Chapter 24

Aliyana After 6-hours, it is close to morning time. We have met the boy named Sabastian, who as promised drove from Liston Hills to Barfa and as Kylie said she would arrange, we had a group of bikers that helped us from Barfa to a place called Kanla. The town is dead and quiet, perfect for Mero to hide in plain sight and Marco will never think to look so close to the Satan Sniper's Motorcycle Club. Mero is sitting on the blue and grey sofa, as Gabriel makes his famous coffee in the kitchen and I am standing by the wall stretching my legs while Michel is trying to fix the heater by the door. "Maybe we should talk about why Marco wants your liver," Michel says, not beating around the bush. "He saw a video with me talking to Elise the day Jack Creston was kidnapped." "Elise? What does she have to do with it?" Mero looks at me, and sits up placing his face in his hands. We all wait to hear what is going on, and why my sister is involved. "Elise and I were having a thing, it's been on and off for a few years, and I loved her Aliyana. 2 months before Ren died, I found out something about her. I kept her secret hoping she would love me to. I wanted to marry her. I thought she'll tell me herself, confess but she didn't." "Fuck, did you pop her cherie?" Michel asks and I glare at him, but all he does is shrugs as he lifts his jeans up and stands to his full height. "No, she wasn't a virgin." I frown trying to think of how sweet Elise could not be a virgin? If Mero didn't do it, somebody must have, so who? "What is the secret? You said she has a secret?" Gabriel walks over with our drinks as Michel puts the switch on for the heater and the machine starts doing its thing. "Elise isn't your sister, she is the Catellis'. Capo Marcello was the one who slept with her mother, not your father. When Sabastian asked his dad, his father fed him a pint of lies. She fooled all of us, I had no idea how we were all getting played for years." "What?" The soft voice, is coming from me, and I am still trying to wrap my head around it all. Elise? A lie? Now isn't the time to break and curse myself for falling all these years. Believing she's good. Alice was right the night when she said I didn't know Elise, now she is gone back to Chicago. "Fucking hell, shit fucker, what the fuck were you thinking Mero?" "I fucked up." He has lost so much weight these last 5 days, and I want to pity him but now isn't the time. Nor is it the time to be angry. "Yeah, well now they all want you dead. I told you not to go near Elise in the first place. Now you telling me she isn't even my sister?" I move closer toward him, and Gabriel also sits down next to him. We know what love is like. It can make you do crazy things. "No, she's a Catelli, but a traitorous one. She's sleeping with Lucca Sanati, the head of the Outfit, and he is double her age. He filled her head with so much shit, fuck Liya, when she came to me and told me that Ren tried to hurt her, I didn't believe her, and she got so mad that day. I went to go see her after I spoke to you. She was hysterical. I didn't think she'll get someone to kill Ren. But I figured there was something not right that day, when my ring went missing." "Do you know who it was?" His face is grave, and he drops his gaze. "I'm not 100% certain I'm correct. I don't wanna cause trouble." My eyes flicker to Gabriel who is also staring at me, as to say ‘should we know' "Who? Tell me dammit," I yell as my heart accelerates with the thought of who it could be. "Lucca himself. I went to Cristen and saw her there, I confronted her about my ring. And threatened to tell Deno who she was, but she smiled and said that she can see why Lucca wanted to look in Ren's face when he shot him." "Okay, so that is practically a confession. Who was in the car with you the day Jack Creston got kidnapped?" Michel asks as he takes a seat on the small carpet in the middle of the lounge area. He looks to Gabriel, and I click my fingers getting his attention, "Who Mero?" "Sienna Bray." I frown, taking a minute to digest that information. "Sienna hasn't been seen in like a year, and she comes to you? I know Sienna longer than you," "Well, she had leverage over me. She told me if I helped her, she wouldn't tell anyone that I was sleeping with Elise. She's the one who told me about Elise's father and the truth about who she really is. She also managed to get me this ring." The ring on his finger was a replica not a real one. "I couldn't afford to get one made since my father stopped giving me money and I've been using what your father gives me to live and pay for my studies." A made-man's pride can have deadly consequences. Gabriel shakes his head, "You should have come to me. I wouldn't even have blinked to fucking help you." "That just doesn't make sense. Why would Sienna come to you, of all people? Leverage or not. She could have gone to Xander, the two of them dated a while back." "Because Elise was the one who told Jack Creston about Ren keeping the drug Diamond made and she promised to give it to him, if he found out where Kylie sent Diamond, for some reason Lucca was very interested in the girl." "I see. It's going to be a long time before we can move you from here, the good thing is this place is hidden and owned by someone who can keep you safe. Michel, Aliyana or I will check up on you when we can. Until then I suggest you lay low, there is enough food stocked to last you 6 months." "Thanks for helping me, I know the position it puts you all in." Mero says and I don't think about it as I go to him and drop myself right on his lap and kiss his cheek. "You would do it for us. We are family, there is no position better than that." I say as I smile at him, hoping that God answers my prayer and keeps him safe. Gabriel put his hand on my shoulder, "Aliyana is right. Family is family. We Italian, how can we turn our back on you?" "And you are innocent, so we not really committing any big crime. We are merely stopping a war." Michel says and we spend our last hour with our friend as the sun begins to brighten our morning with its gentle reminder that we have to leave. "How's Salvatore? Still think you can trust him?" Mero questions. "Of course, yes. He was the one who showed me the footage of you and the one who kept Deno and Marco from tracking you." "Why isn't he here?" "My father has forbidden Salvatore's presence in my company. He is to keep a respectable distance from now. Which means no car rides, or Campus runs, just normal boring stuff. My father's words not mine." "I'm sure you will find a way, you always do. He seems like a good guy." "He is, we are cousins." Michel answers Mero with a reminder of that small fact. I say goodbye to my friend and our trip back home is a sad one at best. Nothing can stop the dread weighing down in my belly. Elise betrayed us, we trusted her and this is what she did. I never thought I would ever live to see the day I would have to kill her. And it is sad to say that deep down I still love her. She is a piece of me. I used to sneak out of my house just to spend time with her, meanwhile it was just a game for her. I never thought I could feel like this and it would because of a sister I thought I was saving. But she was plotting my friends murder.