Erica:
I smiled at Clarissa and left her room. I was still suspicious. I felt this nudging feeling that she was
lying to me. There probably was someone in her room last night but I had no way to prove it.
As soon as I entered her room, I noticed that the air smelled different but the smell soon faded
away and I began to wonder if I had imagined it.
I had seen Clarissa cry. She seems hurt and broke. I understood her pain. It wasn’t easy to be
without a mate. She had served my family well and I truly wanted her to be happy.
I pushed the thoughts to the back of my mind and headed to the kitchen to have breakfast with
the kids.
“Ethan! Eat your own!”
“I’m not touching yours, Elsa.”
I sighed angrily. It was what I expected. I felt that I couldn’t leave Ethan and Elsa together without
them breaking into a spontaneous mini war.
They had both nearly finished their food but Ethan was robbing what was left of Elsa’s food with
his fork.
“Ethan, stop bothering your sister.”
Ethan slinked back and ate his food and Elsa blew a raspberry at him.
I glared at her and she looked at me with red cheeks.
“We don’t permit such manners at the table, Elsa.”
She slinked back into her chair and lowered her head sadly.
“I am sorry, mom.”
Ethan snickered and Elsa gave him a death stare but luckily, there was no quarrel.
I opened my take out and that was when I realized that Elma was opening hers as well; she had
waited for me before she started to eat.
I couldn’t help but find her clinginess adorable sometimes.
We all began to eat and suddenly, my phone ran.
I was skeptical to pick it up but the constant ringing made it impossible to ignore. My heart was
pounding in my chest. It was probably Dante. Why would he call me after everything that he did?
My new found anger gave me the confidence to pick up my phone and I saw that it was my
father.
I answered the call and excused myself from the table. I headed up to my room and finally spoke
up.
“Good morning, father.”
His voice was full of anxiety and worry. He was barely breathing as he spoke to me.
“How is the progress with the gem going?”
My heart did a nervous flip.
“We are trying our best to put things in place.”
It was a half-truth. I had mentioned it to Dante a lot but we always got side tracked by…
“What is happening, father?”
“Things are getting worse, Erica. Hazan has made three more attacks on the pack. We have
dozens of our wolves injured. We are barely standing on our own two feet. They even dared to
make an attack on your mother but she escaped. Ever since, she has been distraught and hasn’t
left the house.”
I bit my lower lip in anxiety. This was my fault. If I hadn’t been fraternizing with Dante, we would
have made considerable progress with the gem.
“Erica, we know that you are trying your best and that Dante had hurt you before, but we need
you to accelerate the plans that you have made with him. This is a matter of life and death.”
I gulped nervously.
“Yes father. I will do my best.”
Suddenly, I was probbed to ask about Lorenzo. We still haven’t had a reasonable conversation
ever since he got back.
“How is Lorenzo? Is he helping with the relief efforts?”
I could hear the apparent confusion in my father’s voice.
“Lorenzo? Isn’t he still with you. We haven’t seen him here ever since he went to meet you?
When was he supposed to come back?”
I felt my heart skip a beat.
“Lorenzo left two days ago. Last we spoke, he said he was really tired and he needed to rest. I was
hoping that he would call me soon but I still have heard from him.”
“Well, he hasn’t called home to tell us that he has arrived. If he was back, we should have heard
something.”
My mind began to turn gears. Where was Lorenzo? Why did all this feel so suspicious? He wasn’t
one to go back to the pack without paying homage to my parents.
“Alright. I will try my best to finalize things with Dante about the jewel. I will also call Lorenzo and
try to find out where is.”
My father thanked me profusely and the line went dead.
I immediately dialed Lorenzo’s number but his line was switched off. This was rather odd. He
never turned his phone off. He was a businessman and made sure that his phone was active at all
times.
I called a few more times and the reply was still the same.
I walked to my desk and got my laptop. I was going to send an email.
As soon as I opened my inbox, I saw a message from Lorenzo. I checked the time stamp and saw
that he had sent it a few minutes ago.
“Good morning sweetie. I am so sorry for the way I spoke to you on the phone last time. I was
just really tired and I have been swamped with work. I have been in my office ever since I got
back and haven’t even been able to see your parents. I heard about the attacks and I will be
aiding in the relief efforts as soon as I see your father. I love you Babe and I really hope that you
get the deal finalized with Dante. Say hi to the kids for me. Love Lorenzo.”
I felt a warm feeling bubble in my heart. I should have realized that his little vacay to see me
would cause work to pile up for him at the office. No wonder he was swamped.
I closed the laptop and sat on my chair lost in thought. Everyone was looking up to me now. I had
to finalize things with Dante as soon as possible. But being close to him scared me. What was I
going to do?