Finding Forgiveness

“Why?” I asked immediately.

“Don’t question, just come,” he said grabbing my wrist and pulling me to my feet.

He led me back into the house and when we reached the kitchen I suddenly froze. A sly smile slipped onto Andrea’s face and he tugged me further.

“No,” I whispered after swallowing the shock lodged in my throat. “Who’s scent is that?”

It drifted from his office, it’s tentacles wrapping slowly around my chest. Squeezing, trapping, seizing. With every memory it triggered, the tighter it gripped and the less I could breathe until I find myself physically unable to.

“I think you know who,” he replied. “So come on. Let’s go and have a family reunion.”

As we neared the door to the office, I tried my best to free myself from Andrea.

“What, Blanca?” he asked. “You’re afraid of him?”

“Andrea please-” I began.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

“Don’t bother,” he said with a short laugh before opening the door and pushing me in.

I had hoped I was going insane. But my eyes were met with exactly what I had dreaded. Maybe I’m hallucinating now?

“It’s not possible,” I whispered as I scanned his body. It seemed very real and extremely alive.

“You’re dead.”

The man stifled a laugh and turned the swivel chair he was sat comfortably in a few degrees to the left, “Is that what your Alpha told you?”

“He killed you,” I said surely.

“Yet here I am,” he shrugged, a sly smile tugging at his lips.

He then stood up and stepped forward slowly until he was a mere few centimetres from me. He examined me, and picked up a strand of my hair and felt it between his fingers before dropping it back down and his hand finding it’s way to my chin. Using the tips of his fingers, he lifted my head so I had no choice to look him in the eye.

“Nice to see you again, my dear little cousin,” he said. “It’s been a while.”

“Luciano,” I said, his name filling me with more hatred and loathing than you could imagine.

He smiled in that cold, emotionless way before turning my head to the side.

“Yikes,” he said running his finger along my cheek, which was still bruised from when Andrea hit me a couple of days prior. “That’s gotta hurt.”

I couldn’t bring myself to give him the satisfaction of a response so I just kept my mouth shut.

“I see Martinez is finally giving you the treatment you deserve,” he replied. “Because Alpha dearest is out of the picture? I also hear you’re not quite so brave without the threat of him around?”

I scowled which only amused him more.

“How are you still alive?” I asked, my curiosity itching like a nasty rash.

He sat back down and put his hands behind his neck, “Do you want to tell her or should I?” he said to Andrea.

“The honour is yours,” Andrea said with a grin.

“Your Alpha lied to you, sweetheart,” Luciano said. “He let me live.”

“After everything you did, why would he do that?” I asked, refusing to believe it.

“Looks like you aren’t the only one Leonardo has a soft spot for,” Andrea replied.

“Even Alpha Leonardo Loren couldn’t bring himself to murder his childhood bestie, so we came to an agreement,” Luciano replied picking up a pen from the desk and twizzling it in his thumb. “He let me live so long as I went back to the Italian mafia, spied on them, fed information back to him and most importantly, stayed the fuck away from his Luna and family.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

“Because I don’t keep my promises. You know that better than most,” he replied. “So when Andrea Martinez showed up in the doorway to my house offering me a deal that interested me far more, what do you think I did?”

“You see, Blanca,” Andrea said.? “All that information you gave me on ‘a dead man’ was all I needed to find the best weapon against your Alpha of all time.”

I looked back to Luciano, panic taking hold.

“Leonardo is as good as dead,” Luciano said, his lips curling up at the sides. “All I have to do is get him to trust me again and then lure him to his death like a puppy on a leash.”

“He will never trust you again,” I spat.

“Watch your tone, my love,” he warned. “He’s not here to protect you anymore.”

“He will not trust you,” I repeated, this time much quieter.

“Oh, he will. By now he’s probably so desperate to get you back that he’d recruit the devil himself for help and besides, let’s not forget that time and time again he makes the mistake of thinking he can trust me. It’s his fatal flaw.”

“I should have requested to kill you myself,” I hissed.

At that I felt Andrea seize my arm, “Ella, that’s no way to speak to our guest,” he snarled in my ear. “Apologise.”

I stared into Luciano’s eyes, longing to rip the smirk from his lips.

When I didn’t reply, Andrea wrapped his hand around my throat and repeated his order, “Do it.”

Despite being unable to breathe, my stubbornness didn’t allow me to apologise to such a piece of shit.

“No,” I croaked.

Andrea let out a short sigh and turned to Luciano, “Would you please give us a moment?”

“Take all the time you need,” Luciano replied in an amused tone before Andrea dragged me out of the office.

The first thing Andrea did was hit me… again.

“Do as you are fucking told,” he hissed.

“He doesn’t deserve an apology,” I replied trying to get my wrist out of his hand. “I don’t see him trying to say sorry for all the shit he’s put me through. I have never done anything wrong to him. He hates me for no reason.”

“I don’t give a shit about your little family feud,” Andrea replied. “You will go in there and you will apologise for disrespecting him. Your Alpha is no longer in charge, I am and I will not tolerate this.”

“Fuck. You,” I replied pushing him away from me.

“Fuck me?” he asked with a sly smile, totally unphased by my efforts to hurt him. “That can be arranged for tonight but first you are going to make up with your cousin.”

I fought against him as he dragged me back to the office. His ability to manhandle was as good as ever but this time I had the fuel from a seven-year feud to fight with. Somehow, I was able to free my leg and kick him hard right where it hurts the most.