Kidnapped

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

-TATUYANNA TORRONO >

I'm so mad I can't think straight. But more than anger, I'm hurt. How could he say that to me? Or more importantly about his former boss.

Screw him. I never cared about him anyway.

I don't even care.

What sends a red blazing haze through my chest is the fact that I can't even work in peace without thinking about what he said. 

Giving up, I groan in frustration. Standing up and retreating my office. "How annoying." I grit, almost flinching back when I noticed Alessia and Marcela all sprawled out and comfortable on my L sofa.

"You look like you need a session in the boxing ring." Marcela comments, leaning back as she threw popcorn into her mouth.

I plopped down next her, a pout on my face as I grabbed her popcorn. "I already had one in the morning." I grumbled.

Alessia sighs. "He really pissed you off huh?" She asks, making Marcela chuckle. I resist the urge to throw my hands up as I explode. "Yes! I don't need his scrutiny. Especially when my father just died!"

It goes dead silent. "Who. . . Just died?" Alessia asked, her voice laced in shock. I notice Marcela portraying the same look and I look away and bite my bottom lip, screwing my eyes shut.

Oh crap.

"T, is this true?" Marcela asks, and I can't help but feel the familiar void in my chest increase as the minutes past.

I swallow, holding back the tears. "It is." I sigh. "I don't want to believe it myself, but it's true." I closed my eyes as my voice wavered.

I then feel two presences beside me, a hand on my shoulder and another on my clasped hands—on my lap. "What happened?" I slowly turn and look at Alessia.

It wasn't pity. It wasn't mocking.

I can't describe it. . . But it's comforting.

I then look down at my hands, deciding I had to tell them sooner or later. Even if it isn't easy.

"I—there was. . . There was an explosion." I felt my chin tremble. Alessia squeezed my hand and I swear it eases the growing void in my chest. "He was going to save that ungrateful asshole. And he can't even appreciate it."

My voice breaks and I'm beyond the verge of tears. As if on cue, big fat angry tears streamed down my cheeks like a dam with a shattered wall.

I feared that they would judge me. Say that I'm an adult and I didn't have to cry. That I'm not a baby and that I need to pull myself together.

But instead, I was pulled into an embrace, hands caressing my head and another pair caressing my back.

I realize. . .

This part isn't as foreign anymore.

Instead of two muscular fatherly arms around me, I'm in the comfort of my two friends. The first two friends I've ever made. The thought makes my heart ache more.

"It's okay." Alessia comforts me. But I can't focus on it. Nor the hands caressing my back.

I could only focus on the heartache. The pain and the feeling of my chest caving in. I was losing air in my lungs and suddenly I forgot how to breathe.

I'm lifted off Alessia's shoulder. Palms hold my cheeks and pull me out of my trance. "Hey look at me." Marcela's voice becomes clear to me and I meet her deep green eyes. "I've never seen your father as happy as he was when you were around. The way he always called you 'neonata' no matter how old you are. It just showed that you were and forever will be his babygirl. T, he loved you with everything he had."