Broken ✔

Chapter Thirty-Three

Song: Inna Song (Gin & Lime) - Darkovibes ft. King Promise (My love)

*Unedited* (I'm in love with tigers)

*Trigger warning* (Self harm)

* * *

Michael and I sat in the car, both of us lost in our thoughts. I wondered if it'd be better for me if we didn't come here at all. In just one day, I found out that my father is a paedophile and my baby brother had been kidnapped by some unknown people.

Etornam claimed she'd helped the 'bad men' take my brother, which led me to believe that the person who had him had no good intentions. The question was, why kidnap a baby? What could they possibly want from him?

"Ellie," Michael said. He took my hand and squeezed it. "we'll find him. I promise."

"What if we don't? What if even if we do, it's too late?" The words were even painful to say. I couldn't imagine how I'd live without knowing where my brother is or knowing that I couldn't do anything to protect him.

"We'll find him." He assured me.

I looked at him. He smiled, but I couldn't find it in me to return it. I knew any attempt I made would morph into a grimace. The treacherous tears were clawing at me, begging to be released, but I didn't want Michael to see me cry.

I turned to the window and subtly wiped the tears away. He didn't try to comfort me so I reckon I succeeded. "What now?" I asked.

"Like I said, we're not going back to the mansion. You're coming with me to my flat."

"Michael... Michael you know I can't. I don't want to risk it." I complained.

"Risk what? If they can't find you, they can't touch you."

"This flat of yours, your father knows about it?"

"No. I share it with a couple of friends. We bought it to escape from school once in a while."

At that, I smiled. "Really? You used to leave school and stay at your flat?" He had gone to a boarding school; they didn't allow students to spend any nights off campus.

"Yes," his voice had a lot of mischievousness to it. "we used to skip school to sleep and eat. We threw parties sometimes too."

"I would've never expected that from you." I laughed.

"What? School got boring sometimes and at least I wasn't skipping school to have sex."

"People do that?" I asked, astonished.

He laughed. "You'd be surprised."

"In my opinion, people in senior high shouldn't even be having sex."

"Some of the girls at my school were so insufferable and thirsty. It was hard, but thank goodness I'm not the kind of guy who's into casual flings."

The topic deviation helped me calm down a bit, but once the conversation died out, I felt that pang in my chest that reminded me that my brother was somewhere out there, suffering. "Michael, do you think your father could've had anything to do with my brother's disappearance?"

He didn't reply for a while, probably contemplating. "I mean, I wouldn't put it past him. He's a very spiteful man. He doesn't just punish people when they wrong him, he also punishes those who are close to them. He's that kind of person."

I scoffed, taking in a deep breath. "How are you related to that man?"

"I promise you Ellie, he's a much different person to me. He's always been my best friend. He was always so kind and understanding. I loved him so much that I looked past his faults and all the things that were wrong with him, I thought he'd just been broken after my mother died. Now though, after seeing what he's done to you, I can't ignore his faults anymore."