"This must be a joke. What is happening?" so many things have happened already, that day, and the worst has been what she just heard about the news flying around about her mother.
"My God! My God!" Markus kept muttering for several minutes as he made his way to sit and examine what had happened. He knew this secret would soon be revealed, but he never imagined it would be too soon.
Lizzy, on the other hand, asked herself if Mia had already heard the news before calling her or if she knew more than the news. Looking deeply into it, Mia sounded confident throughout their conversation, except once or twice when she stuttered, but it didn't look like she was lying or pretending to know what she didn't.
Hands tied to Caleb's and not wanting to let go any time soon, she contemplated going into a room to call Mia and ask her really serious questions, because she believed Mia had all the answers she needed.
"It's okay, please. I'm sorry I broke the news to you this way. I thought you already knew." Caleb said, holding her hands tighter. They were now dealing with multiple issues at once: Lucas' issue, Elena's sudden disappearance and the scandal.
Looking at her phone, she saw a lot of notifications as expected. She didn't bother to check her texts, which were already more than one thousand, talking about Elena and her child laundering.
"Dad, is there anything we need to know?" she didn't know the reason she felt her father knew something about this whole situation.
There was a little uncertainty in his eyes as he answered the question, but Lizzy got her answer already, not from what he said, but from what his face was saying. "Dad, you know like I know that you're not telling me the truth."
"Please, I don't want to talk. If you may excuse me, I need some time alone" Markus felt insecure that his daughter was questioning everything he had to say, so in order to avoid more questions and reduce the tension that had risen highly, he decided to leave the room and have his thoughts to himself.
She watched him go ahead to his room, her fumes increasing as Caleb who also noticed the tension, hugged her slightly, thinking it would help the situation, and it did.
" I need to take a walk, please." She also needed time to think and she felt this overwhelming urge to cry, which she could not do when he was there. She had become so strong in the past few weeks, but the strength disappeared with her mother.
She was about to stand when Caleb held her hand, sending her chills all over again. "Please, you have to be strong."
"Strong? Did you just say "strong?" she laughed, taking Caleb by surprise.
"I have been strong all my life, please. I am still strong." she was not in for this annoying conversation, so she made to leave.
"Okay, I am sorry." Caleb had a way to change her mind without talking. She sat where she stood up from earlier, making Caleb resume the duty of holding her hands.
"I am so sorry, I didn't mean to make you angry. I just felt I needed to say that to you." Staring at him, she realized she was just overreacting. He wasn't behind everything that had been happening, so he didn't deserve that behaviour from her.
"I am so sorry too. I didn't mean to vent towards you"
"No, it's okay. I know how you feel." Once again, she felt the urgent need to hug him tightly, to get intimate with him. But right now, there is still a lot to do for her mother.
"Please, excuse me, I need to call someone." Immediately, she felt the need to talk to Mia, so she regretted leaving Caleb, but she knew he would understand her.
Calling her again, she sat on a comfortable chair around the garden. She loved coming to the beautiful garden when she was confused about a situation, and when she just stared at the leaves and found her answers. She literally hoped she would get her answers as usual, when she reached Mia.
"Lizzy." her voice came in. "Are you okay?"
Was that supposed to be a question? She asked as she was searching for the right answer to give to her. She needed to see her immediately.
"Could you please come over? I need us to discuss." She needed a yes from her and she muttered a prayer for her to change her mind if she didn't want to.
After a deep sigh from the other end of the conversation, she agreed to come. "Where can we see?" "In my house. No one is here". The lie was so effortless, but she would take her to the garden to have the discussion.
"Okay. send me your address." and that was the end of the call. She hurriedly typed out her address, sent it to her, and resumed staring at the garden, admiring the aesthetics. Nature had a way of taking away sadness, Lizzy concluded, still smiling at the beautiful flowers.
After what seemed to be five minutes, she heard a car drive into the compound and ran to the parking lot. Mia did not look entirely different from her teen years. She only looked more beautiful and lankier.
After nodding greetings, she led the way to the garden and they stared at each other for a while.
"How do you know all of these?" She didn't know how to start the conversation, so she thought about asking how she knew what she knew.
"And who are you?" A voice came from their back, startling the two of them as they stood to see the unwelcome guest.
"What are you doing here?" The voice said again, he looked so angry, and Lizzy was so confused about the reason he was so livid.
"Dad. This is my friend…"
"I wasn't talking to you," he said, his gaze still focused on Mia and to her surprise, she wasn't scared of him, she only stared back at him, not moving one inch. "What are you doing here?" he shouted again, moving closer to her.
Lizzy was terrified and didn't know how to handle the whole situation. "Dad! You are embarrassing my visitor!" she could not make sense of how her father would behave this way to someone he didn't know.
"I am so sorry for interrupting your family time. I have to take my leave right now." she took her bag, a look of disappointment painted on her face as she increased her pace to the parking lot."
"Dad! What is the meaning of this?" Caleb had already come out, hearing Markus's shout and wondering what happened.
"Don't bother inviting that girl to this house again. Do you hear me?" His face looked expressionless and very angry. He left without hearing a response, and Lizzy sat, feeling like she was just slapped by her father. It was worth more than a slap, because she also felt embarrassed because of Mia, feeling that she would not answer her calls or honor her invitation.
"Are you okay?" Caleb said, asking another question that made her roll her eyes. "I am fine," she said, still looking at nothing.
Her phone brought her back to reality after about twenty minutes of thinking deeply about the incident between her father and her newly found friend. Surprisingly, she saw a name starting with three letters and was really surprised at this gesture.
"Hi. I am so sorry about what happened earlier."
"I am sorry too."
"I didn't know he was your father," she said softly, her voice void of offence and anger, making Lizzy feel relieved.
"I think your family is such an interesting one," she whispered.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked, "Do you know my father?"
For about twenty minutes, the only thing that she thought about was the fact that her father was triggered by her mother's disappearance and that he thought no one should receive any visitors. It didn't come to mind to think about the fact that Marus could be hiding a lot of things.
"I didn't know he was your father. I have always heard about the great Mr. Berlin, but I did not know him facially."
Was she trying to say she knew her beyond Mr. Berlin?
"Please, tell me what I want to hear. Do you know him or not?" Again, she had completely run out of patience. She stood up and started going back and forth in the garden, her head on fire.
"I know him as Bryan."
"What? Huh? What do you mean?" she asked again.
"I feel bad for you because your parents have hidden a lot from you. To say a little, we used to do business together."
That was acceptable, he was a businessman, but again, just doing business wasn't enough reason to send Mia out of the house in such a rage.
"Not the normal kind of business. Uhm. Please, I'll have to call you later."
"Hello! Hello!" she could not be serious. How would she left her in such a dilemma again? Why does it look like she enjoys doing this all the time? She went into the business of asking questions again as she tried calling Mia, but just like a deja vu, she couldn't be reached.
Caleb was at a distance, watching everything that happened and had nothing but pity for her. Listening to her story all the time, he concluded that she didn't deserve all that was happening at that time, and he concluded that their planned date would have to wait.
Not acknowledging Caleb's presence, she stormed into the house like a predator in search of its prey, heading into her father's room and waiting for him to explain to her what just happened. She must get cleared from one of the two of them.
"Dad, or should I say Bryan?" She saw that reaction on her father's face but decided to continue.
"What do you want me to know now? Talk about it or I'll leave your house and will never return!"
Markus didn't want to lose his child again and was surprised at the form of affirmation in her voice. He understood that she was patient enough and she wasn't the kind of person he could be deceived due to her exceptional smartness.
He had already concluded Mia told her a little about him, and he hoped she didn't tell her about their secret business.
"My girl," he started, knowing that this would soften her heart. "My love, I am so sorry for what happened today. I didn't mean to treat her that way." There were things he didn't want to touch because they were in the past.
"Dad, you've not answered my question." Realizing she was still adamant and angry, he decided to tell her a little about him that would probably terrify her.
"Okay. I know her. We were business partners."
"I know that already, can you just go ahead to the main part?" He sensed burning anger in her voice, something he had never seen in her. This time, Caleb came in again to witness the subtle brawl of a father and daughter.
"The baby kind of business."
Hearing this, she felt her head spinning. Did she just hear that or did she imagine it?
"Baby kind of business? What's that?"
A call interrupted their conversation and Lizzy cursed slowly, taking her phone to see the person who called at the wrong time.
"Hello, who is this? She tried to sound normal even though she apparently wasn't.
"I am from the state's station. Good evening ma'am." It had been a long day, and she didn't want anyone making her ask questions.
"It's about Lucas, ma'am." This statement made her choke, seriously coughing
and bringing everyone in the room under tension, especially her father.
"What about him?"
"Ma'am, I'm sorry, he is no longer here."