Chapter 92 The Heavy Price
Serena's POV
“Nothing,” Dante replied and nearly shattered me.
I nearly collapsed into the chair. I couldn't tell whether he meant it or not, but I couldn't deny the effect.
“Nothing? So why the stress?” The elder asked.
Dante didn't even bother to look my way. “I can't let Luca think he has won. I can't let Luca disrespect my decision and get away with it,” he replied.
For real?
The elder nodded his head. “I see your point, Mr. Russo. But you have to understand that it would be difficult for me to stab my family in the back by helping you now,” he replied.
“It's a favour. Do this favour for me,” Dante continued.
The elder looked to the ceiling and smiled. “What was he like?” He asked and I struggled to guess he was talking to me. “Marco, I mean. How was he like?”
That's when I realized he was talking to me.
“Marco was… wild, he was crazy,” I replied.
He laughed, swaying a hand in front of me. “Be careful how you talk about the dead,” he added.
I nodded and he sat up straight. “Ever hit you?” He asked.
“Yeah, slapped me a number of times. Strangled me and kept me locked up,” I replied.
He nodded. “Best you know there's no law against such actions. A man and his family is out of my scope, all I can do is have pity for you,” he admitted.
I nodded carefully, silently cursing them and their fucked up rules.
He brought out a book and began to scribble words down on the page.
He wrote for a while before dropping the pen and ripping out the page.
“Did he ever sleep with you?” He asked carefully.
“No,” I replied firmly.
Surprisingly, that was one thing Marco never tried. He would always yell at me and push me around, but never actually tried to sleep with me.
I never asked him why cause I was actually happier that way. But at times, it did bother me why he ignored me sexually.
“Figures, Marco was a quiet type, always reserved. Hard to even believe he hit you,” the elder remarked.
“People change,” Dante cut in.
“I guess they do,” he replied. “Okay, I'm going to help you,” he said to me.
I leaned over the table immediately. “Thank you, Elder Moretti. I appreciate it,” I replied.
“Not for you anyway, for him,” he said, pointing to Dante.
Whatever, as long as I get to lose this dreadful name.all
“I really appreciate this,” Dante replied.
Ok
“You've done a great deal for me in your short reign and your dad was even of more help to me. We were friends and he would do anything for me, I guess it's time to repay that love,” he explained.
Ok
Dante just nodded with his head bowing low.
“But I can't directly break the bond,” he warned. “It would be counted as treason if I severe the bond without having enough votes to do so, and Luca would never agree,” he continued.
“So what's the way out now?” Dante asked.
Then he flipped the paper around in my direction.
“A price has to be paid, a price for Marco's blood. A price for his head. The price was to be her head, and that's what Luca wants,” he went on as I shrunk at his words.
“Her head or her loyalty, she had to pay and Luca knows that, Luca wants that,” he continued. “But if you must not pay with her blood, you must pay with another blood.”
Then I read the words on the paper written in bold red ink.
“I, Serena Moretti, do solemnly swear to pay for the death of Marco Moretti with the blood of my child in exchange for mine.”
There were a few dotted spots to sign but I could barely focus my eyes on either of them.
My child? One I don't even have yet?
I looked up at him while lifting the paper up with shaky hands. “I don't understand this,” I said aloud.
“It's English, Mrs. Moretti. Read it again till you do understand,” he added with a smile.
“What is it?” Dante asked and I carefully handed over the paper to him without saying a word.
“I can't,” I muttered. “I can't.”
The elder shrugged with a carefree look on his face. “The choice is yours. Your life, or theirs,” he replied.
“No, it doesn't have to be this way,” I muttered again.
Dante dropped the paper back on the table and ran a hand over his hair.
“Serena,” he called softly after a while.
“No, I'm not doing it,” I said sharply.
“Look at me, Serena,” he called again but there was no way I'd sign that.
“No, I can't use them. They don't even know anything, they aren't even born yet,” I replied.
“Serena, this is the only reasonable way,” Dante continued.
“And what if he doesn't stop? What if Luca doesn't quit?” I shot back.
“Then we'll have better grounds to fight back,” I replied.
But she kept shaking her head. “It's easy for you to say. This isn't what I planned for them, I want to be a good mother, I want to never have to see my children cry. This is the opposite of being a good mother,” I remarked.
“How sweet,” the elder remarked sarcastically.
I nearly lost my cool over that.
“In the first place, a good mother doesn't go about putting bullets in people's heads,” he replied.
“No, in the first place, if I had a good mother, none of these would have happened,” I shot back and the whole room fell silent.
“Take this offer or you don't, either way, Luca and his generation would hunt you down. You'll become an enemy to this family and both you and your so-called ‘perfect children’ would never be safe on this earth. The choice is really yours,” he continued.
I shook my head violently. “No, and you know what? Fuck you and your family, I'll rather die than being my children into this!” I yelled.
I didn't know when the words came out till it was too late to stop them. If I was thinking, maybe I wouldn't have.
But it was too late and it seemed to have gotten everyone rooted to their spots.
Then the elder chuckled before picking up the piece of paper he had offered me, rose to his feet and ripped it into pieces.
Dante got up to his feet too but the elder had other plans.
“Very well then. Now get the fuck out of my office.”