Owned? - Chapter 43：The Blacks

•Liana

Ryan, that little shit!

I walked to my car parked at the back of the cafe where I just met Arius. I told him not to do anything that would get on Arius’s nerves but that idiot didn’t listen.

I opened the passenger seat and put the paper bag there, then walked around and sat in the driver’s seat in frustration.

I’m losing my favorite partner because of an idiot.

I glanced at the paper bag. I’m going to bet this is a final warning for Ryan.

I started the car and drove back home.

As soon as I entered the mansion I asked the maid to call Ryan in the living room on the second floor and made my way there.

I sat there on the chair at the start of the table, the bag right in front of me.

The door opened and Ryan entered the place in an annoyed mood, “What do you want?” He stopped a few steps away from me.

I gestured at the paper bag on the table, “There’s a gift for you.” I said and he furrowed his eyebrows, “From the person you keep annoying.”

He roughly grabbed  the bag and pulled the box out of it, placing it on the table he looked at the neatly taped square.

I rolled my eyes and took out my lipstick knife from my purse and handed it to him. He took it quietly and cut the tape around the box, but as soon as he opened it a rotten stench made us cover our noses immediately.

“What the fuck!” Ryan cursed.

As we both recovered a bit from the horrible smell we looked inside the box.

There was a head inside, of a man whose eyes were closed. There was another piece of skin in it, seemingly carved out of from the chest, but I wasn’t sure.

The ski piece had a special symbol branded into it. It somewhat looked like a skull with twig like things around it but eventually I realized it was a spider symbol. The skull like texture was on top of it and the twigs were actually the spider legs.

It took me some time to remember where I had seen that symbol, then it clicked.

“Ryan.” I glared at him, “You sent an assassin to Arius.” He looked at me, “From the Skull spider clan. They don’t give out their assassins, that means you must have used some underhanded method to hire one.”

“Arius gave you this?” He asked looking away and shutting the box.

‘Why?” I scoffed, “Surprised he’s still alive? If you kill him-”

“So what? He’s the last of the Alucards. If he dies the whole family is finished.”

“Don’t be a fool!! Why did you try to kill him?!”

“I didn’t sent it for him. I sent it for the slaves he has.”

“What? Just for some slaves?” I was taken aback by his stupidity.

“He refused to give them to me.”

“You can have any slaves.” I gritted my teeth.

“The one’s he has are no ordinary slaves. He’s protecting the enemies who once tried to ruin the Black house.”

“What?” I said.

“What are you talking about?” Derulo, the eldest of us siblings entered the room, “Who’s protecting an enemy?”

I sighed and Ryan looked down, “Arius-” He gulped, “He has the surviving members of Violet and Siegfield.”

Derulo looked at both of us. His presence is always a bit hard to bear, especially when he’s deciding how he’s going to act. He walked towards us and stopped in front of the box, opening it to see what was inside.

“Did Arius send you this?” Ryan nodded, “Why?” Somehow he wasn’t much fazed by the horrific stench.

“I sent this assassin to get me the slave under Arius but he failed.” Ryan answered.

“And how did you manage to hire one from the skull spiders? They rarely ever hand over their assassins. Did you use the Black’s name?”

Ryan shook his head, “No. I just managed to tip one off. He was relatively new compared to the others who are trained since childhood so I somehow pulled it off.”

Derulo looked at Ryan, “You’re telling me you didn’t officially get him from the Skull Spiders?”

“No…” I looked at Ryan in anger.

“You do realize that will land us in more danger!” I yelled at him when Derulo raised his hand to stop me.

“The Blacks name wasn’t used.” Derulo spoke, “Get rid of the evidence of the body.” He glanced at Ryan, “And stop trying to get what isn’t yours.” He began to leave, “You can not get your hands on everything.” Just before exiting through the door he looked back at us, “If you mess with Arius it may lead to another clash. The past is gone. Whoever is left let them be.”

“What is it?”

He gulped, “I didn’t use the Black’s name but I used the Alucard’s name.”

I blinked, “What?”

“I sent the original message through Alucard’s name.”

I sat down on the chair in confusion, “This is bad. What are you going to do about this? Derulo has always been soft with you because you were the youngest but what will you do now?”

“Nothing.” He said plainly, “I always hated Arius’s guts anyway. Don’t you?”

“No I don’t!”

“He had the girls whose families killed our mothers.”

Our mothers… We had different mothers since our dad had two wives.

“Yes. I know the violets and Siegfield killed our mothers but the past is the past! And it isn’t like he has them as guests. He has them as their slaves.” I stood up from the chair ready to leave, “You better make this right Ryan, because this will not end well.”

I left the room too. Well, it shouldn’t be a problem since it wasn’t an official hire. It will be hard to track back the assassin if it’s hidden properly.

“Aunt!” I heard Eren’s voice and I turned around to hug him.

Eren’s just seven and I don’t believe kids should see war. Derulo too, he would never want Eren to get in that sort of thing this young.

Derulo has his own family so he avoids unnecessary conflicts.

So I’m hoping that this will end well.