“Well Papa it's about yesterday's...” she barely started her statement when her dad caught in, stopping her halfway and making her blood boil at the point where she knew that she would not just hold back anymore.
“Not now princess.” Lucio had said, waving a hand of dismissal because he already anticipated that she was going to speak after he tried to scare her off. “I am not in the mood to talk about that now.” He added blowing smoke out from his mouth, “you can leave now princess and we can talk about this some other time,” he added, gesturing for Lora to leave.
“Not now, when will it be papa?” Lora snapped, peering hard at him. She was suddenly overwhelmed with anger that she didn't know when she shouted at her dad, something she had never done before, her eyes filled with rage.
Lucio was taken aback by Lora’s reaction just now that he didn't know how to respond to her. He have never seen his daughter react this way before and wondered where such anger emanated from. He peered at her steadily for a while still baffled at the authority and anger in her tone but shook his head slightly afterwards as he have so much on his plate right now and would not want to deal on this.
He had asked Rodrigo to go back to the accident scene and confirm what he had told him last night about Camilla since he had been so restless about it and he dreads to hear the result of his findings.
He just sat there peering at Lora and imagined how she would react if she should find out her mother was dead. The woman she had come to his study this early in the morning to talk about. Lucio shook his head again and cleared his throat, his gaze still on Lora. “What exactly do you want to know?” he asked gazing straight into Lora’s eyes.
Lora was surprised at her own reaction that she felt her legs were trembling a little but she took control of herself almost immediately, she can’t let her dad see fear in her “Not now.” She said inwardly. She tilted her head backwards and folded her arms under her breasts and looked back straight into her dad’s eyes.
“I want to know why you don't want Mama anywhere close to me, I mean… am her daughter and if she wants to be with me why don't you let her? It’s up to me to decide whether I want her close to me or not, don’t you think?” Lora asked, the words coming out of her mouth with so much rage her eyes fixed on Lucio.
Lucio’s lips slightly parted but he closed his lips together again as quickly as they parted baffled and not knowing how to respond or react to what Lora had just asked, she looked like she came to pick a fight with him, something she had never done before and he is not in the mood to fight with her, not now, besides he needs to tread with caution after seeing her like this, he thought.
He leaned back on his chair, his legs still stretched out on the table in front of him while he puffed his cigarette, he did not want Lora to think that her words got to him, not yet, he said inwardly and took a little time to peer at her, he saw that she is biting down her lower lip, he could see the fire in her, she is his daughter after all, he said inwardly again.
He lowered his gaze at his table for a while he thought of a way to speak to her calmly, he drew in smoke from his cigarette and blew it out again while Lora peered rather furiously at him for taking this long to answer her question.
“Lora it’s not what you think,” Lucio started off as calmly as he could, peering into her eyes again, “yes I agree, she is your mother no doubt about that but you see, she's not a good role model for you, she left you at a time when you needed her the most and ran away with another man, such a women doesn't deserve to be a mother.” He added, still trying to be as calm as he could.
Lora peered furiously at him as he spoke, she cannot be deceived by his words again, she told herself, waiting for him to finish first. “Well Papa, I think it is time for me to get to know my mum, let me decide if she deserve to be called a good mother or not.” She replied after a short calculation of what her response should be.
She couldn't possibly believe all her father's saying now, at least not until she speak with her mother face to face. Her mother's crying face flashed in her memory again. She must be going through something herself, Lora thought.
“You cannot see her.” Lucio snapped, raising his voice in anger and then folded his palm into a fist as he recalled Rodrigo had told him Camilla had an accident.
“Why can't I see her Papa, she is my mama for God’s sake, I want to be with her, give me a chance to be with her.” Lora said rather pleadingly, thinking that he would not allow her to meet her mum if she continued to be stubborn.
“I don't want you to get hurt.” He said rather calmly, and then stood up from his chair after putting his legs down, he walked to the front of the table and leaned on it. “You know what, why don't you go out of the country for a while, far away, do whatever you like, have fun, don't worry about the money.” Lucio said changing the topic. The thought just came into his head and he welcomed it immediately as he felt it was a good idea, at least that would get Lora’s attention away from her mum until he found a way to tell her about her mum’s accident.
“No papa, I am not leaving the country… I want to speak to Mama, I want to be with her and am going to do that with or without your consent, and if she doesn't want to be with me, she should tell me that herself.” Lora said and stormed out of the study, feeling very frustrated that her dad would think of sending out of the country when she had only asked to meet her mum…