Finding Forgiveness

“You don’t have a choice,” I said.

I then grabbed a pen and a piece of paper from the glove box and scribbled down Leo’s number.

“Call my mate and tell him where I am,” I said.

Julia exchanged unsure looks with Chico before finally nodding, “Okay.”

Chico brought the car to a stop, “Thank you so much,” I said as Julia hugged me tightly.

“Just run,” she said looking into the jungle. “As far away from here as possible. Don’t come back and don’t worry about us.”

I nodded. Of course, I was going to worry about them. Andrea wasn’t just going to let me slide out of his grasp this easily and he’ll know it wasn’t me that knocked him out but I couldn’t let that stop me. I had to leave.

I put my hand on Chico’s shoulder and thanked him too before getting out the car.

“Go,” she urged as I hesitated for a moment.

I smiled once more, not knowing what else to say to express my gratitude before bolting straight into the darkness of the jungle.

I battled my way through the jungle for hours. I could hear his voice. Leo’s voice. He shouted my name over and over again but my senses were so overwhelmed by adrenaline and exhaustion I couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from. It echoed all around my mind as my head spun and my heart thudded. I let out a desperate frustrated cry before stopping between two large trees to catch my breath.

“Why’d you stop?” A voice asked. “He’s so close.”

I jumped and snapped my head around. Luciano slowly emerged from the shadows, sporting once of his most malicious grins.

“How long have you been following me?” I asked.

“Eh, hours,” he said with a shrug as he examined the gun in his hand, polishing a smudge away with his sleeve. “Kinda boring how you just go around and around in circles though.”

“Is this a game to you?” I questioned.

“It was until you just stopped and gave up,” he said. “You make it top easy for me.”

I could still hear Leo’s calls. Perhaps if I couldn’t find him, he couldn’t find me.

“Leo!” I shouted. “Leonardo!”

Before I could call for a third time, Luciano had grabbed me and slapped a hand over my mouth.

“Shut up,” he growled. “Or one of these bullets might end up in your Alpha’s skull.”

“Fuck you,” I hissed shoving him away from me.

At that, he wrapped his arm around my neck, pulling me into his chest and held the gun to my head.

“Don’t underestimate what I will do, Ella,” he said deeply.

“Ella!” Leo’s voice called again.

He was half a kilometre away now at the very most.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

I didn’t doubt Luciano’s words for a second. He was perfectly capable of killing me but I was more concerned about him killing Leo. I stood silently, praying that he wouldn’t find us. It was the only way he’d stay safe.

Unfortunately, I was not so lucky. A few minutes later, we were listening to a set of close footsteps battling through the dense vegetation and a few seconds after that, the light of the moon, filtering through the canopy, cast onto Leonardo’s face.

He was exhausted. And not just from running through the jungle tonight. The sort of long term exhaustion from weeks and months of sleepless nights and stress. The twinkle in his eye had diminished and his usual sturdiness of his presence had wilted into desperation.

But the second we made eye contact, he seemed to revive.

“Leo,” I whispered as a tear rolled down my cheek.

He scanned me, stopping at every bruise and cut on my body, before returning with a sad smile.

He then looked up to Luciano, who still hold the gun to my head, and immediately turned cold and harsh.

“Let her go,” he growled.

“I don’t take orders from you anymore,” Luciano replied with a laugh.

Leo lurched forward but then Luciano only tightened his grip on me and pushed the gun harder against my head, “Don’t think I won’t do it.”

Leo froze and gave Luciano the most demonic glare.

Just then, we heard the not so distant calls of men. Andrea’s men.

Luciano turned and tuned his ear as I did the same. Andrea was among them.

“Where are you, Puta?” Andrea shouted. “You can’t hide from me forever.”

Luciano then looked back to Leo for a split second and then down to me. He removed the gun from my head and shoved me towards Leo. I stumbled and gasped but without hesitation, Leo came forward and pulled me into his arms. One arm wrapped firmly around my back, the other hand settling at the base of my head, holding me close to his chest in a protective embrace.

I rested my head on him and breathed in his comforting scent for the first time in months as I clutched his shirt in my hands.

I felt him nod to Luciano who disappeared into the jungle, leaving me with Leo.

A few seconds later, he lifted my head so that my eyes met his, “I’ve never been so relieved to see you,” he said wiping my tears with his thumb. “I love you.”

In that moment, I felt our bond more powerfully than I ever had before and I was too choked with emotion to reply so instead I just gave him a genuine smile as more tears flooded out.

“We need to get out of here,” he said a few moments later as the voices of Andrea and his men got louder.

I suddenly remembered our situation and the danger we were in.

“I tried to kill him,” I said, my heart rate already increasing. “But-”

“It’s okay,” he replied. “We will get him one day. But for now, just let me get you somewhere safe.”

I nodded and he took my hand in his tightly and we ran.

Leo’s POV

Hours later and I’d finally got Ella back to one of my camps. It was small and made up of only three or four tents strung up between the trees but it was hidden within the dense foliage of the forest and had a dozen or so of my men circling and patrolling. As we descended further into the night the constant chirp of crickets and occasional cries of distant birds and animals emerged but the air was still as thick and hot as ever.

Ella sat silently on a rock as I crouched below her tending to her wounds. There were bruises all over her body which I could do little about. Her lip was cut, her neck covered in Andrea’s hickeys and her legs were all scratched and scraped from running through the jungle. Most notably, a nasty gash stretched across her knee.

I rinsed away the blood and cleaned the cut with antiseptic. It can’t have been particularly comfortable but she didn’t even wince. It was as if she was numb to pain. Every now and then, I would look up to her but she just stared straight ahead into the jungle. Either she was so far into her own thoughts that she didn’t notice or she couldn’t bear the thought of a conversation and chose to ignore me.

“Do you know why Luciano helped us?” I asked finally as I pressed a large band-aid onto her knee.