Alpha Luciano’s POV
Emery actually looked relieved to see me.
I could have laughed if I hadn’t been so angry. How stupid could one person be?
“Luciano, you came. I knew that you would. We.. we have so much history for you to toss me aside like this. I know now that what I did was wrong on so many levels. I made a mistake. Please forgive me.”
I looked at her dispassionately. Where was her remorse when she had killed my child? Where was it when she had handed Arabella over to a psychopath?
“Who are your accomplices?”
“My accomplices? I don’t have any. Luciano, it’s not like I was planning it for a long period of time. I had a weak moment. That’s all. I’m not a bad person. I really regret what I did.”
I unlocked the bars of her cell. Emery looked shocked then delighted thinking I was about to set her free.
She moved to embrace me and I caught one of her arms and pushed her against the bars.
“When you speak to me, it will be with the appropriate honorifics.” I twisted her arm harder and I heard her sharp gasp.
“Am I clear?”
“Yes, Alpha.”
I released her. Emery rubbed her arm averting her gaze from mine, a tear dropped on her cheek. She looked like a pretty picture.
With her red hair looking even fierier in the sconce-lit dungeons, and her delicate features, it was almost impossible to believe that she was the one who had committed so many atrocities.
“L–Alpha, will you truly not forgive me?”
“You are really pitiful. Was this the reason you refused to cooperate with Mikah? Because somewhere in your twisted head, you thought I would spare you, why exactly?”
Emery looked up at me, misery overflowing in her emerald green eyes. I would have felt pity if I had been capable of it at that moment.
“Alpha…”
“Enough. If you will not tell me what I want to know willingly, then I will have to force it out of you.”
Fear filled Emery’s eyes and she dropped to her knees, her head bowed so low it grazed the ground, her hair pulled to the left side of her nape exposing her neck in submission.
Emery had always been one to know exactly what to do to keep my fury from rising. Perhaps that was how she had managed to keep her true face hidden from me for so long.
Not anymore.
“Who were your accomplices?”
She hesitated for half a second. “Just my mother, Alpha. Please do not punish her for this. I forced her hand to do this. She just wanted to help me. She had no idea who the abortifacient was for. Punish me if you must but please spare my mother.”
I already knew that but I just needed to confirm it. I had no plans to punish her mother. Although a short exile from the pack might be good before she got ideas into her head to take drastic measures to save her daughter from captivity.
What punishment should I give to Emery? What punishment would be more suited to her? She deserved the harshest punishment possible for what she had done to Arabella and our child. However, I couldn’t make this decision alone. Arabella was the real victim here. Whatever her judgement on the matter was, I would accept.
“Enjoy your time alive for now. When I return, your sentence will be decided.”
I was closing the cell door when Emery found her voice again.
“Alpha Luciano.” Her voice sounded weak and shaky.
I ignored her and stepped out of the cell and reached for the key to lock the cell door.
“I want to ask you something.” Emery launched right in without waiting for my clarification.
“Arabella… the reason you chose her. It was because she was your mate.”
I paused. How had she figured it out? My scent blocker was still working. Or had it worn off already?
She looked at my face and my facial expression must have confirmed it because she gave a hurtful laugh that sounded all shades of broken.
“Of course. How could I have been so oblivious? No matter what I did nothing would have changed, would it? All the years I spent with you, all the moments we shared. It was all in my head, wasn’t it?”
Tears just kept falling from Emery’s eyes like a faucet in her had opened and the waterfall couldn’t be stopped or controlled.
I couldn’t let her tell anyone about this. It could reach Uncle Tommaso who was already suspicious of my behaviour. The former Luciano wouldn’t have hesitated before he broke her neck and ended her life.
But now, I wondered what Arabella would think if she found out that I’d killed Emery not because of her wrongdoings but to hide the fact that she was my mate from Uncle Tommaso.
I couldn’t stoop that low. I had standards. Right?
As I was contemplating this, Emery was still sobbing out her heart.
“I felt that if I was devoted enough, if I was faithful, if I was the most submissive, if I kept you entertained, if I was soft-spoken and docile then you would keep me. That you would finally see me as something other than a sex object. But that was all I could be to you. None of it mattered.”
“She was the only one who did. Arabella fucking Bianchi, your so-called enemy. All of it was a pretence, wasn’t it? You acted as if you could barely tolerate her. Like she disgusted you.”
She glared at me through the tears in her eyes. “You know what? I wish instead of an abortifacient, I had given her poison or let Anastasia kill her, at least she would be dead–”
I was in the cell in seconds, my fingers strangling the life out of her. How dare she speak about ending Arabella’s life so casually?
I forgot about my decision to let Arabella decide about this matter. I would kill her now and face my guilt later.
“… if she died, maybe…maybe you would know how painful losing your love feels like.” Emery managed to choke out.
My grip on her lightened.
“All I ever did wrong was love you, Luciano. Go ahead and kill me. Why are you hesitating? You want to kill me? Kill me. It would be better than this. Anything would. Everything I did was because I loved you and I was stupid enough to dream of a future with you.”
I let go of her.
“Emery.” My voice was cool at odds with the anger in my chest as I addressed her.
“Don’t blame your proclivity for evil on me. Love isn’t selfish or manipulative. You didn’t do that to Arabella because of me. You did it for you. I know how you have been drugging the other women in the harem for tears. You didn’t do that because you loved me, you did it because you wanted power. Because you wanted to become the closest thing to Luna that you could be.”
“You should get the worst punishment there is to get but I refuse to let you take me back to who I used to be. You aren’t worth it. My mate will decide your fate. In the meanwhile, you will be cut out of the pack mind-link and you are not allowed to tell anyone about the fact that Arabella and I are mates or you shall lose your tongue.”
This time when I shut the door, I didn’t turn back. I ignored her tears and sobs. Then I called for more guards to guard Emery. No one apart from me was allowed to visit her. I knew from experience how vindictive she could be.
She would get her punishment in due time. I felt weird about not killing her immediately or even torturing her but I felt content at the same time. This was a new side to myself that I wanted to explore.
Finally having the day to myself, I headed home to my mate.