Alpha Luciano’s POV
I stood up from my chair so suddenly it fell to the ground. “Vitalio is here?”
“Not here exactly, Alpha. He is at the meeting house. He is demanding to see his daughter, Arabella.”
“You may leave Mikah. I will see to him.”
“Yes, Alpha.” Milah bowed and left hurriedly.
After he left, I smiled viciously. Finally, I had Vitalio exactly where I wanted him.
“You look satisfied. Was this the plan all along?” Uncle Tommaso asked warily.
“Of course it was. I will have Vitalio grovel for his daughter but he won’t still get her back. I want revenge, Uncle Tommaso. It would be so easy to kill Vitalio but I need to see him degraded, insulted and brought down. I want him to die in instalments not at once. Before doubting my commitment to this cause, Uncle, maybe have a little faith in me.”
I straightened the cuffs of my shirt eagerly. “Now if you would excuse me, I have a date with Vitalio I cannot be late for.”
*******
I kept him waiting for an hour while Emery gave me the most rhapsodic blowjob. I swear that girl didn’t need oxygen. I fucked her face hard thinking of the ways I would humiliate Vitalio. This was the first time since that day I would be seeing him again.
Emery moaned and gasped around me, the vibrations she was causing nearly tipped me over but I wasn’t ready to come yet so I fingered her even more intensely. She released me to gasp, her back arching as she came. “Sir… I…” She struggled to put her thoughts into words as she came down from her high.
Her face was flushed and she blushed so prettily against her extremely pale skin that I felt myself harden almost painfully. “Bring the anal beads, Pet.” I watched her throat bob as her pupils dilated. It had been too long since I properly played with Emery. Vitalio could wait a little longer for his precious daughter.
******
Two hours thirty minutes after leaving Uncle Tommaso in the office, I entered the meeting house feeling completely sated and in control. Tommaso was in the conference room sitting in the chairman’s chair. Did he want to play games so soon already?
Good. I was ready for that as well. Ignoring him, I lifted a seat and placed it directly opposite him so we would be on equal footing. I looked at him. He had aged. Somehow in my head, I thought he would remain the same. He hadn’t. His dark brown hair was now salted and thinning lightly. He had added on a bit of girth and his frame was larger than before. His once slim and elegant hands now looked like sausages but the grin on his face was the same.
The same one he’d had on when he had killed Papa. My rage rose and I barely kept myself from climbing on the table, going after him and ripping out his throat–
“You grew up well, Pup. You take after your mother a little too well. Such a pity, she was a pretty one. Too feisty for her own good too. You would do well to learn from her mistake.”
“Keep my mother out of your vile mouth or I will rip out your tongue and make you a weeping bow with it, remember you are in my territory. ”
“So was my daughter. She was in my territory on her way to her wedding when you took her. Where is she?”
“In her rightful position. Chained to my bed naked and waiting for me to take her again and again. She told me to send her greetings to you by the way.”
I watched as his fists clenched beneath the table. I smiled at his anger. Was it as painful, I wondered, to lose a child when compared to losing your parents?
“You will pay for this, you are aware?” His voice was tight with anger and I could see him battling for supremacy with his wolf. “There are rules, limits and you just thumbed a finger at all of them. You abducted my daughter and now you rape her and keep her captive. She is a Bianchi! To even think of taking her, you must think you are a god. She had a fiance, an alliance depending on the marriage. You have just signed your own death sentence, Romano.”
“Oh, but I never abducted her. She came willingly and has continued to do so.” I smiled at the pun I made. Life was good. “Here’s what you need to know Vitalio, the only person who signed their death sentence was you the moment you betrayed the treaty to make your insignificant self feel better. I haven’t forgotten about that day in all these years. When the time comes, I will ensure that you reap it back a hundredfold.”
Vitalio looked shocked then he did something I would never have expected. He threw his head back and laughed. He looked thoroughly amused.
“So that’s the reason behind all of this? The thefts, undercutting, everything? Not because you wanted to surpass me but because you wanted revenge for your parents’ death? How cute.” He smiled.
I fought the urge to clench my fists, I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing he had gotten to me.
He continued to speak. “You want to redeem yourself for being unable to save them. You were weak and that hasn’t changed because you are still ruled by emotion. You will fail. The same way your parents failed. You will fall and I will stand above your dead body the way I did your father’s. For daring to stand against me, Vitalio Bianchi, I will destroy you.”
I stood slowly. When I reached my full height I regarded the old man before me clinging to the last vestiges of his power. Clinging to a lost era. To a dream.
“I welcome the challenge, old man. Even though you have no power to speak of, no political sway and a limited cash flow, I look forward to seeing your last hurrah. In the meantime, I will enjoy your daughter and the money your former clients keep me afloat. Close the door on your way out.”
*****
Arabella’s POV
I awoke to whispering but I made sure to remain very still.
“I have places to go. She’s asleep. In the clinic. Where could she possibly go to?” Margaret said. It was definitely her voice.
“Alpha says you should stay here either way. The doctors are on shift and after the operation, the men went to last night, they are extremely busy. Besides,” I didn’t recognise the second voice and it went much lower as he continued to speak.
“Alpha Vitalio is here. He came for Arabella. The Alpha doesn’t want to take any chances that they will see each other.” The other voice continued to speak but I had already stopped listening.
Dad was here? Did he come for me?
It was so unbelievable. I would never have thought he would do that for me. He was always so strict and punishing especially when he wanted or expected something from me. I had not seen one soft side to him in all the years I had lived with him in our pack house. I expected him to abandon me once he heard the rumours that Alpha Luciano had perpetuated.
But if there was a chance, even if it was a slim one that my dad had come for me, it changed everything. I couldn’t believe I had almost accommodated the thought that he could have actually killed Alpha Luciano’s parents. No, they were lying and I wanted for once to understand where my mate was coming from.
What had made him so hard and heartless?
Now, however, I wanted to run and keep running till I met my father. I wanted him to hug me, to apologize for all the bad times we’d had. For us to finally be on the same page for once in my life. I didn’t want to end my life anymore. Not if there was a chance that I would be reunited with dad.
But for that to happen I needed to escape from here. For once, I cursed my ill-timed escape attempt. My leg was still hurting badly but I could deal with a bit of pain. The biggest problem was the second person in the room who wasn’t leaving. I could evade just one person not two.
“I’ll leave you to this. I have some things to get to.”
“Alright, thank you.”
That was good.
The door opened then shut leaving Margaret and me alone in the room. I squashed the feeling of guilt that tried to rear its head. I was always being put in a situation where I had to betray Margaret’s trust. I had to remind myself once more that she didn’t really care about me.
I stirred as though just waking up. One of my hands was cuffed to the bed. “Margaret?”
“Oh, you are up. Are you good?”
“Yeah. I’m feeling a little pressed. I need to use the toilet.” I made sure to inject the right amount of embarrassment into the request.
Margaret hesitated then nodded. “Sure.”
She reached into her coat and unlocked my cuffs before leaning in to help me off the bed. Only I hefted the large ceramic flower vase next to my bed and hit her on the head with it. The vase broke and she slumped to the ground. I tried not to feel bad about it, she was a werewolf, and she would be fine.
I placed my feet on the ground and nearly screamed at the amount of pain that surged through me. I could do this. For myself. For Dad. I might never get another opportunity like this. I stuffed my feet in the loose hospital flip-flops and shuffled towards the door.
I opened the door only to see Alpha Luciano.
“Well, well isn’t this interesting?”