STEEL CITY

Chapter 19

On the other side of the city, another person was also having a hard time sleeping. Mira stirred on her bed for about thirty minutes before settling her gaze on the ceiling. She couldn’t sleep as the guilt of her inability to help her best friend weighed on her.

Mira tossed and turned all night as she created many scenarios where she was either present on the day of Daphne’s arrest or she was powerful enough to stop the arrest but in the end she knew no matter how many scenarios she created the reality was that her friend had suffered greatly for two years while she lived in luxury.

Although she was kidnapped, her father ensured that she was well taken  care of and had the same luxury she enjoyed at home, probably even more to compensate for abducting her.

During the duration of her stay abroad, she refused to communicate with both her parents in the beginning as her mother did nothing to stop her father, but soon realized that there wasn’t much her mother could do as her father was a stubborn man.

She eventually gave in and kept in touch with her mother and brother but still refused to speak to her father. If her father was headstrong then she was obstinate.

The more Mira thought about her stay abroad the angrier she became at both herself and her father. She couldn’t do anything productive as her father cut off any form of communication or connection to Steel City.

She felt like she had failed Quinn and Daphne and it was killing her because she always thought about it as her days were humdrum and repetitive.

Her mundane routine included waking up, breakfast, sightseeing, trying to escape, lunch, shopping, trying to escape and then sleeping.

The routine changed six months into her stay as she had no more places to sightsee and her security was too tight so she soon gave up on the idea of escaping. She couldn’t blame them for being this rigid as she knew how brutal her dad would be to them if she escaped. 

With all this going she still tried to be level headed but her breaking point was when her father set her up on a blind date. She couldn’t believe that he could be that insensitive to her situation.

It was a beautiful morning and one of the few days Mira didn’t feel the full weight of her guilt. While basking in the warmth of the sunlight she was unexpectedly interrupted by one of her guards. “Young mistress, you have a visitor,” he said with his head slightly bowed. “How many times have I told you to call me Miss, young mistress makes me feel old,”she said, sighing then suddenly registering his words.

“I have a guest ?” she asked whilst getting off her hammock dumbfounded. “Who is it?” she asked again without waiting for the answer to her prior question and also gesturing for him to take her to the guest.

She was so excited because she assumed the guest would be someone familiar but to her shock it was a man she had never met.

The man in question stood up to greet her. His eyes twinkled as he saw the breathtaking woman before him. He walked towards her with a broad but charming smile on his face with his arm outstretched for a handshake. She shook his hand warily as she was confused as to why this stranger was here but her questions were answered as one of her bodyguards gave her a tablet with a video message from her mom.

“ Hello munchkin, it’s me mom,” Deborah said with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

 “ I wanted to call but Edward wouldn’t allow it, he doesn’t even know I made this video.I told your father it wasn't a good idea to set up this blind date but you know how he is when he’s set on something, he doesn’t listen to anyone. He claims that this would make you feel better and take your mind off things and …..well you're old enough to get married. It caused a huge fight between us, I had never seen him so mad. 

“ I’m sorry that all I could do was send a video secretly but you know I would do anything in my power to help you. So please just go through it for the sake of your father,” she said then took a long pause. “ I really miss you munchkin and I hope you come home soon. So take care till then,” she said with a smile and the video ended.

Mira was silent for a few minutes before storming out. On her way to her room she muttered angrily to herself, “ Go through with it for his sake. In the past two years, has he done anything for my sake? Kidnapping me then forcing me on a blind date with no prior warning.”

It seemed like ever since Quinn’s disappearance her father Edward had changed infact gone mad. She tried so hard to be understanding and sympathize with him but he had been nothing but unreasonable. 

Even after she got home she refused to speak with her dad. She just couldn’t forgive him for abducting her for two years and having the audacity to set up on a blind date. So anytime she saw him she either walked the other way or offered him a cold greeting out of respect and for formality sake.

Her father tried to talk to her on many occasions but was met with a cold shoulder, he eventually stopped trying to talk to her as his ego was as big as a blue whale’s.

Deborah tried to get the father-daughter pair to talk but all her effort yielded no result. She then came to the conclusion that even though they made up their relationship would never be the same. The whole thing was funny to her as Mira was very close to her father.

After a few more tosses and turns, Mira decided to leave her room to get some fresh air in the garden at the back.

On her way to the garden she passed by a lot of her father’s men who bowed their heads in acknowledgement. She knew they would probably report her current location to her dad as soon as she was out of sight.

Even after she returned her father still kept a close watch on her. When she finally got to the garden she sat in a lotus position on an egg chair swaying gently back and forth with her eyes closed and feeling the soft breeze caress her cheeks.

The scene gave off the vibe of serenity and peace but that was ironic because Mira’s mind was in a turmoil.

While sitting in that garden Mira realized that she wasn’t unable to sleep not just because of Daphne and Quinn but because somewhere at the back of her mind the fear of being kidnapped again and being kept away from her family and friends lurked.

She just couldn’t help but think that one day she would wake up in another country with no familiar face and no way home.