Chapter 141: (Hundred) Forty: Dare To Hope

The clanking of cutlery against plates amid the murmuring from the distant tables, the waiters taking people's orders, all streamed into Becca's ears as she sat alone at that restaurant, fingers planted on her lap to keep from fiddling with them as she waited.

It had been thirty minutes yet the person she was expecting still hadn't shown up. Granted, Becca did arrive there twenty minutes early— her anxiety wouldn't grant her peace if she came a minute late, her unrest peevish.

Becca surveyed the place for the hundredth time in ten minutes, praying to catch sight of red curls and gleaming blue eyes but once again, all she got were unfamiliar faces. 

Her shoulders slumped and her gaze fell to her hands on her lap that was under the table.

How could she be so stupid? How could she hope that Regina would show up after everything that happened? How could she covet such things? She wore her guilt like an insignia, regret dimming every ray of pristine faith she held onto, yet that wasn't enough. It could never be enough to justify her deeds. Becca knew that for a fact.

Perhaps she should leave, perhaps she shouldn't have asked Regina to meet up with her here but gone to her instead, maybe then she wouldn't feel like a depraved child seeking penance. Maybe then the serrated pain would seize its grueling onslaught. Instead, it festered.

After breakfast that morning, Becca convened the courage to contact Regina. The call was swift, just long enough to make an appointment with her, a dinner date. Leo insisted that she shouldn't go alone but she vetoed his verdict. Bringing someone else along would make things awkward, letting Leo come along would simply worsen the matter.

Seconds trudged by, sending Becca teetering on the verge of insanity but despite that, she managed to ape composure. She still waited. Maybe, just maybe—

Her thoughts were diced off by the sharp sound of approaching heels. The sound grew louder as it drew closer and Becca lifted her gaze, daring to look. Daring to hope.

The red curls were the first things Becca sighted, lifting her gaze higher before peering into Regina's blue eyes. 

Becca's heart skipped and she sprang up to her feet, taking tentative steps forward as she stared at Regina improbably as if all that was happening was a hallucination, a mere trick her brain was playing. Like it wasn't real. The thought turned her feet to lead, walking becoming onerous. 

But the vivid wrinkles of Regina's creased forehead goaded more assumptions through Becca as she took two more steps forward. The sound of approaching footsteps, the emerging figure. It just couldn't be fake. Could it be real? 

Reprieve trilled through her as Regina opened her arms, wrapping Becca in the tight, protective mother's embrace she knew all too well. The hug was sudden, unexpected that Becca, for a few seconds, stiffened before allowing herself to melt in the familiar sensation of Regina's arms, the same arms that held her firm, the arms that brought her comfort as a kid. 

She missed those arms. It felt wonderful to be in those arms again.

Slowly, Becca curled her arms around Regina and rested her head on her shoulder, eyes stinging with tears she tried to blink away. They broke the embrace and Regina's hands flew to Becca's face, cupping it.

" What did that bastard do to you? He didn't hurt you, did he? Why haven't you been answering my calls? Do you know how scared I was when I wasn't able to reach you?" Regina barraged Becca with questions, emotions gurgling through both of them. " Come. Sit."

Becca's eyes glistened as Regina gestured to their seats. The first tear glided down then another but Becca acted fast, wiping them off her cheeks, nose turning bright pink as she sniffled. She lowered herself gently back on her chair and Regina did the same, her eyes never leaving her daughter's face as she waited for answers to her questions, to know if that bastard ever lifted a finger to hurt her. After all, the apple doesn't fall too far from its tree. Regina knew about Lorenzo's tendencies to hit his wife. Leo was already a violent man, a killer. He might end up taking out that violence on Becca, or even worse.

Regina's stomach churned at the thought. She had gotten so scared when she couldn't reach Becca through the phone, became terrified whenever she dropped by Atlas to check up on her and heard that Becca wasn't at work. After the second unsuccessful visit, Regina's greatest fears materialized instantly in her head. What if Leo was forcing Becca to stay with him? What if she was miserable? What if he hurts her?

Is he hurting her? Why isn't her phone reachable?

Those thoughts might have been terrifying but Becca's silence now was even worse. For God's sake, what if she was right all along about everything? 

Regina never truly had a problem with Leo or even the fact that he was friends with Johnny despite seemingly being a bad influence but when it came to her daughter, her Becca, then things became personal. Still, she listened to Kristina's opinion about the issue.

Leo was an obsessive, homicidal psychopath. With all the informants he mounted everywhere, he could practically see and hear everything. There was no doubt that he knew where Becca was and who she was with, no way he wasn't watching them now. One wrong move from her part, one attempt to take Becca away from him and he would have her on a plane flying to only God knows where. One wrong move and she might never see Becca again. It was better to play smart and safe, most especially safe. 

Only Becca didn't know about this side of Leo, and Regina was still unaware that her inability to contact Becca wasn't Leo's doing. But the result of Becca shunting her.

Regina's gaze remained fixed on Becca, brows scrunched.

" Darling, what's wrong?" Regina asked, leaning closer to whisper. " Tell me what he did to you? Did he hurt you?" 

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Taken aback by the sudden question, Becca shook her head frantically.

" No. Leo would never hurt me. Why would you even ask that? " Becca said, wiping the remaining tears from her face. 

" Because I know Leo. I knew his father, his uncle and also got the pleasure of meeting his grandfather. All of them as horrible as the last."

Why do people keep saying that about Leo? Becca had lost count of how many times Kristina had told her that, warned her. Though Becca always refuted, thinking it was the unexplained hatred Kristina harbored towards him that pushed her to say such things but hearing Regina say this now with such little levity was unnerving. 

What if hate wasn't the impetus for the slur? What if it was true? 

Becca immediately shook off the thought before it managed to gain root in her mind

" I love him and love being with him." The same words she said to Kristina. The same words she planned to stay stark on if Johnny also tries to annul her decision.

Love? That can't be right. How could Becca bring herself to love a man like Leonardo who has no conscience, a killer who murders without remorse? Regina wasn't sure when or how the thing between them started but one thing was for sure; it wasn't love. 

A psycho who is prone to become abusive isn't capable of loving anyone.

Calm down, play safe. Regina said repeatedly to herself. Play safe, stay calm.

It didn't work. Just the thought of her Becca with someone like Leonardo, in his clutches, made her restless. She itched to tell Becca to snap out of it, to tell her that whatever she had with Leo wasn't love but some sick, twisted mind game. To drag Becca away from that restaurant with her but she refrained from doing any such thing. If the fact that Leo stationed his men— trained assassins— in that very restaurant without Becca's knowledge, wasn't frightening enough, then his threat at Kristina's birthday party definitely did the trick.

Regina, after much reflecting, believed his threat. But that didn't mean she would back down.

" But you are crying," Regina said, leaning back, confusion evident on her face and voice.

Becca tried her best to ignore the pain nipping at her. " I just miss you so much." 

" Then why didn't you pick up my calls? Why weren't you ever at your office?" Leo, it just had to be him. He had to be the reason.

Becca's thoughts went into a frenzy, repeatedly colliding with one another.

" I'm sorry." Becca's voice came out small as a mouse, shame muffling her tone. " I know I should have at least tried to see you, to talk to you and I'm sorry."

" You are my daughter, there's no need to apologize to me," Regina said, taking hold of Becca's hand on the table. " Just promise you will never make me worry like that ever again." 

Becca sniffled. " I promise." 

Dinner was over and it had gotten late. Regina and Becca walked out of the restaurant, hand in hand until they got to where Becca's car was parked. Regina eased her hands off Becca's and opened her arms wide, inviting Becca for a hug. 

Becca smiled as she nestled in Regina's motherly embrace.

" I'm leaving for Massachusetts tomorrow. I will call you once I get home." Regina said and Becca's smile widened.

" And I will answer." 

A black car parked feet away from the heart-warming scene, tinted windows wined up as the person inside watched with little to no emotion on his face. All he did was sit and watch.

Regina smiled as she waved Becca's car away, something visceral inciting her to look around. She did, eyes widening when she caught sight of the parked car.. Her shudder blossomed a smirk on the man's face.

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