CHAPTER THREE

 

The wind was piercing, as though the night itself was upset with me, and I walked down the empty street, my leg hurting worse with each step. My injuries ached beneath the ill-fitting maid's gown, which still smelled of crimson wine and disgrace from the banquet's guards who had dragged me like trash.

In my pocket, my phone buzzed. The doctor's illuminated message hit my chest like a hammer as I fumbled it out with numb fingers.

"Madam, I don't mean to press you, but I apologize if you are unable to pay for the hospitalization bills and vitamin solution today. Some actions will need to be taken by the hospital. 

I came to a stop.

No. Not Elisse, please.

I replied back, my fingers shaking, tears in my eyes.

"Give me a little more time, please. The money will be sent to me shortly.

A bit later, he answered plainly:

"All right, then."

I gazed up into the sky without a moon. The clouds appeared thick, as though the sky itself wished to join me in my tears.

I knelt down on the icy concrete and closed my eyes.

There was just one spot remaining.

I had vowed never to go back, but I had to. I was needed by Elisse. My daughter—my reason for breathing—was lying in a hospital bed while I stood here with nothing. I had to plead.

For her. 

***

The wood of the ancient door had swelled from years of storms. I knocked, first gently and then more forcefully.

"Come on, please stop banging! It's midnight!” Someone from inside yelled.

She came shortly after the door cracked open.

Shy Maravilla, my mother.

Her face looked exactly as I remembered it, with resentful lines carved into her forehead as if the years had gnawed at her skin. When she noticed me, her normally icy gaze narrowed.

She sneered and muttered, "Well, well." "You moved into the Alpha's house, didn't you? What happened? Did you finally got kicked out? Well, that wouldn't be any surprise, isn't it? You just got what you deserved."

I opened my lips hoping that I could scream and vent out, but I forced myself to swallow everything I wish to say and told myself, no, not this time.

instead, I said, "Mom."

Saying that term hurt more than I anticipated. Elisse, however, was waiting.

I said in a strained voice, "She's in the hospital. Elisse. And I badly need extra cash. Only a bit. Please help me, help your grand daughter."

Her sneer got deeper. "Hpw unbelievable. I could still remember how you turn your back on us after getting housed by the alpha and now, look at you? You scurry back to me and demand for some money? Where do you believe I'll get it from when you deprive me of getting anything from you to begin with? Your presence only makes me sick. Get lost and never show me your face again!"

"Please," I pleaded as I moved forward. Elisse is quite ill. Mom, I don't have anyone else to run to—"

Another voice emerged from the interior shadows as she started to push me away.

He drewled, "Well, look who the hell is here. An eyesore from hell came for a visit huh?"

I went cold.

Ice formed in the air.

"Why don't you allow your daughter to come in shy?" The voice went on. "At last, she finally had the gut to visit us after all this time."

Jack.

My stepfather. 

A chilly sweat spread across my skin.

My legs refused to comply, even though every nerve in my body cried out for me to run away. His lingering gazes, the way he would purposefully brush by me, the door that never locked, and the hands I would never forget were all part of the swirling memories.

And my mom, who never once gave me any protection.

Reluctantly, she opened the door further. "All right, get inside. "Don't simply stand there."

I entered. Cigarette smoke and decay permeated the air. Jack sat in the same armchair he had usually used in the dimly lit living room. He remained the same person. Thick-set, imposing, and still wearing that fake smile that turned my stomach.

"Well now," he replied, his gaze sweeping over me. "I didn't expect to see you crawling back, girl. Why didn't you bring your angel with you? Oh wait, she's sick, right? Guess that's what happens when you choose an ineffective father for your child."

I looked away and clenched my hands.

This was not about me. This was about Elisse.

"I need help," I said. "just a few amount of money for Elisse. I swear that I will work hard to repay it back as soon as I could."

Jack leaned forward and chuckled.

"Oh, sweetheart," he replied, reaching inside his pocket. "Do not give me that look. I hate seeing you beg. You now I am not that cruel when it comes to you." 

He took out two folded bills and waved them in the air.

"Hey Shy, why don't you go out and get some food for us, i'll take care from here. Our daughter has finally arrived home, it wouldn't be nice if we don't at least have her fed, right?"

My mother opened her lips to complain, but Jack gave her a glance. Something flowed between them—silent and dangerous.

"Fine," she murmured before taking her coat and stepping out the door.

"No. Mom, please stay. Please—don't leave me with him," I exclaimed, grasping for her. "Mom, please!""

She did not even turn around.

The door snapped closed behind her.

Suddenly, It was like all the horrors from the past came back to me again. at that moment, it sure felt like I travelled time and I was sixteen again.

I Froze, realizing how I was once powerless and still powerless now. 

Jack stood. suddenly, everything around me felt small. and that the room seemed like shrinking towards me.

"You've grown up really lovely," he observed nonchalantly, taking a step toward me. "and that maid dress looks great on you. it's giving me weird thoughhts. You always looked wonderful in tight clothes."

"Don't come any closer" I said quietly, backing up. but he refuse to do so.

My knees were shaking. My vision blurred.

"Don't," I begged. "Please, don't."

He smirked. "Come on now. Don't try to act all shy. Let us talk like a real family. didn';t you say that you have nowhere else to go now, a while ago?"

He reached for me.

And then—

Threee loud bang echoed: Bang. Bang. Bang.

A loud knock rang throughout the house. 

I felt my heart jump to my throat.

Jack tensed up. I remained still.

Then the familiar scent struck me. Woodsmoke. Rain-soaked pine. Power.

It wrapped around me like a warm blanket and pierced through my anxiety. My spirit instinctively recognized him. the alpha is here.

Kairi Sta. Ana.

The door crashed open, and he walked inside.

Kairi stood like a god bathed in moonlight, broad shoulders stiff, golden eyes sharp and gleaming softly in the dark. He was clothed in a tight black coat, and his alpha aura filled the room, dense and suffocating.

"Step the hell away from her," he roared. 

Jack scoffed. "What are you, a dog? You think you can simply barge in—"

Kairi moved so quickly, I didn't see it coming. One moment Jack was standing, the next he was pushed into the wall, gasping.

"You touch her again," Kairi growled in protest, "and I swear by the moon goddess, will be the last time you'll breath again."

His claws were out. Sharp and lethal.

Jack whimpered, his face paling.

I could not breathe.

Kairi turned to me and said, "Sze." 

he said my name. I heard it clearly from the lips that I thought I would never hear again. and suddenly, It caused something inside me to shatter.

Kairi approached me slowly and cautiously, as if I might go away.

"What are you doing here?"I coughed out.

He leaned out to gently brush my cheek. I was late. "I am sorry for being late."

I stepped back. "Don't, Kairi. Don't act like you care. Stop it."

"But I do care," he answered with a scratchy voice. "Bianca means nothing. I—" His gaze moved to the bruises on my arms. "Sze, you're hurt."

I looked aside.

"This is nothing. it's Elisse you should worry about," I whispered. "She is ill and needs the medication treatment right away. I need money for that so I came here hoping to borrow money from my mother."

"I know," he replied, taking something out from his coat pocket. it was a folded envelope. He pressed it into my hand. "Here, take this. it's for the hospital. For Elise, for the two of you." 

I gazed at the envelope in my hand. it was bulky and a bit heavy. he sure had so much wealth to easily give this sum on me just like that.

and by the look of it, this money would be more than enough for Elisse's medication and for the two of us to start fresh somewhere away from Kairi's sight. it's more than enough.

However, before i knew it, tears began to suddenly flow across my cheeks.

"Why? I don't get it. Why now?" I inquired. "Why  would you suddenly come the last minute to save me every single time?"

Kairi appeared to be at a loss for words after hearing it from me.

However, he moved in closer, he then took me towards him and encircled me with his arms as if to make me feel that he was protecting me against the world.

He replied, "forgive me for leaving you like that earlier. I swear, I will never leave you again. Never again."

And I let him hold me for a second since I was so exhausted. It made me wonder though if I was just really exausted that's why I let him do as he please or was it because I still loved him despite the complicated mess of our lives.

especially now that his true love has finally returned, making my existence more irrelevant now than it has been.