Red

It took me a few minutes to pour out the past few weeks to Jacqueline, beginning from killing Gretel to dying and to being brought back to life. Luciano and I sat at one of the benches inside the backyard of the mansion, we sat under the tree, keep ourselves hidden from anyone.

"I can't tell you how happy I'm to hear your voice again." Jacqueline said, sounding appeased and excited. I felt the same for her, she was the closest elder woman to me since Nana passed away and the one I had missed the most.

It was painful to see her on that day, talking to Ben about the wrongs her son—Luciano had done, all because of me and even after all that, she still loved me, even when I ruined everything for her son.

A smile rose at the corner of my lips and I sniffed, wiping the few tears that had spilled accidentally while talking about Gretel. "I just can't wait to see you. I missed you a lot."

"Same. Well, I can assure that Fiona is really happy here. Valarie takes care of her like her own daughter and her grandmother and grandfather are both here beside her so you have absolutely nothing to be worried about!" She exclaimed, in her thick accent.

I sucked in a steadying breath through my nose, allowing myself to relax. "I know, I trust all of you."

"Good. You have nothing to worry about and as for Cordelia, I have my connections in England and if you want, I can pull you out of your agreement from her quicker." Jacqueline suggested. "Although, it might be hard."

"No, no." I peered around while shaking my head. Luciano rested over my lap, his legs dangling down from the bench while his eyes were fixated on me. I leaned back against the wood, my other hand fiddling through his hair. "I don't want to stress you out. We will handle this. Just take care of Fiona."

"All right, as you say so. If anything is needed, I'm here."

"Thank you."

As soon as the called ended, I gave the phone back to Luciano and we stayed in the same state for a few seconds, completely lost. I took a curious glance at the backyard and the house. The time was ticking and the sun was going to rise anytime soon.

"We can't be seen together." I whispered under my breath. My heart hammered in my chest. "Not in the public."

"I'm aware." Luciano lifted his head off my lap, his eyes were dimly lit as if all he wanted to do was fall asleep right here. "I'll head to Ben and see you in the morning. You better take care of yourself." He replied, swiftly before grabbing the back of my head and leaping in for a kiss.

"I will. And, you do too!" I kissed the side of his cheek and then the other one, the rough bristles of his jaw rubbed against my lips but I ignored the irritation. "Maybe get a shave too."

Luciano laughed. "Trust me, I'll be a different person tomorrow." He gave me a brief look before standing up from the bench and disappearing from the grounds of the mansion.

A thousand emotions swarmed into my heart and soul and I smiled hard till my cheeks started aching with the happiness I had been gifted with. I spent a few minutes alone before tip-toeing back into my room where I found Anna dead asleep and the lights switched off.

I released my black locks and laid on the bed, my body turned to the wall and my hands underneath my head. It took me a long while before I digested everything and went to sleep, a satisfied sleep.

—

Anna drove the lush pillow into my face and pushed my head further into the bed. I thrashed my hands over her and almost screamed.

"Were you trying you kill me? I just came back from my death!" I growled, fisting the sheets. She needed to stop killing me in my own sleep.

"Dillion came here last night and you were missing. Can you imagine the stress? I told him you were taking a shower in the guest bathroom at the ground floor as the water was warm there and thankfully, he didn't bother checking or we both would be sliced open in half, your head in another in Cordelia's hand while mine's with Dillion." Her head tossed around and she released a groan before hitting me with the pillow again.

"He came?" I swallowed hard.

"Yes."

"Did he suspect anything?"

"No."

"Oh, thank God." I sighed and laid back down, on the opposite side, away from my sister. I licked my lips and bit them slightly while remembering the little moments of the night. "I met with Luciano." I said, my voice raspy and lusty.

"In your dreams?"

I whipped around, my waist literally twisting. "No! I met him. He's here, with Ben. They followed your trails and I spent the whole night with him."

Anna stared blankly at me with her mouth open and her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Don't lie."

With a thoughtful smile, I narrowed my head. "I wouldn't lie about this." How could I even? It was unbelievable but it did happen and I did spent the night with Luciano.

She gave me a courteous, relaxed smile while sitting down on the bed. "So, tell me, where are they? Specifically Ben? Is he here?" The spark of the mate bond appeared in her eyes, faintly as she still tried to ignore the fact that Ben was her mate.

"Yes. They are around. I'm unsure where but Luciano told me that they've claimed themselves as lost, lone-wolves, that once worked for the King." I bought the stifled giggles up to my lips and released them.

"What? Does Dillion knows about them?"

"Mhm." I pulled the cover over my head and went back into the darkness. "I'm going back to sleep. Thanks for covering up for me. I'll surely repay you for that one day." I ended the note in truth as she was going to need me for the same thing.

"No!" Anna blurted, yanking the covers away. "You can't fall asleep. Get up. We have to go out and see them—"

"You mean see Ben?"

She pretended as if she didn't care. "Both."

"All right. Let's see then what's on the list apart from fraudulently protecting Dillion from Cordelia." I paused for a second, rethinking everything. "Nothing! We can't leave, Anna, not unless Jayla comes here to collect us, which is after a long, burning week."

She took a quick intake of a breath and merely stared. "Crap."

"Yeah."

We both became wide awake and instead of returning to sleep, we headed downstairs and into the kitchen. We ran into a young woman, a servant, her body was slender, her waist defined, she had a pair of fiery brown eyes and seemed sweet. Unaware of her name, we did our thing, grabbing the food of the counter and munching on it while closely staring at the woman.

"She gives me a vibe." Anna whispered while shaking her legs under the counter.

The woman was the only one in the kitchen and she was preparing breakfast for the Alpha, I could tell it from the luxurious cutlery she was using to set up the food. Often, she peeked back at us and we looked at the other side.

The woman walked away for a moment, going outside.

I pulled the strawberry out of my mouth and took an a sniff. "Do you smell that?"

Anna was irked with the heavy scent along with me. She dropped her food on the plate and went to the other direction where the woman had been once standing. I followed her and we found a small bottle at the corner, almost the size of a finger and there was a red liquid at the bottom.

I grabbed the bottle and bought it up to my nose. Unable to recognize the scent, I handed it over to Anna and she retorted with her face scrunched in irritation.

"That's a love potion." She murmured, placing the bottle back.

As we heard the footsteps, we hurried back to our little corner and acted as if we had done nothing. My eyes slightly narrowed at the food.

"Cordelia's another slave?" It was a suggestion from me. Love potions could be only made by witches and the only witch around here was Cordelia.

The woman had poured the potion into Dillion's drink. For what reason? And why did Cordelia need us when she had someone else doing her dirty work?

"No. Potions aren't something she does. It's another witch." Anna clamped her jaw tight and looked over her shoulders. "We need to inform her before something else happens. This could've been going on for long. No wonder Dillion despises her! There might be someone on the other side." There was a thin, concerned line over her lips.

The woman returned and we shut our whispers off for the moment. She looked around nervously and threw away the little bottle before picking up the breakfast and taking it out of the kitchen.

Did she not see us or what?

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