Chapter 198
KROSS
My mind was all over the place at work. I could barely focus and my thoughts kept wandering,
I kept thinking, ‘Did I make a mistake? Perhaps I should have just gotten her an apartment, rather than asking her to stay with me. She clearly feels like she has to repay me somehow, and I would be the biggest dick who ever existed if I let her do
that.
She had seemed nervous then, but was trying to hide it. I noticed how her hands shook
What exactly has she gone through? I could only guess a little but not the full depth, and honestly, I didn’t want to kno
I already feel like she’s my responsibility after she just told me that she was taken. God knows what I’ll do when I hear her full story.
I focused back on work, pushing everything else to the side. The time ran and then it was time to leave.
Usually, I would stay until midnight or just sleep in the office, but that wouldn’t be fair to Sade.
So I picked up my keys and went home.
When I reached home and saw the lights were on, it suddenly hit me that someone was really staying there and the house was no longer empty.
It filled me with a strange warmth as I parked my car and moved inside.
When I entered, there wasn’t anybody in the living room but the lights and TV were on. Mrs. Banks would have gone home, she never stayed past six.
I was about to go upstairs when I heard her footsteps running out of the kitchen.
“Oh, sir! You’re home!”
I paused in my steps, turning to her and something strange happened in my chest when I saw her.
Mrs. Banks had cleaned her up well.
She was wearing a loose yellow gown that made her golden skin seem like it was glowing, and her wild curls had been tamed packed up away from her face and her features were now clearer, and Lord…
“Yeah,” I answered, clearing my throat when my voice came out too thick.
She suddenly looked nervous, looking away from me. “I… uhm… I asked Mrs. Banks to teach me how to cook your favorite meal since I have no other way of saying thank you. Please don’t say I shouldn’t have done something like that.
I watched her, watched how her hands were folded and squeezed tight, how she couldn’t meet my eyes, and kept her head
down.
I didn’t like that, but I could do nothing about it.
“That, I can accept,” I said softly, walking back to the living room. I made sure to keep my space from her, not even coming within three feet close to her.
Her eyes lit up and she nodded, running back to the kitchen.
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Chapter 198
Her eyes… Those hazel eyes still looked lifeless but it was just a bit better than it was yesterday.
35 vouchers.
I could see that she was easy to please. She must have had a tough life and that must have broken her spirit, but I coul! see that she was trying to find joy again. She was trying to learn how to live again.
I could tell something was pushing her, driving her to try even though I could see in her eyes that she had given up hope. and I couldn’t help but ask when she returned to the living room.
“Are you trying to live for someone, Sade?”
She went still, the hands that were holding plates shaking. She placed it gently on the table, straightening her gown even though there was not a single wrinkle on it.
“Was it that obvious?” she asked in a small voice, sitting slowly.
I shook my head. “No, I just tend to pick up things.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have asked because whatever little light she had in her eyes before has gone out.
“Her name was Amelia.”
Was.j
Damn it, I thought it might be her mother, that even though she didn’t know if she was alive or not, she was still trying to live for her, in hopes that she’ll get to see her one day.
“She was one of the oldest girls in that place we called hell,” she went on, staring blankly at the floor. I could tell she wasn’t here; she’s gone back to the dark place. “She has been there three years before me and she was the pillar to the youngest girls, especially me. She was really close to me and saw me as her sister. She shielded me from the little things she could. When I first came, I was scared, and I cried every day when I was supposed to be… working.”
My fists clenched into clenched, something like anger burning in my chest.
“Amelia would plead with the madam anytime they came to drag me out, saying I just needed time to adjust and get used to my situation. When I finally started taking clients and would come back beaten and bleeding, Amelia would be there to clean my wounds.”
Her voice shook and I smelled the salt before I saw her tears.
I didn’t know what to do with myself. Was I supposed to… supposed to what? I didn’t have the slightest clue how to comfort
someone.
But Sade wiped her tears and went on like it was nothing.
“We’ve been planning our escape for four years now. We were careful, planning everything slowly so our plan could go smoothly, but at the end of the day, this is life and things don’t always go as planned. That day I ran into your car was the day we escaped. Well, just me. Amelia had screamed for me to run as she held back the men. Even before her last moments she was still taking care of me.”
She still kept her head down, her voice shaking, but no other tears came out.
“So Mr. Varkas, I’m trying to live for Amelia. Because sweet, smiling Amelia should be the one alive. I’ve lost all hope while. she still had light in her eyes even though she had been there longer than me.”
“Don’t say that,” I said, my voice rough.
She finally raised her gaze from the floor, fixing it on me. “Say what, sir?”
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Chapter 198
35 vouchers
“You deserve to live just as much as anybody. Amelia deserved to live too. The people who deserved to die were the bastards who took you from your home and made your life miserable.”
She stared at me, holding my eyes for a long while without looking away.
That was a pleasing improvement.
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
