"This is so hard to talk about," Martin said as he scratched his head and looked at the ground.
He inhaled and exhaled severally before looking up at Chloe and saying, "Like I said before, your mother and I are in love, but she's afraid of letting you know because she doesn't know how you will react. I honestly love her so much, so I get annoyed when she tries pushing me back, and she reminds me that it will always just be the two of you. I take out my anger on her and not you, who is actually my biggest problem."
The words sank into Chloe's mind, and her heart skipped a beat. She couldn't help but wonder what Martin would do to her after considering her his biggest problem.
Martin turned to look at her and saw how scared she was, so he stretched his hands toward her to hold her hands and assure her that he didn't mean any harm.
"I just think you need to make her know you don't have problems with her falling in love again," Martin said with a lot of compassion.
Chloe looked at him and noted how different he looked from the harsh Martin she knew, and foolishly, she thought all he said made sense.
"I know you love Lisa. If we can show her that we're doing fine, she'll open up to you and to me. Don't you want your mother's happiness?" Martin asked, deciding to play with Chloe's feelings and for her mother's love. She slowly nodded.
That's how Chloe had ended up receiving gifts from Martin, and after knowing the truth now, she felt like burning them all and feeding them to Martin's ass.
"You have to stay away from that man. It's the least you can do for yourself and for me," Lisa said in a final voice as she struggled to get up.
"Mom," Chloe called out in a trembling voice, and Lisa stood still by the door without turning to look at how broken Chloe was.
She knew she couldn't bare it.
"Did you ever try reporting him and making him pay for what he did?" Chloe asked. Lisa tensed and got rigid by the door as she summoned all her willpower to turn and look at her daughter.
Her tear glands broke as she remembered how afraid she had been after Martin got off her.
"My life was and is the most important thing I have ever had. He had and had the money to buy anyone. I couldn't forget my place." Lisa said, remembering all too well that even studying at the prestigious high school she had been to was all because of her hard work and well-wishers.
She quickly turned to rush out of the room that had taken away every strength of hers. She felt exhausted, but somehow, she also felt free since it was the first time she had spoken about that ordeal.
Xxx
"Hey, mom and dad have left," Mabel whispered to Amy, who was pretending to be asleep, so her parents don't bother her with questions about why she had decided to stay with them for a while.
She slowly opened her eyes and walked to her window, from where she could see her parents drive away.
"Thank you," she mumbled, and Mabel slowly nodded and looked at her with compassion, cleared her throat, and asked if all was well.
"I'm helping you, so at least tell me what's going on," Mabel reasoned, and Amy looked at her younger sister and realized then that she had grown into a mature woman.
"I don't know if you will believe me when I say I also don't know what's wrong with me," Amy said in a low voice as she sighed deeply. "I have a sick feeling about mum and dad, and it makes me want to throw up anytime I see or hear anything about them."
Mabel's eyes widened in shock, and Amy instantly realized that her statement could be easily misunderstood as her hatred for her parents.
"They haven't done anything wrong, but I feel like they aren't honest. Do you remember the photo they were arguing about?" She asked, and Mabel thought for a while before nodding.
"I need to get that and some other things, too," Amy added in a determined tone.
"I don't think we'll find the photo. Dad wanted it burned," Mabel pointed out.
"But mum didn't, so I might be lucky to get it," Amy said confidently before pulling her sister and leading them to the master bedroom, which they found locked.
"You see? We have grown up here all our childhood, and this room was never locked, even once. But since I started questioning things, they locked the room.