Matteo had finally caught up to that wayward child, despite her best efforts to evade his eyes.
"Stop running," Matteo barked out, grabbing her by the arm. She tried to squirm out of his hold, but since she was a re slip of a girl, her attempt was futile. "Where are your parents?"
"I don’t know!" Lilie wailed out, upset. Fat tears rolled down her cheeks, and her legs gave way, causing her to slump on the floor. If Matteo were not holding her arm, she would have been splayed on the ground like a starfish, beating her fists on the floor. "I don’t know anything! They just left ! Don’t beat , Mister!"
Matteo sighed. Children were too hard to comprehend. Hopefully, whatever children he had with Alia weren’t going to be utter hellions. He would not know what to do with himself if they turned out to be like Aiden.
"I’m not going to beat you," Matteo said wearily, wondering if her parents were fond of using this form of punishnt. He picked her up easily and tucked her into the crook of his arm, causing her to squeal, her eyes wide with surprise. "We’re going back to the hotel."
Hopefully, they would be able to locate her parents. Matteo was going to rain every bit of his irritation and displeasure on their heads.
In no ti at all, they returned to the hotel. It seed like all the fight had gone out of Lilie, knowing that she couldn’t escape. Matteo watched as the hotel staff quickly called for her parents using the announcent system.
Seeing that they had things in hand, he wanted nothing more than to leave Lilie with the hotel staff. But Lilie’s skinny arms wrapped around his neck like a vice grip, refusing to let go.
"Co on, your parents are on their way," Matteo said. But Lilie shook her head, refusing to et his eyes.
Truly, children were incomprehensible. Wasn’t she afraid of him a re twenty minutes ago?
Before he could think about how to pry her away from him, a man entered the hotel lobby.
"Lilie!" The man barked out, his face twisted into a scowl, and Lilie shuddered in Matteo’s arms. Then the man caught sight of Matteo, and his scowl imdiately switched into a bright smile so false that it turned Matteo’s stomach.
Sohow, Lilie seed to curl herself tighter into Matteo’s hold, trembling like a leaf. Matteo narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
"Mr. Montgory! What a pleasant surprise," the man spoke up, holding out his hand for Matteo to shake, instead of reaching for his daughter. "I’m Lucas Dirge."
Matteo nodded, a flicker of distaste in his eyes. He recognized that surna― the Dirges weren’t a rich, prominent family compared to the Montgorys or Hawthornes, but they had their fingers in many pies.
More importantly, Matteo knew they were blatant social climbers. Could Emline have approached him, promising him benefits if his child injured Alia? A wintry expression crossed his face.
Lucas’s enthusiasm dampened slightly when Matteo didn’t shake his hand. Only then did he realize that his hands were occupied. He let out a grating laugh.
"So sorry for any inconvenience this brat might have caused you. Children are such a hassle, aren’t they? Good for nothing, especially the girls." He shot Lilie a particularly nasty look before his face smoothed out into a smile. "I’ll take her off your hands. Co on, Lilie, don’t disturb Mr. Montgory here. He has better things to do than to look after you."
Lilie’s hold got tighter, and Matteo heard a whimper escape her lips.
"She was no trouble," Matteo found himself saying, despite being upset at Lilie earlier. He couldn’t believe her own father was so willing to disparage his child in the presence of others. If this was how he treated Lilie in public, how much worse could it be in private?
His stomach turned in displeasure. How was Lilie treated at ho?
"You’re too kind," Lucas said, then his tone beca harsh as he addressed his daughter. "Lilie, get down from there. Or I’ll punish you. You don’t want to make angry, do you?"
Matteo’s blood chilled at the vitriol in his voice. Lucas’s threat must have ant sothing to Lilie, for she let go of Matteo, only for her father to pull her towards him with a ridiculous amount of force, causing her to trip. She fell, but Lucas didn’t bother to help her up.
"See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?" Lucas asked, his tone becoming so much gentler that it gave Matteo whiplash. "We’ll get the waffles you want now. Say goodbye to Mr. Montgory!"
"Bye bye..." Lilie waved quietly, giving him one last hopeful glance as her father all but dragged her away. Matteo couldn’t help but notice that Lucas wasn’t going in the direction of the dining hall.
Sothing wasn’t adding up. But it wasn’t as though he could demand Lucas Dirge to hand over his daughter because he suspected Lilie was getting mistreated at ho. It wasn’t his place to interfere, though the thought did nothing to ease the unsettling feeling in his heart.
His place was with Alia. He checked his phone and frowned. She hadn’t left any ssages for him. Surely she wasn’t that upset with him for his behavior earlier?
His phone beeped with a new urgent alert.
’SNOW WARNING!’
’Heavy snowfall expected in Lesterat’s north...’
Matteo took a quick glance through the doors and his heart sank. Snow was falling thick and fast, in a torrential flurry onto the ground. Based on his personal experience, it wouldn’t take longer than half an hour before the snowflakes obscured everyone’s vision.
He called Alia, hoping that she was also sequestered safely inside the hotel, or was at least on the way back.
No one picked up the call. Matteo dialed it again, but the result was the sa.
Desperate, he dialed Horace Hawthorne’s number. Perhaps Alia was simply spending ti with him and didn’t find it convenient to answer her phone when she was conversing with her grandfather.
Horace picked up after two rings.
"Matteo! To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Grandfather, where are you? Have you seen Alia?"
"Why, I’m resting in my room. Isn’t Alia with you?" Horace’s voice was pleasantly befuddled. "According to Emline, the both of you were last seen with that instructor."
Matteo gnashed his teeth. That was right. That goddamn instructor should be with Alia. "Thank you, I’ll call him now."
Then he realized he did not have Andrea’s number. Which ant the only person he could contact was Emline herself.
Fuck. He couldn’t think of anything he wanted to do less. So he tried calling Alia again, but this ti, there wasn’t even a dial tone.
Her phone was out of service.
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