STOLEN || 18+ (Monsters #3)

.84. Little thing

You look like you stitched the stars in the sky.

- me

. . .

Leyla

"Who's birthday?"

"Kylie."

"...Whos Kylie?"

Olivia dumped down a few dresses on the bed. "Kylie MacQuoid."

"Oh, she's a cousin of your husband."

"Yeah," she said, eyes fixed on the dresses. "Not one of these fits me." She sniffled. My eyes widened. "I'm going to look horrible. And they look so perfect all the time-" she wiped her tears. I rushed towards her. "I don't deserve even one of them-"

"Whoa." I gently put my hands on her shoulders. "Look at me, Olivia."

She looked at me. "I'm sorry. Just the fucking hormones messing with me all the damn time."

"You're beautiful, you know that, right? You're beautiful and you're so much more than that."

She smiled, sniffling. "You are amazing, Leyla." She pulled me in for a hug. I let myself linger. For years I had wished this woman to become my true older sister. It was late, but somehow I didn't mind.

"Are we hugging?"

Gabriella, who had appeared out of nowhere rushed towards us. "I love group hugs."

. . .

They watched me, eyes flicking all over me from across the hall. Both dressed in tuxedos, they looked to have walked out of a daydream. They could have been mistaken for businessmen if only Giovanni didn't have that madness in his eyes and Fabiano didn't hold his coldness on him like a curtain.

My heart thundered. I looked away.

They were maintaining their distance. I knew they'd pounce soon. It was obvious.

I smiled as Kylie grinned at her cousins and Olivia as she cut the cake. A terrible bombing by the Russians had cost Kylie a lot. She sat in a wheelchair, her mother distant and standing in a corner and her father buried in the graveyard. Fabiano had told me to not talk of Kylie's father. Her mother did not like that.

The celebrations continued. There were many people in the large hall of the Creed mansion. This mansion was as big as the Valentino's, yet somehow not as comfortable.

"We look awesome," Gabriella said, putting an arm around my shoulders. She was dressed in a black dress which was similar to mine, but mine had a slit on the left leg and brushed my ankles and hers had a skirt.

"We do," I agreed, messing with my hair. I had straightened it. It looked good. I would have been feeling good too if only...

I looked down at my watch.  It was midnight. Seventy-two hours till I'd have to leave again. My heart broke just thinking about Astrid.

I looked at her. She was with Leona who was barely able to keep her away from the giant cake. Astrid would be sad. Gabriella would be furious.

I let out a shaky breath.

You don't have a choice, Leyla.

I didn't. They might have somehow squeezed themselves into my heart, but I knew they wouldn't let me make my own choices. I wondered what they'd do if I begged to stay here.

I walked to the washroom.

I looked at myself and for a moment, my mind flashed back to the mansion. How I had looked at myself in the mirror the very day they had taken me. That woman and the woman I was now had too many differences.