radicalducati 2.18
2.18
Lucas’s POV
We sat in that living room in silence, digesting everything we just saw.
“Why would they kill her mom and kidnap her? Why not kidnap them both?” asked Mathew curiously after a long stretch of silence.
I shook my head, telling him I don’t have the slightest clue. This whole thing didn’t make a lick of sense until now. They were obviously a poor family trying to live their lives in peace. There is nothing even remotely indicating their involvement with drugs or whatever Zade and his men deal with.
Something tells me the answers I seek can only come from three sources. Angelina, her father, and Zade.
Angelina is a lost cause. She’s as stubborn as they get, even just the few hours I interacted with her confirmed the extreme difficulty of getting anything useful out of her.
Zade is still out of reach for me and for Alex as well.
Her father is the only clue I have left. I need to get my hands on him first before Zade tracks him down, and it’s only a matter of time. Right now, he must be sure that his men failed and that I either already killed the girl or have her in my hands.
How far is he willing to go to get his hands on her now that he knows I’ve got her?
From what Alex told me and what Stefan said before he died, he’ll go to extreme lengths to get her back. Since she was the sole reason for this animosity between us in the first place.
I have already taken every precaution there is to secure my border entrances from the moment I took over the leadership.
We have four routes in and out of Canada. And I have taken the extreme liberty of making sure that no one will dare to cross three of them if they don’t want to blow up with the excessive amount of C4 I have planted underneath those entrances, leaving only one, very heavily guarded entrance back and forth through Canada that I’m using to carry on our smuggling operation. In addition to the formal route in and out of Snow, which is equally guarded as well.
I have filled Stefan’s position in Canada with Snows I trust with my own life and there is no way these guys can ever be bought by him like Stefan was.
I have everything held in my tight grasp, except for the girl’s father. I get to him, learn the truth, I have a shot at ending Zade right from where I am sitting here.
I address everyone strictly “No one mentions the name Angelina in front of the girl, her name is Hope. At least for the next two days. Please be careful and don’t slip up, ok? And act like you still don’t know anything about her or where she comes from”
Everyone nods their heads in understanding.
“It’s getting late, we should all head into our rooms for the night” said mom gently.
We all said good night and got up to leave when mom’s firm voice called me back “Lucas, stay”
I stood in my place, looking at her curiously, wondering what was on her mind.
When everyone cleared out, leaving us alone, she got up and stood facing me with a determined look “You made us all promise to act like we don’t know anything about the hell she’s been through or seen, but I want you to promise me something in return”
“What?” I asked in a strained voice, sensing a promise I cannot or will not be able to keep or fulfill already.
“You don’t refer to her as a prostitute ever again just to get a reaction out of her. It’s cruel, insensitive, and let’s not mention irrelevant at this point. We both know she kept quiet despite how extremely degraded she felt because she has a very good reason to protect herself from us. She doesn’t know who we are, or whether she can trust us with the truth, and to be honest, I don’t even blame her for lying and neither should you. Since you didn’t exactly come across as very trustworthy with the way you handled the whole situation”
“I don’t think that the different way I would have handled the situation in, would have made any difference for her. She would have lied either way” I said coldly.
“You don’t know that” she said intensely.
I pursed my lips even though I know I was completely right.
She gave me a hard look, waiting for me to acknowledge her words.
“Fine, I promise” I said curtly.
“Another thing” she said strictly.
My jaw clenched as I waited for her to carry on.
“No matter what you discover about her, you will not use her in any way that would put her in harm’s way just to get your revenge on Zade, promise me. I know you enough to say that you can get too blinded with vengeance sometimes, you don’t care who gets hurt in the process as long as it’s not one of us”
“She’s not one of us” I fire back instantly.
She gives me a look so stern, she burns me with it as she speaks to me harshly and emotionally at the same time “She’s currently living under my roof, all alone, with no one to protect her anymore. The second she walked through our front door, we became responsible for her, and the second I heard those heart wrenching pleads from her to her mom, she became one of us. The second she lost her only family, her only person she loved most in this whole world and accepted her loss in that shower, she became part of this family. And you will treat her as such, protecting her from yourself and from everyone else, even if it ends up being at the cost of your blood feud”
“So now it’s MY blood feud! That asshole killed YOUR husband! Almost killed YOUR son and YOUR daughter! He tore our whole family apart! How could you ask me to promise you something like that?! She’s not one of us, I may feel bad for what she went through but that doesn’t make her my responsibility. That doesn’t make her more important than killing the one person who can still destroy this whole family if we let him roam free!” I screamed at her in rage.
“Fine! If you don’t want to consider her as one of us, She’s still innocent! You still want to use her, even if it costs her her life? I’ve never known you to sacrifice innocent lives Lucas!” she reasoned with me calmly.
I bit my lip as I spoke tightly “We still don’t know everything about her. There are still a lot of unanswered questions surrounding her, and the very few things I know don’t exactly confirm her innocence, at least not for me. I can’t promise you that I’ll put her safety above my need to end that son of a bitch, not until I learn the whole god damn truth. Only then, and when it’s confirmed, can I promise to protect her as if she is my own family, that’s all I can give you. I’m the head of this family and this town and as temporary as it is, my word still runs and is expected to be followed until Alex comes back to claim what is originally his. But as long as he’s gone, I make the calls”
She looks at me for the longest time, torn on how to make me understand how much that girl; at such an insanely short amount of time, found a special place inside the biggest heart in this whole world, hers. She has such a big heart, my mom, that can embrace and love so many people with an intensity that surpasses everyone’s.
Finally she gives in, but not before delivering a straight punch to my own messed up, crazy, damaged heart as she says tenderly “I trust you’ll do the right thing in the end Lucas. I may not go along with your head most of the times, but I know you rule with your heart as well and that one, I go along with, with my eyes closed and my mind completely at ease”