Luca sniffled as she sat beside Pierre who was trying not to laugh at her story.

It was obvious that they were that close to saying 'yes' to Luca's adorable pleas.

"Stop laughing... " Luca mumbled and Pierre chuckled in response.

If Kale's torture didn't kill Pierre then Luca's pouts and adorableness will seriously kill him now. Look at how rosy her cheeks are! It was so puffy and cute. And how her nose twitches as she sniffles like a bunny. An innocent white fluffy bunny.

"I'm sorry, princess, it's just adorable. You're adorable."

Luca huffed and wipes her tears. "M' serious, Mr. Pierre..."

"Back to mister again? I thought that we were already past that." The guard groaned. "Come on, Lu, you can't do this to me... "

Luca sighed. "You're awfully... "

Pierre raised a brow. "Whiny? I know, right? High on meds maybe. I like it, don't mind me.  This kinda makes me feel floaty, like m' on cloud nine or somethin' and m' just floatin' on a cotton candy cloud. I hate cotton candy though, tastes awful. Disgustin' things, oh—Oh wait, I'm ramblin' again, aren't I, darlin'? Anyways... Err, so about this friend of yours?"

"Why does daddy hate Thea's fam'ly?" Luca asked innocently. "Did they do something?"

"Yeah... " Pierre slurred. "They did something that you're not ready to hear."

"Why?" Luca whimpered. "Thea was asking for help and papa didn't help her... "

"Oh, Luca, bambi... " He cooed, hand reaching out to wipe her tears. Luca allowed him to. He stared deeply into her endless doe eyes that he just loves. "It has somethin' to do with yer mother and yer gramps, 'kay? That's all I'm willin' to share bu' you'll know the full story once yer all grown up."

Luca wasn't satisfied with that but she nodded and smiled. The smile that Pierre was dying to see all day. He's been lying here on a bed doing nothing!

At least Sydney could help his 'frustrations'. Everyone knows that the man's a monster. Well if you know what he meant by that then good for you but, ah, well, Pierre's just high in meds so who knows what he's talking about, right?

But he still wanted to see Luca. See if she was okay.

And she is.

Thank goodness for that.

Thank goodness for their brave little girl who held a gun at a guy whose named after a veggie while having a gun pointed at her from behind. She must've been terrified. Pierre would've been if he was in her shoes. He might as well piss himself while crying for his shitty life if he was in her shoes and was a six years old kid.

"Awww, tha's the smile I've been waiting for... "

Luca giggled adorably at him. "M' glad you're okay now."

The former slave snorted. "Me? Yer glad that m' safe? M' glad that yer safe!"

Luca held his hand and kissed his knuckles. "Glad that we're both safe... "

Pierre chuckled and closed his eyes. Yeah, Luca could say that again because hell, he's not ready to knock on death's door again. He's not ready to knock on anyone's door for that matter.

He feels like Jell-O. The wobbly thing that Luca loves to eat. Yeah, he feels like that.

No, wait...

That's not quite right too.

He feels like shit.

But whose life isn't shitty?

"Oh and by the way, if yer worried 'bout not being her friend anymore then I doubt tha'." Pierre added, opening his eyes again to meet hers.

Luca tilted her head to the side in confusion and Pierre had to pinch her cheeks at how adorable she was.

What? Little Luca's so cute.

"I've met this Athena before and she's a good kid. A wise one, mature and confident, tha's  for sure. She holds her head high without any malice or whatevs. M' sure that she wouldn't leave ya behind. I know that she's not tha' kind of kid."

Luca smiled sadly and looked at his hand on her lap. "S' okay if she decides to not be my friend anymore."

Pierre frowned at her. Oh, where's his favorite smile? It hurts him when Luca's not smiling happily.

"Why's tha', princess?"

"Nobody would wanna be friends with somebody who held a gun before... Someone who'd fired one. She'd be scared of me." Tears started to prick her eyes. "I couldn't even help you that day and n-now I can't help Thea. I'm not confident o-or wise like her too. She'd hate me."

Oh, that does it.

Pierre immediately tried to sit up, Luca cried for him to stay down, to stay still and lay down. Still, he struggled to sit up, he huffed and he puffed, his ribs were protesting, screaming at him to stop, his arms were shaking, his whole body was shaking. He was sweating buckets at his efforts, beads of sweat were trickling down his forehead but he still sat up and he glared at the little girl.

That made her widen her eyes.

"Are ya crazy? She's crazy if she decided that she didn't wanna be yer friend anymore, ya adorable munchkin! Yer adorable and so very pure! You freakin' tamed some godzillas and king Kongs!" Pierre slurred, his eyes were getting a bit droopy as ran his hand through his tousled hair. "Anyways, ya got yerself a pure heart, missy, but yer brave and smart 'cuz believe me, I didn't even know that you hid that gun. Much less, know how to use it. You saved me. Me! Your own bodyguard!"

He then miled softly at her. "But more importantly, you tried to save her, okay? That's all it mattered."

Luca stared at him for a moment before nodding, grinning ear to ear at his wonderful speech. "Love you, Mr. Pierre."

Pierre couldn't help but grin as well. "I know, bambina. I love you so so much too. Words can't even describe how much you mean to me."

Then Pierre remembered something. The warm and loving atmosphere turned serious again as he knitted his brows together and stared at Luca attentively.

Like a vulture.

"How did you know how to use a gun, Luca?"

Oh.

Before Luca could come up with some lame excuse, Sydney came into her rescue.

"Luca, I thought I told you not to go in here." Sydney said, popping out his head from the door. He then gave Pierre a devious smile making the man glare at him.

Pierre saw how she gave him a grin of triumph before standing up. "Sorry, Mr. Pierre. Maybe I could tell you next time, 'Kay?"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Pierre called out for Luca who was already in the arms of Sydney. His brother gave her a kiss before looking back at the former slave.

"Who the hell told to you to sit back up?" Sydney huffed. "Lie down and chill."

Then Sydney smiled innocently.

"I'll come back for you later. Try not to go anywhere."

Luca giggled. "Silly. He can't go anywhere."

"Ha-ha, very funny." Pierre rolled his eyes. "After I poured all my heart out for you, Luca, this is how you'll repay me?"

Sydney looked at Luca expectantly and Luca cheekily shrugged while giving Pierre a knowing glance.

Oh, the devil she is.

"Well, I'll come back for you later.  Maybe you should also pour something to me, Pierre. I'd love something warm in me, darlin'." Sydney winked with a devious smirk on his lips. "Wait 'till I come back. I'd have you laying back down in a flash."

Pierre flushed red while Luca looked at the both of them in utter confusion.

Ah, she'll know that stuff when she's all grown up.

_____

'Kay, just to make things clear, most of you guys have read 'Never Alone' and you guys know the precious little Athena's sassy attitude but in the last chapter, she was anything but that.

Well, the thing is, she can't be that around some families because they hold more power, more authority. In her case, the Cattaneo family. This family not only hold more authority but they're also a force to be reckoned with. They're experienced killers. That's why she was surprised when she realized that Luca was a Cattaneo.

Second, I know that I crossovered some characters from my other books. And it was fun but I can't do crossovers from other author's book... I'm just saying this because maybe you guys might suggest it.

So, I'm saying this now.

I can't do that.

Okay! That's the end of my ramblings!

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!
I showed Pierre now!

He's aliiive and slurred and floaty but still alive!