Chapter 103 - ( Hundred) Two: Overshadowed

" I am truly sorry for your loss."

Leo's heart squeezed painfully on hearing those words from the doctor's mouth. No, it couldn't be true. This couldn't be happening. Amelia couldn't be dead, she would never leave him. She always said it herself so what was this man saying?

It felt like he was just tossed off a cliff and got stroked by lightning on his way to the rocky ground. Just an hour ago he was having fun and playing with Amelia and now she's done?

Leo stood paralyzed, his feet like blocks of lead as his eyes stayed fixed on the room Amelia was taken into, hoping that she would burst through the door, giggling as she always did. Praying that the doctor made a mistake.

His greatest fear, the cruelest fact, dawned on him when his mother's wailing sounded in his ears, bringing him out of his shock-induced coma.

His sister was done.

A teardrop glided down Leo's cheek as he hauled his eyes away from the door and turned to look at his parents behind him. He had been crying ever since they came to the hospital but this time was different. The pain was more.

He turned around and saw his father standing and his mother sitting on the bench, her cheeks wet as tears streamed down her eyes.

A normal boy of his age at a time like this would have flown to the embrace of his parents, trying to fill the void that Amelia's death caused but Leo didn't. He just stood there, staring at his mother as she cried her eyes out, the pain inside him threatening to suffocate him.

The more Leo stared, the more he asked himself a particular question. Would his mother be this heartbroken if he was the one who passed away?

An obvious answer would be No. Claudia never cared about him, she didn't know he was alive and definitely wouldn't when he would be dead. Just the thought made his mouth sour. 

Leo always knew his mother detested the mere sight of him, she always said his existence was a painful reminder of how her life went from blissful to her being chained to his bastard of a father but all the soul-piercing words she had thrown at him in the past didn't hurt as much as it did now. Now was much worse. Now coupled with the death of his sister, everything felt horrible. Unbearable.

With tears still pelting down her cheeks, she looked at Leo, the anguish she felt within her morphing into anger as she lurched at him.

" You!" Claudia pointed her index finger at him as she staggered forward. " You caused this."

" Stop it, Claudia. You are scaring him." Lorenzo said in a grave tone but Claudia ignored him completely and kept advancing towards Leo who stood there staring at her. 

He knew she was angry and was looking for a way to vent her emotions. He was always the punching bag she chose. What could she possibly do this time? Slap him? Insult him? Leo wasn't scared, he was already used to it.

" You are the reason we are in this situation now. You were supposed to be watching your sister but instead, you let her get run over. You killed her. You killed your sister." Claudia yelled as she raised her hand to slap him again but Lorenzo caught it before it landed on his cheek and squeezed her hand harshly.

" Don't forget that we are still at a fucking hospital. Behave yourself." Lorenzo whispered to her in a strained voice and she huffed, yanking her hand away from his grip andpushingd him three steps away from her. The heat from the anger inside her was hot enough to fry her veins.

" Why? Don't you want people to know how much of a freak your son is?"

" Shut up this instance." 

Claudia then let out a demented chuckle. " I get it now. You don't want people to know that the picture-perfect family you paint us to be outside isn't true. That your son is a monster just like you." She yelled and earned herself a hard slap across the face.

Her hair stuck to her wet face as she touched the cheek Lorenzo slapped. It wasn't the first time he had slapped her but it was the first time he had done it in front of any of their children. Lorenzo never hit her in public either and him doing it now simmered her blood even more. 

Claudia turned to Leo, all this was his fault. It was all him. He did this. She took an intimidating step towards him but he didn't move. He didn't try to move. What was the worst she could do?

Though Leo didn't like the way his mother treated him, he hated the fact that his father hits her. He knew it was wrong, heartless or not, his mother was still a human being, not an animal that has to be flogged. He also hated that his parents didn't behave like those of the other kids in his class but he never said a word about it. His father was his only parent that showed him care and concern and Leo was afraid that if he said anything about the matter, he would lose his only source of parental love. So he stayed mute, pretending like he didn't see the hostility or even the bruises it left on his mother's body.

Claudia stood in front of him and grimaced, the rage overpowering the pain she felt.

" No matter what you tell yourself, you are still the cause of your sister's death." She tried her best to keep her voice calm but it still came out sounding shaky. " You are a monster. You were born a monster and will die a monster. No one would ever love you." 

The sound of Becca moaning and stirring on the bed brought Leo out of his thoughts. She was waking up.

He sprang out of his seat and strode to the bed, gently getting on it, and sat at the edge, tucking away the hair that fell on her face.

Becca opened her eyes and stared aimlessly around the dim room then her eyes wandered to the clock hanging on the wall, it was past midnight.

Slowly, she sat up on the bed, unaware that she wasn't the only one in the room until a voice spoke not far from her.

" Be careful, my love," Leo said with a gentle voice and Becca whipped her head in his direction. He was sitting just at the edge of the bed, staring at her, and didn't know how she wasn't able to notice him there before.

Becca stayed mute, staring back at him for a while before averting her gaze to stare at the time, pretending he wasn't there. The memory of everything that happened in the afternoon came surging through her with the force of a tidal wave. Her restaurant. The shooting. Raquel.

Raquel was dead.

A tight knot formed in Becca's chest, threatening to tear her in two. Raquel didn't deserve that type of fate. She might not have been a Saint all her life but she was different now. She changed, so why? Why did she have to die? 

Becca closed her eyes and remembered the roaring gunshots, flinching as she recalled how Raquel's dead body and the hole in the side of her neck.

The atmosphere of the room turned heavy with a deafening silence that hung between them tugging painfully at the strings of Leo's heart. 

" My love." Leo broke the agonizing silence, unable to take it anymore. All he wanted was for her to speak. Even though she would yell at him, he would be more than willing to take it all but not silence. Anything but her silence.

" You knocked me out," Becca said in a hollow voice and turned to him. " Didn't you?"

Leo gulped, Becca's tone might have been low but it was loud enough to shatter his heart like glass.

He moved towards her on the bed. " I promise I didn't hit you."

Leo might have looked exactly like his father but he couldn't bring himself to do what his father used to. He could never hit his woman. His Becca.

Becca didn't respond and went back to gazing away at nothing, fighting back the every wretch feeling plaguing her. Past enemy or not, Raquel was someone she had known for a long time. They were now getting along but look what happened. She was killed. Dead.

Becca blamed herself, she should have dragged Raquel out of the restaurant the moment those scary men showed up.

" Why?" Becca asked after torturing Leo with her silence.

" I don't understand what you are asking me."

Becca turned to Leo again, who now sat beside her, staring at her the same way he had been doing ever since he brought her home. He reached out and grabbed her hand.

" Those men were leaving but all of the sudden bullets were being shot everywhere and I want to know why?"

Leo faltered, hesitating again and bile rose to Becca's throat. " My love, I—"

" I don't want to hear it if it's not the answer to my question." Becca cut him off and tugged her hand away from his grip, angry that he was hesitant to tell her stuff even after what happened. 

As soon as she yanked her hand away from his, she noticed the bandage on her palms then looked down at her body, realizing that his shirt was the only thing she had on. Her knees too were bandaged but the craziest thing was she didn't remember injuring herself or even felt the pain of her injuries.. She didn't feel anything from her wounds, completely numbed and overshadowed by the heaviness of her heart.