Chapter 5: Revelations

"Father?" Arissa trembled to see who was before her on the dirty basement room floor. She turned her face away from the sight and looked at her parents, "Why did you not help her out?" Arissa asked as she hastened her footsteps into the room her father had just opened. Yet unexpectedly, her father held her wrist, "Don’t be distressed, child. She is still alive!" her father said expressionlessly. "But she would die in the next six days if actions to save her aren’t taken," her mother added this line as if they were not talking about their daughter’s life or worse still, a person’s life. Arissa snapped her head away from her parents to the weak body of her sister lying on the floor, with each breath coming out with force. She looked around and saw several injections on a table, and it seemed like they had been injected over time because there were many on the table. Just what the hell are her parents doing? She looked back at her parents, and with a triumphant smirk on their lips, every broken piece appeared in Arissa’s head and fixed itself up. "You locked her up because she did not fulfill your wish?" Arissa asked as her whole body turned limp and her heart tore with her sister’s sight before her. Mr. Lincoln smiled in delight and clapped his hands as if like a genius that got the right answer,r "I always knew you were sm, Arissa. So here is a deal deal_" "She’s pregnant," Arissa said in surprise as she closed her mouth with her two hands and fell on the floor exhausted. This is absurd and evil. Her sister is pregnant and locked up to the point of death? "Ah, that!" her father tsked with glee in his eyes. "She was only raped," her father said casually with no remorse, and unknown to them, a small emotion of pity passed through Laura’s eyes. Arissa’s heart shreds into pieces with pain and anger. Did he just call rape - only? And why are they so calm? "You hired her rapist?" Arissa gasped at the answer, as no reason why they did not take this to court and dump her here made sense. "Not just a ma,n Arissa. We hired five of them," her mother said with a smi.e, "They all had a share in her." Arissa was speechless with the revelation that she was getting. "Adele!!" Arissa shouted and ran to her sister’s side when she saw her starting to turn uncomfortably," Father..."Arissa’s voice came down immediately when she turned her sister over and saw her belly and how weak she was. "Mother, please say something. Do something." Arissa pleaded as she rested her sister’s head on her lap, as she sat on the floor. Adele was not just raped by a man. Lots of them would rather. Arissa’s eyes clouded as a year dropped from her eyes. "She is dying, Father. She is your bloo." "She is not my blood, Maria," he shouted back at Arissa as if he couldn’t keep the secret again. Arissa gasped, hardly hearing her father. Her heart stopped beating after hearing her father’s words. There is no way she heard him well,l right? "Wh_ what was that_ what does that me, an father?" she spluttered as her tears now flowed freely. Her eyes filled with both shock and fear as she looked at both of her parents. Mr. Lincoln walked towards Arissa and placed his hand on her shoulder, "There is a remedy, Arissa. You get married to our choice for you, and then, we would restore her to herself. And abort the child also," he manipulated with a loving facade. Arissa looked at her sister’s stomach, which was already really obvious. There would be a great danger for her sister if things did not go well. "What if she wants to keep the baby?" Arissa asked with tears as she looked into her father’s eyes deeply, "It would be dangerous if she had an abortion, right, mother?" she asked, peeping at her mother for her to say something about this. But her mother said nothing and just stood there looking at her. Hell no, these are not her parents. She surely does not know these monsters, "And, how is she not your daughter’s father?" "We adopted her before we had you," her father explained straightforwardly, "You marry who we want, and we let her live, " her father suggested again, like he owned Adele's life, and knowing well that Arissa would not reject him any longer, he relaxed. No matter how tough she is, Adele is always first, and that is the same for Adele. Arissa is always first, and knowing this, Mr. Lincoln felt a bit relaxed as he stood up and smiled as a nobleman to Mrs. Lincoln. Arissa’s fear showed as beads of sweat broke out on her forehead and trickled down her back, "Father, please," Arissa begged as she kept Adele back on the floor gently and knelt on her knee, looking down. Her father shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, and Arissa became speechless. There is no one at her side right now because seventy percent of the law is with her father because they feed from him, so, without high connections, she would lose her sister due to her stubbornness. "Sign the contract_" "I will sign the contract," Arissa agreed hard as she shut her eyes and swallowed a lump of saliva, "I will sign the contract," she repeated as she opened her eyes and looked at her parents. Her mother’s expression was unreadable since so many flashed through her eyes once. "You will?" her father asked, feigning surprise with his eyes wide open. "Humm," her father breathed with a smile, "where did my extremely stubborn Maria go?" he asked with a bemused voice. He loves it when stubborn people become submissive. Be it family or anyone. Arissa dragged her knee to her mother before standing on her feet, "Get me the contract," she said to her mother, her eyes not leaving Adele. She surely wasn’t giving up, but her sister's life first.