Chapter 91 Facing The Consequences
Serena's POV
Dante stood again but I knew it was of no use. He stepped between both of us, with his hands raised.
I gulped hard even though I knew what it would take.
“Elder, you don't need to do this here,” Dante replied.
But he simply swung the iron in front of Dante. “Mr. Russo, get out of the way. I need to get answers, and I need them from her,” he replied, pointing the gun behind Dante.
“See, this is not the best solution. Let's arrange a more fitting way to handle this,” Dante said calmly.
“It's not your boy that was killed. It's mine, and by the woman he portrayed to be in love with,” he replied.
Dante took a deep breath and stepped away from me, shattering my hope.
I had no way to run, I was face to face with the small hole that could end everything.
“Good choice,” the elder exclaimed while nodding towards Dante.
I turned to Dante and he offered me an apologetic smile with a shrug.
I guess I had to do this on my own.
“Now, talk to me. What happened to my boy, Marco?” The elder asked calmly in my direction.
“Uhm,” I stuttered, trying to get my mind wrapped around the words I'd say.
I was shocked when he began chuckling. He then smiled and raised the gun in the air.
“Are you scared cause of this?” He asked, then placed the gun down on the table. “There, for the sake of Mr. Russo here, I'll hear you out. Now talk,” he added.
I stared around at the faces around me, then took a deep breath. It's in my hands now.
And I'll say nothing but the truth.
“I shot Marco in the head on our wedding night cause I had enough,” I finally admitted.
“You had enough? Enough of what?” He asked.
“Enough of everything, enough of his treatment towards me. I had enough of simply surviving,” I said boldly.
“Interesting,” he remarked slowly, then ran a hand over his hair. “Wait, I thought you loved him?” He asked.
A dry laugh escaped my lips before I could stop myself.
“My bad,” I quickly apologized. “But no, I never loved Marco,” I admitted.
“Really? Didn't look that way over a week ago when you both walked into this office,” he remarked.
“I had no choice, I had to play my role,” I explained.
“Marco forced you?” He asked.
“Marco did a lot of things to me,” I muttered.
He exhaled slowly. “I wasn't aware of all these, only thought you were assigned to him and accepted it with good faith,” he replied.
“I had no choice, till I made a choice. It was the only way I could escape his grasp,” I confessed.
The elder took a deep breath and sat back fully, stroking his beard carefully.
“And how's that working out for you?” He asked in a way that told me he already had the answer.
He then smiled and stared at me carefully.
“Let's get this out of the way then,” he said while sitting straight and picking up the gun from the table.
He then proceeded to place it into his drawer carefully.
“The deed has been done and in our world, life is as good as survival of the fittest,” he exclaimed. “Marco should have known better,” he added.
I sighed a sigh of relief but he quickly spoke up again.
“Don't think I'd just let that die so easily. I'm only respecting Mr. Russo here and the fact that you'd come with him.”
“Thank you, elder,” Dante replied with a bow of his head.
“So now, what brought you to me?” He asked.
Dante sat up. “Luca has been a thorn in my flesh ever since I took Serena in, and I want to put an end to that,” Dante replied.
“You wanna shoot Luca too?” The elder exclaimed.
Dante paused and shook his head. Probably cause he's already done that.
“Not necessarily,” Dante replied and I knew he didn't mean it. “We are here for a more permanent solution,” he added.
“A permanent solution? What do you have in mind?” The elder asked.
Dante paused and glanced at me briefly before returning his gaze to the elder.
“We want to end the bond between Marco and Serena,” Dante revealed.
The elder sat back in his chair and ran a hand over his chin.
“Thereby making any proceedings from Luca to get hold of Serena unlawful and beyond his territorial duties. Which would also give you the right to do anything in retaliation," he explained carefully.
“Exactly,” Dante replied.
He nodded his head repeatedly before shaking it all together.
“You know that won't stop Luca right?”
“Yeah, but it would give us better grounds to fight back,” Dante replied.
The elder nodded again with his hand still stroking his beard.
Then he sat up straight. “I'm sorry, Mr. Russo, I can't honour your request,” he answered.
I could feel the room shrinking in on me as his reply rang through my mind.
All that trouble for nothing, all the expectations got drowned with five words.
“Elder, you need to help me out of this,” Dante continued.
“On the contrary, I don't need to do anything, Mr. Russo. You see, all that Luca is doing is right, he has the right to avenge his brother's death,” he continued.
I was slowly losing the will to stand.
“You see, and as man in charge, Luca too has the right to bring the murderer of his predecessor to charge however he wants if he, or as in this case, she, refuses to pay up peacefully,” he continued.
“But Luca was never made head,” Nico cut in.
The elder stared up at Nico for a while before returning his gaze to Dante.
“Yes, I never made Luca head of fields, as Marco was. But he was his second in charge and so is in line to take up the position of head in the case of a resignation or death, as the case we are in now is,” he explained.
I ran a hand over my head and helped myself to a seat as I felt I would collapse at any second.
But that only drew his attention to me.
“Rightfully, I shouldn't let her live here alive,” he said, gesturing to me.
I made to get up but he stopped me with his hand.
“Relax, as I said earlier, I'll respect the fact that you are with Mr. Russo and do nothing directly. But helping you both to stop Luca is me betraying my family that I rule. Whether we like it or not, Marco was part of this family,” he exclaimed.
Dante sat back in his chair and the elder laughed gently.
“You know, your case is easy, Mr. Russo. Just drop the girl and Luca has no right to come at you,” he expressed with a smile.
My jaw slacked and I turned to Dante immediately. He was already staring at me and didn't look away before he shook his head.
“Not a chance,” he replied, sending waves of relief through me.
The elder chuckled again. “Why? What's so special about her?” He asked like I wasn't in the room.
But Dante's reply spun my world around in a way I didn't expect.