Filed to story: Bring It On My Mafia Life Novel (Rhea & Lukas)
“What?” Natalie couldn’t believe her. She gave her a deadpanned look, “Really?” After hours of speaking and narrating her sensitive past, this was all she had to say to her. Perhaps her daughter was not an entitled child after all, but a prick. How could she ask that?
“My God,” She gasped, the whole thing finally dawning on her, “It wasn’t a story,” Rhea gagged, wanting to throw up everything that she had eaten, but then, there was literally nothing in her stomach.
“Oh,” She was merely in shock, Natalie found out. The woman thought that Edward had raised an unempathetic daughter. Not that Natalie was proud of leaving her, but she only wanted her to understand her circumstances. Her hands were tied. She had no other choice and everything that she had done was for safety.
“You fucking dated Daniel?!” Rhea set her accusing eyes on her. That was the most disgusting news she had ever heard and God, why did her imagination choose now to be hyperactive? She could no longer unseen the images in her head.
When Elijah told her that her mother and Daniel had been a thing in the past, Rhea had not taken it seriously. But hearing it from the horse’s mouth was a completely different thing. How could she and Daniel…? Rhea brought up the image of Daniel in her head from the last time she saw him and tried to put the both of them together. But all it did was make her stomach churn and she ended up dry heaving.
God, she wished she never saw today.
“Would you stop giving me that disgusting look?!” Natalie chided her, unable to take it any longer.
“Well, what do you expect from your daughter who just discovered that the mother she thought dead all along was alive and not only that, was dating -“
…..
“Once dated and it wasn’t by choice,” She corrected her sternly.
“Well, once dated the father of the man she is dating? Jesus Christ! When did my life turn into a fucking soap Opera and I am not even a celebrity?” Rhea pointed out, overwhelmed by the whole thing. You can’t just spill everything to her in one day and expect her to be understanding. She needed time and a bit of clarity to absorb all of this. It was too much.
“Honestly, Daniel was not like this from the beginning. It was as if one day, he just switched off his humanity and became this cold, blooded asshole that everyone wants to kill.” She tried to explain to her.
“Oh my God,” Rhea groaned, wanting to bury her face into the mattress and never show up again, “Tell me, you didn’t just defend him? That man is a cold-blooded killer and doesn’t have a heart …” It came to Rhea and she blinked, “You loved him, didn’t you?”
“What?” Natalie was startled by that question. She never saw it coming. She glared at her daughter, “What are you talking about?”
“The both of you were in a relationship, tell me you never catch feelings for him?” as disgusting as that sounded in her head. But Rhea could see through her mother and the lie she was telling herself.
“He kidnapped me! He was the one obsessed with me! -“
“And you never led him on? I’m sorry, but I find it hard to believe that you could know a monster that well without feeling for a part of him -“
A slap landed on her face, whipping Rhea’s face to the side and she accepted it wholeheartedly. Perhaps, she had indeed crossed the line.
“That bastard me! He took me away from your father! Even if I might have empathized with him in the past, you think I forgive him for all he has done to me?! For ruining my life! For ruining Penelope! How could you think I would love someone like that?!” Natalie was so heartbroken that tears spilled from her eyes. How could her own daughter think of her like that?
“Penelope,” Rhea gasped slightly. She was Lukas’s mother and he had to know about this. She turned to her mother and lifted her cuffed hands to her desperately,
“Fine, I’m sorry that the both of us got off on the wrong feet. I know literally nothing about you and shouldn’t have assumed things. But I am just getting to know what happened to you through the story, but then, there’s someone who needs this revelation more than I do.”
She narrowed her gaze at her, “Who?”
“Lukas.” Rhea explained to her, “He has never really moved on after his mother’s death. But I think this story would give him the conclusion that he has been looking for and he would be finally able to avenge his mother. I just need to tell -“
“You’re doing no such thing,” Natalie’s expression became serious when she heard Lukas’s name.
“W-what?”
“You are not going near that boy ever again.”
Her brows furrowed at once, “What are you talking about? He’s your best friend’s son!”
“He is Daniel’s son and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. That boy is the reason why I went through all the trouble to get you back, so there’s no way I’m sending you back to him.”
Bam! Rhea finally saw this for what it was.
She shook her head, “No, you don’t understand. Lukas is different from his father, he would never hurt me! He loves me!”
“He would never hurt me!” Natalie mimicked her, tauntingly, “That’s what I told myself until Daniel’s affection for me grew aggressive and dangerous, you silly child!”
“No!” Rhea pulled on the cuff but she could only go as far as it let her. “What we have is special and you would never understand it because you’re blinded by the demons from your past,” She said, her gaze begging her.
But Natalie’s expression was calm and composed as she told her, “Experience is the best teacher. You should learn from mine already and until you come to your senses, I’ll leave you some time to think.” She turned, heading to the door.
“No, don’t even think about it!” Rhea warned her, but she shut the door on her.
And just like that, Rhea was imprisoned again, but this time, by her own mother.
What was wrong with everybody? Why were they always kidnapping her?! Rhea screamed at the top of her lungs in frustration, but there was no body to help her.
Give Her A Chance
“How did it go?” Eric had a hopeful look when he saw Natalie come out of the room. But when he saw the crestfallen look on her face, he knew that it hadn’t gone well at all.
Natalie simply shook her head, and walked straight into his open arms, burying her face in his chest. “I failed her as a mother.”
“It’s not your fault. You thought that you were making the right decision by leaving her behind. Who knew that things would turn out this way?”
“She’s going to hate me,”
“Give her time. You can’t expect her to warm up to you anytime soon,” He added, “And perhaps release the cuffs too?”
“No!” Natalie rejected that suggestion, pushing away from his body as if he had just been manipulating her with his touch and she didn’t want to fall for it.
“It would make her feel more at home and less than a prisoner. Natalie, if you want her to accept you just a little bit, you have to extend an olive branch first. Remember, you want to be the mother you missed out on during her childhood, it’s not too late now. Moreover, this place is secure, not even an ant could get out.” He assured her.
“Fine, release her while I go speak with Rose, she must be confused with what’s going on so far.” Rhea was not the only one that needed an explanation.
Rhea was still reeling from what happened so far and the startling reality of the situation she was in when the door clicked open and another stranger stepped into the room. Well, not exactly a stranger, he was that man from earlier, and now that she looked at him fully, he looked quite familiar to… Elijah.
…..
Damn.
Why does it feel like there was more she was yet to know? So far, her mother was good at keeping secrets – devastating ones.
“You’re Elijah’s brother, aren’t you?” Rhea said, looking at him and already thinking of how to use him and get the hell out of here. She was an adult, legally eligible to have her own life without interference, not even from a long-lost mother. How dare that woman kidnap her all because she wants a mother, daughter reunion. Well, they already had one. It was time to let her go.