Chapter 17

ELLA

“I’ll get it,” Leo said, putting Zacharias’s bottle down and venturing to the front door with him still in hand.

I heard the latch click and the door open.

“Leonardo Loren, this is Washington State Police. You are under arrest on suspicion of attempted murder, abduction, and involvement with a Mexican drug-trafficking operation.

“Please hand the child to my colleague and put your hands up,” the voice said. “Anything you say can and will be held against you.”

My heart began to pound, and I immediately marched from the sofa to the hallway. In the doorway were three cops, all of whom had guns, and behind them five or six more with bulletproof vests.

Zacharias clung to Leo and began to make whimpering noises as Cato, Mathias, and Silas appeared in the hallway too.

“Sir, I will ask you again—” the officer began.

“I’m not giving you my son,” Leo stated. “And what? Attempted murder? Abduction? Who the fuck have I abducted?”

“Everything will be explained at the station. Just hand over the child and put your hands up. Do not make me say it again,” he said, holding the gun closer to Leo.

“Leo, hand him to me,” I interjected, anxious to get my son away from the gun.

He handed Zacharias to me, and four men immediately lurched forward and tackled Leo to the floor.

“Cooperate, sir, and this will be much easier,” one cop demanded.

I didn’t doubt for a second that Leo could fight all these humans off, but he didn’t and allowed them to handcuff him.

They then dragged him out the door, and I immediately followed.

“Ella, call Blair, now,” Leo said to me as he was pushed into a car.

“Why are you letting them take you?” I asked quietly so that only he could hear.

“Because if I don’t, next it will be the swat team and then the army in. The kids don’t need to see that,” he replied with a sigh.

“Miss, please step away from the vehicle,” one of the officers said, touching my arm.

I slapped his hand away.

“May I have a moment with my wife, Officer?” Leo asked from the car.

He opened his mouth to say no but closed it when he saw Leo’s stern glare and nodded with a gulp before scurrying away.

“Do you think they have evidence?” I asked when he was far enough away.

“I can’t think of a way that they possibly could,” he said, looking around to check that no one was listening. “But that doesn’t mean they don’t.”

“Don’t you know the sheriff from when your dad used to get him to release you when you were arrested as a kid, right?” I asked.

He screwed his eyes up and threw his head back.

“For graffiti and minor theft, Ella, not drug trafficking, abduction, and attempted murder. And this will be a federal investigation anyway.”

“Oh fuck. You’re really in deep shit this time, Leo.” I groaned, watching all the armed and armored men in the front drive of my house.

“Stay with the kids, remember to let Blair know, and I’ll see you later,” he replied. “I love you.”

I leaned down and kissed his cheek. “I love you too.”

He was then driven away along with all the other cars except one.

I headed back up to the front door and herded my children, who had all been watching the whole ordeal, back into the house as I kept my peripheral vision on one of the remaining officers who slowly approached.

“I’m sorry, miss, for this disturbance,” he said in a tone that couldn’t have meant it less. “This must be hard for you.”

“I don’t need your pity,” I snapped. “My husband is innocent.”

“Regarding that,” he began. “As his wife, I need to ask you a few questions. May I come in?”

I looked around the drive. There was nothing but the cop car and the three men that accompanied it. Apart from them, I was alone with eight children and wasn’t particularly keen on the idea of letting a stranger in my house.

Especially this man. He was not particularly tall but stocky and stood with his chest out and a straight back. He had a gray stubbly beard, harsh eyes, and a face as expressionless as cardboard.

I shook my head. “No.”

“Miss, we suspect that the allegation made against your husband may be false, but we need your help to prove it,” he explained.

I didn’t reply.

“If he is not proven innocent, he will go to jail for a long time. What do you think would happen to you and your family without him?” he added. “I shouldn’t like to think how you’d manage—”

“Fine,” I interrupted. “But for the record, we’d be fine.”

I felt Lili wrap her arms around my leg as I moved to the side slightly and let the cop enter as all my children glared at him.

“Quite a handsome brood you have here,” he pointed out. “Are they all yours?”

I nodded again.

“Where are you taking my daddy?” Cato asked.

“We’ll talk about this later,” I said, crouching down to their level. “But for now, would you all go upstairs and play?”

They all eyed the cop one more time before following each other up the stairs just as I had instructed.

“And, Cato, will you use the phone in the office and call Blair. Tell him to come over as soon as he can,” I added.

I then led the cop into the kitchen as Cato went into his father’s office and the others all went upstairs. The officer placed some kind of recording device on the table.

I put Zacharias down in his crib next to Stefano in the corner making my way back to the table.

“First of all, I am the chief investigator at WSP, Detective Clarke,” he began, pulling a badge from his pocket and showing me the Washington patrol star logo. “Is your name Ella Jones?”

“Ella Loren actually,” I replied, sitting down at the table.

“Is Leonardo Loren your legal husband?” he asked.

“Yes.” Not strictly true. We never officially married in the human way.

“Is your maiden name Jones?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have any evidence of your marriage?” he asked.

“No,” I replied. “Why are you concerned about my marriage?”

“Earlier today we had a call from the Mexican police concerning your husband. A man has reported him for trying to kill him and kidnapping his girlfriend, whose name is supposedly Ella Jones.”

“I’m afraid you have the wrong people,” I replied, my heart beating faster.

Andrea? How was that possible?

“What makes you so sure?”

“I’ve been married to Leonardo for the last seven years. We have eight kids,” I explained, trying to calm my nerves as the detective watched me intently.

“Have you separated at any point in your relationship?” he asked. “As in have you broken up or had time apart?”

“No,” I said. “And I certainly don’t have a Mexican boyfriend.”

“Have you traveled to Mexico in the last week?”

“Yes.”

“What was the purpose of your trip?” he asked.

“A vacation.”

“You aren’t on the border records. Did you enter legally?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Not exactly.”

“How exactly did you enter?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Some back road. I don’t know exactly,” I replied vaguely.

“If Leonardo did kidnap you, any threat he may be holding against you is void. He is in police custody,” the officer replied.

“He didn’t.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m sure! Why have you arrested him on account of such a wild accusation with no evidence when you suspect it to be bullshit?” I asked. “I am here of my own free will.”

“I am just doing my job.”

The officer then reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew a folded piece of paper.

“This man,” he began, pushing it now unfolded across the table. “Do you know him?”

Of course, I recognized Andrea immediately, but I feigned a slow reaction with narrowed eyes and a tilt of the head.

“Who is he?”

“This man was found close to death by a friend with a bullet near his heart. It is a miracle he survived.

“When he was recovered enough to speak, he stated his concerns about a girl named Ella Jones and claimed that a man named Leonardo Loren kidnapped her after shooting him.”

I must have gone ghostly white in that moment. Andrea was alive. How was he still alive?

“Miss, do you know him?” he repeated.

“Never seen him in my life,” I said meekly.

The officer then reached into his jacket once more and pulled out another photo.

“And him?” he asked. “Do you know this man?”

It was two pictures of Luca. One of him just driving, obviously taken by some roadside camera, and another of him caught by some CCTV walking through an empty-looking town with a trail of blood from his shoulder.

“Goes by the name Romano De’Meritchi, but we have reason to believe that his real name could be Luca. Second name remains unknown. Do you know him?”

“Yes,” I stated.

“How?”

“He’s a good friend of Leo and I,” I replied as the doorbell rang.

“Just a second,” I said to the investigator.

Expecting it to be Blair, I opened the door only to be faced with Luca.

“Go. You need to go now,” I said in Italian so that the investigator couldn’t understand.

“Why? Cato called saying Blair didn’t answer his phone and that I should come straightaway because Leo’s been taken away, and there’s a strange man in the house,” he replied also in Italian.

He wore a concerned look as he sniffed the air and stepped forward.

“Luca,” I began. “It’s the police. Andrea is still alive and has called the police on Leo. They know you are involved. Leave before he or those two recognize you,” I added, looking at the two officers lingering in the drive.

“I’m not leaving, Ella,” he stated. “They have no evidence, and the alpha wouldn’t want his luna in a house with a random man.”

He then walked past me into the house and straight into the kitchen where the inspector remained.

Detective Clarke looked down at the photo and then back up to Luca before smiling.

“Luca, I presume?” he asked.

“What is going on?” Luca asked with a twinge of aggression.

“Do you know this man?” the inspector asked, pushing the photo of Andrea forward.

Luca studied it for a few moments before shaking his head.

“Never seen him,” he replied, and for Luca, that wasn’t even a lie.

“Okay, and on your left shoulder, is there a wound?”

“Yes. When we went to Mexico last week, I got in the crossfire of a shooting in the street, and a bullet hit my shoulder,” Luca replied.

“The vacation didn’t exactly go to plan,” I said, discreetly nudging Luca.

We were on vacation. Nothing suspicious here.

“So, on this vacation, there was yourself, your husband, and Luca…,” he said to me.

“Luca Romano,” he finished. “Correct.”

“And my cousin,” I added, knowing that he was probably already onto Max.

“I’m going to need to get your cousin’s name,” he replied, lifting up his pen.

“Maximus Megestanis. Goes by Max.”

“And Luca. Does the name Romano De’Meritchi mean anything to you?”

“Um…is he a pop star?”

“No, not quite,” the officer said, eying him suspiciously.

The fact that Luca had used his real second name as his fake first name made it blindingly obvious. Good job, mate.

“Look, Detective. I understand that you are just doing your job and that it is your duty to fully investigate an allegation, but this is absurd.

“We simply took a vacation to Mexico, and Luca was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. My husband is innocent,” I said. “Please, please just let him go.”

“If what you have said is true and matches what all involved say, there is no reason why he will not be released in the next twenty-four hours. We just need some time to piece evidence together and ensure the stories add up.

“Perhaps to speed up the process, it would help if the two of you came down to the station. We may have more questions, and that way we wouldn’t have to keep traveling,” he explained.

I exchanged looks with Luca, and he shrugged his shoulders.

“I need to look after my children,” I replied.

“In order to ensure their safety and well-being, we will need to put them under the care of a social worker for the course of the investigation. I hope you can understand why,” he said.

“No, no, no,” I said, shaking my head. “No.”

“Miss, your husband has been accused of murder, involvement with drug trafficking, and abduction. If the allegations turn out to be true—”

“They aren’t true,” I stated in a deep voice.

“We have to be sure.”

“You have no right to take my children,” I said in a raised voice.

A few moments later, Silas appeared in the doorway to the kitchen.

“Mummy, what is going on?” he asked.

“Don’t worry, bambino. This man was just leaving,” I said as Luca lifted him into his arms.

I then looked to the detective and gestured toward the door.

“A social worker will be here in an hour to discuss your children. Have a good afternoon,” he said, picking up his recording device and leaving promptly.

The second the door had slammed, I strode toward the stairs.

“Kids, pack a bag. We’re going to Granny’s!” I called, and there was a chorus of high-pitched cheers.

“Luca, could you please get Stefano and Zach ready to go as soon as possible?” I asked Luca, who had followed me up the stairs still carrying Silas.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked, putting Silas down.

“Something is not right here, and if Andrea is involved, I want to ensure they are safe,” I replied. “And I trust that they will be with Antonio and Rosa.”

Luca nodded before going downstairs to get the littlest Lorens as Silas went up the next flight of stairs to where the children’s bedrooms were to pack his bag.

I went into our bathroom, where they all liked to brush their teeth, and grabbed the toothbrushes and a pack of diapers.

I then helped various children find their pajamas, their underwear, and their favorite cuddly toy before marching them all out of the house fifteen minutes later.

Another five minutes and everyone was strapped into my very large, bus-like car, and we began our journey to Granny and Grandad’s.

“You probably won’t see me or Daddy until tomorrow,” I began as I drove. “Be good for Granny and Grandad, and, Cato, Mathias, and Silas, look out for your younger siblings, okay?”

My eldest three in the back seat nodded, and I saw Cato wrap his arm around Francesca.

“Where are you going?” Mathias asked.

“To the police station. Daddy’s been arrested,” I said honestly.

“Daddy’s been arrested!?” Silas exclaimed. “Cool!”

“No, honey. It’s not cool. It’s very serious,” I replied.

“What did he do?” Cato asked.

“Nothing at all. A dangerous man named Andrea has accused him of some things he hasn’t done. They’ll let him go when they realize he is innocent,” I said, although that wasn’t exactly true.

Leo did try to kill Andrea.