Teenage Troubles (Prequel for Teenage Baby)

Chapter 28 | The captors

Chapter 28 | The captors

"Kidnap. You want me to help you kidnap a baby."

"No. Not kidnap. Save. We're gonna save him because he's suffering."

"Sounds like something Cara would say, Dom. Stop repeating everything she says like a dumb parrot!"

"...Parrots aren't dumb."

"You are."

"Lou."

"Dom—"

"Listen." Dom's voice this time was tinged with finality, forbiddance of further bickering. Words definitive like a king's (or Cara's), he continued, "Our baby is stuck in a basement. Suffering. I'm not letting him die there. I'm saving him, and you're gonna help us. Whether you like it or not, understand?"

Lou opened his mouth but was cut off by Dom's hand gripping his upper-arm. Something about the gesture was always tauntingly restricting.

"Understand?"

Lou didn't answer. Footsteps neared, coming from the left. Soon Cara was stepping in, each stride like prideful conquerer watching over his soldiers. It stung Lou's ego but he pretended it didn't.

"Dom, easy on him," she said. She waited until Dom backed off then took one step closer. She pursed her lips. "Lou, darling, I don't know what kind of monster you are to refuse helping a little baby." She angled her chin down, bottom lip almost, almost jutting out in a pout. Lou wasn't sure if the tears in her eyes were real or just a glistening reflection of sunlight. "My little baby. Our."

Cara neared Dom and pressed a palm against his chest, staring straight into his eyes whilst addressing Lou, "We can never have a baby. You know I'm infertile. Now that I found my baby—" she craned her neck just enough so she'd catch Lou's gaze, "—you don't wanna help us. How selfish is that?"

Lou sighed. "I don't mean—"

"You wouldn't care about our baby, Lou, would you? Because if you get married, you can easily have your own kid. But I had to suffer so much to find mine. And now that I did, you won't help. That's so selfish."

The way Cara worded the situation, twisting the truth into an ugly lie, always seemed to squeeze Lou's heart. Selfish. All his life, he'd been under Dom's wing. Cara had helped him through his addiction. Now he wouldn't help? If not for them, for the baby?

Selfish. Selfish. Selfish.

"Come on, Lou. I know there's some good in you. You wouldn't leave a baby in a basement, right?"

Lou lifted his gaze, setting it on Dom instead of Cara. The plea in his eyes was soft like a child's, begging guidance and help: I don't know what to do anymore.

Dom sensed it. The anger in him melted for a second. He mumbled, "If you don't wanna do it for us, do it for the innocent baby, Lou. Please."

When Lou noticed that Dom spoke of the baby with the same passion as Cara's, he knew he was a lost case. No backing out now, like a moth caught in webs.

"Alright," Lou finally said. "Alright. Now get away from me."

Cara smiled, slowly, mouth curving at only one corner. "Darling," she mumbled, "it's not like it's your choice. Remember you owe us your life. You'd be dead now without us. You have to help us. You can't back out."