Hers to Love

by Talia Ellison

  “Except that would create a whole lot of problems because the Hulseys aren’t a small family,” Michael muttered.

  I turned toward Marco, who was awfully quiet at the door, probably because he didn’t want my family to notice him and kick him out of here. It was a surprise they hadn’t already, but Jason was distracted. I needed Marco’s opinion on this, though. “What do you suggest we do? She might have turned against Roberto, but she was working with him before, wasn’t she? If she’s siding with Sebastian now, this whole thing could be a trap so we’d let her in.”

  “I don’t know. Roberto dealt with the Hulseys personally. Aaron and I weren’t involved,” Marco said.

  “Great,” I muttered. “Now what? Do we let her in or not? If she fakes that we kidnapped her, and her men attack...”

  “But if we’re wrong about her and we send her away... we might miss important information that could lead us to Tony and she could side with someone else,” Michael said.

  “We’ll meet with her,” my father finally said. “But first let the guards scan the whole area to make sure no one suspicious came with her. Check all the underground tunnels too. They should scan and search her for weapons.”

  “She’ll refuse that. Remember, she doesn’t trust the guards,” I said.

  “Then we’ll have to be the ones to search her,” my father said. “Jason and Michael. You’ll do it and bring her here after you make sure she’s not a threat. Search thoroughly. We don’t want any surprises, and she can’t complain about you since you’re family. Just be careful.”

  “We will,” Jason said, and he and Michael started for the door.

  As I watched them leave, I couldn’t help but wonder what Lora Hulsey really wanted from us now. Maybe she, too, was trying to use the opportunity and side with us to get someone’s territories if she thought we had a better chance of winning a war. We were about to find out.

  Chapter 12

  “You’ve got a lovely home,” Lora said as she strode into the room, followed by my brothers. She’d taken off her veil and coat and was only wearing a black top with silver sequins and wide-leg black pants.

  “I assume you didn’t come here to admire my house,” my father said. “I didn’t expect to see you here. What could be so urgent that you had to come all the way here?”

  Lora’s lips flattened. “I had to come in person. There was no other way.” She eyed the closed door behind her. “Are you sure we can talk in here?”

  “Yes. Unless you think my family can’t be trusted,” my father said.

  My mom was sitting on the bed. She’d cleaned up her smeared makeup and was perfectly composed. My brothers were sitting in the armchairs, and I was leaning against the wall. My parents’ bedroom seemed like the best choice for this kind of a conversation because it was soundproof, and we could still get out quickly and reach our guards if we needed to. Going to the panic room would’ve been the safest, but we didn’t want Lora to think we were afraid. Marco had stayed in the hallway with the guards too.

  “Of course I trust your family, but I don’t trust anyone outside this room,” she said. “I had to be careful not to be seen.”

  “And why’s that?” my father asked cautiously. “Are you afraid to be seen and associated with us? Is this a visit from the Hulseys’ leader or from you?”

  Lora sighed, and she suddenly looked older than she was. “I’m here as myself, or at least as one part of the Hulseys.”

  “Please take a seat.” My father extended his arm toward an empty armchair, and Lora sat down, crossing her legs, her silver high heels glittering in the light. “What’s going on, Lora?”

  “I’m sure you know.” She tilted her head, her black hair fanned across her shoulders, her gray eyes piercing. “The Ferlantes, of course.”

  “What do you know about that?” My father settled in the chair across from her.

  “They’re planning to take over your territory.”

  “How do you know about that? Did they approach you?”

  “Yes, but I refused to take part in any of their plans and wasn’t interested in what they had to offer, but... my sister was.” She pursed her lips in annoyance.

  “I was under the impression that your sister couldn’t make deals without you since you’re the official leader.” My father narrowed his eyes at her.

  “Yes, I’m the leader of the Hulseys, but after our parents passed, my two sisters inherited their part too. We were supposed to be co-leaders, but they chose me to represent our family. We never officially signed anything, though, and they never showed interested in leadership. But my sister Yvette...” Lora folded her hands in her lap. “The Ferlantes offered her something she must have liked, and she agreed to help them. As one of the co-leaders, she was able to convince some of our men to join her.”

  “Where’s Yvette now? Are the Ferlantes trying to take over what’s yours too?”

  “No, they’re not interested in the Hulseys at the moment, as far as I’m aware, but they needed more men for their plan and my sister provided them with that.”

  “I take it you know more about their plans,” my father said.

  “Not much, but I know they don’t want to start a war. They want you and the Viteris to sign over everything you have to them.”

  “That’s an ambitious plan, but I don’t know how they think they’ll achieve that without a fight.”

  “They plan to kidnap Aaron and you and force you to sign a contract, then kill you, your family, or anyone who dares to challenge their claim.” Lora didn’t even blink. “Without your territory and assets, you’re powerless. Your men will abandon you and search for a better opportunity and the Ferlantes will offer that to them. You may think people are loyal, but they usually stay so only as long as it’s convenient for them. When you no longer have anything to offer them, they abandon you. A few always remain, like some of my men stayed with me instead of blindly following my sister, but it won’t be enough. And without your shipments, no one else has any use for you.”

  “They could never get me to sign anything,” my father said. “They’d have to kill me first, and I won’t go down easily.”

  “Not if you fall in their trap.” She looked around the room. “You have four sons, right? I see only three.”

  My father’s fingers curled into a fist, but aside from that and the tightening of his mouth, he didn’t show any other reaction. Everyone else in the room had gone completely still. “One of my sons isn’t here. What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Oh, everything, my dear,” Lora said with a small smile. “All they have to do is take your family one by one, and in the end, you just might agree to sign whatever the hell they want you to just to get it all to stop.” Her gaze settled on me. “Hello, Octavia. Nice to see you again. I hope your beloved is well. I planned on visiting him next.”

  I froze, unable to say a word. Did she know Aaron had been taken or not? Did this mean the Ferlantes had him and not Sebastian?

  Lora focused on my father again. “Watch over your daughter. She’s the one the Ferlantes might want to use to get to the Viteri boy.”

  “I’m afraid your warning came a little too late,” my father said. He must’ve decided that keeping the info about Aaron and Tony was of no use, because if Lora was working with the Ferlantes herself, then she already knew everything. “My son Tony and Aaron have been kidnapped. The Ferlantes already delivered my son’s finger to us and invited me to come trade a part of my territory to get my boy back.”

  Lora’s whole body went rigid. “They already have your son and Aaron?”

  “Yes, I presume they have Aaron too, although he has more than one enemy, so we can’t know for sure,” my father said. “I already realized the offer they sent us was a trap, and I’m sure they’ve convinced everyone to join them or swayed them to make sure no one will come to our aid.”

  Lora closed her eyes for a moment, lifting her hand to her temple. “I came here as soon as possible. It wasn
’t easy to sneak out of the city. I didn’t want anyone to know where I was going or to follow me. My sister... She could make a wrong decision. We have to do something. My men are just outside this area, in the free zone. If we can locate my sister and the Ferlantes...”

  “Why should we trust you?” Jason said, gripping the armrests.

  My father swiveled his gaze to him but didn’t say anything.

  “You came here with this story and claim you want to help,” Jason continued. “But I don’t see why you’d do that. What’s in it for you? If you ask me, it would be better for you to side with your sister or simply let the whole thing play out. What do you care if we go down and the Ferlantes replace us? Do you expect us to give you a piece of our territory if we win too?”

  “My main reason for coming here was to warn you. I didn’t plan to get involved, but now that I’m aware how serious the situation is, I believe you need my help. I don’t want your territory. It’s too far from mine and I have no desires to expand my business here.”

  “Even less reasons to help us then,” Jason said. “How do we know it’s not you who’ll lead us into trap?”

  “Because I want to find Aaron as much as you want to find Tony,” she said, and my brow furrowed.

  “Why would you want to find Aaron?” I asked, pushing myself off the wall and stepping forward.

  “Because...” She lifted her gaze to mine. “I’m his aunt.”

  “What?” I gaped at her. “Did you just say you...?”

  “Yes. Aaron’s my nephew.”

  “Your sister...?” I could barely form words.

  “My sister Yvette is his mother.”

  My father lifted his finger, his lips parted. “How long have you known?”

  “I always knew, but my sister and Roberto made a deal. As long as Roberto lived, we were bound not to tell anyone. It was part of the deal. I had to lie to everyone.”

  “Then the Ferlantes don’t have Aaron. Why would his mother side with people who...” I searched Lora’s eyes.

  “It’s possible they have him. They might have even offered Aaron to my sister, but I’m not certain. I wish I knew, but... my sister is mentally ill. If she gets Aaron, I’m afraid of what she might do to him. The Ferlantes could’ve easily taken advantage of her and tricked her, but she... If she’s not taking her pills...”

  “Oh, God.” I thought my knees would give under me. Right before he died, Roberto had mentioned Aaron’s mother was still alive, but I’d assumed he was lying to try to save himself since he’d intended to distract us and shoot Aaron, but now... “What kind of a deal did your sister make with Roberto?”

  “My sister was young. She met Roberto at some party, or on some similar occasion... It was shortly after the death of our father. Yvette was lonely and Roberto... He could be charming when he wanted. I don’t know what happened between them because I wasn’t aware of their relationship until my sister became pregnant. By the time I found out, she’d already told Roberto and he’d made her sign a deal...”

  Lora looked down at her hands on her lap. “She said he threatened to kill her and the child if she didn’t sign, so she did. In exchange, he offered her a nice sum of money... Money we needed to save our family, because my father had left us in debt. He promised to pay us every year, as long as Aaron lived. It didn’t take me long to realize the only reason Roberto got with my sister was so she would bear him a son. He must have found our family acceptable, since I’m sure he didn’t want to have a child with just about anyone, and we weren’t a threat to him because we didn’t live in his city but were still close enough that he could request our help if he needed it. I don’t even want to imagine what would’ve happened if she had a daughter. Roberto was...”

  She shook her head. “You know, I admired some of his business moves, but as a person... not as much. Once the boy was born, Roberto took him away and forbade my sister from ever contacting her son. He wouldn’t even let her see him from afar. In fact, the deal strictly forbade us from doing anything, such as going against Roberto or trying to reach his son, and in exchange Roberto paid us and vowed not to kill us all, including my nephew.”

  “That was why you were able to offer us help,” I said. “Because Roberto broke the deal by ordering a hit on Aaron.”

  “Yes, but it wasn’t only that. After all those years of growing up with Roberto, and with all the rumors circling around, I thought Aaron was just like his father, and that it was better if he never found out the truth and my sister never met him. She was getting better too and seemed to have forgotten about him, or so I thought. But then I found out things... and when you two visited me...” Her gaze briefly met mine. “I realized that I was wrong about Aaron, and that I should do something. So yes, I sent help. That’s why I came here now... I fear that Aaron’s physical likeness to his father will confuse my sister. When she’s off her medication, she tends to have hallucinations, and if she sees Roberto in Aaron’s face... She’s been like that ever since Roberto took her son... Medication helped, but now I can’t predict what will happen once she sees Aaron.”

  “Can you contact her? Find out where she is?” I asked. If the Ferlantes used Yvette’s unstable mind, they could trick her into killing Aaron. They’d gotten what they wanted from her: her men. And if they came to realize Aaron wasn’t the heir who could sign over the territories and assets to them... They’d have no reason to keep him alive.

  “I can try, but I don’t think I can reach her.”

  “Do you all think Tony and Aaron are in the same place? Wouldn’t that be too risky?” Michael said.

  “Maybe they are. If the Ferlantes are in someone else’s area where we’re not allowed to go, and if it’s easier for them to keep watch over them that way.” I clapped my hands together. “Let’s go. We might be able to locate Yvette.” I looked at Lora. “Or you might be able to identify someone working with your sister that we don’t know about.”

  Everyone got to their feet, and we hurried to the computer room.

  Chapter 13

  “This one looks familiar,” Lora said when Dylan brought up a photo of Oswald on the screen after almost two hours of going through tons of images.

  “Are you sure?” I asked, and raised my finger to shush Dylan, who had opened his mouth to speak. We couldn’t afford to be wrong about this, so it was better if Lora told us what she knew and didn’t just agree with the information we provided to her.

  “Yes. He has a memorable face. Those beady dark eyes of his...” She leaned her hip against the desk. “I’m certain I’ve seen him before. At a party. With the Ferlantes.”

  “Wait, what? With the Ferlantes? When was that?” It was taking us way too much time to figure things out, and I was afraid Tony and Aaron didn’t have it. But I couldn’t let my mind slip to dark thoughts now.

  “Not recently. A few years ago. The Ferlantes were still insignificant back then, but I remember this guy following them around. He was very close with them. A guard perhaps, but he had a different air about him.” She pressed her lips together. “How does he fit into this?”

  “He’s one of... well, was one of Roberto’s loyal guards. He was the one who betrayed Aaron and took him,” I said.

  She jerked back, frowning at me. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Yeah.” I waved at Marco, who was at the door, and he approached. “That’s the guy who led the men who took Aaron, right?”

  Marco nodded.

  “And who are you?” Lora cocked her head at him.

  “I’m Marco. Aaron’s guard and... friend.” He rubbed the back of his head.

  “You’re saying that man...” Lora paused.

  “Oswald,” I offered.

  “Oswald, yes. He took Aaron? Did you actually see him leave with Aaron? Or is there a chance they are keeping Aaron at...” She waved her hand. “...wherever you were at that time?”

  “The Viteris’ residence,” Marco said. “And yes, I’m sure they’re no longer there. I saw them dri
ve away while I was trying to get to Aaron.”

  “It has to be the Ferlantes,” Lora said. “If they wanted Aaron dead or a new leader, they would’ve kept him there or brought that other Viteri... Sebastian.”

  “You know Sebastian?” I asked.

  “I don’t really know him, but I’ve heard of him.”

  “So you think the Ferlantes got Aaron and they want him to sign over everything the Viteris have to them?”

  “Yes. My sister will be there too. She’ll want to see Aaron. She’s been waiting to see him for a long time and was never satisfied just with photographs of him, but that was when she was taking her medication. When she’s not... She’s unpredictable and hard to control. I fear for her safety as much as I fear for Aaron’s. The Ferlantes could play dirty and kill her. Knowing her condition, they could easily fake an accident. But I assume they still need her men for whatever they’re planning, so they’ll keep her alive. Do you think Aaron would give up everything in exchange for information or a meeting with his mother?”

  I stared at Lora, open-mouthed. Shit. If the Ferlantes offered Aaron something like that... “I don’t know. He probably wouldn’t believe a word they said. Does your sister have any proof that she could show to Aaron that could convince him that they’re telling the truth?” I prayed that they didn’t have anything like that and that Aaron wouldn’t agree, because as soon as he signed, they would kill him.

  “I doubt it. Roberto made sure to get rid of everything. He didn’t want Aaron to find out, but a simple blood test done in front of Aaron might be enough,” Lora said.

  I walked over to Dylan, who was clicking through camera surveillance footage, and I cracked my knuckles. “Found anything?”

  “Not yet. I grabbed a photo of Yvette and uploaded it into the system, but so far facial recognition isn’t picking anything up. Are we even sure she’s here? She could’ve sent her men to the Ferlantes and stayed somewhere else until they were done with Aaron.”