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He looks like the kind of person my father would know.
"Hello, there," he greets us in a flowing French accent. "We weren't expecting any guests today, especially visitors like you." The man looks specifically at Virgo.
"Layla Bianchi," Virgo says in a firm voice. "Which room is she in?"
"Oh, I'm afraid there's no Layla—" Before he can say anything else, Hunter steps forward, grabs the man around his neck, and hoists him into the air.
"He asked which room. Answer the fucking question," Hunter demands, squeezing the man’s neck, making him gasp for air.
The last time I saw Hunter this angry was when he was fighting Ryan.
"Room… 56," the man coughs out. "It's on the second floor. You'll need this." With quivering hands, he pulls a set of keys from his pockets. Hunter releases him and takes the keys.
The man starts coughing hard and tries to balance his breathing.
Virgo steps forward and flashes his gun under his jacket. "Tell anyone about this visit of ours, and you're dead. You understand me?"
The man nods vigorously with terror in his eyes. "I understand."
With that done, we leave him and head inside to find Layla.
I'm walking so fast, I'm almost tripping over my feet. My eagerness to see my sister surpasses everything inside me.
We reach Room 56, and Hunter opens the door. I don't know what I was expecting, but my stomach plummets when I find my sister sitting on the floor in the corner of the room with manacles around her feet and chains around her wrists holding her to the wall.
She’s in a simple hospital tunic that looks like it could have been white or blue in a former life. It's so dirty now, I can't tell what color it started out as. Layla's hair is a matted mess, but as she looks up at me and I see her gaunt face with the skeletal features of a corpse, tears spring to my eyes.
"Luna… is that you?" Her voice is weak and barely there, sounding like a ghost in the wind. "Please, God… tell me I'm not dreaming."
She looks straight at me, but she seems spaced out. Her eyes can't focus on me. I rush to her side and hold her, then I cry.
She cries, too, when she realizes I'm really here.
Hunter jingles the keys, we pull apart, and he unchains Layla's feet and hands. She tries to stand but collapses straightaway because she's so weak. On seeing that, Hunter picks her up and carries her. Then we leave this dreadful place.
We found my sister and close the chapter on this part of the nightmare.
Now onto the next thing: my father.
We stay in a chateau, where Hunter arranges a medical team to treat Layla.
She's severely malnourished and dehydrated. We're eager to ask her questions, but we hold off. She's in no state to talk. And apart from the malnourishment, she has bruises all over her body as if she's been beaten several times. It’s heartrending to think of what happened to her in that hellish place.
The next night, Hunter and I sit by the fireplace.
I’m resting in his arms, shattered from the experience and the lack of sleep.
Jericho and Virgo have gone out to give us some time to ourselves while Layla is resting.
"I haven't thanked you properly yet," I mutter into the silence, watching the fire dance over the wood in the fireplace.
Hunter looks down at me and strokes my hair. "You've thanked me enough, Bellissima."
"I couldn't have found Layla without you. I also would have never known what my father was like."
He leans forward and kisses the top of my head. "You don't deserve any of this, Luna. It's not fair to you. I knew your father was up to no good, but I never expected it to be anything like this. I'm glad I was around to help."
I kiss the edge of his jaw.
