Chapter 13 Chapter 13

When I got back to the warehouse, Andrea was sat slouched at a table

with his long legs stretched out and twirling a gun between the fingers

of one hand and a small laptop to the side of him.

I walked over to him and put the parcel on the table, along with the

“you owe me' note and the gun before sliding it across to me.

"You could have told me," I stated.

"Told you what?" he asked looking up for the first time.

"That one, I needed 5,000 dollars and two, the gun isn't loaded,” I said.

He didn't respond but instead gestured to the man who had driven

me.

He picked up the parcel from the table and left the warehouse again. It

was at that point that I noticed the four smears of blood on the floor.

"Whose is that?" I asked quietly.

"Oh, the blood?" he asked casually before he pointed to the first smear.

"That one is Esteban. Then Richardo, Eduardo and Guillermo. They are

all dead.”

"W..what?" I stuttered although slightly relieved that Luca and Leo's

names were not amongst them.

"You failed the test," he stated.

"I brought you your stuff, didn't I? Is that not what you wanted? And

how is this anything to do with shooting four people?!”

He reached forward and pressed a button on the laptop and a muffled

recording began to play. It took me a while to realise what it was but

when I did, my heart sunk three miles into the ground.

A tape of my conversation with Leo in the phone box.

Andrea looked up to me, with a dark expression a cocked his head to

the side as he stared me down before turning off the recording.

There was an agonising moment of silence before he finally had the

kindness to end it.

"I've always had my suspicions that you were lying to me, Blanca, and

then that phone call earlier was one of my men telling me that he

couldn't trace the existence of an Eleonora De'Meritchi fitting your

description anywhere. So I had to put it to the test,” he explained. "Now

do you understand why they had to die? I can't have this “Leo’ finding

you and you gave their names as leads for him."

I didn't reply? How could I? There was nothing I could say that would

make anything better.

"Who is he anyway?" he said tapping the gun on the table. "Your real

mate? The owner of that huge mark?"

"Yes," I said shakily.

"Would “Leo’ by any chance be shortened from Alpha Leonardo

Antonio Loren?" he asked still staring intently.

I looked up to the ceiling and took a short breath in. It just kept getting

worse.

"And that makes you the Luna of the Stella pack...yes?" he said

deviously. "Ella Jones Loren?"

I nodded. There's no point trying to lie to him.

"You know I don't appreciate being fucked about with, Ella. I don't like

being lied to either," he said standing up from his chair slowly and with

a sort of calmness that made me uneasy. "I also hate hassle and you've

caused me a lot of that. And finally, I was fond of Eduardo and now he

is lying dead out in the desert.”

He neared me and began to gradually circle me, without taking his eyes

away even for a second. If intimidation was his objective, he was

certainly achieving.

"That gives me four reasons to be very fucking angry,” he growled in

my ear.

"How is this my fault? Did I chose to get involved with you?" I spat. "I

was just minding my own business and you had me abducted! And

what did you expect when you kidnap someone and give them money

for a phone box?!"

"That was the real test. Congrats for getting me my wolfsbane though,”

he replied. "I wasn't expecting you to succeed...J6se is not an easy

man...but that doesn't change the fact that my guys are dead and I now

have to deal with an Alpha.”

"I didn't make you kill your own men and if you wouldn't have to deal

with my mate if you just left me alone in the first place!" I growled.

With that, he struck me across the face and hard. It stung like a bitch

and made me feel far less inclined to open my mouth again.

As a matter of principle, I didn't ever like to back down from an

argument. I valued my own opinion and was always going to defend

myself but I also wasn't stupid. Andrea could and was clearly willing to

hurt me so provoking him would only be a foolish move here.

"You have a fierce temper," he replied picking up a lock of my short hair

and feeling it between his fingers.. He then took a deep breath out and

dropped it down again.

"You know that I have to kill you now, right?" he asked. "I like you but

you've become a liability,” he said.

Once again, I had nothing to reply with.

"But first I have one question? What was Leonardo Loren's mate doing

in Mexico getting involved in trafficking?"

"I was with a friend and he had to get the shipment before we went on

vacation,” I replied quietly.

"Ah yes, "Romano De'Meritchi’," he said. "Or Luca Romano as I have

recently discovered to be his real name. We will have to find him and

kill him too now that I know he works for Loren and my guess would be

that he has been using his position in my cartel to the Stella pack's

advantage. Did you get on well?"

"Yes," I replied with confusion.

Why would he care?

"Then I will have the good grace to bury you in the same whole out in

the barren desert,” he said in a disconcertingly kind tone.

"What does it matter to you whether we live or not?"

"I have a reputation to maintain, Blanca," he said. "If I don't kill you, I

will have let you walk all over me and I can't let my other employees

see that in case they get any ideas."

"In killing me, you are signing up to live in constant danger. Leonardo

will not stop until you are dead,” I said.

Andrea shrugged, "If he's going to want me dead anyway, then it

doesn't matter if I piss him off even more, does it? I might as well take

this wonderful opportunity to put his mate to use tonight.”

"What?" I said, furrowing my eyebrows thinking about the last time he

gave me a job to do. "You don't trust me.”

"Your lack of loyalty makes you useless as an employee but it doesn't

change how hot you are," he said with a grin as placed his hand on my

hip. "And there's something weirdly exhilarating about sleeping with

another man's mate and the fact that the other man is Leonardo Loren

only makes it even better.”

My eyes widened

"Andrea-" I began.

He suddenly lurched forward and put his hand between my legs on my

upper thigh.

"Do not call me that," he said covering my mouth roughly. "I am boss

to you now. You lost all your priveledges and protection and safety the

second you dialled that number. You are nothing to me."

I shook his hand off me, “Let me speak.”

"What could you possibly have to say," he growled.

"Go to hell."

Big mistake.