeeze my hand. I flew open my eyes and turned towards him, seizing him by his shoulders. "Jack? You can...you can hear me?"

He let out a small cough and his shoulders heaved in response, his forehead scrunching up in pain. I held onto my breath, hoping that he'd open his eyes, hoping that he'd talk to me.

"Mom?" I heard his voice, almost a small whisper, and then he coughed again.

I flinched a little and almost pulled my hand away from his. "It's me, Grace."

He scrunched up his forehead again but didn't open his eyes. I refrained myself from shaking his frail shoulders, just so that he'd look at me.

"Don't lie." He pulled up his knees against his chest and I noticed his old torn jeans. "Don't lie." It looked like it was taking him so much effort to even speak as he hid his head behind his knees.

I pulled my hand away from him, even if seeing him like that hurt. "We'll get out of here."

He didn't look at me and I saw his shoulders slumping down a bit, as if he was about to pass out again. "Don't lie."

I bit the inside of my cheek and returned back to my position, leaning against the wall beside him. I didn't reply though, because I wasn't even sure myself.

It almost felt like he was right; it was a lie.

And maybe, we won't even make out of here.

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Xoxo,

Crystal 🌿