Her Secrets

86

"Wait," Lea intervened, "that's my mom, Sean. She's—"

"—a woman who spent four years with your enemy and somehow got out without the slightest scratch or trauma." Sean stood up from his seat, "I mean, I don't know about you guys but if I was forced to stay with someone I claim to despise against my will and if said someone has abused me for so long— I would not get over it this quick."

"What are you trying to say?" Lea asked, her arms crossed against her chest.

"That I don't buy her act. I don't believe her," Sean shrugged, his eyes piercing Elizabeth, "I don't believe a word she said about what actually happened when she stayed with Vladimir."

"I spent years in the hands of that monster. Years tolerating him and his abuse! How dare you say that to me?" Elizabeth snarled, her eyes holding fury.

"Wait, let's all just calm down." Blake spoke in an attempt to diffuse the tension. Antonio let out a loud sigh, "I did a little digging on you," his eyes were on me as he ran a hand through his hair, "I found absolutely nothing. It's like you don't exist. So, who are you?"

"My name is Athena," I stated in a 'duh' tone, refraining myself from rolling my eyes at him. "And I like my privacy. So what if you didn't find shit about me when you did some 'digging'? That doesn't mean anything."

"Usually it means that you're a bad guy who's trying to kill us," a boy whose name I think was Freddy said, his phone in his hands as he typed on the screen, barely paying attention to what was happening around, "at least, according to my parents."

"And mine," Nick, who was also there said, his eyes narrowing at me, "but of course, I'm not buying their words, Thena. I trust you."

"Take them away." Ricardo said to Maria who nodded with a sigh as she took the children away, shooting me one last look. I rolled my eyes at that, why was everyone looking at me like that? Seriously, they watched way too many movies.

"You're an assassin," Elizabeth said as a matter of factly, "who has killed her own sister, the french mafia leader, Joseph Ambrose, the Spanish mafia leader, Matteo, his daughter and several of his men. Tell me I'm wrong."

Looks of shock registered on the faces of the people around me.

"You're not," Sean was the one who replied, "I helped her, actually."

"How do you even know all that?" I asked the older woman, "has someone been keeping an eye on me?"

"I don't trust you," Elizabeth shrugged, "I never did. Why have you been helping her, Sean? Wait, let me guess. Taking down all these people will give you power so you can be on top of the chain, am I not right?" She raised her brows, "you want to take down Enzo and Alessio, don't you? So you can be the only powerful mafia out there? How shameful of you! They're your best friends!"

"Wait, wait," Sean let out a humourless chuckle, "is that the lie you fed them? Because that's absolutely mind blowing."

"Sean would never do that," Enzo said, narrowing his eyes at his mother-in-law, "what's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me?" Elizabeth repeated with a scoff, "what's wrong with all of you? I literally just told you the truth about this girl!" She pointed her talons at me, "she's an assassin! She's been lying to us this whole time and she had something to do with Thea's death!"

"You guys are seriously not buying this bullshit, right?" Sean asked with a bored look on his face.

"Nah," Blake shook his head, "Luigi was the one who killed Thea and we all saw it. We didn't even know of her existence back then. And so what if she's an assassin? Lea's one too. I'm not really seeing her point."

"My point is, that this girl is dangerous," Elizabeth insisted, "she wants to kill all of you. She has already helped Luigi in killing Thea and she's clearly got Sean wrapped around her fingers. She's a threat, kill her."

"Why did you kill Joseph and Matteo?" Lea asked, ignoring what her mother just said.

"Personal reasons," I responded simply, "and Sean did not do it to get on top of any shit. We were just helping each other— common enemies and all."

"How do you know Alessio?" Enzo questioned next to which I replied, "I race at the club. We met a few times and became friends."

"Lies," Elizabeth blurted out, "she's clearly lying!" She walked towards Enzo and swiftly grabbed his gun from his waistband and pointed it at me, "since none of you are going to do something about her, I will!"

"Lady—" Antonio rolled his eyes at the woman, attempting to grab the gun from her but she took a few steps closer to me, the gun pointed in my direction.

"Let's not make any rash decision," Ricardo said cautiously, "I don't think she's a threat."

"She's not," Sean eyed the gun in Elizabeth's hand, "pull that trigger and see what happens."

"You're not understanding, Sean." Elizabeth sighed, "I'm doing this for you, for all of us! This girl— you don't know her."

I raised my brows at the older woman, "the way you're acting is pretty clear that I'm a threat to you and not them."