Mena
“Before and after,” I spoke without a second thought. “I told you, we might not always agree-but I love you, and I’ll have your back, no matter what.”
In that moment, I realized I had already made my decision-and this time I hoped he could hear my sincerity. This was the path I chose-to stand by Alessio no matter what, and I would not go back on my word ever again.
“I’m with you.”
Alessio released a relieved sigh. “And you’ll have to be patient with me because I clearly still have a lot to learn-but I do know that I have to stop you from whatever you planned on doing because I can’t lose you,” I continued, my voice softening.
The gun might’ve been lowered, but his rage wasn’t. His breaths were heavy, and I could sense it took him every bone in his body to stay calm.
I reached up and cupped his face, gently forcing him to look at me. “I know it’s difficult, but you need to relax.”
I slowly took his hand and led it to my stomach, reminding him of the other news I had just shared with him. “Don’t do anything reckless, not when we have other things to consider. Please.”
As I spoke, I could see the tension leaving his body. I had finally managed to calm him down, and his breathing went back to normal.
“And Pilar and Gian know about this?”
I nodded. “He told me to wait because you’re…you, but then you began talking about loyalty and I just lost it,” I admitted, carrying the guilt for my actions. He wasn’t supposed to find out like this.
Alessio’s eyes flickered with regret that hadn’t been there before. Of course, he would feel like that. He told me to think about my loyalty while he ran around with Isaac.
“Before he died, Stefano told me there was something off about him-and I defended him,” Alessio spoke calmly. “I didn’t listen to him.”
“Well, he’s a good actor. He’s always been a bit different, but none of us could’ve known,” I responded, trying to make him feel better.
I wasn’t lying. I really didn’t see it coming.
While most gave me a cold shoulder, Isaac, who I had known as Levi, had been kind to me since day one. I considered him one of my first friends in the mansion, and we had a lot of deep conversations about life.
Not one person had a bad thing to say about him, and everyone liked him.
Even I hadn’t gotten over it yet. My own feelings were a mess, and there was still so much more to process. Although I tried not to make it obvious, I had been avoiding Isaac the whole day as I refused to laugh with or around him.
“We have to go back before someone notices something is off,” I told Alessio. “And when we get back there, you’ll put a smile on your face and pretend like nothing happened until we know what to do about this situation.”
Alessio kept his mouth shut. It was clear he was still trying to process everything, perhaps think about signs he might’ve missed along the way or how differently he could’ve handled the situation if he had listened to his uncle.
I wrapped my hand around his wrist, giving him a squeeze. “Do you hear me?”
There was still no response, but it didn’t matter. I had already made up my mind about what needed to be done next.
“You need to put this back where it belongs,” I looked down at the gun. This time he followed my instructions and put it away while I took care of the folder containing all the other evidence. I even tried to fix a few more things, but it was of no use. The room was a mess.
Not long after, we were in the hall, on our way back to the party. As we walked, the same maid from before passed by. I stopped her in her steps, and she shot me a questioning look.
“Can you clean our room for me? I’ll be right there to help you,” I requested, knowing the mess Alessio had made was more than one person’s job.
“Sure,” the maid nodded. “And that’s not necessary, Mena-I’m just doing my job.”
I patted her shoulder. “And I’m just doing mine. I’ll be right behind you.”
She gave me one last smile before walking away.
“You know you don’t have to do that anymore. We pay them to do that,” Alessio said, his voice still sounding like he was out of it.
I could let that maid do everything, but I wasn’t like that. Especially not after knowing how hard they worked, and having experienced it firsthand.
“I didn’t know you paid them to clean your mess every time you can’t control your anger,” I commented. If we weren’t in this position, I would’ve told him that his words were selfish, and that, that was not the way of life or how employees should be treated-but I decided to just let it be.
“Let’s go,” I urged as I began walking again. Then I noticed Alessio hadn’t, and turned back to look at him. His brows were furrowed as he shrugged his shoulders.
“What’s wrong?”
“How do you expect me to walk in there and pretend like nothing happened?” he asked, frustrated.
“If he can do it-so can we,” I gave him the most logical response. “Come on.”
Alessio showed me a look of hesitation. “We’ll discuss this tomorrow, let’s go.” I reached out my hand to him, and after a few seconds he grabbed it.
As we approached the ballroom again, I watched Alessio’s face transform. The moment he walked through that door, the smile that appeared on his lips looked so convincing one could hardly tell it was fake.
In a split second, I noticed that the curtain was closed again, and the heads on the spears not in sight. I glanced at Alessio with a questioning look.
“I asked them to close it when you ran off,” he explained calmly, that being the least of his concerns at the moment. His eyes wandered the room, scanning from one corner to another as if he was searching for something. Curious, I followed his gaze, trying to see what had caught his attention.
Now I could see it clearly. His eyes were locked on Isaac, who was standing with Donni, Dante, and Gian.
Completely unaware that his identity had been exposed, he was laughing like he was allowed to. Someone like him wasn’t even allowed to chuckle.
Only Gian, who knew that we were dealing with a scumbag, looked noticeably uncomfortable among the group. I wondered if he was only there to keep an eye on his younger brother, to make sure that Dante wouldn’t get too close to him.
Alessio pulled my hand, but I tried to stop him.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” a knot formed in my stomach as he overpowered me and dragged me with him.
“I’m not going to do anything,” Alessio whispered, but his tone was terrifying and I didn’t know whether I believed him. I should’ve checked his pockets for a knife. With Alessio, you never knew what his next move would be.
As we approached them, Alessio purposely stood in front of Isaac, who greeted him with a wide and welcoming smile. “We were just talking about you, wondering where you were hiding,” he said. “Donni and Dante said to check behind the curtains to see if your head was also on one of the sticks.”
“Yeah, you would like that-wouldn’t you?” Alessio retorted, smirking.
Completely oblivious, Isaac cracked a laugh. Meanwhile I caught Gian’s eye, and could sense he immediately knew what was going on. He knew that Alessio knew. Of course, he knew; it was his brother.
He looked at me, and I gave him a quick nod to confirm.
Then I nudged Alessio’s shoulder, hinting him to tone it down. He took the hint and released a loud laugh, this one being a bit too much.
“Levi,” he sighed loudly, slamming his arm around Isaac’s shoulder before ruffling his head.
“I know you want to get rid of me-but I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a bit longer.”
Gian chuckled in response, lowering his head to hide his reaction. I let out a nervous laugh at Alessio’s cheerful facade.
His laugh scared the shit out of me, and it scared me because I knew he would be having a field day once he could finally get his hands on Isaac.
I brought it to this point, and whatever fate awaited him might be worse than Anson’s and it would not be pretty.