Chapter 227
It was hard to think with the panic screaming inside my head. Thoughts flooded into my mind in
their thousands, charging aimlessly around, blockading my reason, making it near impossible to
think straight.
Andrea was right there and in his hand the weapon that could potentially kill somebody I love. But I
was frozen right beside him, paralysed by the fear.
Pull yourself together Ella. A little voice in my head hissed. She sounded a lot like me but a version
of myself I had lost weeks ago. You’re stronger than this. Don’t you dare let a man make you feel
weak.
To hear the sharp, assured tone of her voice was refreshing. Somewhere, although deep inside, she
was still there.
And she was right. What had become of me?
At that moment I felt the powerful effect of my own persuasion or maybe simply just a surge of
adrenaline. Either way, it brought me to my feet and to turning to the forest.
I wasn’t weak but I couldn’t beat Andrea. The fact was simple. But distract him? I could certainly do
that.
“Blanca,” he growled. “Get your arse back here.”
He grabbed my wrist but for once I didn’t listen to his order and I didn’t let him drag me back.
“Get the hell off me,” I growled in the darkest tone I’d ever heard my self use.
Even Andrea seemed taken aback for a second. He stared at me dumbstruck for half a second
before his face hardened again.
He pulled my wrist down hard so that I slammed forwards into his chest and was firmly in his grasp.
“Speak to me like that one more time, I dare you,” he said, squeezing my hands in an excruciating
grip.
I hesitated and he smirked before turning back out to watch the clearing and repositioning his gun.
Distract him.
“Get. The. Hell. Off. Me,” I repeated this time even more intensely deep and clear.
The surprise in Andrea’s eyes satisfied me. I didn’t so much enjoy the slap in the face a few seconds
later but at least his hand was now on me not the trigger.
My eyes began to water from the impact but I wasn’t going to cry. I held a straight face and glared
up at him as he grabbed my cheeks in his hand and glared at me with his dark eyes.
There was a sheer layer of sweat across his forehead and he squinted his long eyelashes a little as
the sun poured through the branches above us but it didn’t make him any more human. He was as
cold and psychotic as ever.
“I don’t know what’s given you this sudden burst of confidence but you better get rid of it. I’m not
gonna tolerate this,” he replied, every word slashing across his lips.
I slapped his hand off me and pushed his chest as hard as I could, “And I’m not going to tolerate
you treating me like shit anymore.”
He raised an eyebrow but I’m wasn’t going to back down.
“You’re challenging me, Blanca?” he asked. “Again? Do you not remember what happened last time
you tried this?”
Alessio was murdered. That’s what happened.
“You plan to murder my people anyway,” I hissed. “That’s why we are here. What difference does it
make?”
He let out a short frustrated breath, “You’re getting brave, huh?”
I didn’t break the eye contact.
“Is it because you know Mr Alpha is near and you think he might protect you?” he scorned.
“Because he won’t. All he’s going to do is fall to the ground with a bullet in his head, leaving you
hopelessly with me forever. So unless you want the rest of your life to be hellish, I suggest you shut
up and sit down.”
He then began pulling me back to the ground but I launched my knee into his stomach. He didn’t
even flinch and bar the slight exhale of air, was entirely unaffected.
He hit me again but I only hit him back across the face. I went to kick him too but this time he
caught my leg and pushed me to the ground, straddling me in the process.
He brought his hand to his lip and dabbed it with his fingers. My slap had somehow inflicted a cut
across his bottom lip that oozed blood.
He stared down at his now bloody fingers and his eyes snapped down to me. I was trapped
underneath his weight, unable to move and my heart beat fast. Not with fear or anticipation
anymore though. But instead with the pure fury that had unknowingly been building up in me for
weeks to which I had now opened the lid to and was now all pouring out.
“You are so done for,” he growled.
I didn’t care. His hands were no longer on the gun and his eyes well distracted from the clearing.
“What are you going to do?” I hissed, trying my best to provoke him more. “What if I’m not scared
of you anymore?”
“Then I’d be concerned that you’ve finally lost your mind,” he replied. “You should be scared
because you know what I’m capable of.”
“You certainly have a lot of confidence,” I stated. “You think that you and your army of rogues can
beat Alpha Loren? You’ve already lost to him in a challenge once, what makes you think you stand a
chance, you arrogant twat!”
He suddenly grabbed hold of his gun again and held it straight to my head, “Don’t say another
word,” he snarled.
“Or what?” I spat in response.
His finger snapped onto the trigger. I don’t know if he would have pulled it. His anger was certainly
high enough for murder and I wasn’t taking any chances so I reached my hand up and shoved the
barrel off my head, causing his finger to slip on the trigger in the process and to shoot the ground.
The shot sound alone was tremendous even without the squawks of a million birds as they fled the
forest.
A few seconds later, Luciano’s voice came through on the walky talky, “Andrea, they heard that shot.
Looks like they’re coming in prepared.
“You’ve blown our cover,” he hissed getting immediately to his feet and hauling me with him.
He then shouted something out in Spanish and all the men fled their stations and into the forest.
“Abort!” he shouted into his walky talky and a few minutes later the trucks were back.
“Congratulations,” Andrea said shoving me into one of the trucks. “You won this time. But your
Leonardo’s time will come.”