"What is it?" Dimitri asked.
He held the car door open still, waiting for Alia to board, but she stood rooted to her spot. Horror bled through her face as she stared at her phone screen, and Matteo resisted the urge to just bend over to look at what it was that had caught her stupefied like that.
Thankfully, there wasn’t a need to. Alia pivoted the phone slightly so that Matteo could see the contents without having to sneak around. As his eyes quickly scanned the short ssage, Alia had already turned into a ss.
"I need to go see my dad!" she said. Then, horror scorched through her body from head to toe. She stared wide-eyed at Matteo. "Do you think it’s Emline? Maybe that’s what the call was about."
"No," Matteo said almost imdiately, which made Alia wrinkle her nose.
"How can you be so sure?" she asked. After all, Emline had no alibi.
"Because," Matteo said, "it’s too obvious. She wouldn’t have dared. Especially not after her attempt at your life was botched in Lesterat. Your grandfather has his eyes peeled, making sure she doesn’t pull the sa tricks again."
"Dimitri is supposed to be here tonight," Alia muttered. "I saw him just now speaking to Carlo and so of the other kids who were selected to attend the event tonight."
"We could check with him directly," Matteo offered.
Alia nodded. But at the sa ti, her fingers did not rest. She quickly dialed her father’s number and waited impatiently as the call beeped again and again. Finally, when it connected, she heaved out a sigh of relief.
"Dad!" she called, trying to keep her voice steady. She exchanged a glance with Matteo before her tongue darted out to wet her lips. "How are you feeling? Have you had dinner?"
"Millie!" ca her father’s voice from the other end of the line. "I... Yes, I just had dinner. Dimitri left so dishes at ho before he left for your event. How is it, my dear?"
Matteo, who could faintly hear bits of their conversation through the phone speaker, frowned. He said nothing, however, and waited for Alia to reply.
"It went wonderful," Alia briefly said. "But that’s not the point."
She couldn’t help but notice her father’s voice sounded much more exhausted than usual. It wasn’t that late yet. He shouldn’t have been getting ready for bed at this hour, so it couldn’t be that.
"I heard from Dimitri that you got injured?" she asked. If she didn’t, she doubted her father would tell her anything. He was more than happy to keep her in the dark if it ant she didn’t have to worry. The sa went for her mother.
"That boy..." Michael trailed off with a pained chuckle. "Couldn’t keep a secret even if it killed him."
"What happened?" Alia asked.
"Nothing, Millie," Michael Kentwood said. "I’m an old man. These old bones aren’t working as they used to, and sotis I forget that."
"Dad..."
"It’s just a bruise, sweetie," he insisted. "It will go away in a couple of days. There’s nothing to worry about."
Alia’s lips parted, about to reply when Michael Kentwood spoke again.
"It’s getting late," her father said from the other end of the line. "I’m heading to bed. Feeling a little under the weather tonight. Get ho safe, Millie."
Then, as though he was trying to escape, Michael Kentwood hung up the call before Alia could even put in another word. She was t with the cold ringtone of a disconnected line, and Alia slowly peeled her phone away from her ear to stare at her screen, flabbergasted.
"Totally not suspicious at all," she muttered bitterly under her breath, scowling.
"Your father wouldn’t want you to worry," Matteo gently said. "So why not ask the person who provided you the news?"
He gestured behind her, and as she turned around, Alia was t with Ronan and Dimitri. The forr waved enthusiastically while Dimitri rely nodded when he made eye contact with Alia. Together, the two brothers quickly made their way over.
"Congratulations on your event, Alia," Ronan said once he was within arm’s reach. "I would’ve wished you earlier, but you seed a little busy tailing your beloved cousin."
Alia made a face, but nevertheless, wore a smile. "Thank you, Ronan. I shall forgive you for your transgressions," she said. "That was a horrible statent to make, to describe Emline as ’beloved’."
"I’m sure she was a doll," he said, chuckling.
On the other hand, Dimitri was much more serious.
"Is this about Alia’s father?" he asked, turning to Matteo rather than addressing Alia directly.
She looked back and forth between Matteo and Dimitri confusedly. Matteo moved over, placing a hand on the small of her back. Leaning down, he said, "I dropped Ronan a ssage while you were on call with your father."
Alia nodded grimly, then t Dimitri’s eyes.
"I got your text," she said. "If you’re here, how did you know my father’s injured?"
"There are security caras installed at ho," Dimitri plainly said. "You saw them, didn’t you? When you stayed over."
Alia made an ’o’ shape with her lips as she glanced at Ronan for confirmation. She, in fact, did not. Even if she had, the matter slipped her mind completely. However, it made sense to have caras placed around the common areas of the apartnt, especially since they had much to protect.
Dimitri pulled out his phone and tapped a few tis. Then, he turned the phone so that Alia could look at the screen. There her father was, sitting on the living room couch with the first aid box placed in front of him. A few of the supplies were out on the coffee table while he held a bag of ice to his head.
Alia’s face paled at the sight of her father. The ti stamp at the bottom right of the screen displayed the ti the video was taken― right now. This was live footage.
"I was just looking when I noticed your father was searching for sothing around the house," Dimitri explained. "When he neared the caras, I saw this."
With a pinch and a spread, the image enlarged to zoom closer into Michael Kentwood’s face. It wasn’t a state-of-the-art cara, but it zood in close enough that Alia could see the giant bruise her father spotted on his face. There was a cut on his lip and a black eye, with splotches of discoloration peppering his cheek and a part of his forehead.
"He told he tripped and fell," Alia murmured under her breath. "Not that I believed it."
"Does it look like a simple fall to you?" Dimitri said, sighing. "He left the house in the afternoon. I didn’t catch him returning before I had to leave, but my guess is that he t that uncle of yours."
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