My story 'Mafia's Beautiful Silence' is posted now, please do check out. You'll like it.

SCARLET'S P.O.V:

Sometimes some words hurt you more than anything, they hold a power that can crush you in one second. They have an impact that can make you realize so many aspects. Words. They can be your angels and they can be your devils too. They can brighten your life and they can burn your life too.

Most of the bitter words hold the truth. Because not all truths can be confessions of full of colors, some truth can be eye opening, heart wrenching, extremely destructive and bitter.

Those words of Caleb 'so who do you think killed your birth mother?' caught me off guard, shook my soul, destroyed my ability to fathom and worried my heart. A part of me was trying its best to not over think about it, but at the same time, a part of me wanted to know the history of that statement.

Was it the same what I was thinking? Was Caleb trying to put a point that my father—extremely cruel, taunting, ignorant—could actually go up to those lengths and kill someone?

I was befuddled, standing in front of emotionally confused Caleb, who was cursing himself in his mind about what he just said. Katerina came up to me, held me from my arms, pulled me apart from Caleb, who was actually so sorry. I could see in his eyes. The shame, the regret, the disappointment—it was so clear. Clear as crystal.

It was my first experience with Caleb being sorry in front of me. I never thought I'd see that day, but I did. What a wonder, I did see on the second day of my marriage. I saw sympathy the day before it, I saw the sympathy in his eyes again. I hated it.

"I want to go to my room," I mumbled, my voice sounded deep, crisp and broken.

Caleb nodded, understanding my state of emotions, he took his steps back, I made my way out of the dining room. Katerina tried to follow me, but I guess, John stopped her saying, "Let her go, she needs time. And knock some sense into Caleb first."

I didn't blame Caleb.

He was just trying make my stupid, delusional mind understand that my dad wasn't the person who I thought he was. He was railing about my dad's behavior and unstable state of mind, he was saying that he could kill me if I disobeyed the contract, but I wasn't understanding. I was crazy, childish and mad. Arguing to Caleb about how my dad could be cruel but not that cruel who could murder someone.

But I don't know how I was convinced to believe that my birth mother didn't die giving me birth. I was convinced that there was something, a glint of truth in Caleb's twisted statement. Because deep down inside, I knew my dad wasn't the person who I claimed. He could be worse than who he was already. My hopes for him was blinding me, but after that twisted statement of Caleb, that blind fold on my mind, shattered and my mind also started to believe my deep down confessions.

While walking upstairs to my room, surprisingly I didn't cry. Not a single tear. I was just numb. I felt nothing except hurt. It was all I felt in my entire life the most. And that time, it was the only emotion that I felt.

Worst luck? Yeah!

Shutting the door behind me, I took my numb self, disturbed self to my bed, sat on the corner, with my mind totally empty, heart clenched and soul trapped in a puzzle—was it the truth or not?—well, that puzzle could only be solved if Caleb could tell me the whole truth.

I didn't know if I wanted to or not though.

I was gawking at my entwined fingers, thinking irrelevant things from past. My eyes almost closed, my vision was blurred, I didn't know if I could get something from remembering how silent or ignorant and taunting my dad had always been around me. I didn't get anything, except the fact that my hopeless respect and love for him meant nothing to him, and he didn't even like me. And my birth mother was a bitch, slut and whatever the worst thing you could think, to him. They were his own words for my real mother.

That man!

All I had in my mind was nothing except fear. Fear of being proved right about my dad—the cruel, careless and heartless. I hated those gleams of doubts inside me about how Caleb was right because if he was right, my life till then, was all a lie. And I couldn't bear that. All my life, I only dreamed of love and a mother. A mother who genuinely loves you, cares for you, make sacrifices for. A mother who cradles you, lets you sleep on her lap, pecks you, claps proudly on your biggest life achievements, even on your trophies and shields.

That was all I needed, but instead I got my step mother, who hated me, considered me as the one who broke his marriage, but it was my dad who slept with my birth mother, it was my dad who cheated on and destroyed the connection, it was my dad who kept me in dark about the real tragedy of my birth mother's life and death. It was all due to my dad.

There, remembering all of the moments in which I craved for a mother, brought tears in my eyes that were empty for so long. They streamed down to face, and that was the first time I hated crying.

For me, crying used to ease my pain, made me stronger, motivated me to get over the hardships. But that moment, it was breaking me a part. It hurt me, more than it hurt when I was forcefully married to Caleb, after being beaten by dad. It hurt more and more. The upcoming revelation of truth was scaring me a lot.

I kept my head on the back, not even trying to wipe those tears off me, wishing my best to stop those flashes of my past that were playing in front my eyes. I closed my eyes, sucking in the tears, but still those helpless, alone and hopeless moments I had lived since childhood didn't stop haunting me.

Until I heard the creak of the door, I was awoken from the little slumber full of cruel moments, my eyes drifted towards the door and I found Caleb entering. His steps towards our bed were small and hesitating, his hand was on his forehead and he rubbed his temples as if something was scaring him too. Just like a truth about anything can scare anyone. Finally, when he sat near me, I could see drops of sweat on his forehead, his head titled downwards and his eyes were shut.

After taking a long sigh, he leaned to me, his eyes meeting mine, his lips parted away and I heard the unexpected, "I am sorry, I shouldn't have said that, I am really sorry, Scarlet."

"What exactly did you mean?" I asked, ignoring whatever he was saying because I never blamed him at first place, he opened my eyes only. He only made me realize that there was an even worse side of my dad after what he was already.

He retorted, ignoring my demand too, he was about to get up from the bed, thinking that he was done with that, but no! he wasn't."You didn't even eat your breakfast properly, I'll ask someone to bring it up here, okay?"

I gripped on his wrist, stopping him from going away, hiding the truth that I didn't know how many people knew and hid from me, "I am asking you something, I don't care about the breakfast. Tell me what did you mean? What do you know?"

My voice, it sounded hard, commanding yet so broken. He leaned towards me again, his hands slowly were put on mine, he took them so gently in his grasp and tried his best to calm me down. My sobs were not louder, they were faint, but he could feel my pain, I guess. "Calm down, please."

I whispered, trying to stop the flood of emotions inside me, especially the one which was neutral or mixed, which felt like anger, frustration, pain, all in one. "Caleb, please."

I'd never seen Caleb that calm ever, whenever he used to appear at press, he looked always ignorant, whenever Irene defined him, it was always about his anger, but that moment, it was different. "Scarlet, I shouldn't have brought that up. I always thought your dad loved you but then you told me about how he beat you to convince you for marrying me. I understood that he is still as bad as he was, you don't have to know everything, okay. It will only hurt you. I was angry about this marriage so when you talked about breaking the contract to mom and dad, I got angrier. And I just said things. So, forget it."

I started mumbling, my voice almost lost in my sobs and moans of pain, I felt as if my heart was eventually tearing a part, my tears were not making me forget the pain, it was all so bloody painful, "It is good that you brought that up, it was eye opening, tell me what really happened. I grew up wishing for love and a mother, I was told she died giving me birth, they all hated me. Irene was never close. It is just, I have right to know what really happened to my mother. I deserved to know if she was killed, please,"

Exasperation took over me, my heart started to sink, my entire body shivering with crawling pain, sobs evaporated because my voice recovered from the small whispering tone, it went higher, demanding, "Caleb? I need the truth!" He was chewing his lip, puzzled. His eyes rested on mine, lingering to calm me down, but no! That silence was not making anything easy for me, it was haunting me, suffocating me. My soul wanted to burn, turn into ashes and never reside in that cruel world. But I wanted myself to know the burning truth too, no matter how much it was going to burn me, disappoint me or change me.

To my utter surprise, Caleb, who's hands were grabbing both of my palms, loosened the grip. He scooted near me, while my eyes were on him, determined to get the truth out of him, challenging and commanding him. On the other hand, his eyes darkened, taking a very deep blue-green shade, like turquoise. They were softened, sympathetic, apologetic and concerned.

He lifted his hands, cupped my cheeks, his thumb grazed my skin, wiping those strings of warm tears. I squeezed my eyes for a moment, sucking out the feel of that feather like touch, enjoyed the non existent yet so powerful intimacy for a fleeting moment. Leaning into his silky touch, I found myself relieved of the worries and doubt. And that moment, that silence was eased. The dimmed gold sunlight peeked through our light curtains and fell on me again, making me awake from that touch, as my eyes flickered and opened, I saw his lips parted away but no words seemed to came out from them.

Few moments later, he finally managed to find out the right words for the response. He spoke up, with a soft, low and gentle tone which I heard for the first time, "You don't have to bear the weight of something that was not supposed to be impact your life."

No! I wanted the truth. I had already been lied a lot. Played and manipulated tons of time. Not anymore.

As his touch seemed to distract me a bit too much, almost succeeding in convincing me to forget about the truth and slip into that exotic intimacy, but I had time for that. But for the truth, it seemed as if I was drowning and instead of fresh air, I needed the truth to survive. I raised my hands, held his that were gently yet strongly palming my cheeks, I put them away and looked down, not wanting to see the shattered look in his eyes.

Because Caleb Pierce had a talent, and it was—in spite of being a mystery that used to hook everyone in one glance (just like in one glance he excited me), he also had a crazy talent of making people feel the exact same emotion that he was feeling, I didn't want to be tempted, not that moment. I didn't want to see the disappointment he had when I put his hands away, disapproving his touch. Because I also felt disappointed.

But as I said, I could enjoy his touch some other time, maybe. But for then, I wanted the truth. I just couldn't let him or my own desires or dreams to distract me from it.

"Sometimes truth can be toxic,It can be poisonous, devastating, soul shattering but at the end of the day, one way or another, we always have to face it." I mumbled, looking up to him again—my eyes were neutral with only one question, which was about truth and he seemed to look away whenever he noticed what I wanted. He seemed to avoid the truth. "Let it be my nightmare, I am already a wounded wolf."

My state of mind devolving, the alacrity that used to be in my heart, mind and soul was gone, I only thought that I would find comfort on the lap of answers—the truth. No matter how much demoralizing that truth could be, I had to make adjustments with that. I considered myself able of that strength, but deep down inside, I was really not and Caleb knew that. And that was why, he had a flushed expression spread across his face.

Pure terror was there in his eyes that moment, and they drifted away from me, stayed on everything except me, while I could read that he was juggling with the words, with choices and with the truth. I never thought Caleb Pierce would ever be that much afraid of a risk.

Yeah, telling the truth can be a big risk and especially when it is related to the matter of life and death. No one knows how a certain statement holds the ability to frighten a person or paralyze him mentally, emotionally or sometimes physically too.

And he was probably going through the stage of having a thought about filtering the truth so that it wouldn't hurt. But I knew he wouldn't be able to do that. Because even though I'd met Caleb only once before marriage which was already a brief meeting, and I had only spent one day with him after marriage—I had known him at least that much that I knew, he was an honest and straight forward person. Bluntness was nothing for him, he could do it. But still, the slightest glimmer of concern he had for me was driving him insane.

Interesting yet confusing.

As he started to speak, I thought giving him a bit of minutes was a good decision as he was starting to tell me the truth, he met my eyes, and again after a long sigh, he seemed to be ready, "My dad and your dad have been friends since childhood, they know each other's secrets. Your dad is egoistic, arrogant, has anger issues, full of himself, optimist, untrustworthy, mentally unstable, dangerous, in love money and so called reputation and extremely cruel. My dad is selfish when it comes to his family, careless, pessimist, stupid, delusional, overly dramatic and sensitive, like emotional you know, kinda was popular with girls in spite of being broke when he was young. And mostly blinded and can be easily tricked. See the difference between them?"

I nodded at his blunt speech. He was true about my dad, but about John, how could he be so insensitive.

Anyways, my nod symbolized that I wanted to listen more, "But they managed to stay friends, spent almost their teenage and adulthood together. Surprisingly, your dad seems to trust my dad a lot. He once told him that he had an affair with a woman before his marriage which continued after his marriage too, that women was your birth mother. He played her, since he was too young, my dad was kinda like that too in the age so they never noticed that she was being serious which your dad didn't want." Using my mother too, that man was born to use and hurt people, tears swam in my eyes but I tried my best to hold on to them, tried my best to stay strong, "But being a jerk he is, he continued to take advantage of her, years passed away, with false hopes, he used her. My dad told me once, forcefully though because I really wasn't interested, he was being overly sensitive over his past mistakes so-"

I hissed , frowning at him,"Stop being insensitive towards him, Caleb. You seem to hesitate in telling me the truth because you know it will hurt me, but why are you being such a jerk towards your father?"

"Because that is all their fault. Those two did mistakes, your mother paid the price, and now you are supposed to get hurt and I don't want that! Got it!?" His voice was higher, the softness went away, the concern was shown to me in different way—cold way as he always used to be. His hands grasped my arms and shook me, his eyes glowering at me as if I was at fault. But his words were true too, they both must have done things that were the reason of all the mess.

"Listen and don't get over protective, I am respecting your choice and telling you, you respect my way of telling, okay?" He asked, giving me a shook.

I nodded, sobs again escaped my mouth, making him loosen his grip on my arms, "Look, Would you not make me angry or pissed, I don't want to hurt you, Scarlet. You're already going to get hurt by this. And this is my fault. I don't want to get frustrated right now by this marriage we have, hours ago when I was, I lead you to the haunting truth."

As much as it broke my heart even more, I had to admit, "I know you hate this marriage, but I was not trying to make you angrier, neither hours ago nor now. I was justifying my dad before but now I was justifying your dad. You have a better dad, unlike me, so I just wanted you to respect him. Love him."

He whispered, his tone low again, "I respect and l-like him, I just don't respect the past version of him."

He continued, "Listen please, and don't cry please, Scarlet." His hand trembled a bit, but he squeezed his eyes shut, and put his hand on mine, the presence of his touch was supposed to breathe new strength in me, and it did, he looked up to me, "Dad told that your dad kept making excuses about not marrying your mom, he made a family issue of how he got forcefully married to Emma—your step-mother. Your mother, as dad said was an orphan, sweet and caring but very hopeless romantic and oblivious, that was why she was head over heels for the devil. She was friends with my dad, and still my dad didn't tell her the truth. He was so engulfed in his shitty friendship. In spite of being sensitive, caring, emotional and sane, he chose your dad over your mother. And that is why I thought his emotions and sensitiveness was irrelevant if he couldn't feel for your mother."

His voice melted in my ear, each word crafted in my heart, stained my soul and memorized in my mind, even the easiest part of the truth was having a greater impact on me. I wondered about the worst. But he seemed too quiet for a few good minutes, as if he wanted to stop there and let that all be the worst and easy part for me.

It was really rare but I found his protectiveness and concern useless, I wanted the truth so I wanted. I didn't care about it is after effects. No one in my life was ever true to me, and that was the first big truth of my life that I was going to hear but he was not reaching out to me too. Like everyone.

But his intentions were good, to protect me. Others wanted me hurt with lies.

"Caleb, don't stop okay, I can handle it." My voice, not broken at all. So composed even with the flowing drops of tears. I wanted to prove that I could take the truth.

He spoke up, slowly slowly his words picked up the pace and he stopped tripping over his words, he gave me what I wanted, the worst part of the truth, "Once he got to know about her being pregnant, he was worried that he would ruin his relationship with beautiful but pretentious model-actress wife or with his useless billions, so first he mentally abused your mother about her being orphan, unloved, alone, helpless and worthless. Scarlet, I think mental abuse is the worst form of abuse, and he started with it, we don't know, we can't know how much she suffered. My dad said he never visited her since your dad got married and she started living a small apartment gifted by her so called money hungry love, Andrew. Your mentally challenged dad who destroyed the poor woman. Sometimes he used to get drunk and beat her, then came back to my dad and proudly told the tales of his physical abuse. "

He squeezed my hand tightly, pulling me towards him, my face was soaked with tears, my heart was sunk, my body was numb, I was with no emotions staring at him, listening the truth, as soon as the worst part seemed to unfold, I began to be more unresponsive. Caleb scooted near me and let me put my head on chest, his hand snaked around my waist and the other hand was pressing on mine, trying his best to calm me down but I was calmed down, but that time, that was being dangerous.

I was not crying and that was not normal for me, I had to cry, I had to let it out, but I wasn't. His words created a vivid scene in my head and I was just living them, hurt. I thought about what words my father used to used to mentally hurt my mother, I felt those words. I thought about how much he used to beat my mother, I felt bruised with those beatings too, and that was why I was having no reactions, I was being mentally hurt too.

"Dad told that he tried his best to prevent your birth, physically, mentally and then emotionally, but in spite of being weakened by his taunts and his beatings, she was a strong woman, Scarlet. She protected you, my dad asked him to not hurt the baby, as I said that he was so respectful towards dad, he obeyed. I wonder why. Because as you can imagine, he is really crazy. Things were getting worse by each passing month, until the day you were born." Still, I could feel how emotionally he used to hurt her and break her, I felt those shrill tingles of pain too. Just laying head there on Caleb's chest, with eyes shut, lips pursed, mind all empty, I waited for even worse parts. Caleb continued to caressed my hand, but it had no effect. The numbness didn't go, I felt nothing expect the pain of mother.

Caleb stopped, looking down at me, seeing me like that made him quiet, but I held his hand tighter, signaling him to bombard with the reality, "You know media says that you're adopted and all shit, but at first you used to live with your mother, for a month. That one month, he let her live peacefully, then same things happened again. Taunts, degrading her, disrespecting her, physical abuse even rape, he used to take out his frustrations of his business or home on your mother. One day, he beat her so much that she had to be taken to hospital which he didn't take because of his reputation. Her neighbor found the crying voice of baby for a long time and called her too but then decided to knock, but she was unconscious, she being her friend took her to nearest hospital.

The numbness went for a while, questions made their place in my head, I took my head away from his chest and looked up, asking him, "Who was her neighbor? Must be her friend? Why didn't she report to police? My mother must have looked like abused, right?"

Caleb's posture stiffened, his eyes started to drift from mine, he avoided me again, his face was flushed again. "Do you know the neighbor, Caleb? How did you know that she knocked, called and all? How did your father know and tell you? Caleb, please."

"Scarlet-" He tried to touch my hand, hold me again, tried to calm me down.

But I shrugged him off, I hastened out of the bed, my voice was louder, clearer and wrought with anger, desperation, pain and so many fears. "You know the neighbor woman right? Tell me who was she, why didn't she report that to police? Why didn't the doctors let police know? How did your father know about all this? How can he know that the woman called and knocked? Was she that close that she had the keys too? My mother would have been alive if that woman or the doctorstold the police."

Caleb stood up, reached out to me, I stepped back, kept him at arm distance, "That hospital was like a clinic, the staff was small and careless but they must have noticed too. Your dad bought them after he got to know about that matter. He couldn't risk loosing everything."

I yelled again, that time, my voice broke, my tears that were long gone came back pouring down to my face, every vein and bone of my body was hurt, I could feel the harmful and devastating sensations of hurt creeping in my blood, making it boil with rage. "Who told my dad about her being in hospital? That pathetic woman, right? Or your dad? But how that woman is related to both them. Why are you feeling so ashamed in telling me about her, Caleb. My mother didn't get justice because that woman didn't call the police or those pathetic excuse of human beings loved money more. She died that day right, due to severe beating, right!!?"

"Yes, she did." Caleb whispered as he took my tiny frame in his embrace, his hand brushed against my cheek, wiping my tears, making me feel protected.

I squirmed in his embrace, already broke down, yelling, punching him, cursing him, "Tell me is that woman alive? Because she deserves to die too, how can she live after all of that she did. Tell me or I'll go ask John about her, he must know her that was why he had all of this information."

"Calm down," he slowly spoke up.

But I yelled, "NO! Leave me, I'll go ask John, you're just as cruel! Don't act like you care about me because you don't. No one does, just like no one cared for my mother. Bastards!" I struggled in his embrace, while he held me gently yet tightly, trying to speak up, but I continued yelling, "Leave me!"

I stopped struggling, I was tired, tired of listening all of that, tired of feeling all of that, tired of yelling at him, I leaned his embrace, tired. All broken, hurt and weakened. I kept my head on his shoulder, kept crying, staining his shirt, he seemed to hold me from my waist, his hand threaded in my hair, he brushed with his fingers, trying to make me feel easy, and comforted, "Breath, stop crying, Scarlet. Ssh, calm down, easy," he whispered into my ear, I wrapped my hands around his neck, pulling him even closer, if that was possible.

My voice was dead, lost with all the emotions, just only brokenness was there, I spoke up, my words sounded so shuffled in between my sobs, "Please, who is that woman, Caleb?"

"Not only my dad killed my mother, but that woman, that bloody clinic killed her too. And they got away with that, My dad because of his money, that woman and that clinic because of my dad, It is wrong, injustice," my voice broke again, the words I had for them were not decent, I never thought in my entire life that I could curse someone, or wish for someone to die or have a wish to kill someone, but that moment, I was cursing them, wished that they die with so much pain or I'd have the pleasure to give them a suffering.

Caleb spoke up, lightly, his hand patting my back, he moved towards our bed, put me on the bed. "First, sit here," I didn't leave him, I held him closer than ever, he was my lifeline that moment, the first person who actually told the truth but also hiding the worst of the worst part, he didn't pull away too, he kept me in his arms, just the way anyone would ever want. But I knew the even worse truth too, it was all to calm me down, to prepare me for worst, to sympathize with me, to give me a shoulder to cry.

It was not out of any kind of infatuation.

"This is the last time I am asking you, who the bloody hell was that woman?" With the same broken and dead voice, I managed to convince him or to be precise, he finally was being kind to me and ready to tell me her name without guilt or fear.

"Scarlet, she was...she," he heaved a sigh and stopped again, I pushed him away that time, shaking my head, my hands covered my face, he again tried to use the comforting trick to distract me, but I pushed him away too, I slowly beat his chest too, in protest to let go of me from his embrace but he had no effect of my little punches. He only faltered, "She..."

CLIFFHANGER, YOOHOO, AGAIN! HAHAHA!

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Again late update, I know, it was hectic month guys. It is too late here, started this at 2:am, now, after one and a half hour, I am presenting you the chapter. I have to go to my family get together, that's why I had to update in this time. I had no choice. Making update more late wasn't choice either. So, I hope you like it.

The theme is very prominent, it is about words and truth. I've used it a lot in this. Enjoy! Don't forget to give me your opinion on this, okay? Bye, love you all.

What do you think of #Saleb? *winking*

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