Chapter 44

ELLA

An hour later, I found myself piled in the back of a truck with six or seven of Andrea’s men and the light in my life, Luciano.

Andrea still roamed the drive, going from truck to truck and giving orders while we just sat patiently.

I still had no idea what exactly we were waiting for or why I was involved, but I supposed it was an entertaining break from day after day of existing solely in that house, which was beginning to drive me insane.

Luciano sat next to me, far too close for comfort. Space was not abundant, but there was no need for such extreme proximity.

“Are you a half-wit?” Luciano hissed in my ear.

I was well accustomed to insults from Luciano, but this one seemed to come from nowhere.

“Why the fuck didn’t you shoot him?” he added in a low growl.

I looked up at him and frowned. “Whose side are you really on?”

“Just answer the fucking question,” he snapped.

I looked down at my hands. “I couldn’t. I don’t know why.”

“I didn’t know you were capable of such weakness,” he scoffed. “He’s properly got you wrapped around his little finger.”

Of course, I didn’t reply to this remark. He was right, and I hated it.

“What’s he doing differently? Why were you never afraid of Leo or Max or me?” he asked.

“Leo would never hurt me, and yours and Max’s powers were limited with him around. Yours still is with Andrea. I can sense that he has authority,” I replied.

A realization then hit me.

“Which is why you wanted me to kill him…you want him dead in the same way you want Leo dead. Otherwise, you’ve just gone from living under the rule of one alpha to another,” I said.

He bit his cheek.

“My only regret is being born only the second cousin to a Megestanis,” he said.

“You’re getting a bit old to be searching for power, surely?” I asked. “You turn thirty this year, right?”

“There’s nothing holding me back.”

“Except the king of North America and the king of South America,” I mumbled.

“I plan to let them kill each other,” he replied. “Don’t worry, cuz. I’ve got it all figured out.”

He then winked, and a few seconds later, Andrea climbed up into the truck.

“Family bonding, huh?” he asked. “Cute.”

After roughly ruffling my hair, he sat on the other side of me.

“Vamos!” he shouted, and the wheels of the truck began to move.

“Andrea, please tell me where we’re going,” I pleaded.

“Disney World,” he remarked.

I let out a frustrated sigh.

“Stop asking questions, Blanca. It’s fucking annoying,” he said.

For the next hour, I sat quietly. The road was bumpy, and I was squished between the broad shoulders of Luciano and Andrea.

Venezuela’s weather was also excruciatingly hot, and in the stuffy truck, the heat was intense.

At one point, Andrea thrust me a bottle of water. He had already drunk half of it, and the water was warm and thick, but it somehow still refreshed me.

Even when the truck came to a slow halt, I still had no idea what was going on.

I glanced around at the other men in the truck. Their faces were stern and serious but with an underlying tension that, paired with the silence, left an uncomfortable apprehension.

“Posiciones,” Andrea said. “Positions! Now!”

The men, including Luciano, all gathered their guns and filed out of the truck.

“See ya later, cuz,” Luciano said as he left.

“Blanca, you’re with me,” Andrea said, taking my wrist. “Come.”

The sunlight burned my eyes at first as I tried to glance around.

Before I had the chance to adjust, Andrea had pulled me into the thick vegetation, and the trucks, which were moving out, kicked up enough dust to cloud my vision anyway.

We moved only a couple of meters through the jungle before he pulled me down to a crouch, facing out into a clearing where the trucks had been.

“You stay with me no matter what, got it?” he said, pulling me closer to his side.

“Why don’t I get a gun?” I asked, looking around at all his men that had slipped into the cover of the jungle, only visible if you knew what to search for, who all held big guns with smaller ones in their belts and pickets.

“Something tells me you’d be reluctant to shoot…,” he said.

For hours we sat in that bush. Even through torrential rain, which soaked us to the skin. Occasionally, Andrea would produce a scrap of food from his pockets and had the decency to offer me some.

“It can’t be long now,” he said at some point.

We had exchanged very few words. He seemed to have no interest in talking to me.

And I certainly didn’t want to speak to him, so I just let him obsessively watch the clearing, gun in hand, his eyes fixated on what to me was just grass and emptiness.

At long last, his walkie-talkie buzzed.

Luciano’s voice came through in a fuzzy hum. “I’ve spotted them only a mile away. It won’t be long.”

Andrea’s lips curled into an excited grin.

“Do you see faces?” he asked.

“I see Max…Luca…Blair, Mateo, and of course, Leonardo,” he replied. “There’s a convoy of soldiers too.”

My face dropped as Andrea’s only brightened.

“Get the men ready,” he replied.

“No,” I whispered.

“I’m afraid so,” he said. “It’s time your alpha took his last breath.”

I felt my heart rate skyrocket until it pounded in my ears and the blood pulsed throughout me.

This couldn’t be happening.