Ashamed

"Playing too many little games, might get you in trouble, princess"

| Alora |

Why does he have to push?
Why can't he just trust me in this?
It'll be better for us all
Everything had gone so wayward

They were supposed to send someone to kill Enzo and then everything would have fell into place
Now I'm lying, Athena is missing, Valencia has gone off the rails
I thought she'd take her anger out on Adonis and Enzo

Not Athena.

"That is the truth" I said adamantly
"It's not, because you would have just said" he argued back
"Did you know she was taking Athena too?" He asked

"Of course not. Is that what you think of me? You think I'd let her kidnap my closest friend?" I asked angrily
How dare he?
"No. But I know you're lying about something, so what is it?" He asked

"Leave it Seth" I warned
"No, what are you lying about? Alora!" He shouted, grabbing me before I could leave
"I want him dead!" I shouted, he dropped his grip
"What?"
"I want him dead" I said again

"Happy now? You want to know what's going on inside of my head Seth? Do you? I feel like I can't breathe anymore without Leon. I wake up every morning and for a split second... a tiny small moment I think I'll roll over and he'll be there. And he isn't. Every day is like dying inside all over again without him" I explained, my eyes blurring as tears burned my eyes

He faltered, his face falling
"I miss him too" he said
"Not the way I do" I said
"He was the other half of me" I said

"He was my brother" Seth argued
"He was my husband!" I shouted
"And he took that away from me. Away from us. It's all Enzo's fault" I said
"He was doing his job Alora" he said

I scoffed, shaking my head
"Doing his job didn't mean he needed to die, to save Enzo? To save his life? Why does his life value higher than Leon's?" I asked, my cheeks wet
"It doesn't, it... it's just the way it happened Alora, you can't blame Enzo for that" he said
"Oh I can" I snapped

"Is it... is it you? You're the one that hired Valencia?" He asked
"At least one person in this house isn't stupid" I rolled my eyes
He looked at me, disgusted

"Why? Why the fuck would you do that? They're our family" he said
"Leon was my family" I said
"And Athena? You just said she means something to you, you were going to leave her widowed, leave their kids without a father?" He shouted

"Believe me, they'll be better off without him" I said
"Do you know how much shit you've caused? All the chaos, all the pain. This is all because of you! Athena is gone because of you! Adonis is heartbroken-"
"Adonis never should have fell for that fucking girl" I said.

"Athena's daughter!" He shouted back
"And don't we know it? Once again Enzo is burying shit for his precious family. We just all come second to that" I shouted back

He shook his head again, looking over me
"I don't know what you've become... but Leon would be ashamed" he said
"Stop it" I said

"He would be disgusted in you" he said
"Seth" I shouted
"He would be fucking ashamed to call you his wife!" He shouted

I shut my eyes, the tears overflowing as a sob escaped me
"I'm not protecting you. No fucking chance. You're on your own Alora, you can't do this" he said, pushing past me to the door

"You can't say any thing" I said
"You put a hit on Enzo! You got Athena kidnapped. I'm not fucking covering for you" he shouted, turning his back on me
He can't tell them
He can't

I didn't do all of this for nothing.
My thoughts took a moment to catch up with my actions

As I looked down at Seth on the floor... at the ornament in my hand covered in blood
"Seth" I said shakily, dropping it
"Seth?" I said again, crouching beside him
I turned his head, his eyes open
Staring at me

I shot away from him, my sobs uncontainable
"I... I'm sorry" I said
"I'm sorry" I said again

| Enzo |

"Sir" a guard interrupted me and Kian
"Have you found her?" I asked immediately, causing Kian to stand up.
"Uh no sir, it's Adonis" he said
"Adonis?" Kian questioned

"He's been stabbed sir, we're transferring him to the medical room" he said
I also stood, as we rushed after him.
Adonis was stabbed? By who?
By Valencia?
She was here?

"Enzo!" I heard Alora scream from the top of the stairs, stopping me and Kian in our tracks
"Alora?" I said unsure, noticing the blood on her dress, on her hands

"Seth" she cried
"Seth?" Kian said shocked, racing up the stairs, past Alora
"He's dead" she sobbed as she came down the stairs, into my arms
"Seth..." I looked up, before Kian reappeared, shaking his head, also covered in blood

"What happened?" I asked
"Valencia... she... she killed him" she cried
"Valencia?"
She nodded into my shoulder

"What the fuck is wrong with her? Athena, Adonis and now... Seth" Kian spat
"Adonis?" Alora questioned
"He's been stabbed" Kian said
"What?" She asked surprised, worry all over her face

She's broke into my house again!
Stabbed Adonis... killed Seth...
Took my wife
"I'm going to fucking kill her" I seethed.

| Valencia |

"Where have you been?" Athena asked worriedly
"Don't worry about it" I brushed off
"Did you hurt someone?" She asked, her eyes fixed on my bloody hands
"Yes" I said, watching for her reaction

And I got one
A sad one. A... disappointed one
One that made me feel worse about myself

And I already felt like a ton of guilt was burying me
I hurt him
I...

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked
"No" I seethed, washing my hands
"You seem sad. Did you hurt Adonis?" She pushed
"Leave it" I warned, scrubbing my nails
"Valencia, you can talk to me-"

"You're not my mother! This isn't a bonding trip Athena, I took you to get to Enzo, nothing else!" I shouted, as water flew everywhere from my hand
She was pushing me too far

"Say what you want but do not lie Valencia. I am your mother, whether you like it or not" she said
"You mean whether you like it or not. You're the one that didn't want me" I threw back
She looked down, fiddling with her hands as I turned back to the sink
"I did want you" she said

"More than anything" she went on
I faltered, closing my eyes
I didn't need this. I didn't need a mother daughter confiding talk
I didn't need closure
I knew what I was. Who I am.
I knew she gave me away, end of story.

"My parents told me I wasn't ready for a baby" she said
"I really don't need to he-"
"But I wanted you. I did, I... I sat with you for hours before you left. Just... looking at you, remembering everything I could about you in case I ever saw you again" she said

"Stop" I muttered quietly
"I named you Florence, I always loved the name" she went on
"Stop" I said louder
"I loved you and it broke my head to give you aw-"

"Then why did you? Huh! Why did you give me away mother of mine?" I shouted bitterly, turning to her

"Why didn't you fight for me?" I asked, her face fell into sadness
She saw it in me. She saw the abandonment and she wanted to take it away
She wanted to fix it
And it broke something inside of me
It scared the hell out of me.

Because no one cared. No one ever cared for anything about me
And then Adonis came along and made everything... different
He made me different
And now her.

Now she wanted to love me into normalcy?

"I was a kid" she said sadly
"I... I was fifteen, my parents took over, I tell myself every year, every birthday while I sit there and blow out candles, I tell myself I should have done something" she said

I watched her, watched her cry over me

"Who's my father?" I asked
She gathered herself
"He was a boy in my class. We... he didn't want to be involved" she said

"A ghost" I commented
"I don't even get a name?" I asked
"He isn't important. This is. We need to talk Valencia, we need to connect" she said
"I've spent so long wishing I could see you, to speak to you and find out what happened" she said

"You want to talk? You want to know about me?" I said, sitting in front of her
"I was trained from birth. Mentally tested and then physically trained from five. I killed my first target at seven. Been killing ever since. I was first tortured at nine. I fucked up, I left a witness alive and my mentor had to beat me to teach me a lesson" I said, she avoided my eyes, pained by my words

"He taught me that you never leave a witness, that you never believe their sob stories" I said, trying to find her eyes but she wouldn't let me
She didn't want to hear any of it
"I didn't go to school. I didn't go to prom. I didn't do exams. I didn't have friends. No one has friends there, everyone, and I mean everyone is your competition. Everyone is your enemy" I explained

"You were a kid. I was a fucking baby" I said
"I didn't know you were goi-"
"No, but you gave me up. And now you can't even look at what I am. I was a kid when I was beaten. Tortured, burned, punished, isolated, cut!" I drove in to her brain, pulling my shirt off

She needed to see. She needed to see the reality.
She looked over my scars, over the burn on my chest from Ciro
I got up, walking out.

Vote and Comment
Thoughts???

•