Found

A story about a lawyer who tried to save a girl from the hold of the strongest mafia in New York City. But the relationship between the girl and the mafia had a deep secret. Can the girl be saved?

After that night, Clare stays at my house. It made me nervous how Thomas hadn’t tried anything to get her back. It scared me more that he didn’t do anything about this rebbelion.

                Whenever we had to meet, whether it’s in the court, or his house, he didn’t mention anything about Clare staying at my house. Georg and me were nervous whenever we have to meet him. Clare always came to the court and from the court with me. Thomas’s glare were always on her and not me.

                Other than that, luck was on our side. Until now, the Bilottis still couldn’t be proved in doing the murder. We were untouchable, the cards were played right, and the final checkmate was done. By the end of the fifth month, the judge declared The Bilottis not guilty. We set a record and Frederic was pleased.

                 Clare, Georg, and I went to a little celebration just the three of us after going to Frederic’s celebration party at the office. After buying a couple of pretzels and hot coffee and a couple bottles of champagne to go we went to my place. Then a presence which we didn’t expected welcomed us home.

                It was Thomas and his men.

                “Hi, Henry. Did you have a good time at the party?” He was standing beside the fireplace which was turned on, but the lights weren’t, so the room was very dim. I didn’t answer because I was too afraid of giving the wrong answer. He turned to Clare, “Clare, darling, I’ve missed you.”

                I saw Clare giving him a hesitating look. She was confused, I could understand her. Somehow she wanted to break free but Thomas was the other big half part of her life. Then, he turned to me again, “I never got the chance to thank you, Henry, for winning me the case. So, how did you like living with her? Clingy, isn’t she?”

                “You need to let her go, Thomas,” I said with only three seconds bravery.

                “Oh, trust me, Henry. I already let her go a long time ago. But the problem was her, she kept coming back to me. Like a dog, you see.”

                “It was because I had nowhere else to go, Thomas. You kept me from the world, but now Henry is here. He’s always here for me,” said Clare.

                “Clare, there’s something you should know. It’s not fair if Henry here has already now about your past, but you don’t. I’m going to tell you about a girl, a little girl, she was only nine years old. She was found alone in a tiny little room in the basement, chained and unconscious. She was covered in wounds you can’t even imagine. By the look of it, she was wounded with knife, belt, or anything hard enough to give bruises the size of a tennis ball. She had only a bowl of rice to eat and a bowl of water in that tiny little room. She never went to school and the doctors predicted that she was held like that for about five years. The one who found her was me.”

                Clare was crying and she had lost it, she was screaming and on her knees. She pulled up her hands to her face.

                “The little girl was you, Clare.”

                She was silently sobbing and gasping. And then she pulled down her hands as she realized something. “You knew about this?” she asked. I couldn’t answer. Georg head was pulled down as I looked at him. He was the one who told me about the story after that night Clare showed up at my house. She asked again, now screaming, “Henry, answer me! You knew about this!?”

                I bowed down my head in remorse. I was a coward, I admit it, I couldn’t even tell the truth this woman I loved and cared so much about.

                “That’s why, Henry, she always comes back to me. Because in her repressed little scary memory, I was the angel sent down to save her from a long life of hell. Her father was a monster, he played judge but clearly he was the one with the real unforgivable crime,” he said with that sinister smile on his face. He walked toward Clare and then he was down on his knees, with his hands he pulled down her hands so that he could see his face. He cupped her little face in between his hands, and he kissed her, hard and passionate. I turned my face as I saw Clare accepting his kisses, she was holding onto Thomas’s shirt until her knuckles turned white. “You can’t live without me, Clare. All these years, I have been your drug, your emotional therapy. You are always addicted to this drug, Clare. Without me, you’ll lose your mind.” She was crying in his arms.

                After a while, he looked at me and stood up. He said, “Oh and Henry, you should know. The murderer of Ben Dreslin was her. She did it all by herself,” he said. I was shocked, I couldn’t help but stare at her as if she was a criminal. “Yes, Henry. She is capable of murder by my order. That’s how much she needs me. I’m sorry if you don’t understand this relationship between me and her, but you’ve only known her for..what? Six months? She’s been with me for more than eleven years.”

                “NOO!” Georg shouted and only then that I realized someone has given Clare a gun. Then, Thomas gave me a punch which felt like a ton of brick thrown right on your face. I was on my knees and my vision was blurry. Clare approached me, I could see her dress.

                “No, Clare, no,” I begged her. My vision went back and I saw her face. She was scared and she was crying but her hand was as hard as steel, she was sure of what she had to do.

                “I’m sorry, Henry. I need him. I need him. I need him. I love him more than my life,” she said. I looked at her eyes and I saw that she wasn’t there. Her eyes were empty, it’s as if the real Clare disappeared deep into her mind to let her body do what it had to do. I always knew she was good, she was a bright girl, nice and loving. But in that moment, I only see that little girl who was hurt over and over again by the man who was supposed to be her father, her guardian. She was only protecting herself because that was what she was taught to do. That was the only thing she learned from this long hard life.

                As she closed her eyes, the trigger was pulled. I was shot.

 

The End.

 

Author's Note

All the names in this story are fictional. This work is an amateur, and I apologize beforehand for the mistakes in this story. Thank you for reading!