The Old Bastard

Dante was still standing in the middle of Mireille’s room, in his own rage when his phone rang. He checked the caller ID and found that it was the head of guards.

“Hello boss”

“What is the issue?” He questioned thickly, his rage evident in his voice.

“Miss. Mireille wants to step out alone and I thought I’d ask you…”

“Let her” Dante groaned and ended the call.

If Mireille wanted to be alone then he was going to let her be alone. She did not need him to worry about her so she could as well just go out and go meet her friend, Belinda who was in a better position than he was to worry about her.

*

Mireille walked into a cafe with just her phone in her hands. She was tired and exhausted after having to walk out of Dante’s estate.

She sat at the table on the far end of the cafe and dropped her head on the table. A part of her regretted the way she had yelled at Dante and another part of her scolded her for leaving Dante’s place.

She would be safe at Dante’s place but now she was away from all the security that Dante’s home provided. The fear of being caught by her stepdad descended on Mireille and she trembled, her lips parting in a quiver.

She recalled Dante raising his voice and telling her he did not give a fuck about her. Mireille shut her eyes tight and let out a sigh.

In all honesty, the moment she ran out of the room, she had expected Dante to come after her but when he did not, she thought that definitely, Dante would not let her out of the gates but she had been wrong again as Dante had done just that.

Mireille thought back on her words and reasoned that her words definitely made Dante mad. She recalled the last time she had said something similar to what she said to Dante this morning.

Dante had clearly been mad back then too.

“I should not have” Mireille whispered and raised her head from the table.

She thought about getting up and going back home to Dante, maybe she could apologize for yelling those words at him and then she would be safe again but she soon cancelled those thoughts.

She felt it was too immature of her to return home an hour after leaving. She had to stay out a bit more and perhaps Dante himself would be the one to come after her.

“Hello ma’am.” A waiter walked up to Mireille with a charming smile on his face.

“What would you like to have ma’am?” He asked.

“Can I get a cup of creamy coffee? With a cube of sugar?”

“Sure. Just a minute” he smiled and walked away.

Mireille was still seated patiently at the table waiting for her cup of coffee when someone stepped into the cafe. It was someone she had almost entirely forgotten ever existed in her life.

“Charles?” The name stuttered out of her lips and as Charles, her ex boyfriend looked around for where to sit, his gaze fell on her.

Mireille quickly looked to the floor. She hated that the first time Charles would be seeing her after their breakup would be on a day like this when she was dressed in a cute, sleep gown and her hair was just in a messy bun and her eyes, puffy due to the few tears she had shed.

Looking like a mess was definitely not the way Mireille wanted to be seen by Charles.

“Hey” she heard his voice but Mireille refused to give a response and continued staring at the tiled floor.

“Hello, Mireille” he called again and tapped her shoulder this time.

Mireille had no choice but to look up at him.

“Hello, Charles” she greeted with a small awkward smile.

Charles sat on the other chair and looked at her carefully.

“What’s wrong, Mireille? You don’t look too good right now. Your eyes, I mean”

“I just got in a bad mood this morning. I… I am really fine. I have been fine all these while but something happened this morning, that’s why I am out, looking like this” Mireille awkwardly tried to make him see that she had not been crying due to his absence in her life.

“We all have our bad days and I have to apologize for breaking up with you so suddenly. It must have hurt you”

“It’s really fine. Belinda always said we were not meant to be lovers. I guess that was the truth” Mireille replied, a bit surprised that Charles was not making fun of her but apologising.

“How has life been? Did you get a new boyfriend?” Charles asked and Mireille wondered for a few seconds about what to say.

“No, I did not but I am completely fine”

“I also did not get a girlfriend” Charles chuckled.

“And I unblocked you on social media a week ago but it seems like you didn’t even notice that” Charles added.

“You unblocked me? I really did not notice. I have just been really busy. I have a job now, yunno”

“Wow, that’s new. Your brother let you get a job?”

“Dante, my brother’s friend gave me the job. As his secretary”

“That’s cool. Seeing you out here without guards like the last time and finding out that you have found a job really amazes me. Pleasantly, of course. It seems to me like you are finally getting a grip on your own life”

Mireille chuckled softly.

“I guess I am”

“Where were you coming from?” Charles asked, taking another look at her clothing.

“From home, in quite a fit of stupid anger.”

“Do you want me to buy you a dress?” Charles asked.

“No, you don’t have to. I will get it myself”

“Let me get it for you. We can still be friends, right?” He asked.

“Uhm…” Mireille hesitated for a moment.

“Yes, I guess”

“Then let your friend get you a dress” Charles smiled at her and Mireille looked around for a bit before giving in with a nod.

“Alright”

*

Dante was seated behind his desk in his office. Though he was at work and had quite a lot of things to do, he could barely do any.

The thoughts of Mireille filled his head and though he knew where she was, that did not entirely calm him down.

Dante picked the iPad on the table and glanced at her location. He dropped the iPad back to the table with a small groan. Mireille’s phone location was not turned on but Dante had a tracker fixed in the necklace he had given to her so he could easily find where she was.

The chances of Mireille losing her phone somehow was higher than the chances of her losing a necklace.

“Jeez, she really is not going to go back home yet?”

*

That night

Mireille grumpily walked down a street that was quite unknown to her. She barely had any idea where she was or where she was going to.

It annoyed her that Dante had not called her even once all day. Even if he was mad at her, shouldn’t he care a bit about her? James had made him her guardian after all.

“Not a call, not a text” she grumbled, walking down the street. She wanted to go home but the fact that Dante seemed not to care if she was out irked her.

“Maybe I should just book a hotel and sleep there” she mumbled and with a firm nod, decided that she was going to do just that.

She quickened her pace to get out of the street to the main road where she could get a taxi but Mireille had only taken a few steps when she heard footsteps approaching from behind her.

Mireille turned and looked around to find a woman walking towards her. She sighed in relief and continued walking until she could no longer hear the footsteps of the woman.

“Stepdad is not going to be anywhere around here so I really should stop worrying” she said to herself.

She was about to take the last turn that was supposed to lead her to the road when she heard the noise of a car driving towards her.

Mireille quickly left the road but the car didn’t drive past her, instead it parked by her side. If the car wasn’t clearly old and far from being luxurious, Mireille would have guessed that it was Dante who had found her somehow.

She stood by the side, wondering why the car had parked by her side but she did not have to wonder for ling because the driver stepped out of the car with a grin on his face.

“D… Dad?” She stuttered, seeing the face she knew she could never totally forget.

He looked much more older but the grin on his face was the same as it had always been.

Tears gathered in Mireille’s eyes and she felt her heart tighten and her palms get sweaty.

“Hello, my darling Mireille”

“Stay away from me!” Mireille screamed, her hand tightening around her phone.

Mustering the little courage that kept her knees from giving way in front of the monster who made her childhood hell, Mireille tried to run away but the older man caught up to her in no time and pulled her back by her hair.

“I told you not to block my contact, Mireille! Come with me now, i have to see if you improved over the years”

“Help me!!” Mireille screamed but Felix quickly wrapped his hand around her mouth, muffling her screams.

“You are still stubborn and refusing to accept your destiny, you silly daughter!” He pulled her while Mireille struggled in his grip, tears already rolling down her cheeks.

“Dante!” She screamed for him, even when she knew that she was miles away from him.

“Alright. This would do!” Felix groaned and pulled out a white handkerchief from his pocket with his left hand. He put it over her nose and her struggling slowly stopped and her body relaxed into his.

“Good” he grinned and lifted her into his arms.

*

Dante was seated in his living room, his right leg thrown over the left and his iPad in his hands.

For the past one hour, he had done nothing other than monitoring her movement and expecting her to come closer to home but she totally wasn’t.

Dante’s brows furrowed as he noticed that she was moving farther and farther away from the city.

“Where could she be off to?” He mused and sighed heavily as he picked his phone and decided to call her to know what was going on in her mind and why she was leaving the city.

Dante dialed her contact and it rang but the call was not picked up.

“Aargh. Her stubborn attitude”

Dante dialed her contact again and this time the phone was switched off. Dante’s eyes narrowed. Her phone being switched off right after his first call was suspicious and the fact that she was moving farther away from the city made it even more suspicious. What if someone was taking her away? What if it was that someone who switched off her mobile?

Dante got off the sofa, knowing he had to make sure she was safe. He could barely stand the thoughts of Mireille being in danger.

He grabbed his iPad and walked out of the living room, his steps quicker than usual.

“Get the car ready!” He ordered, stepping out.

“Yes boss”

In less than a minute, a black car parked in front of him.

“Get out” Dante said to the driver, walking over to the driver’s seat himself.

The man behind the wheels stepped out quickly.

“Ten” Dante gave a one word order and ten men immediately got ready to follow after him.

Dante got into the car and looked at the location on the iPad. She was not moving anymore. His phone beeped with a message at the same time and he checked the message. It was a message from Ditto and he was about to ignore it when he saw that the message was an address, and it was the same location that Mireille was.

‘Just found the location of Felix Dcnard, boss. John Doe, 456 Elm Street Townsville. I am on my way there to get him’

“Fuck! This old bastard!” Dante revved the car into motion and zoomed out of the mansion, regretting not holding Mireille back and ensuring she stayed home.