River Rose | ✓

7

Powerless
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Brontide (n.) The low rumble of distant thunder.

••••••
Nikolai (Dad)

I throw my glass of whisky against the wall above the flaming chimney. It can't be. She isn't the girl we were tracking.

She's so perfect, yesterday night she fit right with us and I refused to acknowledge how much she reminded me of my little girl.

I break an empty glass too just for the fun of it. I'm so fucking tired, exhausted of looking and tracking blonde, blue-eyed girls and finding out they are not my little girl.

If Riley is who she claims to be...how could we miss it? We visit town once a month for business and we never questioned the girl Valenciano took under his wing? Maybe if we'd seen her...but yesterday was the first time.

We thought she was his biological daughter, just like the slutty Samara or Carla whatever her name is. I miss my wife in this situations, she would've solved the problem in under a minute and found our girl.

Not that she was too useful for anything else but fucking rich men and drinking until she passed out. I still loved her...at least the wild, beautiful woman she was when me met and had Mav.

We met when we were really young, lost our virginities to each other and moved on with our lives, I had a few other girlfriends until she came to me with a 5 month pregnant belly. I wasn't sure if the baby was mine since Giana had had a few partners after me too, but we did a DNA test and he was my son, when Maverick was born he looked so much like me there was no doubt in my mind he was mine.

When the fire woke us up at the break of dawn, I never thought I'd loose both my wife and daughter, we thought Rosey (River) was dead until we paid private professional investigators a few hours after the fire, I just couldn't believe my baby was dead...everything was too suspicious.

My wife's burnt body was found, they identified her by running samples on a molar but my 4 year old was never found, not even an ember of her ashes. At first we didn't want to believe she was alive to then find out she was truly dead.

We kept searching and searching but only got dead ends and whispers of her name...I pour myself some more whiskey and seat on my desk as Maverick comes barging in and runs up to his room. He looks tired and in a rush.

Malik comes out in just a towel around his waist, walking a girl to the door and kissing her goodbye. She giggles but she doesn't know she was just a one time thing. My sons take after me on that matter though I'm not proud of it but I'll let them have fun as long as everything is with respect, consent and they are not hurting anybody.

"What's wrong?" Malik asks as he sees me rubbing my temples, my eyes are swollen and Maverick comes in again with papers in hand looking as bad as I do.

"I have some news. They may be fake but my head is running a fucking marathon thinking of it and I need to be right because I can't take anymore grief" I say in a rush, eyes bloodshot and voice scratchy.

"My news are more urgent dad I-I..I found her" Mav says in a rush too, voice breaking at the end, unshed tears glistening in his eyes. I sit up urging him to continue and Malik throws himself on the couch as if his legs stopped working with pure shock in his expression. I grab the bottle of whiskey and pour them both drinks. Yeah I'm that kind of father.

"Maverick if you say this you better be a hundred percent sure because I don't think I can take it if I get my hopes up and it isn't her" I say shaking as I grip my son's shoulder, we share an understating look, we both know what it feels like to 'find' her and for it to not be her.