Finding Forgiveness

Luckily for him? and his vital organs, since he informed me that he had got my mate involved in a drug gang, I had had a long flight to cool off. But that didn’t mean he was safe to test me.

“Shut the fuck up,” I snapped before getting into his car.

It was cool but there was a suffocating smell of musty corn and unchanged socks.

“I’m so sorry, Alpha,” he said. “For all of this.”

“Apology not accepted,” I said bluntly rolling down the window as he began to drive, letting a breeze of fresh air in. “Have you got anywhere with this Pedro Hernandez guy?”

“No, the guys either untraceable or that man? lied to you,” he replied.

“He wasn’t lying,” I said confidently. “This man exists and he will know where Martinez is keeping Ella.”

“I contacted the IT guys in the pack and all there’s nothing on the database and they can’t find anything about him on the internet. Nobody around here seems to recognise the name either. You’ve got to give it to them, Alpha. They’ve got everything covered.”

“Out of all the people you could have gotten my mate involved with?!” I growled. “Andrea Martinez: the one man that I don’t know how to defeat.”

“I’m sorry, Alpha,” He said again. “I really am because I care about her too. But we can defeat him. All we have to do is find him.”

“And therein lies the problem.”

We sat for a moment in silence before the first idea in twelve hours harbouring any chance of success came to me.

“What if we don’t need to find him? Martinez has made a living out of destroying other Alphas,” I began. “What better way to lure him out of hiding than with the chance of taking down Alpha Leonardo Loren? Then we can capture him and get him to tell us where Ella is and then kill him.”

“Alpha, that’s too risky,” Luca said. “What if he kills you instead? How is that going to help get Ella back?”

“I’m not gonna let him kill me,” I replied.

“They have guns.”

“And I noticed you do too,” I said picking up the metal item I had spotted in the mug rack of his car.

“Alpha…” he said with a concerned look on his face. “That thing only has one round in it and we’re not exactly experienced with guns.”

“I am willing to risk it for my mate,” I replied. “This isn’t to say that I’m letting you off the hook but I blame myself for this too. She wouldn’t have left at all if I didn’t kill her brother.”

Luca sighed, “What if we lure the rat out, don’t let him find the bate and then just watch where he scurries back to? No one risks dying that way but we still find out where he’s keeping Ella. Then we can bring the army down here and get her out of there.”

“Nice analogy.”

“So?” Luca asked. “Do you agree that is the safer option?”

I leant back and sighed. Luca was right and his plan was more feasible and I couldn’t let my anger for Martinez get in the way of what was important here: saving Ella.

“Fine,” I agreed. “But he’s messed with my mate, the one I love the most, and I am going to kill him when this is over. Mark my words.”

Ella’s POV

As the night crawled through the hours, I found myself unable to stop my mind from drifting back to Leo. I missed him more than anything which is weird considering how desperate I was to get away from him just hours ago. My mind could hardly handle the conflict of hating him and loving him at the same time and I could feel it slowly driving me insane.

The dream was bothering me too. Why Lili and not any of my other children? Why the swing? The mist? Leo? I tried to make sense of it but my hunger from not eating in hours was clouding my thoughts and making everything seem weird and delusional.

The two guards were playing cards. Richardo had so far lost his belt, his crucifix and the 200 pesos (11 dollars) he had on him to Esteban.

“You cheat,” Richardo protested.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

They’d been mostly speaking in Spanglish for my benefit. Neither spoke particularly good English but it was good enough to allow me to follow the conversation and not die of boredom. How considerate of them.

“You are a bad loser,” Esteban replied with a laugh. “Now I want de picture of your mate from your wallet.”

“No, man. That is not cool,” Richardo said. “She is my mate. Find your own.”

“She’s sexy and I like something to imagine when I… how do you say in English…?”

“Feel free to say it in Spanish. I don’t wanna hear it,” I announced and they both turned to me.

“How about a new game?” Esteban suggested deviously before picking up an empty tequila glass from the table they were both sat at. “You shoot de glass from her head, I give you back everything and you keep de photo. If you fail, then you give me it.”

“I don’t think the boss will like dat,” Richardo replied unsurely.

“I don’t fucking like that. If he fails, he loses the photo and I lose my life!”

“Shut up, puta,” Esteban snapped before grabbing a spare piece of rope and fastening it around my mouth so that I could only make sounds that vaguely formulated words. “Are you a man, or what, Richardo?”

“If I win, you give me your watch and we have a deal,” Richardo said taking the gun from the back of his jeans.

“Agreed,” he replied placing the shot glass on my head and taking a few steps back.

“Stay very still, puta,” Richardo said closing one eye and aiming the gun just above my head.

I closed both my eyes tightly and tried to stop myself shaking.

I heard the trigger pull, then the bang, then the bullet shoot through the air and then a glass smash above my head.

“Ayyy,” Richardo cheered as I breathed a sigh of relief and thanks for my life.

Richardo threw his arms up in the air as Esteban grumbled and took off his watch. Just before he was able to hand it to Richard, the door of the warehouse flung open.

Andrea marched in, gun in hand, with an alert expression as he scanned the warehouse. He then saw the gun in Richardo’s hand, the broken glass and the rope around my mouth and began hurling fast Spanish at the two men. They had gone pale with fear as they stuttered and spluttered trying to explain themselves.

Pointing the gun directly at Richardo’s head, Andrea stepped closer now with an enraged expression as they cowered back.

“She is not your plaything,” he growled before pulling the trigger of the gun. My eyes widened as the bullet hit Richardo in the shoulder and blood began to pour.

He whimpered with pain before sinking to his knees.

“Get him out of here,” Andrea barked at Esteban and he immediately nodded and began dragging the crying Richardo out, leaving a trail of blood behind them.

Andrea watched them intensely until they were out of sight before finally turning to me.

He looked me up and down before marching over and pulling the gag off and untying my hands.

“Now I see why they all fear you,” I mumbled once my mouth was free. He crouched down and lifted my arm and examined it carefully. “You just shot a man. He could die.”

“He’ll survive but it will be painful enough to ensure he never defies me like this again,” he replied. “Your arm has been cut,” he added.

I looked down to see quite a nasty gash along the top of my lower arm that I hadn’t noticed before.