Chapter#15 Secrets

The atmosphere was a bit tense or heavy perhaps, it could not really be described exactly. She was in front of the woman who took care of her for years in that crazy house and she wanted to hug her for hours and ask her about everything, she wanted to know why she had left or why they had fired her, for years she believed that she had abandoned her but maybe it seems that it was not.

They were both sitting on a soft sofa with a cup of tea each. These were adorned with handmade rugs in white and pastel colors. The fireplace crackled and brought warmth to the room, thereby softening the cold weather that had taken on the day. They both looked at each other in silence while they drank from their cups until Nana broke the silence.

"Well darling, it's time to catch up and explain some things to you." She put the small cup aside as she put both hands on her lap. "First of all, I want you to know that it was never my intention to leave you there alone, they shot me and they replaced at the moment and if I returned to walk in front or even near the block I would not live to tell it.

—Nana, don't worry, I understand you couldn't do anything, but now I want you to explain why so much mystery.

"Well darling, it all comes down to three words, just two with a pretty heavy weight ... it's about white ... or in this case honey, it's about infants." She whispered she audibly heavily.

Ingrid at that moment went blank, soon the cup fell from her hands but by reacting quickly she avoided disaster. White trafficking, that is a very strong crime and more so if it is with infants. She couldn't hide that she was surprised and even though she wanted to get out of there she decided that she should listen to her version of her story so she kept quiet waiting for him to continue.

Seeing her rigid and serious face, the lady only sighed again and while she looked at her hands she began to speak. "You see ... I worked with them since I was approximately thirty-five or forty years old, I don't really remember an exact date, now I'm sixty years old and I deeply regret it." Tears had already begun to flow from her face. while hiccuping.

—Don't worry, you speak without problems, if you want to cry cry, I'll listen to you until the end.

—Those were the worst years of my life, darling, I remember it as if it were yesterday ... those poor creatures, the suffering they went through. You never wondered why there were always so many children and you didn't see them there the next day? "Ingrid de ella nodded looking into her eyes," because they died, they almost never arrived the next day because they were killed. It was easy for them, with the occasional controlled tranquilizer in the food it was a piece of cake.

<< They have a very extensive market, in reality there was not even a trace of the children, darling, nothing, there was no possibility of identifying them anywhere, everything was extremely clean, the whole process was completely controlled, there was no possibility of error >>

"I ... then, they adopted children and then sold them or killed them?"

"Exactly, their pattern was actually to take as many as possible and the sick, the ones they knew would last less but always gave them a profit, nothing was ever left loose." You don't know how much those children hurt me, but you don't know the relief I feel that you're with me right now.

—That's what I wonder now, apart from all this you've told me, as far as I know it didn't fit into the sick part so I don't see why I survived, in fact the last one left there was me and they haven't taken anyone else to the house.

—That has two explanations darling, one of them is that the contracts express specifically that a new shipment cannot be carried until the previous one is completely covered, in other words that all the children have been sold or you know… murdered.

"So, if they haven't done anything to me over the years, what am I supposed to paint in this business?" I ask this time, putting the cup aside, not wanting to break it.

"You see, since you got to the house you were different, every time a new transaction or shipment is made, the boss looks at the documents of those children, each and every one of them, the case is ..." He paused while sighing. . She actually was devastated just thinking about the girl's future— ever since she saw your file ... she liked you, just that, she liked you.

-He liked me? How do you like it? What does that mean ?! ”She spoke excitedly with her eyes almost popping out of her sockets.

—I don't know dear, I know many things but I completely ignore that, in the contract it was explicitly stated that of all infants, only you would come of age, only you would pretend a normal life and the most important clause, no you could be a victim of physical abuse ...

"So ... that's why they stopped beating me and burning me so fast ..." She flopped down on the couch with a blank look.

"Did they touch you ?!" The lady's voice was surprised and terrified.

"Yes ... but only for a month ... she left pretty ugly marks but over the years they are hardly seen anymore."

The cold climate was gradually diminished in the room, the fireplace towards her work with excellence, but, unlike that, the atmosphere between the two women was a bit suffocating; On the one hand, one of them was in shock, to be told that you were saved from death just because possibly a depraved person had taken you away from the rest of the herd to do the first thing that came to mind with you, it left no relief to her mind. The second, she was watching her life go by in front of her eyes, an important clause was violated and that means that the game is over, so many years in hiding were of no use if in the end they would discover that, they were going to kill her and she would not be able to get out of it. it.

-There is more? There has to be more ... tell me everything Nana ...

The woman nodded resignedly, in the end she would die but she would by leaving the weight of her that she compressed her chest, she would go free of her.

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WASHINGTON PORTLAND 10:30 PM

Night had already fallen on all of Portland and Seattle, at this time the stars were the only witnesses of a couple's night walk. Both were holding hands calmly taking a night marital walk without any apparent evil. The lady, very refined, she was dressed in an elegant red 90's style dress. This one had black polka dots and wore a pendant of perfectly white pearls from highest to lowest ancestry on her whitish neck. In her hand a ring that matched her pendant and her hair was tied in a loop with several hairpins. The man who accompanied her, clearly her partner was dressed in a black suit with a perfectly knotted red and black checkered tie, her shoes shone with a perfect color while she wore a well-fitting watch on her left wrist. .

They walked carefully chatting about trivial things while a few inches from them a black van with tinted windows stalked them.

In a matter of seconds without even letting them breathe. They were taken from their backs and put inside the van with dark sacks covering their heads. A few minutes passed and one of them broke the silence, the woman to be precise.

"Now you can remove the bags from our heads, we are already thirty minutes from the pick-up point." This is suffocating ... - the lady snapped reluctantly as she crossed her legs one over the other.

—Yes, it's about time, get rid of this crap upstairs.

They were uncovered and untied from their wrists while the car was still on the road.

"Well, where is it that we will see Mr. Raven?"

"We're almost there, he's on his way."

"I advise you to hurry, he doesn't like to wait."

Soft music filled the atmosphere inside the truck, silence on the part of those present reigned, something quite unusual since Jhon was not able to keep his mouth closed for long. The car braked delicately and everyone except the pilot and copilot went out in the direction of the small bar that was noticeable with neon lights around the door and the sign where "BEER" was clearly seen, not very original but announced openly what you you would find inside.

They were directed to even a small basement in the compound, the woman's heels clicking every time she descended a step, while the railing where she rested her hands kept a minimum of sound due to the small ring on her finger. They came directly to a dark brown door, the aroma it gave off a slight touch of oak in the environment, the only door on the entire ground floor. They walked in after announcing themselves with a few taps and sat on one of the overstuffed wine red furniture.

The room was quite large, the furniture contrasted perfectly with the white and red carpet on the floor accompanied by the dark wood planks, the same as the door giving this oak aroma in the room. A gold clock adorned the wall in front of them while curtains covered the reddish bricks in the room.

The minutes ticked by and the oak door opened to reveal a man in his early forties. He was dressed in a suit with dark glasses covering his eyes, his brown hair was already being whipped by the first stelae of the crown of the years. He had a briefcase which he placed on the glass desk in the middle of the room. When opening it, a laptop was taken from there, placed where the briefcase used to be, and instantly after being opened the screen showed someone else there. A video call had started.

"Sir," snapped the woman.

"Yolanda, it's nice to hear your voice." The computer's voice was distorted to prevent the identity of the one on the other side of the screen from being discovered, it should be noted that his face was covered as well as his body being camouflaged by a black background. It was impossible to identify the person behind that screen — tell me, how's everything going? How is my girl?

"About that sir, Ingrid left the house, she escaped."

"How did she escape her?" What happened? —A false calm adorned the altered voice as it was possible to see clearly how the left hand of that person was tightly pressed on the head of the cane that she carried.

—We don't know exactly but we are in the process of returning her home

"How long will that take?"

"I don't know sir is ..." she was interrupted by the gruff voice.

—I don't pay them twenty grand every month so that now you tell me that you lost my girl and more, that you don't know where she is and much less that you don't know where to find her, not for sheer pleasure I leave you a considerable sum so that you don't keep in perfect condition in that house!

Yolanda lowered her head, clenching her teeth tightly and sighed heavily to speak. "Yes, sir, I am aware, I promise you that in less than forty-eight hours you will have information on her child." a derogatory tone.

The man on the screen motioned for them to be left alone in that room. Action that was executed at the moment leaving the woman there in front of the computer.

"When you will learn that no matter what happens, that girl is mine and you won't be able to do anything to change her mind."

—I just don't understand that she has that girl that you love so much, when I was always available.

—Shut up and do your job if you don't want me to remove all the bank accounts and your apartment in New York, are we?

-Yes sir....

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WASHINGTON SEATTLE 5:30 AM

Ingrid walked down the road with a lost gaze as well as her mind. Since she had the talk with her Nana, her head was in various places. He had spent the night with her and even slept in her bed as he did years ago. She was comforting, she could assure that it was the feeling of having her mother by her side.

She left while she was still sleeping, she did not want to wake her up and did not want to be there when she did it, the reasons, nor did she know why, she only did it because and because she gave him for it. There I was, avoiding the stripes that formed on the sidewalk like a whole girl of at least five years old, there was nothing better for you to do and it was still too early to go to work and I did not want to get to bother at the house of the Grandma, I didn't have a heart so small for that. She followed her path and she found it nice to go up to one of the buildings on the roof to see the sunrise, she had never been able to afford to see one in calm since she was fifteen so why not?

Sure enough, she went up to one of the average buildings, it was a minimum apartment complex of about six floors. She passed there on the edge of the eaves and with her hands without hers in her pockets, she let the wind touch her face. Her hair was swaying from side to side and she could feel the cool morning breeze. Little by little the first rays of the sun touched her skin giving her those soft and warm kisses that only the great star could give.

She was so immersed in her thoughts that she did not notice her when her arms were raised in the air, as if she were on the prow of the Titanic receiving the salty scented gusts of air.

So much was she distracted from her at that moment that she did not hear the screams of the people below. At least fifteen people were at the foot of the building yelling at the top of their lungs "get away from there, you're going to fall!" or "by God someone go up and prevent it from being thrown!". Yup, many thought that she wanted to commit suicide but that was not the case. So much was the tumult and the murmur that more people stopped to see, among them a boy with hair half and half, yes, half black and red.

-Excuse me. I ask one of the ladies who shouted ecstatically. "What is happening?"

—There's god boy, that girl up there, she wants to kill herself for god's sake. The lady sounded desperate as she pointed to the sky.

The black-haired man looked up and soon his eyes popped out of her sockets when he saw who it was. She dropped her bag right there and went up at breakneck speed, not even the roadrunner did anything to the boy with the speed that they had grabbed his legs. She pushed open the rooftop door and stood in the doorway with her hands resting on her knees as she took a deep breath making her chest rise and fall at a good pace.

"Stay away from that edge for what you love the most Ingrid!" The boy spoke with a loud and loud voice.

The aforementioned turned with a bit of panic with her face decomposed in amazement, she got off the edge carefully without taking her eyes off the boy in front of her and spoke: "You didn't have to shout, just saying it with kindness was enough tomato."

"How do you want me to say it calmly if you were going to commit suicide, that's not the way, it's not the way ..." At that moment he wanted to hit himself, they had called him tomato and the very animal had started a suicide speech when the sign of the absence of such an act was more than clear — hit me and tell me I'm dreaming.

—Aaaaa nope, I'm not going to hit you tomato, it's not necessary and there are no reasons, although I would like to know why you say I was going to commit suicide. I walk calmly and curiously to the boy.

"I ... is that and ... I, aish, that happens to me for listening to old gossips ..."

Ingrid began to laugh in a harmonious voice as she covered her mouth

"Oh god, people definitely don't have anything better to think about, but still thank you."

"Thank you?" He heard himself confused, "why are you thank you?"

"Because you still cared about me and went upstairs." Not many people do that and for that reason ... - from the bottom of his heart came an act that he did not think was possible in his person but he cared about giving it to him - a prize - he kissed his right cheek loudly to smile later as a little girl.

The colors rose to the boy's face in tones of overwhelming reds, almost and matched with the color of his hair and that was saying a lot, that kiss had been kept on his cheek and in his thoughts for a lifetime, the affection and the affection he had for that girl was something that could not be explained, it was simply that way because his heart said it should be that way.

"G ... thanks ... I'm Aryan by the way, I've never told you my name and well, it's a bit weird for calling me tomato ..." he spoke softly and embarrassed as he played with his index fingers.

"Come on, how nice, I finally know your name, it wasn't fair that you surpass mine and I not yours, right?"

"How do you know I knew?"

—Don't get tangled up in life so much, you said it while you entered that door like a giant, "she pointed out, holding back laughter." Besides, I am aware that you asked where I work, so, nice to meet you.

"Yes it's true, but what a fool ..." She slapped her forehead or the palm of her hand.

"Hahahahaha, don't be like that, how about I invite you next time to have a drink, huh?"

"Really?" She couldn't hide the surprise or emotion in her voice.

-Sure! How can I not thank someone who has made my morning happy? Well, it's late enough, I mean, aren't you going to work?

—Well, I came from work, guard, you already invited me to eat something and you already want to get rid of me by throwing me back to the hospital ... you are cruel.

"Oh, don't tell me that, it was an innocent question ... Well, will you walk me home?" She left a cute, closed-eyed smile latent as she linked her hands behind her back.

"Yes!" She didn't think twice about it and spoke with obvious emotion.

"Okay, let's go!" She giggled with her eyes closed and hooked herself onto the black-haired man's arm as they left the building with laughter.

It took them no more than half an hour to get to Grandma Cliver's house, they both decided to go up the stairs and incidentally so they could chat and play on the way, a game which Ingrid lost due to lack of air halfway, apparently the The boy's work kept him agile. They reached the front of the door and when they opened it, the sound of the TV was heard at maximum volume with the morning news.

They both entered and went to Grandma's kitchen where they greeted her and chatted a bit. The grandmother attacked the poor boy with questions and he could only answer in shame. Later Diana and Grandpa joined in their conversation as they sat at the large table to eat breakfast. There was a good and pleasant family atmosphere and Aryan had liked the family from the first minute so she participated with them. On television there was an advertisement, a live report, or so the big screen said.

"Two months ago a teenager has disappeared, her parents are looking for her, we will leave the information of said teenager below, please whoever sees her, call the following number"

After that headline, a photo of Ingrid before the makeover was seen on the plasma screen with all her information, her birthday, social and cell phone number and others.

Everyone at the table looked at the girl with concern, curiosity and some with a little annoyance.

"Ingrid darling, please explain this ...