Page 64 of Care: Part 1

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Care for Heartbreak

Avelina got out of her bed. She could just feel the extra puff of her eyes from crying all for the past week nonstop. She still spent her nights with more tears than sleep.

A notification popped up on her phone. She quickly reached for it on the nightstand with a feeling of hope splurging her heart. Sadly, that hope soon replaced itself with disappointment when she saw it wasn’t anything from Adrik.

It had been a whole week, and she still hadn’t heard a word from him.

Avelina was staring at her ceiling when she heard knocking on the door. Her brows pulled together in confusion. She found herself wondering who in the world was at her door.

She walked over to the wooden frame before gently pulling open the door. Her heart dropped down to her feet. The man she had seen all those years ago was standing right in front of her. There he was with his blue eyes piercing into her own and with the same scar that sat just above his eyebrow.

“My sister.”

“Vincent,” she whispered out breathlessly. “What are you doing here?”

She took a few step backs from the door. She wanted to be sure that she stayed as far away from him as possible. There was no telling what he planned.

He took advantage of her shock as he moved into her house as if he owned it. Her eyes remained locked on him in disbelief. It felt like she was living in some kind of horror stimulation.

"I am here because I wanted to explain everything to you from my own mouth. However, it feels like you've already formed some distasteful opinion of me,” Vincent began, “I haven't always been around, but there is a reason behind that.”

Avelina sat down on her couch and awaited his words. She was ready to be handed a bunch of lies.

"I want to hear the whole story. I am starting from the beginning, with no lies or secrets. You have no idea how tired I am of being left in the dark.” "Okay," he agreed. "I first decided to leave home when you turned two. I had just turned sixteen, and I was introduced to some things back in the Favela's that I shouldn’t have been introduced to."

Avelina began to think back to where she was from, the Favelas. Life was hard there. It was so full of negativity that the police stopped caring. She used to wish that she lived on the better side of Brazil, where beauty took its form.

"The people I hung around had close ties to the Russian mafia. When those people swore their loyalty to me only if I helped them steal five-hundred-thousand dollars’ worth of weapons from the Russians, I could not resist. I wasn't thinking about my family and how that might jeopardize you all. I just always wanted to form my own organization. So, I did it. I also got away with it for a year, but then the Russians found me."

Letting out a shaky breath, he rubbed his hands together.

"I got a call from the man I took the weapons from. He held his phone up to papa as he killed him. I heard the sounds of his screams just before the line went dead. When I drove over to the house, papa was dead on the floor. I tried to help him, but nothing I did worked. It was only then that I realized I had to protect you, mama, and grandma because I knew the Russians would return. They were far from done; papa was just the beginning.”

Avelina thought back to the memory of that day.

"I remember you. I walked out of my room to see you in a corner with a mask over your face. Mama was pleading with you to leave me alone. You grabbed me and threw me in the back of a car. I then saw you speaking to grandma before she came up to me and hugged me dearly with tears in her eyes. After that day, I never saw you or mama ever again. Tell me what happened," Avelina demanded.

"The mask was for my own protection. The Russians have technology out of this world. I hadn't shown my face in public until Zolotov took over the Russian’s little organization," he seethed out angrily before continuing, "After I arrived at the house, I tried to help papa. He made me promise to look after you and mama. He said that I was now the protector, and I listened to him. Mama walked in at an unfortunate time. She believed I was the one who was responsible for papa's death. Then, you walked in-"

"What happened to mom?"

"I didn't kill her if that's what you're assuming. I would never hurt my family," he stated with clenched fists as if the very thought of harming his mother was angering him.

"Then, what happened?"

"Honestly, I don't know. Mama ran out before I could catch her. I've assumed that the Russians probably got to her," Vincent let out sadly.

Avelina inspected his face. From the scar above his eyebrow to the emotion in his eyes. She tried to detect even a bit of dishonesty.

He really didn't know.

"Continue, please," she whispered, her gaze falling to the ground.

"I shouldn't have been so cruel to you. I was angry, you know?" He asked with an incomprehensible expression on his face. "I did this to our family. I ruined everything."

Avelina’s sensitivity was off the charts. She almost wanted to break down at the heartbreak in his words. As much as she wanted to tell him that it was okay and that he could not have predicted what happened to their family, she could not.