Unveiling the Hearts

25. Consequences

Guilt.

To Lucian's surprise, he felt guilt somewhere. He hadn't expected himself to break so soon. He hadn't expected himself to let go of his anger so soon. He thought he had the right to be mad this time. He couldn't let her snatch away something so precious to him.

"Come here, Amira." He sighed, turning his chair to the side.

She got up quickly and crossed the desk, looking at Lucian expectantly. Her heart was beating fast as she stood there, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. She was internally wishing that Lucian would just hug her now and sort this, finally.

"Are you okay?" He asked the first question, looking into her eyes.

Amira studied his expressions, which looked like a mixture of concern and guilt. Her eyes slowly filled with tears, blurring him out.

She shook her head, slowly.
"Please make it go back to normal, Lucian."

Lucian shook his head.
"Not about that," he said, his expressions turning a little firm. "I mean, regarding the whole kidnapping scene."

Amira nodded her head and tried blinking the tears away.

"That incident with the buyer too?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

Amira didn't like how he was looking at her. With complete distrust in her words, Lucian was actually trying to get answers from her expressions.

"I didn't even have time to think about anything that happened there," The girl said. Her voice shook as she tried not to start crying again. Why wouldn't he just make it go back to normal?

Lucian's lips pressed into a thin line.
"There are a few things that I want to make clear," Lucian started. "My job is dangerous. There'll be a hundred people who will try to use you to hurt me. A few of them will somehow breach my security and reach you. You have to inform someone immediately when that happens. I should've had this talk with you long ago, I apologize for that."

Amira nodded slowly, looking into Lucian's eyes.
"But you did cross the line this time," Lucian spoke, immediately making her lower her gaze. "Hiding something so serious, even though you didn't even see his face properly in the video, was something else. Not telling anyone about an unknown number sending you something so sketchy and threatening you, clearly luring you in."

"They would've killed him," she mumbled.

"I repeat, you didn't even see the face properly. There are plenty of people who'd look like Dad." Lucian glared at her this time. "Besides, you received the first video the night before, you got threatened the next day. You had plenty of time to tell any of us. It could've been handled in a much better way."

"I have my uncle now, because of that," she said, still refusing to admit she was wrong with following through.

"The chances of you having him were the same, if you had decided to tell me. Even more, I'd say. The whole situation would've been different." Lucian said.

Amira stayed silent at that. She sniffled as her mind raced with what the outcome could have been if she had told one of them.

Maybe Lucian would've gone there to check if it was Dad. Maybe they would've still found Uncle and she didn't have to go through that one day. It finally dawned upon her that it could've all been avoided if she had just not kept it from them.

Lucian watched how her posture changed when she found out the better way of handling stuff. But in Lucian's eyes, that was the tip of the iceberg.

The assassins were ready, the warehouse ready with a few rooms vacant for the family to stay in, if they angered Lucian enough. But Amira ruined that plan with her stunt.