Unspoken

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

“Hello, Arianna. Nice to see you again,” Richard says as my mom leads him into the living room.

I give him my best glare when my mom isn’t looking and he almost looks amused.

“Dinner is almost ready, so you two can just hang in here until it is done,” my mom says and disappears into the kitchen.

Well, this shouldn’t be awkward. You know, other than the blaring silence that settles over the room. I sit there and nervously pick at my nails, while Richard leans back against the couch with a self-satisfied smirk.

“So, how are you? Your mother told me you were involved in an accident awhile ago and how lucky you were to survive with minimal injuries. I’m glad you’re okay,” he says smiling as if he really means it.

I don’t know whether I should laugh or punch him in the face. Instead I decide it is time that I confronted him. I mean, what harm could it really do? I don’t have any evidence on him, but I’m hoping the fact I know he was involved will be enough to make him stay away from my mother.

So, I grab a pad of paper lying on the table and hastily scribble out a message to him. All it says is that I know he was involved in the accident and was there the day Caleb died. I hand it over when I am satisfied and wait to see what his reaction will be.

“Hmmm,” he murmurs, while pressing his lips tightly together.

“Look, Arianna. You’re a nice girl and I’m not trying to upset you, but this is ridiculous. What reason would I have for hurting you? I’m shocked you would suggest such a thing,” he continues and gives me a disapproving look.

I angrily snatch the pad of paper back from him and scrawl out a second message. It reads, I know it was you! It was your car! And your reason is simple, money. I bet my dad paid you a lot to do this for him.

“Oh, Arianna! This is preposterous! A lot of people have cars similar to mine and why in the world would your father want you dead? You have obviously been going through a hard time and need some help to work things out,” he responds.

Maybe I should have just punched him from the beginning. I roll my eyes at him and write a new response, Where is your car than, if it wasn’t totaled in the accident? And what about that scar above your eye, where did that come from?

“My car is with my brother, who asked to borrow it. And I have had this scar for a long time. Maybe you didn’t realize it last time, but it was there. Now, these accusations are getting a bit annoying. Why don’t we just forget this conversation ever happened, alright?” he chuckles as if this is all some big misunderstanding.

I refuse to let him make me doubt myself. I am certain that it was him, no matter what he says. He put the pad of paper down on the couch and I snatch it up again. You can pretend all you want, but you and I both know what you did. I bet if I went to the police with this information they would be able to dig up something really easy. Like the fact that you don’t even have a brother to lend a car to, idiot. So, I suggest you stay away from my mom and get out of our lives now or I will turn you in.

A flash of anger passes over his face, which he quickly tries to hide. I remember a long time ago when my father and him were friends, Richard would come over for dinner sometimes. I was really young at the time, but I do still remember a particular conversation we had. Caleb and I had just been in a fight and Richard was trying to cheer me up. I had asked him if he had any siblings and he told me that luckily for him he didn’t. So, there is no way that his “brother” has his car. My bet is that it is in a junkyard somewhere.

“Let this drop right now or you are going to be sorry, Arianna. If you go to the police you don’t have a guarantee that they will find anything. I will be very upset with you and who knows what might happen the next time I see your mother? There could be some sort of accident, you wouldn’t want to lose both of your parents, would you? And what about that boyfriend of yours? Declan, I think it was, it would be really unfortunate if something were to happen to him,” Richard hisses between his teeth, anger building in his dark eyes.

I jump to my feet as soon as Declan’s name reaches his lips. How dare he! Declan has nothing to do with this! As I think about it a little more I begin to feel nauseous. Declan knows just as much as I do. If Richard feels threatened by me than he will have the same feeling towards Declan only stronger. I don’t think he realizes at this point, how much Declan already knows and I don’t want him to find out.

Anger pools inside me until I feel like I will explode. It is one thing to threaten my mom, which I am also upset about, but bringing Declan into this isn’t fair. Declan has been nothing but amazing towards me and I shouldn’t be getting him involved in this mess. I am literally shaking with anger and am seriously contemplating hitting Richard when my mother walks into the room.

“Dinner is ready!” she chirps cheerfully completely oblivious to the tension in the room.

If only she knew that her boyfriend had just threatened her life if I didn’t listen to him. My mom sure has great choice in guys.

Richard grins like nothing is wrong and kisses my mom on the cheek. She turns to go into the dining room and as Richard follows, he shoots me a look over his shoulder that says I better listen to him.

Reluctantly, I follow them to the table. My first thought was that no way in hell was I going to sit in the same room as Richard any longer than I had too, but then I realized that if I wasn’t here then my mom would be left alone with him. I can’t let this happen, so I am forced to endure Richard for awhile longer.

Dinner seems to drag on forever. My mom completely ignores me and continues to bat her eyelashes at Richard. Their flirting is making me sick and I just push the food on my plate around with my fork. Every time my mother isn’t looking, Richard shoots me dirty looks. I know it is childish, but I stick my tongue out at him. Of course this is the moment my mom decides to turn around.

“Arianna! Grow up,” my mom glares at me.

Oh look, now everyone at the table is giving me dirty looks. Tonight could not get any better.

When everyone is finished eating, my mom and Richard continue their conversation as if I’m not there. I was hoping that he would leave now, but apparently not.

“Arianna, why don’t you go upstairs?” my mom asks.

If only she knew she was asking to be alone with a lunatic. I sigh dramatically, shoot one last glare at Richard, and stomp up the stairs. I bet he is just loving this. He knows I am scared about what he will do to my mom and so he will stay as late as possible.

There is no way that I am going to be able to sleep, so instead I pace around my room. I find various excuses to go downstairs and spy on them, but my mom seems fine. Finally I hear the door slam close at 3:45 a.m. I groan and sleepily stumble downstairs to check on my mom.

“Arianna! What are you still doing up?” she asks looking confused.

I have been so worried about her these past few hours! The worst part is that she doesn’t even have a clue. I don’t know how many more of these visits I will be able to get through without having a heart attack. What makes it worse it that I don’t only have to worry about my mom, but Declan, too. If anything happened to him it would kill me. There might not be anything I can do to keep my mom safe, but there is something I can do to protect Declan. It will break my heart to do it, though. The only way I can keep Declan safe is to make sure he has nothing to do with me and to do that I am going to have to break up with him.