Blatant (Book 2 to Shameless)

Chapter 5: The succumbing, Part one- The lover of a dead man

"Princess."

"Hmmm?" Bianca stirred, involuntarily responding to the man calling out for her.

"Wake up princess." He continued, stalking closer to her, setting his gaze on her sleeping figure. His shadow fell on her, the night light illuminating his face and highlighting his sharp features.

Bianca turned to the side, facing away from the voice disturbing her peaceful sleep.

He hunched over, bending to give her a kiss on the cheek. Bianca smiled, languidly raising her hand to stroke her father's face, her palm welcomed by an odd amount of facial hair, which didn't register to her in her somnolence.

"J-just get in daddy." Eyes still closed, she whispered drowsily ,shifting to the other end of the bed to accomodate him.

The man straightened his back, his facial features distorting in rage, a sibilant hiss escaping his thin lips, as he slipped the black gloves on his hands. "Wake up princess, don't make me repeat myself." He warned, but Bianca was not heedful of a warning her mind didn't even interpret as nothing above a nugatory noise working on waking her from her peaceful slumber.

But her ignorance, poked at a very ferocious bear. The man, having taken her disobedience as deliberate provocation, snapped and pounced on her like a vicious wild beast.

"Why don't you ever listen to me little one." With each word, each of his thick fingers curled around her neck and his palm pressed against her throat, throttling her.

Bianca's eyes flew open, her breath hitching at the sudden attack. Her legs kicking, she stared into the cold eyes of her worst nightmare.

Victor.

He was killing her. She was dying. Her struggling, her kicking and scratching were to no avail, she was slowly fading, her consciousness quickly slipping away.  He bore his dead eyes into her, a single tear sliding down his cheek, just as one left both her eyes.

Just as she felt all the life leave her body, the constricting grip left her throat, leaving her a coughing mess.

"I'm sorry princess, daddy didn't mean to hurt you," Victor wiped off her tears with the same fingers that nearly brought her to her demise, "you should have never left me, you made daddy very mad, this is all your fault."

Bianca sobbed, now not out of the fear of losing her life, now out of realising that the hell will never be over, that she will never be free. It eluded her just how he'd survived, he was supposed to be dead, she saw him, he died. How was this possible?

"Y-you're dead, I saw you die." Bianca couldn't have sounded more out of it.

"What are you talking about little one?" He gave her that patronizing smile, rising from the bed. " Daddy is very much alive, and I am taking you home."

This wasn't happening!

It really wasn't. How did he surpass the almost impenetrable barrier of their security?

"Daddyyy, daddyyyy helpppp meeeeee." Bianca screamed, her eyes darting around the room, searching for a weapon, for the best direction to leap in order to reach the door before he did.

Victor cackled, immensely amused by her frantic cry for help, "No one's coming for you princess, I killed all of them," Bianca gave him an opaque stare, the words,"You're lying." About to leave her mouth, before Victor interrupted," what? You don't believe me? Alright," his lips curved to a sinister grin before he spun around and walked over to the wardrobe, " I really didn't want you to see this princess, but since my baby insists…"  He opened the wardrobe and two bodies tipped to the ground, eliciting a screeching scream from her.

"Michael buddy, why don't you say hi to my princess?" Victor chortled, taking a long suspire before hauling the dead body from the ground and dragging it over to her. Bianca's trembling hand came to her mouth, her sobbing becoming even louder as she recognised the body Victor dragged like a useless trash disposal bag, to be her father's. His clothes were covered in blood, and his chest and abdomen spotted with multiple gun shoot wounds, blood saliently flowing from two gashes on his forehead.

"You killed him! You killed him you sick f**k, you killed him! You killed him!"

"Shhhh!" Victor hushed her, a sickening joy in his eyes as he stared at the bloody body he'd ditched beside the bed. "I told you not to shout at daddy, it's disrespectful...now where were we..oh yes, Michael." He said the name with such disgust. "Mikey boy..quite stubborn, took 20 bullets to take him down, but this…" he smirked," is purely for my enjoyment." Before Bianca could even begin to wonder what he meant, a sharp  blast sounded, the bullet shell dropping on the carpet.

Bianca screamed yet again,so much that she nearly lost her voice. This was the day. Without a doubt, she wasn't seeing tomorrow. He was going to kill her, the look in his eyes told her so.

Victor had never looked more psychopathic, as he rubbed the barrel of the semi-automatic pistol on his temple and gritted his teeth. "Princess! Princess! Princess!! My beautiful, beautiful princess, -please-stop-screaming- you're driving daddy crazy-  just stop it!!"

Bianca glared at him, pure hatred burning in her eyes, "I hate you! I f*****g hate you Victor!"

"That's not true princess, you're just angry at daddy, and daddy is sorry for showing you- i know how much blood scares you, I'm sorry princess."

"The rest are downstairs, so you won't see anymore." He told her so casually, as though it were the most normal thing. Bianca remained in reticence, her mind betraying her and giving her no way out, despondency was wearing her down, she didn't want to fall victim to a useless scum like Victor, yet she felt it was best she died she everyone she loved was no more.

"I killed all of them, all of them princess, every single one of them, now that they're gone,you have no one else to love but me, all your love now belongs to me, i don't have to share  my baby's affection with these filthy, worthless  peasants.." Victor trailed off, fixing his creepy gaze on her briefly, before continuing, "but people, my Freya, are very disrespectful creatures, they have a lot of audacity, they still will be other pieces of s**t that will try to steal you from me..I have to make  sure that they all know that you're mine." The way the words rolled off his tongue so maliciously, chilled Bianca straight to the bone. She knew he had something utterly twisted and appalling in mind and that she was going to be subjected to the worst torture of her life.

But she didn't anticipate him to be so extreme!

"I am not yours, never have been yours, never ever will be yours!" Bianca retorted sharply, Victor only gave her a look, which in words would translate to, "we'll see about that." Before he disappeared behind a door. Bianca tried to seize the opportunity and run for her life, but she was quick to discover that the door was locked and the room had no windows she could slip out of. Sprinting back to the bed before Victor could return and find out she was trying to escape, she was struck by pure panic.

She was trapped. And she had not even a chance to fumble around for a weapon. "I'm so sorry daddy," she weeped, her eyes daring not to look down, and meet the ghastly view, " this is all my fault, you didn't deserve to die, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

A few seconds later, before all her apologies had been said, Victor came back, harshly slamming the door. "This might hurt a little, but daddy's is doing it for your own good." Bianca gasped loudly when she saw the hot iron rod. Approaching her, inching closer and closer to her face. The first reaction was for her to run, but as she tried to do so, she found her legs and arms to be bound by chains. She was helpless, defenseless. Then she began weeping tremendously.

"I'm going to heat brand my name on your face, then everyone will know you belong to Victor Clayton."

"Victor no, noo, p-p-please don't do it. "

"Shhhh...hush my little one, daddy is not going to take long..shhh!"

Right  as the hot iron grazed her right cheek, Bianca jolted up, harshly drawing in some air and panting heavily. Her heart beating erratically, she was quick to discover that it had all been a dream, yet she couldn't get over the shock. Still, as she examined the room, she expected to see pieces of the nightmare, but her wardrobe doors remained closed, her father's dead body didn't dress her carpet and there was no Victor in sight, as she raised her hand to her cheek, she expected to be scared. She'd had a series of blood-curdling nightmares in her young life, but none, had ever elicited such fear inside of her, none had never felt so real.

"It was just a nightmare,"  Bianca whispered to herself, in hopes of patting down her fright, "Victor is dead. He's dead!" She got to her feet and went to the bathroom, opened the sink tap and splashed some water on her face.

It was of no use, all her attempts were futile. She was too rattled to be her own pacifier. There was only one person who comforted her and made her feel secure when her fears got the best of her. Quietly leaving her room, Bianca walked over to her father's room, gently opening the door and closing it. Maybe not as gentle as she thought, since the noise managed to wake up Michael and he turned on his bed-side lamp.

"Couldn't sleep?" He asked, checking for the time on his alarm clock. 2:56am.

Bianca choose not to state her reasons before she'd settled in nicely in his sheets. She knew he might tease, mock or laugh at her even, for her childish approach, but would not reject her - maybe he would have been a bit uneasy about the idea of her sleeping in his bed with Jason here, a year ago, now he'd adapted this 'Don't care' attitude and wasn't as scrupulously cautious as before. Which she liked very much, he still entertained her despite the risk of Jason finding out. She didn't know if she should care more or less now that he'd "unraveled the truth" about  Michael not being her father. Which reminded her, she needed to make sure she locked both their rooms when she goes out, she couldn't afford to have Jason snooping around in her room and seeing things not meant for his eyes.

"Babygirl?" Michael spoke up, snapping her out of thought.

"I had a nightmare." Bianca  had not planned on sounding so weak and pathetic, but her tone, could've easily been mistaken for that of a six year old. "I don't know why it felt so real..Victor..he strangled me- he'd killed you- your body rolled down from my wardrobe and he shot you again- he told me now that he'd killed everyone i have no one else to love but him- then he walked out and came back with a hot iron rod, it was even orange due to how much heat it was radiating- he was really going to do it-he was going to "brand" me so everyone knows 'I'm his'- i just..Daddy I think Victor is haunting me since I murdered him."

Though Michael couldn't gather enough from her sputtering to piece together what exactly happened in the dream, he knew it must've been quite traumatizing for her to be this shaken. "No one will ever lay a finger on you as long as I am here, even when I'm no longer around, I'll make sure that you're always protected, sweetheart, always." He wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head- just like he did every time she sought soothing from him after she had a bad dream. "Victor is not haunting you, the dream was probably just a manifestation of your thoughts, have you been stressing about you going to jail, about the murder?"

"Yes," Bianca muttered against his chest, enjoying the comforting warmth of his body, "but how I can i not? when I can be  thrown in jail at any moment , I do worry a lot, especially as the days go by without a say about his death."

She was right, she had every right to worry excessively over the issue, anyone in the same situation would. Even he was stressed by the lack of development in his search for details about the murder investigation. Nothing made sense, it was as though Victor just vanished into thin air, and did not die in any way that would need intervention of law officers. Not knowing was frustrating him, he didn't want to suddenly have his babygirl taken from him. There had to be a way to get the information he wanted, and Michael was willing to do anything, to stop at nothing to protect her- which is why, in a few days, he planned on  flying over to New York and putting his connnections to good use.

"Look at me," he ordered her, Bianca disentangling herself from him and staring at him, "you're not going to jail, no one will put my precious babygirl in a clammy cell while I'm still alive. I am doing all I can to get information on the progress of his murder case..and I've came out empty from my search, but I'll be flying to New York as soon as we get back from Texas."

"Texas?"

"I was going to tell you, but by the time I came back, you were already asleep. Your 'papa' has not been doing well, his health is deteriorating and him and your grandmother would like us to visit and celebrate your birthday there." Michael informed her, Bianca's eyes lighting up in excitement.

" I'd absolutely loved that! I haven't seen grandma and papa in so long, I miss them terribly...the only thing I'm not going to like is the weather though, it is too cold in Dallas, even an eskimo would not live there...uuu..can we invite Chey? I mean I don't want to spend my birthday without her."

"Sure, you can invite anyone you want sweetheart, I want your birthday to be perfect."

Bianca was thrilled by the prospect of celebrating her birthday at her grandparents' ranch, having never known Estella's parents and with only the minor detail that they remained in Cuba while she ventured out to the States over two decades ago, as far as she was concerned and as it had been all her life, she only had two grandparents - who she appreciated and loved very much. Not only were they wise and patient with her short temper, they were also extremely sweet and always ensured that she has a wonderful experience every time she visited them. Her last visit was unfortunately, two years ago, due to her and her father's heavy investment in work- her in maintaining her status as one of the best amateur fighters in the U.S. and her father in his devotion to sweeping the streets clean of criminals.

As much as she couldn't wait to see her grandparents, Bianca also wished she didn't have to go, for one reason only- it being, she had developed a strong dislike for circumstances that forbid her from openingly displaying affection towards her father and again, such situations, where they're around a lot of people, always placed her at a worry that their illicit affair will be discovered and as much as she wanted the whole world to know that they're in love- the last thing she wanted was for her grandparents to find out about their "unacceptable, abominable relationship" and end up reacting in  the worst way imaginable.

The second reason also came up, one that would make her dread the trip even more- Jason coming along with them- she didn't want to deal with him in the house, and that definitely wasn't going to change with the location or surroundings, whenever she was in his presence, her soul was not at rest, he irked her deeply.

"Is Jason coming with us?" She couldn't disguise how hopeful she was for a no, but much to her chagrin, the answer was exactly what she didn't want to hear.

"Yes, he's coming along, at your grandmother's insistence, she's worried about him."

"Everyone is always worried about him like he's not a grown ass man." She mumbled lowly.

Despite his reasoning, Bianca still wasn't pleased with the fact that the unrelenting object of her vexation will be there to dampen her mood the entire duration of her visit - where's the fun in that! She hated the fact that her father played host to that f*****g leech, all he ever did was to sponge off him and she honestly didn't know why he allowed him.

"Well I've had it up to here with him honestly," Bianca raised her hand to underneath her chin, "just make sure he keeps a 30 feet distance from me all the time."

"Well he's not coming back with us, I won't allow him to keep bothering you, he can stay at the ranch or find himself an apartment like every man  his age." Michael didn't know what this little girl did to him, he didn't care what he'll have to sacrifice, who he'd place at a compromise, as long as he could see that beautiful smile brightening her face- he wanted to devote every single breath to making her happy and it was a terrifying feeling because she'd let him down before in the past.

"Have I ever told you that I love you more with each passing second?" She fondled with his chin, the look in his eyes, a look he always graced her with, never failed in inducing tiny tingles all over her body.

"No you've never told me." Michael inched even closer, claiming her lips shortly.

"Mhmm..daddy," Bianca purred salaciously, "have i ever told you how much I love your kisses?"

" What are your plans for today?"

"I don't know, i don't have anything planned..there's this movie that Chey and I have been waiting to come out, so maybe we'll go to the cinema, then chill at our favorite spot."

"Well..it might be risky for you to go out today, so please stay within the neighborhood." Michael choose not to tell her why to take such a precaution, not wanting to add on to her stress.

"Why? Why particularly today?" Bianca questioned, wishing her father could just distribute some of his paranoia to someone else.

"So no going out without my supervision from now on okay?" Michael left it at that, ignoring the cheeky eye roll she gave him, "get yourself some sleep, I'll be picking you up later on."

"Where are we going?" Bianca asked excitedly, her face immediately deflating at his response.

"To the shooting range."

"Aggrrhhh really?! I thought you were taking me to a place where I can actually enjoy myself, I still know how to use a gun daddy, i don't need to go there." Bianca grumbled.

"I can't exactly take you to the movies or to the motor rally, I'm supposed to be a dead man remember? We're going and that's that, it's for your own good."

Playfully rolling her eyes, Bianca turned away from him and pulled the sheets over her, before mumbling,"I didn't know it would be this hard to be the lover of a ghost, good night." Closing her eyes, she pretended to go to sleep.

His arms curling around her, Michael asked in a tone of disdain, "Just like that?"

Bianca sighed loudly, feigning annoyance, "Just like what? What were you expecting to happen?"

"Alrighty then," he planted two kisses on her neck, his own eyes closing, "is this you being mad at me?"

"Maybe. You want me to be cramped up in the house the whole day yet you're never around."

"Well I'm the man of the house and whatever I say goes, so suck it up babygirl." Michael taunted playfully.

"Mxxmm."

"Good night, I love you babygirl." He whispered in her ear, in a manner that made it seem like he was telling her a secret.

"I love you too daddy..even though I keep messing up." She murmured under her breath.

"Hmmm?"

"Nevermind, hum to me."

"You're such a kid sometimes, most times I see no difference between the eight year old you and the nineteen year old you." He mocked her.

"I'm not nineteen yet," Bianca defended pointlessly, "and what can I say, I'm a daddy's girl."

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"Any new leads on the McKinney case?" Michael leaned against the wall of the abandoned artillery factory, shoving his hands inside his jean pockets and briefly scrutinizing the clammy building Rick had asked they meet in. The days leading to his freedom couldn't tick off quickly enough -being able to freely walk the streets should have never reverted to a delicacy, he shouldn't have to miss being at work, contributing to the team, he'd left so many cases he was passionate about, obsessed with, unsolved and he didn't trust anyone else to handle them as diligently.

"You're on leave, Passcot and I are doing a great job, the only thing you should be stressing about is not getting your ass killed." Rick was quick to detract his attention from his concern about getting back to work and rather have him  focus on a more important issue, the core reason why they had to to the real reason why they had to set up a meeting on a whim.

"Bastard has already began threatening me." A prominent grimace arose on Michael's face as he remembered the death note that popped up on his laptop screen this morning. " How did he find out I am still alive? I've been very careful, f*****g hell!" Now he really  regretted having not stressed the importance of staying within the confines of the house to Bianca -knowing how obstinate and defiant she is, she could be roaming around in areas that make her an easy target for being napped by Gurérro's thugs.

"Are you sure you've been careful enough?" Rick shot him that questioning look he'd been giving him since last week, the look of someone holding back his inquisition. He wanted to say something, which is why he'd taken to sarcasm. Michael couldn't place his finger on it, he didn't recall ever offending him, so he didn't understand what would make him act out of character and spare only him that standoffish attitude.

"What did the Prosecutor say?" Michael continued to ask, ignoring his previous question -he'd known Rick long enough to know that he won't stay quiet for long when something was bothering him.

"Things are not looking up, lack of evidence, of witnesses, you know how things go with these Drug Lord cases, the verdit may sway either way." Even Rick had seemed to have lost interest in treating the threat as a matter of great importance, he was his partner, they apprehended him together, so even he was in equally as much danger, but he appeared to no longer care as much.

"After all my hardwork, that piece of s**t might walk out a free man in the end, that's bullshit, I have to have a talk with that Angela Terry, she's not fighting as hard as she should be to ensure that Gurérro is locked away for good."

"You think there is still any use for you to go to- "

"Hold on a sec." Michael cut in to attend to his vibrating phone. "Babygirl?"

"Daddy can I go to the beach?" Bianca asked in a rush, speaking so quickly he almost missed what she said.

"Sweetheart, you know I told you to stay-"

"Thank you daddy, I promise to be safe, I love you, bye." She ended the call, not giving him any room to object. Sending her a quick text to remind her to keep her location on, Michael was unexpectedly presented with a question he never  thought he'd have to answer.

"So what's going on between you and Bianca?" It was then Michael  remembered that he'd witnessed them kissing and fondling each other back at the hospital, the day Bianca woke up from the coma.