The Alpha's Promise ✔️

C H A P T E R 25

I Came, I Saw, I Conquered

"Veni, vidi, vici."

ZANE DE LUCA

When I was training to become Alpha my father always told me there was one thing that I must never forget. Alphas are never confused. If you make a decision stick with it because everyone looks to you for guidance.

Well, it's a good thing he's not here now because I am so fucking confused that there's no way it's not showing on my face.

I stare at the painting, looking deep into Lorenzo's eyes, my eyes. I think back to Donata and Salvaza's words, they talked about him with such admiration as he was a hero.

But as I glare down the man that looks just like me, I see the truth. He was no hero. He was a villain.

Maybe he twisted it in a way where he seemed like the good guy but he was anything but. I can see it in his eyes, the deep love that runs in his irises for the woman standing next to him. The very love that pushed him into committing a massacre.

There lay the difference between him and me. He was a man ready to burn down the world for his beloved, but I was a man who had already destroyed his.

It would stay that way too because I never want to look like how Lorenzo Moretti looks like in that painting. I don't want that look in my eyes ever again, because it was there once before and all it left behind was destruction.

Alessandra's looking at everything but me. On the contrary, I'm looking at her, committing her picture in my memory.

Her brown hair falls down her shoulders in waves. The red fabric of her dress sticks out against the dark colors of the room.

Beauty.

Alessandra has always been pretty. Even when we were younger my eyes couldn't help but be drawn to her. She seems to get prettier as more years pass by. Yet she looks so different now. The last time she looked at me there was a glimmer of hope lingering on her face. Now she looks at me with indifference.

Good.

"Zane!"

"What?" I ask her.

"You're bleeding," she tells me.

I touch my forehead and feel the warm blood dripping down the side of my face.

"What the hell.." I stop my sentence midway as Alessandra's body is slammed against the wall.

"Alessandra!"

She's laying on the floor, clutching her ribs. Her face pinches in agony as I run towards her.

"Zane," she whispers.

"I don't understand, you should be healing by now!" I shout. I touch her ribs and she winces.

Her breathing gets slower and I wrap her in my arms.

"No, no,"

She's in my arms. Her mouth is opened slightly but her face has lost all of its color. Blood covers my hands as I try to stop the bleeding.

"Rosanna!"

"Alessandra!"

I shake her body but she's giving out. How is this possible? She was fine moments ago.

"Donata! Salvaza! I need help!"

The sisters run in and assess the situation.

"What happened?" Donata asks.