CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"Stefan!" No matter how much Lucia banged and screamed and kicked against the door, no answer came back. He locked her in? Was that the punishment he talked about? He actually went through with it?

Her eyes caught lightning flashing and she heard thunder rumbling in the distance. Yup! It was going to rain alright, and she was stuck in this huge room, alone.

She began to hyperventilate, "calm down Lucia, just calm down, everything will be alright", she said soothingly to herself.

She still couldn't believe he did this. He seemed so calm, she wasn't expecting him to pull any tricks. Especially risky ones like this. Why did Caroline have to step out, today of all days.

"Argh!" She kicked the door one more time, wishing that Caroline could hear it all the way in wherever she was.

"Fuck you Stefan!" She yelled out in frustration and banged on the door one final time. Exhausted, she stood with her back against the door and slid down till she was on the ground. Defeated. She felt defeated. All this time of fighting mentally and putting up with his arrogance, he had finally beat her down.

Well, not completely, she thought as she searched for her phone. She was going to book herself a ticket for Seattle by tomorrow. She could borrow some money from the twins, Jenna and Janine, infact, they would be happy to lend her some after they hear about her ordeal with Stefan Baxter. She smirked as she thought of Janine's face when she realizes that the man she idolized was nothing but a horrible person.

Fear ripped through her when she went through her purse and found nothing there. "What the…"

She quickly turned the purse upside down and emptied its contents. "Fuck!" She exclaimed. "I must have left it on the boat or something."

Thunder rumbled in the distance and she yelped and jumped into their king sized bed. She felt something cold and metallic next to her and she looked closer to find that it was her laptop. "Oh my God, yes!" She exclaimed. She completely forgot she had one. She immediately put it on her lap to power it on, but unfortunately, it was dead.

She quickly searched for its charger and just as she was about to plug it into the socket, the lights went out and she was plunged into darkness.

She held back her scream. Thunder rumbled some more and rain began to splatter on the windows.

She tried plugging her laptop in, hoping to God that it was an issue with the lighting, but she knew it wasn't. The power was out and she was stuck in this huge room, alone, with no means of communication, and it was about to rain. From the looks of it, it was not just some small rain, it looked like a storm.

"Fuck you Stefan" she muttered. She couldn't believe he'd cut out the power supply too. The bastard!

She fought back tears as she slowly got under the covers, letting it go all the way over her head until she was buried underneath. The intensity of the storm increased and she tried all she could to block out the roaring and the sounds of her mother's screams.

She was just a kid when it had happened. It was raining so hard that night. They were at the dining table, it was family night and they were having her mother's home famous tortillas. The comfort of family made neither of them care about the storm outside. Neither did it allow them to notice exactly when the armed men barged in through their unlocked door.

Her father was quick with his reflexes and he immediately threw her under the table. But her mother was not so lucky.

The pain seared through her like a fresh wound as she relived the exact moment, under that dinner table, that she saw her mother fall to the floor from the bullet that pierced through her chest. She didn't make it. Her father sustained wounds also, but they were minor.

Her father seemed to move on quickly and tried his best to raise her alone to the best of his ability, but the little girl who saw her mother gunned down that stormy night never really recovered from the shock. Since then, she had never spent any stormy night alone, and the rains reminded her of the emptiness she felt when her mother left her.

She willed sleep to come but it eluded her. After a long while, the storm subsided and she finally managed to cry herself to sleep.

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"Rise and shine Lucia" Caroline's singsong voice rudely awakened Lucia. She pulled the covers away from Lucia's body, making her squirm as she came in contact with the bright early morning sun. "Ughh", Lucia mumbled incoherently.

"Aww, I'm sure you must be tired after the long day at sea. And I'm also sure you and Stefan had a cozy night last night, what with all the weather and stuff." Lucia opened her eyes in time to see the look of mischief on Caroline's face as she said those words.

"He's such a sweetie", Caroline said as she came to sit next to Lucia on the bed, "he's already gotten up and dressed for the day and he didn't want you to loose any sleep. How cute." Lucia immediately sat up straight as she heard that.

"What do you mean dressed for the day?"

"Why, did you think you were only going to come here to get on a yatch?" Caroline laughed at her silliness, "oh don't be silly darling. Monaco is a beautiful place, and you two lovebirds are going to explore every bit of it". She started to get Lucia off the bed and lead her to the bathroom. "Now hurry and get dressed. He's waiting for you". Lucia groaned inwardly as she hoped to God that this outing was not another business meeting. She was sure Caroline had no idea about yesterday's meeting.

As Lucia showered, she tried to calm herself down. The fucking bastard must have acted all innocent when his mother arrived. And now they were going to spend another entire day together. It would be a miracle if they didn't tear at each other's throats before the end of the day.