Miracle Ch. 03

At that time though, he was feeling something strange and brand new. It felt like worry. He was concerned about this girl's health. He couldn't understand it. Aside from his close family, he never felt concern about anyone.

Evander knew people regarded him as selfish. They were probably right. He didn't even care about his own wellness most of the time.

Today everything was different. It started different and continued to be that way. He wasn't familiar with surprises. And he didn't like them. He was used to having a strict plan and he adhered to it.

When he saw Alyia bolt out of the room earlier, he was genuinely relieved that he hadn't damaged her beyond repair. And when he watched her start to eat, he felt downright happy. A feeling completely foreign and distant.

Usually excessive questions bothered him. But her curiosity was endearing. Watching her explore every possible path that led to her freedom was Interesting.

Evander knew she saw him a as a monster. Most people, even some close to him had the same impression. He never cared. But another firsts of that day was the fact that today he didn't want to be a monster. Or at least he didn't want to be only a monster to her. And he was curious about even the microscopic details of her life. And his fascination had nothing to do with the fact that her picture was being posted every minute on the platforms as the most wanted person. His interest in her was purely related to her unique character.

After her father's reluctant confession, which required a little of persuasion, he was able to almost solve the mystery of why she had ended up as his charge. There were still a lot of loose ends but at least he knew the basics. The real mystery however, was Alyia herself. He couldn't fathom her out. And now he knew that was the reason he had lost his control earlier.

Simultaneously, he was having flashbacks to the part of his brain, which belonged to the forbidden time of his life. His childhood and early teenage years. He had put all the memories from those years in to a box and had locked it away. His whole life was all a mixture of different levels of pain which started after he lost his most precious belonging in this world.

Evander stared at the pair of ocean blue eyes in front of him. Those eyes and that ridiculously peaceful scent of roses emanating from her, was all too dangerously familiar. Now he knew why he was mad. Because Alyia reminded him of the bleakest moments of his life which was the death of the one and only person in his life, he had ever loved. And now he knew the origin of his unjustified anger around her.

He had come to that conclusion during the day as the memories of death, ocean blue eyes, and funeral bombarded his brain after fourteen years.

Her one and only crime was probably the fact that she had an uncanny resemblance to his 'Mira'. And that wasn't a good reason for punishing someone. Not good at all. He prided himself of always being in control, yet he had lost it so easily.

At that point the best thing for both of them was to just send her home with her father right there and then. However there were a couple of obstacles.

Eric Monroe, Alyia's father had disclosed some pretty shocking news. All the years of experience told Evander that the man was telling the truth. However his claims certainly needed to be verified.

One thing however was for sure, which was the girl's life. He didn't have any doubt that her life was in danger. He couldn't let her get out of Azure. Not yet.

But you don't want to let her go period! His brain told him sarcastically.

Evander put his hands through his hair and started walking toward the door.

Alyia watched in apprehension as the king of Darkness sighed in what appeared to be exasperation.

"We will leave you two alone, I'm sure you have a lot to talk about." Evander said as he crossed the room and walked toward the door. He only wanted to exit the room but Alyia's sudden backward jump as he approached her shook him to his core. She was genuinely afraid of him. Yes, it was confirmed that she considered him a true evil.

For the first time he wanted to stop and explain himself to someone. To show her that a monster wasn't all that he was. He wanted to tell her a million things. But decided against it. She had enough on her plate already with everything that she was about to her from her father.

It was probably better for both of them if they didn't speak. He didn't trust himself around that girl. She reminded him of painful days. That eyes triggered fury, grief and misery.

He had decided that Alyia could temporarily live in one of the many guestrooms in his penthouse. There was nowhere else for her to stay. She was not a citizen and didn't have any identification. It was illegal for anyone inside Azure to shelter her. There was a temporary hotel for special guests. For the few people who were aware of Azure's existence. Mostly, his father's associates. But the only safe place for her at that moment was only his penthouse. With all the recent incidents and possible moles inside Azure, he wanted her close to himself. Somewhere that he could protect her. The irony wasn't lost on him though. Maybe the only person she needed protection from was himself.

He was many things. And it wasn't like they didn't have all sorts of investigational secret medical labs and facilities conducting experiments on humans. But the thought of Alyia and any thought of experiment on her was abhorrent to him.

He would try to avoid meeting her while finding a solution for her problem.

Alyia watched Evander's back as he quickly left the room. She was really confused. The only certain thing was the fact that although he had left them, he was going to listen to every word they said. Thanks to Tania, now she knew that there were cameras everywhere in that godforsaken place.

"Dad, are you okay? Why are you here? He kidnap you as well? Alyia quickly kneeled beside her father and took his hands. He looked quite distraught. But he wasn't hurt.

"Sweetie please sit down. I need to talk to you." Dr. Eric Monroe spoke quietly to his daughter. The last thing he wanted on this earth was to have this conversation with her.

He should have told her everything sooner. She didn't deserve to find out now. Not like this. Truthfully, after a couple of years, he had started to calm down. Thinking that there was no longer a chance that she was in danger. No way for anyone to find out. After all, there were very few people who knew his secret. Or better to say knew Alyia's big secret. However, he wanted his daughter to have a normal life. Not to look over her shoulder constantly. Waiting for the unknown to come. Not to live in fear.

"Just holler if you needed me" Alyia's head turned as she heard what Tania said from the doorway before disappearing. She seemed like a nice person. Maybe she could trust her? But she was HIS brother! How could she trust her?

"I'm not sure where to begin. I'm sorry Alyia. I tried to protect you but I failed" Eric said in a depressed voice. It broke Alyia's heart to see her father like this. It was like he had aged ten years in just one day.

"Dad why are you sorry? I couldn't have asked for a better father. It's not your fault that a maniac has decided to kidnap me. "

Alyia had already established the fact that Evander Peirce was true evil. Despite that fact, she was still surprised that he stooped so low as to kidnap her father to use him as leverage.

"Listen to me Alyia. The truth is, I AM the one who arranged for you to come here. I wanted you to come here, Because I was no longer able to keep you safe." Eric's voice was sorrowful but filled with determination.

Alyia couldn't believe her ears. Apparently nothing was supposed to make sense that fucking day. What was her father talking about? This had to be the elegant king of darkness, pressuring her dad to lie to her. Incriminate her father to prove what exactly? If that royal son of bitch thought he could come between her and her family, he was very much mistaken.

"Dad you don't have to do this. I know he had made you to lie to me." Alyia looked straight in to her father's eyes, willing him to tell the truth. She couldn't tolerate this circus one more minute.

"Alyia, honey....there are somethings that you don't know about yourself. And there are some that even I don't know about you. You are quite an exceptional girl. When I told you that I first met you in the hospital, it wasn't the truth. Actually I had found your body on my door a couple days earlier.

You weren't in a good shape. Your body was bruised allover. Your skull and one of your legs were broken. I checked your pulse a couple times. There was no sign of life. Your skin was pale, with a bluish tint and was very cold to touch. There was a note on your chest. I still have that note in my safe. The note said to look after your body because it will come to life eventually. It said not to call the Police because they will arrest you for murder. You know that I was a doctor and a scientist. It seemed to me like a sick joke. Even to your sister. I was certain that you had been dead for some time and a dead body wouldn't come to life.

The big question however, was what to do. I thought that obviously someone had killed you and was trying to pin it down on me. My first concern was for your sister. If I went to prison for murder no one was there to take care of her. So, I decided to bring you inside just to have some time to think. After an hour I returned to check on your body and I noticed the change. It was unbelievable. The color had returned to your face. There was still a lot of blood on your head but it no longer seemed broken.

At that point I was questioning both my medical degree and my sanity. However Kathy was a witness from the beginning and even she was shocked. Still there was no pulse. At that point I didn't know what to do. I decided to wait another hour. And finally the miracle was there. I could detect a pulse. I was bewildered. I remember just sitting there beside you for quite some time before deciding to call an ambulance. When they arrived, I told them that I have found you in the woods behind our house.

I never told anyone in the hospital or anyone else about this. Your x-rays just showed healed broken skull and left tibia. And ultrasound revealed shattered kidneys beyond surgical repair. None of my colleagues believed that you would survive. They started Dialysis.

I knew you were a medical mystery when after only ten days your kidneys started working again. You never needed a transplant.

Police determined that there was no missings person report that matched you. No information and no name. Not a sign of your existence in the system. No birth certificate. It was like you were fallen from the sky. I checked on you everyday. You were unconscious for two weeks. And when you finally woke up you had no memory of your parents, your home or what had happened to you. Police said it looked like a case of child abuse.

I decided to adopt you for a couple of reasons. I didn't know what was going to happen. If someone in the hospital or

Police would get suspicious and come to check you and your documents further or not. Or was it partly my own medical curiosity or a mixture of all I'm not sure. Also there was still the matter of the mystery person who had left that note. " Eric paused and stared at his daughter's face. She looked as pale as the first day he had seen her. It broke his heart to see her like this. This was exactly the suffering he wanted to protect her from. The confusion. The fear.

But if he had told her the truth from the beginning. In the safety of their house. Gradually... in a better situation. Maybe now she was more prepared for whatever which was coming.

You have spared her of a lifelong of living in fear. A voice, the same voice that had prevented him from telling the truth until now whispered in his ear.

Alyia was quite the whole time. So quite that her father wasn't sure she understood his words.

Eric decided to continue. Now that he had started, he wanted to explain all he knew. There might not be another chance in the future. He wasn't sure what would happen to him after that. He didn't know anything about the man who introduced himself as Evander Peirce. He had to be the most formidable person he had ever seen in his entire life. Though, he certainly wasn't more than thirty years old, his behavior seemed at least twenty years older. He was dangerous to the extent that even his own men was careful not to provoke him. Eric didn't care what happened to him. He just wanted Alyia to know everything. Although it was very late.

"After you were discharged from the hospital, I brought you home. I had already adopted your sister, so the process was quick. I had a sample of your blood from hospital, the other documents, tissue samples and everything. I started my own research. If I was going to be your father and keep you safe I needed to know what exactly I was dealing with. And I suspected that maybe there was a reason you were left on my porch. It took me several years before I was able to finally discover an unknown surface antigen on your red blood cells. I didn't know how it worked, I just knew it was unique to your body. At the same time I started to love you like you were my own daughter. I have always loved you Alyia. Please remember that.

For further research I needed a more equipped Lab. But I knew if I said one word about you to anyone, your whole life would be destroyed forever. At best you would have become a lab rat. I just wanted you to have a happy and normal life. And you did. Until a few days ago, when someone approached me with a contract. They wanted me to talk to you, convince you to agree to some tests in exchange for money. They knew all about you and my research. I didn't know how, but my secret was out. I was devastated. I had no idea what to do. How to protect you. There was no one I could trust. I turned down that offer. But I knew there would be more and also your life was in danger.

There was only one person in this world that knew more about you than me and apparently wanted you to live and have a normal life. And that person was the one who had left that note on your body fourteen years ago. I knew nothing about him. No contact. No name. So I decided to do the only thing that came to my mind. I published an ad in a couple newspapers along with a picture of a piece of the note beside a doll. I hoped that it would get the attention of the mystery writer of the note. I expected to get a phone call of a home visit. But the next thing I know you ended up here."

Eric finally finished telling the story, he had held inside for fourteen years.

At that point Alyia just closed her eyes. Okay. Enough was enough. She thought. There was only so much a human being could hear and not explode in one day. She had a severe headache and her stomach threatened to empty it's contents at any second. So she did the only thing that she could think of. She called for help.

"Tania?" Alyia all but yelled for help. It was probably the last thing she thought she would do. Asking help from someone who was a total stranger to her just hours ago.

Fortunately Tania was beside her in a couple of minutes. And she understood her unspoken request. Tania took her new friend's hand and helped her to her feet.

Alyia barely heard her father's voice as he called her name just before exiting the room. She could only follow Tania through a maze of hallways and what appeared to be an enormous grand stairs and to the second floor in a daze.For the first time that day she no longer cared where she was being taken to or by whom or what fate awaited her. She was just exhausted. All she wanted was for this nightmare to end.

Tania stared at her new friend. She looked dangerously pale. From the corner of her eye, she spotted her brother who was watching them from the far end of hallway as they reached the second floor. She shook her head. Indicating that it was not a good moment for him to show up. He looked angry? Worried? Anxious? Or maybe a mixture of all. Where Evander was concerned she could never decipher those expressions.

Tania took her friend to one of the guestrooms of her brother's penthouse, intentionally choosing the one farthest away from Evander's bedroom.

At that moment Alyia trusted no one. Not even her own family. Tania had been in that position earlier in her life. Feeling lonely. Having no one she could count on. Although for Alyia it was much worse. Tania didn't have anyone in her life from the beginning. So there was no bitter taste of betrayal. It was a tragedy to watch. Tania was determined to do anything to just bring Alyia some semblance of security.

Alyia was quiet. She allowed Tania to guide her inside a room and in to a bed. She no longer even cared about the extravagance of her surroundings. The only thing which registered in her mind was the most soft and warm sheets she had ever felt in her life engulfing her body. Tania was back beside her in a minute carrying what appeared to be some sort of a juice. Alyia didn't care if it was drugged or even contained a poison. There was no energy inside her left to fight. She decided that for once she would pick the easy choice. Which was taking the glass from Tania and drinking the whole content. It smelled heavenly.