My Dark Scientist

27 | The Deal of my downfall

"So I never really knew you
God I really tried to
Blindsided, Addicted
Felt we could really do this
But really I was foolish
Hindsight, its obvious"

~ Moral Of The Story, Ashe

E L L O R A

When I heard I was being kidnapped to a guy named Vittorio, the mastermind behind everything wrong that's happening in my life, I pegged him as a big and burly man with lots of tattoos and piercings. Or someone in an expensive suit with expensive accessories, like a mob boss or something.

Definitely not a thin, old man, wrinkled skin, white hair and all, in a white shirt, brown vest, black dress pants, and a black trench coat which looks decades old, glasses, and a coffee coloured ivy cap sitting on top of his head. Wearing a surprisingly thin voice which shook in some places. A greeting smile, which almost made me think, this man is a prisoner and not the captor himself.

It is difficult to make out, this old man is in lead here. He is blending in with the people so easily, speaking and chatting with them with a smile plastered in his face. If not for the behaviour of others present here, the way their eyes shone with respect when he came near, and how eagerly answered all his questions, I would've never made out this was Vittorio. He looks like the normal old man you meet in a park during morning walk.

"What's your name la raggaza?" Vittorio asks stopping right infront of me.

"Ellora." I say inspite of myself. I shouldn't have complied. Old man or not, he is my kidnapper. I should have questioned him back, considering there is an endless list of those, unanswered in my mind right now. I should have defied him.
But the whole aura of him has a certain thing to it. No wonder all these youngsters (atleast compared to Vittorio) respect and follow the lead of this frail looking man.

Vittorio doesn't reply to me. Instead turning towards Professor Langdon, he says, a small unnerving smile plastered on his face, "What magic did you do, Abraham, that Davis's daughter is standing infront of me, of her own free will?"

"She was my student for the past three years. I didn't give her a reason to distrust me." Comes his impassive answer from behind me.

Vittorio raises an eyebrow amusedly. "You tricked her?"

"Yes." Comes the same stoic answer without missing a beat.

My heart though, falls at the pit of my stomache at this revelation. I should have made this discovery earliar today in H.O.D's office. I was freaking blind. Easy to be fooled. Easy to be tricked.

Vittorio nods his head slowly, "Very smartly woven game. And clearly," his eyes flickers to me amusedly before going back on him, "you played it perfectly. Good job."

All a freaking game.

I don't even turn around to look at his face. He, who says nothing to Vittorio's words. I cannot see his face, and I don't think I ever want to. There's suddenly this hot sting behind my eyes.

Don't you dare cry infront of these betraying monsters, Ellora Davis. Don't you freaking dare.

"Now, to Ellora Davis," Vittorio says giving me his full attention. "First and foremost, I would like to apologise for what Frank here did to you," his eyes gaze down towards my leg and the crutch I was standing against. At the same time his face, gestures aside at the group of people.

I look around and sure enough, I see baseball cap standing among them. I hadn't clearly seen his face on the day of my accident, but whatever little glimpse I had from under his baseball cap, I didn't need a genius to be sure that this was the same man. More than the fact that he is one of them, what shocks me is his condition. His head is clearly cracked. There's a huge bandage all around his head, and this time without any cap. His face is disfigured, completely. His eyes are bruised and his nose is cracked. His right hand is in a sling. He is in a condition, hundred times worse than me. On a closer look, all his injuries don't look like from an accident. Like his black eye. And he is the only one who isn't looking at me. His empty eyes are staring at a blank wall somewhere.