"Hey," Xavier called as Melissa made to leave to play her part which was to distract Mr. Dominic. Buying time for Xavier and Melissa to enter inside the warehouse and search for Maya.
"Don't have too much fun with this and try not to die."
She rolled her eyes, "And let you live in peace without an annoying sister, oh give me some credit."
She smirked, he smiled.
And then she was walking into the warehouse like it was a normal place she had stumbled upon and knew she'll see her dad in, forming coy and impossible at the same time as she screamed dad so loud, Xavier winced from where he stood.
"Melissa," his eyebrow was pursed in confusion as he blinked twice but there his daughter stood, looking at him blankly like she had just dropped by the house to see him since going by the news he was receiving she had evacuated the mansion with her good for nothing mother.
"Melissa, what are you doing here?" He managed to ask immediately he got his voice back.
"I can ask you that but I doubt you'll give me a truthful answer."
He took a step towards her then another, gaping at his naive daughter, his princess wondering why she gazed so unflinchingly at him like she had no clue what fear was.
"Why are you here Melissa?" His eyes flickered, taking in his surrounding, "Are you with anyone and how did you know where to find me?"
"I followed you." She muttered like it was a very obvious answer and he was a fool not to know it himself.
He shook his head in exasperation, inwardly trying not to blow off his cover. Just maybe, perhaps his naive daughter was still right there. Maybe she just wanted an explanation and will be on his side again even after her temporary fuss.
Seeing a knife on her mother's stomach was horrid enough for anyone to act the way she had but he hoped she realized just how hard it was to face society alone and now was just wanting him to say anything, to at least try to utter words that made him acceptable again.
"Trust me, Melissa when I tell you with all honesty that I did what I did in self-defense," he started, almost patting himself at the back at how strong his words sounded and how genuine he made them appear but he knew that was evidence of years of mastery.
Lying again and again, he believed his lies too, besides he was too much of a coward to accept his truth.
He was a masochist, he was sick and needed help.
"Your mom had drunk way too much wine and she had started mumbling nonsensical words and she had grabbed the knife, making for me. I pleaded, tried to make her reason with me, called her name but to no avail__"
Anger flashed in Melissa's eyes as she resisted the urge to grab the gun she could see poking from his coat jacket and hitting his head with the gun until he passed out as she wondered how gullible, she had made herself appear over the years to him because she was a coward.
But never again.
"So you abandoned a knife inside her stomach and left the house?" Her voice was calm, almost like it didn't belong to her and she was just a mere messenger.
Her schooled brown irises looked at him void of the hate and anger she felt right down to her essence.
"I was scared. What if she didn't make it and I'd gone to jail, then what? You'll be without father and mother. Besides, you will also have to leave with the shame of being the girl whose father killed her mother and was now in jail." He continued.
"Your Shame isn't mine, father."
"Huh?"
"So you stabbed my mom and abandoned her in the pool of her blood for me?" Her smile was sugary sweet a sharp contrast to the bitter taste of Shamelessness, her father's words hinted at.
How could the selfish man paint him molesting her mother as self-defense and then him fleeing the scene as an act of martyrdom?
Knowing that, this was the bullshit he would have fed the world if something bad happened to her mom or worst if she had not made it, made her clench her fist as she fought the irresistible urge to go berserk.
She needed to buy as much time as possible and not feed her urge to grab his gun and bury a bullet into his head right away as a result of the bullshit that spewed out of his mouth and rolled out of his tongue.
"So dad, what are you doing here? Was this also for my good?"
He looked away, not knowing why she was even here and how the hell she had located where he was.
"Do you know that everybody at home is a total mess and I've been all alone? Mum is miserable and feels like her marriage with you is a sham and a waste of her youth."
"Don't listen to all the lies your mom would like to feel your head with. I never treated her wrongly even for a day. She was just so unsatisfied and a bitter woman."
She nodded, pursing her lips thoughtfully, "I thought so too because once she had even gone as far as saying that you do rape her, like how will a husband rape his wife?" She watched with a sly smile as his Adam's apple bobbed even as he widened his eyes in utter disbelief before he was slipping back his schooled unfazed expression.
But his moment of weakness was enough. He was horrified and utterly stupefied. He never thought her mom was strong enough to admit something like that, somehow that made Melissa feel some kind of strength as she faced him waiting for his reply which would be laced with even more lies she'll have to stomach and tolerate.
"You are right, Mel," his lips quivered even as his words rang firmly, "I'll never rape my wife. I own her."
She sneered knowing that he did believe his crazy self.
"I know." She agreed.
"Xavier too has been sulking and extremely moody."
He looked relieved making her smirk, "Why is that?" He asked grateful for the change of topic.
"His fiancée has been abducted by the looks of it, a psychotic fan and Xavier is going berserk with worry."
Mr. Dominic shrugged, "It is just a piece of ass, he'll survive."
Melissa flashed him another sugary sweet smile, "Do you have any soul, father?"
Noises and grunts resounded in the warehouse. He looked up to meet her eyes In alarm, she was already holding his gun which she had slipped out of his pocket during his lost weak moment when she has mentioned the rape.
"Don't you fucking move, you rapist."