Alaria:
“Alright, baby, I want you to have a good day at school, okay? Mama will come and pick you up later.” I said, and he nodded. I kissed his cheek and walked out to frown when I saw Damon standing in front of me.
He walked toward me and I glared at the man, forcing myself not to punch him in the face after the lies and games that he pulled up in front of the media.
“Alaria…”
“You are going to step put of my sight before I make sure that your regret it, Damon.” I said, stopping him. He raised his hands in mock surrender, and I shook my head, wanting to walk past him.
He wrapped his hand around me, stopping me. I looked around me to find parents with their kids, some looked at us, others were busy with their families. I knew not to cause a scene in case one of them grew alert or alarmed.
“Don’t you at least want to know what I have to say?” He asked, and I shook my head.
“After your little lie, I doubt that I am going to want to believe one word that you are saying.” I said, and he smirked.
“I wanted to spare you the fuss of having to deal with a jealous woman, but it seems to me that you were more open to that.” He said, making me let out a sarcastic laugh. “It is about Katherine, and I can assume that you are going to be very interested in the information that you are about to hear. You know, you can put her in a corner to get what you want from her and it is going to destroy Enzo. A win for you if you ask me.”
“I doubt that you should care about what I would be gaining and what a ‘win’ for me would be, would you?” I asked, and he smiled. “What do you really want to prove? Because the two of us know that you are not genuine toward me and the last thing that a man like you would care about is me.”
“Indeed, I do not care about you, not yet anyway, as you are not allowing me to. But I do find you attractive, and sometimes a man does a lot, and is willing to do more than he thought he would for the woman that he finds himself attracted to. Something that you seem to be failing to understand in me, but do not worry, I am going to prove it to you in my own way.” He said, and I rolled my eyes.
“You are going to prove nothing to me as I want nothing to do with a man like yourself, Damon.” I said, and he smiled.
“Yes, because you are so drawn toward the man who wants nothing to do with you. Who has lied and cheated on you, had a mistress…”
“I doubt that you were any better to any of your surroundings, but then again, I can be wrong.” I said, making his smile turn into a frown. “A man who is out for revenge is not one that I would associate myself with, especially when that revenge would harm me and my child.”
“You mean benefit the two of you. By working with me, you are going to manage getting things done for the first time in your life. Rather than just standing back as you watch the man grow over your back..”
“I would rather that I find myself dealing with less torment and bullshit by not dealing with the likes of yourself. It is not something that you would understand, but I believe that with a little effort, you might just get the hang of what I am going to tell you.” I said, and he took a deep breath.
His eyes studied my expression, and he raised an eyebrow.
“I wonder if you treat him the same way you’re treating me. A man like Enzo doesn’t seem to be the type to accept such an attitude, but you might be doing this because you know that I am not going to harm you. I doubt that it is the same case with Enzo.”
“We are standing in front of a children’s school, if you are done, allow me to leave as I have other things to tend to.” I said, changing the subject. Other parents were now turning to look at us, some were muttering amongst themselves, and others were pointing at us, clearly remembering the press conference that Damon had about the two of us.
“Then might as well go to a café. That is, if you are willing to be mature enough to sit on one table with me without feeling like…”
“I would rather not be anywhere with a man who chose to lie by claiming that the two of us were going to be associates, were going to work together, and could possibly be love interests.” I said, and he frowned. This time all his calm demeanor seemed to leave him as his expression was now filled with pure anger and annoyance. I knew that this was not an answer that he expected.
“If you are done, I have other things to tend to for the day. Neither one of them include you barging into my schedule, and thanks to you, I am already late.” I said, wanting to walk past him. However, it was his next sentence that had my heart dropping to my stomach as I knew that a new turn of events was going to be taking place. And the idea of it being true was one thing that I did not want to put into account, especially when I knew the cost that it would be holding and the danger of what would come if it were a reality.
“Enzo has one son, and one son alone.” He said, forcing me to stop. “The others claimed as his own by Katherine are not his.”
He walked toward me, leaning to my shoulder, allowing his hot breath to hit my throat. “I think that this should be something that would catch your attention. Let it play and stir in your head for a while, we can see how you will make use of it now that you have the ball in your own field…”
Enzo
I frowned when I looked at Katherine as she lay on the chair beside Alonso.
He was still in the hospital and was still asleep, something that angered me as I knew that I was forced to stay quiet, at least until he woke up and we went home.
“Enzo?” Katherine called, her eyes widening in surprise when she took sight of me. I looked at her and she walked toward me, wanting to wrap her arms around me as to pull me in for a hug. I had to stop myself from pulling away, reminding myself of the game that I was going to have to play. A game where she was going to have to believe that I didn’t know anything.
I hugged her back and she sighed as she laid her head on my chest. “He is refusing to wake up.”
I kept my arm wrapped around her, knowing not to push her away, knowing not to let her know that I knew of her stupid game. A game that she was trying to play on me.
“He will wake up soon, Katherine. He is going to need to heal. You heard the doctors, he inhaled way too much carbon dioxide, he is going to need to heal from it before he’s able to wake up.” I said, and she sucked in a harsh breath. “Are you okay? Did you eat anything?”
“I am fine, Leonardo brought me something to eat. I barely managed a few bites. A mother cannot eat when her child is ill, and…” she stopped herself as she looked at Alonso. And I had to stop myself from scoffing as not to catch her attention. The woman was losing herself and her mind, and the idea of what she was doing was one that I found absurd. The game that she was playing made me question whether or not I ever knew her in the first place. “I don’t know what to do, Enzo. Things are just tiring and I find myself thinking of the worst.”
“You don’t have to think of the worst. What you need to do right now is try to think straight. While yes, I know that you are tired and scared, and I know that you have so much on your mind, but there are things that you need to focus on. They are more important for you right now. Alonso is in safe hands, but you have your pack and home to take care of too. They are looking for their Luna…”
“They know that I am with my son. I doubt that they should expect me to come right after things have happened when they know that he is asleep and has been injured.” She said, shaking her head at me. “They can’t be that insensitive.”
“It is not about being insensitive, it is about the fact that they know that you have your responsibility toward them. They are going to need to see it, and they are going to need you to be around them. They have also been affected, and if every mother is going to reject her pack because of one of her children being ill or injured…”
“My son was in the fire while none of their children were. I saw them, they all managed to get out with their parents. Neither one of the parents left the children behind in the fire.” She said, and I nodded.
“Then do you want to explain to me why our son was left inside? If every mother and father took their children with them, I am curious about the reason behind why our son was inside the fire when he was?” I asked, shaking my head. “Why didn’t you take him with you?”
She stayed quiet for a moment and I watched as she looked down at her feet, avoiding my eyes.
“You really are putting me in this situation right now? When you know that I am in pain and that I am angry, you are putting me in a situation where you are questioning why things happened the way that they did?” She asked, wanting to turn the topic in her favor. Her eyes met mine and I shook my head in question, waiting of her response. She didn’t say a word for a moment before she scoffed. “To think that I would know you better than to think that you are going to put me in such a situation.”
“I didn’t put you in any situation. I asked a question and I expect an answer based on what YOU just told me.” I said, looking her in the eye. “You said that every parent went to pick their child up. You left him where you did, and you left the house. How did it happen that he was in his room with the door locked? The firefighters had to break the door down to get him out and his own mother, the one person who has his bedroom keys, was outside, safe while her son was inside a burning house.”
“Are you accusing me of something, Enzo?” She asked, looking me in the eye. My eyes were as cold as ice, and I knew that showing her any emotion would be exposing myself too much to her. That was something that I didn’t want right now.
“I would rather not put myself to consider such a factor.” I said, choosing my words carefully. “I would rather not think that my son’s mother was aiming to have him burn alive inside the house while she fled for her own life.”
“I didn’t flee for my own life. I left, yes, it was a mistake on my part, I admit that much. But I had to keep the pack safe and when everything broke out, I didn’t think straight. It wasn’t until I saw him looking at me through the window that I realized what was going on. I thought that he would be with one of his maids, I didn’t think, not for a moment, that he would be inside the house.” She said, looking down at her feet. “I am sorry, it was a mistake, and I regret the mistake…”
“Why was his room locked? He could have opened the door if it wasn’t?” I asked, and she shook her head as tears fell from her eyes.
“It wasn’t. The last thing that I knew was the fact that he was asleep. I didn’t want him to go to school today and I told his maid to watch over him.” She lied, making my stomach churn as my chest ached. “The woman ran away and I am guessing that with the commotion, she didn’t…”
“Which of the maids?” I asked, stopping her.
“What?” She asked, trying to process my question.
“Which of the maids was it?” I asked, repeating my question. “Which of the maids let my son stay in a situation like this?”
“Enzo, the woman would have been frightened…”
“Then she is going to pay with her life for it,” I said, stopping her. “If the woman was scared enough to run for her life, leaving the Alpha’s son in the house by himself, then she was going to pay for it. Now, I am going to ask one more time and if I do not get a response, I am going to be sure that ALL four maids who are in charge of Alonso pay the price with their lives. And the other three innocent ones would have their bloods on your hand.”
My eyes were fixed on her as her heart raced. Her hands shook and she clenched her fist, trying to calm herself down, clearly wanting to be anywhere but this situation. “Who was the maid, Katerina? And this time, I am not in the mood to repeat my same question another time.”
She took a deep breath as she closed her eyes, her heart racing against her chest as she gulped.
“It was Jade.” She said, accusing the maid. “She was the one who was supposed to be in charge of taking care of Alonso before the fire happened…”