Crisis Of War

{ XLIX }

{TRIGGER WARNING! EXPLICIT CONTENT! DO NOT READ IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE IT, THANK YOU! Otherwise, enjoy!} 

Ariana takes a seat across from Valentina and waits for her daughter to look at her, while I awkwardly stay behind Valentina. 

'Please do sit down, you're making me nervous.' Ariana says, looking directly at me. I nod and take a seat next to Valentina, feeling her tense by the second. 

'Explain why you didn't tell me before, please.' 

I stare at Ariana, trying to see if she's angry or disappointed. But she's not. 

She's just curious and worried. No anger or disappointment anywhere, which makes me worry a little less about how this could end up. 

'How do you even know-' 'Stop avoiding the question, Cataleya.' Ariana says, keeping her eyes on her daughter. 

Valentina looks at me for a second, silently asking me for permission to tell her mother about what happened. 

About me. 

I would give everything to start over with her mother and just keep her out of this, but it's impossible. 

She was going to find out at some point, I just didn't think it was going to be now. 

But I nod and watch as she turns back to her mother, sighing deeply. 'It all happened when-' 'I'm not asking about how it happened, I'm asking you why you didn't tell me before.' 

'Because I couldn't tell you.' 

'Why not?' Ariana asks, even though she probably already knows. 'It's not safe.' 

Ariana turns to me now, staring right into my fucking soul. 'Are you putting her in danger?' 

I would never... But I did. 

'He's not.' Valentina answers instead, making her mom turn to her again. 'Cataleya, I don't see why you couldn't just tell me.' 

'Who told you?' Valentina asks, putting all her energy in her body as she moves to the edge of her seat. 'Neveah.'

North... I'm going to fucking kill- 'Why?' Ariana scrolls through her phone and places it on the table. 

I stare at the phone and almost laugh at the picture on it. 

The picture TMZ took just outside Le Carmen. 

The one almost everyone in the world saw already. 

The one where I'm trying to keep her face out of the picture, but it failed miserably. 

'When you left with Hunter, I did some research because nothing was adding up.' Ariana starts, keeping her eyes on Valentina the entire time. 

Not that Valentina notices, because she's too focused on the picture. Probably trying to avoid eye contact with her mother at all costs. 

'I remember the name of the hotel chain you interned at and found this picture.' Ariana points at the picture and looks at me, before sighing deeply, 'I dug deeper into his history and found out that everything was clean, which is impossible.' Fuck...