CHAPTER 41: THE OTHER WOMAN

"You are safe now," Luca whispered against my breath, I am not crazy, there is someone inside the house.

He rested beside me, wrapping his hand around me.

"Do you think Aria- she was with me all through, glaring at me from the kitchen, it can’t be her," I whispered cutting him off, I am not trying to defend her but she won’t be blamed for this.

We need to find who the real culprit is and it scared me that, we have no idea who it could be, it scared me that, we have no idea who is after us.

I glanced at Luca again, as he wiped my tears, he came home the moment one of the guards called.

"Come in," Luca said when we heard the knock.

"Are you okay?" Ares asked, his tone covered in concern and I nodded. "I have the footage, but it doesn’t make sense."

"What do you mean?"

"It does not show anyone walking into the room, the guard left to take a leak, he was gone for five minutes before Olivia walked into this," Ares explained.

"Last night I thought I saw someone in Lucan’s closet and now this, someone is inside the house, I have no idea how they are doing it." I breathed out.

My mind still hazed from the message, it felt like it had to do with the girl from the picture I found, I had a lot of questions to ask Luca.

"I know how?" Luca finally said and my breath hitches, he moved away from me, when he inched closer to the wall, he tapped on it for a second as he moved to the other wall and a secret passage opened.

"My father built tunnels inside of the house, it was so that we would be able to leave if there are any intruders and if the guards needed to find a safe way to transport, it has not been used for years, non of the pack members should know about it, because those that did, died in that fire with my father," Luca explained.

This person knew better than anyone and it scared me, it terrified me that they knew how to get in and out of the house.

"Assign a guard to the tunnel, each passage should have a guard stationed, and no more leaks, unless they have someone covering up for them, place CCTV cameras inside the place, it should be rusty and dirty, it has not been used for years," Luca explained.

His vein popped out when his fists clenched in anger, his eyes filled with annoyance.

"Go now." He yelled and Ares nodded.

He moved close to me and his eyes met mine.

"What if they hurt you, and I was not there?" He breathed out.

"They didn’t."

"It’s happening too much, Victor and Conrad are smart, they made us leave our home, now they want me to leave this place, they want me to be on the run, I can’t let that happen." He spoke and I nodded.

He can’t win, he is a horrible person and one thing we know about him is that, he will slip up, he loves to make mistakes, he doesn’t even realize when he is doing that, because he loves to rush to things and it’s all we should be waiting for.

"What did the message mean Luca?" I whispered and his eyes met mine.

"Get ready, we are leaving for a little while." He breathed out

"How about Ari-she would be fine, whoever it is should know by now that we don’t care for her and the only reason she is alive is be after of you, nothing of mine would be damaged if she is gone." He said cutting me off.

His tone was a bit harsh, but I knew his anger was not directed at me when he turned to look at me.

"You don’t deserve this, you don’t deserve to be yelled at, to be treated like this." He breathed out, his eyes filled with emotions when I smiled, it’s good enough he realized what he had done; he didn’t have to worry about me.

"I am fine Luca." I smiled, I wanted to leave the house too even if it’s for a couple of hours, I can’t shake of the thought that someone is staring y me, I can’t shake off the thought that there is someone out here, I can’t sleep even if they assure me that’s all going to be fine and it scared me, it terrified me.

——

Luca and I left the house in twenty minutes, he won’t tell me where we are going but he rested his hand on my lap, to give me some kind do reassurance, to let me know that I am fine, and to let me know that he would never let anything happen to me when the car came to a halt.

"Where are we?" I whispered, it was just filled with grass, no trees, just grass and there was no one here, no house in sight, I trusted Luca so I held his hand in mine as he led us further into the place.

"You found the picture didn’t you when you walked into that room". Luca asked. "I am not mad, I know you would, you are curious Olivia and I don’t know if it’s a bad thing, I am worried you would end up getting hurt because of that," Luca whispered and I nodded.

My eyes met his, I liked to know what was happening.

"What is that room?"

"It’s a room where all of the memories are locked, where I didn’t want to be reminded of the past, where I hid all of my secrets but you found them, you found her, you found Eline." He spoke.

That’s her name, I could still recall the way her face looked, the smile she had in her face when we stopped in our tracks.

A huge lake stood in front of us.

"Was she the woman you fell in love with, is that why you wanted me from Conrad because I looked like her?" I asked and he turned to stare at me, his eyes met mine again when he settled beside the lake and I did the same.

Why did he bring me here, why didn’t he tell me about her at home It felt good being here though, the soft air breezing through my skin, and the sight of the lake made me feel better.

"She was killed." He spoke and my breath hitches. "She was taken away from me, I cared for her, maybe I never told her I love her, I never had a chance."

"She was young," I whispered, she looked very young, a younger version of me and it felt like in that picture she was a child.

"We were kids," Luca said again. "She was fourteen and I was fifteen, she died when I was fifteen, she was taken away from me, I watched when they killed she; I begged them not to, my father didn’t care, he wanted her gone too because she was my only weakness and that was it, she deserved a better life."

"Victor killed her," I asked, I can’t imagine losing someone you love right in front of you, watching them get killed, and ask for help, and your father, someone you trust would not even do that, they watch her die with you because they wanted that.

"Yes." He spoke.

Both he and Victor took away important people from each other’s lives, I didn’t know how to feel about it, how could Victor even do that, his enemy is not Luca, he was a kid when it happened and his father; saw it as an opportunity.

"Is she like me?" I whispered against my breath, my eyes met his when he looked away

He chooses me because of her, if she had grown up, she would have looked a bit like me, she would have even looked better than me, am I just a rebound, someone he wants to protect because he didn’t protect her?

"She is calm, she is not like you, you are fire Olivia, you have this fire inside of you, one that you don’t want to let out and if you think you are here because of her, you are wrong, she was my last and you are my future." He said and I smiled.

It made me feel better.

"She was not buried, he took her corpse and threw it inside the lake, by the time I found out, there was no body for me to go back to, by the time he told me, I already hated myself for what he had done."

"You didn’t have a good relationship with your father," I asked, my eyes filled with tears as I stared at him,

"Did you?" He asked and I shook my head, he is right about that, we both didn’t.

"Let’s just enjoy this, we don’t need to talk about anyone," I whispered and he smiled.

This may be the peace before the storm