Do you love me?

Chapter 33

Luke's POV

A week went by fast, and I'm close to being fully recovered from my gunshot wound. During that time, I told my dad that I was able to get into contact with Julie through the bracelet, and since then, we have been planning on getting her out of Elorerin.

Thanks to the help of Alex, Reggie, and Flynn, of course. Willie, on the other hand, we couldn't trust him after he betrayed us, so we had no choice but to lock him up in an abandoned room. But I still remember that I needed to thank him for saving my life.

While recovering, I had to throw myself into training to get myself ready to bring Julie home. The process hurt due to my injury being in my abdomen region, but I'm not going to stop til I get Julie back.

While training, my dad was looking for me and found me in the training field outside on the castle grounds. I was just punching the punching bag in front of me to get rid of the frustrations I have in this situation.

When Nick and his father were killed, all the servants and guards welcome us with open arms and allowed us to stay here as long as we needed until we could figure out a way to bring Julie home. Some of the guards even trained with us and taught us new moves to surprise our enemies.

Mitch: Luke, got any word from Julie yet?

Luke: So far, no. She usually calls when she's having another panic attack, but so far, she has nothing on Caleb.

Mitch: That's unfortunate. We need to know what his plan is.

Luke: And why does he want Julie so bad? No one goes all this trouble to kidnap a princess. But I think it has something to do with Julie's father.

Mitch: King Raymond? That does make sense. But there's got to be more to it.

Luke: Hopefully, Julie knows soon. That way, we can get out of this terrible town and bring her home.

Mitch: Yeah, about that son.

I stopped punching the bag and looked at my dad. Judging from his tone, it was not going to be good.

Mitch: Me and the group think that you should stay here and recover while we go get Julie.

Luke: What? No, that's not going to happen!

Mitch: Luke, you need to recover. The doctor said that you still need to heal after that gunshot wound.

Luke: I've been taking the antibiotics like he suggested it. And it doesn't even hurt that much.

Before I even knew it, he punched me where my gunshot wound was. I screamed a little from the pain and put my hand on my wound.

Luke: Ow, that hurts!

Mitch: You see. You're still healing, and what would happen if you got hurt again? Or worse?

Luke: I won't stop til I get Julie back.

Mitch: Why can't you just think about your own safety for once, Luke! Julie would've wanted you to stay here and recover.

Luke: You're sounding like she's dead already.

Mitch: That's not what I'm trying to say, Luke. I'm saying that you need to stay here.

Luke: No, I want to find Julie.

Mitch: Why are you always so stubborn? It's simple, you stay here, and we get Julie. All you have to do is stay here and wait for us. Is that so hard?

Luke: It is, okay?

Mitch: Why is it, Luke?

Luke: ...

Mitch: Tell me!

Luke: BECAUSE IT'S MY FAULT THAT SHE GOT CAPTURED! MY FAULT FOR LETTING HER GO INSTEAD OF JUST FIGHTING FOR HER!

That's when my dad went silent. Funny enough, he never went quiet when we're like this. I punch the punching bag one more time until I sit down on the ground with tears in my eyes. Dad looked at me with a somber look and sat next to me.

Mitch: Luke, that wasn't your fault. You had no choice. You were tied up.

Luke: But it is, Dad. When Willie stopped us, I could've fought my way to get Julie to safety. Or grabbed my pocket knife faster to cut the rope. But I just sat there and saw them take Julie away. The last words I said to her were, "I'll find you." It wasn't just a promise for her. It was for me, too. Because I'll do anything to bring her back, even if it means getting hurt again.

There was silence between us. I was waiting for his response until he stood up. He went in front of me and put his hand out as a sign to grab his hand. I did and got up. I thought he was going to leave, but he did the opposite. He went to the back of the punching bag and held it in place.

Mitch: Well, let's get you into shape. We got a princess to save.

I just smiled when he said that. I walked over to the punching bag and punched it with all my strength. My dad gave me tips on how I could punch harder, and that helped a lot.

After a while, we went into sword training. I fell down a lot, but I always managed to bring myself back up. Even Reggie, Alex, and Flynn helped me get stronger. A couple of days after that, my wound started to get a lot better to the point where my stitches could be taken out. Day after day, I got a lot stronger to the point that I could beat my dad in the wrestling ring. Again.

When I finished training, my bracelet was starting to vibrate, meaning that Julie was calling me. I went to my room so that I could talk with her quietly.

Luke: Julie? Are you there?

Julie: Yeah, I'm here.

Luke: How are you so far? Is there anything going on right now?

Julie: I'm fine. Just found out something.

Luke: Is it about Caleb's plan?

Julie: Yes and no. Turns out, there are secret tunnels all over here. Apparently, Caleb's uses them a lot when he sneaks out.

Luke: But why would he need to sneak out, though?

Julie: Maybe for his plans. I'm still trying to figure that out. But I think I do know why he isn't doing anything to me yet. I think I remind him of my mom.

Luke: What?

Julie: Think about it. Caleb used to have the biggest crush on my mom. And since I came here, he has been nothing but respectful towards me. He even called me Rose by mistake.

Luke: That's weird and creepy at the same time. But great work so far. I'll tell this to everyone.

Julie: Will do.

Luke: Julie, please be careful.

Julie: I will. Don't worry.

Luke: But when it comes to you, I do.

Julie: I know. I'm worried about you too. But we have to be strong. The sooner we stop Caleb, the sooner that we can be together.

Luke: You're right. I'll go tell everyone about the information. I love you, and stay safe.

Julie: I love you too.

After we hung up, I was about to leave my room until I realized something. How are we going to get into the tunnels without anyone seeing us? The only person that we know that could help us is...

Willie.

_______________________________________

Hey guys, I would like to thank Spopas7 for the idea for this chapter. She has amazing ideas as always, and I couldn't have done this without her. I'm also glad that I was able to finish this as soon as possible, unlike the last couple of times. 😅

Make sure to comment and vote.

Byeeeeeeeeeeeee 😁