“Go back to sleep, darlin’.”
She thought his hand was going to reach out before he quickly disappeared into the dark room. It wasn’t until he spoke again that she realized he had gone to sit in the chair in the corner.
“I’m here …”
It must have been the complete nonexistent sleep she had gotten since being here, but her eyes slowly drifted away and into the night.
“… right here, Chloe.”
It took Lucca an hour before he unclenched his fists and relaxed back into the chair. It had taken all he had not to hold her, not to touch her to make sure she was all right. Being able to watch her sleep showed him how haunted she was by her past, even in dreams.
This had been the last straw. He had waited long enough. Tomorrow, his and Chloe’s life would change, colliding together into one.
One thing was for sure; those had been far from nightmares. They were memories.
Nine
I’d Hate to Have to Punish You, Darlin’
It took everything Chloe had to walk down the steps after last night. Elle had been the only other one to witness her nightmares, besides her parents. With each person to see it, it was like the curtain had been pulled back, showing her true self, the damaged goods she was. The fact that it was Lucca who had seen it meant he was going to have a part of her now. A deep, dark, locked away part of herself she was never going to get back.
Her father, her mother, her best friend, they all were a major part of her life, and now she had this overwhelming feeling like Lucca would be, too. Like our lives have now intertwined.
What she found strange about it was how … kind he had been. Even stranger was how much she appreciated it.
Scanning the downstairs, she looked for any sign of Lucca, but when there was none, she figured he had already left for work.
Seeing the laptop on the coffee table reminded her of why she had braved coming down in the first place.
Chloe sat down on the couch and grabbed the laptop, booting it up. Several things popped up, including detailed instructions of her classes and how to submit her coursework. Someone had already taken the time to set up her account and must have written out the instructions since it didn’t appear to come from the school. Did Lucca do this?
Logging into her school account, that was when it hit her that she was hooked up to the Internet. She could get help!
She quickly tried to go to her email, but the site said “blocked.” She then tried to go to her other email site, but it was blocked, too. Then she realized she had a new school email for Stanford.
Signing into that email, it worked. She quickly tried to type in Elle’s email into the sender box, only for it to backspace and disappear. She tried again … for it to disappear once more.
What the …? She looked around the house to make sure no one was near.
Now she put in one of her professor’s emails, and in the subject line, she typed out: HELP ME!! I’VE BEEN KIDN-
The laptop was shut and taken from her grasp.
Her eyes slowly drifted up to see Lucca’s big frame standing over her.
“I-I-I was just—”
“I would be very careful not to lie to me, darlin’.” The intimidating man took a seat on the coffee table in front of her, intruding on her space. He put his elbows on his knees to intrude even more, getting close to her face. Even though he was hunched over, he was still taller than her.
Chloe tried to make herself as small as possible, pushing herself back into the couch to get any space she could between them. “H-How did you know?”
“Your computer is strictly for your coursework. You will find most sites will be blocked to you, such as social media. However, you will still be able to research anything you might need just fine. The only site that’s available to interact on is for your coursework, like your Stanford email. Now, if you type in, let’s say, Elle’s email address or the words ‘help me,’ it will automatically notify the man who programmed the computer. He then is able to override your computer and gives me a call to tell me that you’re not being a good girl.”
“Oh.” Chloe bit her lip. “Who is he?”
Lucca smiled. “A friend.”
Lucca, Drago, friend. That meant at least three people knew she was here. Honestly, she was shocked he would even call someone a friend. It didn’t seem like Lucca had any friends. Not even he and Drago acted like friends.
When she noticed him still smiling as she continued to bite her bottom lip, she quickly stopped and looked down at her wringing hands.