Amelia

008.

Her shoulders rose and fell, keeping strong with a synchronized rhythm. Her eyelids fluttered back and forth, eyelashes resting on her smooth cheeks like soft, delicate butterflies. Her fists still clung to the light, white sheets that she buried herself under hours ago. The aroma of Mark's strong cologne clung to the fabric and surrounded her like a thin cloud. Occasionally, her fingers would twitch or she would mumble a few incoherent words strung together in a makeshift sentence; like beads on string. But for the time being, she was sound asleep and completely unaware of the events that were taking place downstairs.

She was, in a sense, safe.

~ * ~

"Mark, this is a delicate situation. Just because they gave you a ruling doesn't mean they are going to stop here. That is not how they operate and you know it!"

Within the walls of the large, spacious living room, three men were arguing. One was pacing in front of the door, his suit coat slipping to one side occasionally to reveal a gun sitting comfortably on his hip. The tallest of the three, a shock of dark hair and dark eyes to match, sat on the couch slumped over with his head in his hands. Fingers nervously pushing hair back and forward again, his teeth bit the inside of his cheek compulsively, and feet tapping at the burgundy carpet; it wasn't difficult to tell he was worried. A skinny red-headed stood at the middle of it, shouting at the two men, trying to explain the situation they were all caught in.

"I know, dammit! I know but what the hell am I supposed to do? It's too late now, I can't fix this." Mark whispered back. The low tone of his reply threw the David off-guard and he was almost left speechless. Mark was never a quiet man, always loud spoken and intimidating with the way he carried himself.

"There is a way we can..but you won't like it."

"He's not giving her to them, it's not an option!" Charlie snapped, interrupting his train of thought.

"I wasn't going to suggest that, Charles." David shouted, returning the same tone Charlie had thrown at him.

His eyes narrowed and he continued to pace back and forth angrily.

"Look..it's not that hard to fool the bastards. They're not nearly as smart as people give them credit for," He began but Mark cut him off.

"What, fool them? Come to them and say I'm sorry, apologize for everything and follow their conditions and rules? They'll have won! What's the point in that, it'll only be boosting their ego. Not to mention, making a fool of myself."

"You need to let go of your pride, Mark. It's going to be the death of you."

"Oh, fuck off." He snarled back in response.

"I'm trying to help you and I'm trying to save Amelia! I know how much she means to y-"

"NO, YOU DON'T!" Mark suddenly thundered, jumping up from his seat on the couch and pushing David against a nearby wall, "YOU HAVE NO IDEA! You don't understand...my little girl.." He trailed off and collapsed just as Charlie was about to rip him away from the tragedy waiting to happen.

"Look, we're going to fix this..but you have to at least try to cooperate with me."

"Get out!" Mark hollered and reached for a vase to throw in his direction but he was able to jump out of the way in time.

"I'll call you when you calm the fuck down." He retorted as he left the living room, stomped out through the front hall and slammed the front door behind him.

"They're going to take her from me, Charlie..I'm going to lose the thing most precious to me."

Mark truly did care for Amelia, even though his love could be more correctly classified as an obsession. Nobody could truly understand how much he loved her, she was the light of his life and every time she had cried or he had bruised her tender body or made her bleed; he hated himself a little bit more. He had promised himself that he would stop and make things right but now, it was too late for that.

He couldn't help but believe he was going to lose her to the monsters who would make her into nothing more than an object and he had no idea how to stop it.