{Chapter 22}

Gerald Bennett paced back and forth hectically , his steps vigorously echoing through the pale walls of the Key West mansion which haunted Delilah's every thought and movement. He lowered his hesitant features down to Delilah's worried one.

"Don't make me ask you again, where is Isaac, where did he go?" Gerald's voice roared with threat causing her to sink deeper into the dinning room chair.

She swallowed back the lump in her throat. "I don't know," She informed in a low whisper as she glanced away at her biological father.

The last time she saw Isaac was that gloomy Saturday at two in the morning. Isaac was tossing pebbles at the rooms window while Delilah mourned at her decision of staying away from him and not escaping with him. She remembered how he then knocked and knocked until it was three in the morning and Isaac's knuckles bruised. She was hiding on the other side of the bed which wasn't visible to Isaac from the window, legs pressed up to her chest as tears burst from her eyes.

That was the last she saw from him and ever since then her week consisted of pacing back and fourth and thinking of plans to escape and go back to her real family no matter what it would take.

"Stop lying to me!" He screamed causing her to flinch.

"If you want to know where he is you have to answer my questions first!"

His nostrils flared. "This is my house, and you are my daughter and you respond to me ,its not the other way around Delilah," His voice was stone.

"You gave me away for adoption! I don't have to respond to you." She groaned, crossing both arms over her chest stubbornly.

Gerald kissed his teeth in agony. " Where is HE!"

Delilah swallowed the lump in her throat and avoided his question. "Why would you put someone who helped you find me in jail? That makes no sense?!" She stated in a questioned manner with raised brows .

He scoffed, "Don't you see why? He's a sociopath! He killed his aunt."

She gasped holding her chest as it ached, she couldn't believe someone could do such thing. Delilah began to feel weak and nauseous at the raw news.

" B-but then w-wh," she cleared her throat still taken aback by the revelation and then proceeded. " Why would you hire a killer, a sociopath to bring me to you? That's sick , t-that's just wrong!"

"Weren't you afraid of me getting killed? Why did you send a killer to kidnap me then?!" Her voice lowly quivered.

"Why? Because the cops were asking for a million dollar reward for him. Why else?"

"That's fucked up, you know that right," She said, looking away from his greed filled eyes.

      "What could you have possibly offered Isaac that would convince him to bring me to you?"

     He inched down to her sluggish body as he spoke. "That, is none of your business."

       The rude man before her rubbed his red eyes. "Why do you even care about him? He's an assassin and has nothing to do with you." Curiosity sparked in his eyes.

       She quickly lower in her stance, avoiding his piercing gaze.

"Don't tell me you have a thing for that...that lunatic?" Amusement and shock settled on his features, lips twitching at the edges.

She bit the inside of her cheek. Her head sped in circles, circles that disoriented her. Delilah went to open her mouth but no words would seep from her lips.

       "I-I...no..." Her words caught in her throat . Her world was shattering into a million fragments of insanity.

      She had some type of feelings for Issac, some very inhuman feeling for this psychotic murderer. But she didn't comprehend why. Was it his deep chocolate brow eyes that would consume her gaze? Or the way he'd protect her? Maybe it was the way his touch brought her warmth. She shook her head at the thought, she had been fooled and realizing that had her connecting the dots. She had fooled and persuaded herself to trust in her kidnapper because in conclusion there was no other option or hope for her at that desperate moment in her life. Delilah had switched her brain into survival mood of some sort. She had to make her kidnapper into her friend, almost dangerously feeling more than just that for him.

      Her face was consumed by the shame she felt towards herself. There was a word that described what she had been experiencing, she didn't dare think nor speak of such disturbing syndrome though .Her lips quivered.

     His brows slowly knit, lathered with some sort of unknown emotion. "Look, Not until the police catch Isaac and I get into an agreement with the people threatening your life, will you be leaving here under no circumstances!"

       She shot up and out of her chair and said, " No, you can't do this, my family has to know I'm okay..." She gulped. "Does the police and my family even know that you found me?That I'm even ALIVE?"

       He glanced away from her blazing gaze causing a dry, humorless laugh to roar from her lips.

      "You don't get to question me, now lock her in her room before she does something stupid." He spat, turning around in his chair; blank features leaving her sight which irked her even more.

As soon as one of Bennett's men took hold of her clenched fists, Delilah slammed her body as harshly as she could presume against the firm figure restraining her. It was enough for the skyscraper of a man to loosen his grip of her wrist as he winced in pain and grunted. That little bit of freedom allowed her to scramble under the man, her hands trailing down to the waist of his pants where security keys hung by the hem, shivering from side to side in a taunting manner. Delilah took her chance, ripping the keys from him, in a quick enough movement which allowed no being to notice. She held them tight in her clenched fist as the guard restrained her once more, this time with caution and over aggression.

Delilah's face scrunched in protest but she didn't dare say a word. She just held her tongue as they pulled her away and back into the room she was shoved in the door slammed before her as questions seeped through and wrestled with her reasoning, unable to make any sense of anything.She exhaled profusely as she brought up her only source of freedom up to her gaze. The keys rattled. This was it, her way out and she wasn't going to take it for granted.

***

    She waited in the room for a couple hours pacing back and fourth waiting for all the lights of the mansion to turn down and the voices to die down. It was finally two in the morning, time to move, to run and never look back. Delilah through her belonging into a pillow case then over her shoulder. Then grabbed the keys to the window Isaac had given her and the ones she stole from the guard.

She snuck her way out and onto the yard,holding her breath ever second till she approached the property's main gate which was carelessly attended by two men in black suits paying attentions to their phones instead of keeping guard. She took that opportunity and managed to scramble herself onto the other side of the fence without them noticing. She sprinted as hard and as fast as she could presume until she reached a lot further ahead which was occupied by cars. Delilah fumbled through the keys in her grip till she found a car remote for a Ford. She hesitated, rushing past the vast lot of cars trying to find any car with the label. Ten agonizing minutes passed until she came upon a midnight blue Ford pickup. She unlocked it and jumped inside, as the door closed she hyperventilated. Her shaken breaths coming and going as her body rose and fell. She was some what free now, one step was marked down but more problems kept rising. Where was she going to go and most importantly who was she going to ask for help? Where would she be safe? If that was even a possibility at this stage anymore. She was free for now but Delilah was still a prisoner, a prisoner in her mind. A prisoner to this whole situation she still hadn't been able to piece together . She was already involved and had no way out. They were going to hunt her down by any means possible. But she had to accept that, she had to pick up her broken pieces and keep going.

   
***

Author's Note:
Hello, greeting, bonjour, hola! It's me, the one and only Aster! I missed this, I missed writing and expressing myself and letting go of my stress and problems through writing. I'm glad I finally got to finish this chapter after months and months of writing sentences every now and then when I had the chance to. I apologize for me vanishing, but adulting has been hard since I graduated in the spring. I work three jobs now so it's hard to find time for this passion of mine. I really hope you guys aren't mad at me. I'll update sooner next time I promise ! Like I've said I haven't disappeared . I see your votes, I see your comments! They keep me going. I will never stop writing. And oh my flipppppp when I last updated in May my views had just hit 9k and that was breathtaking and so exciting! But now we just hit 48k!!! I don't have words to express my shock and my gratitude, nothing has been possible without you, my readers. Without you guys , never would I have imagined this to be possible! I will try better to find time and finish this darn story! Also I need to make out the character's destiny because it irks me know they are paused in my brain. Well that's it for now, let me know how you guys are . I truly want to know and converse and get to know my readers! Until the next update my water Lilies.

Love - A s t e r ✨