The Mask Of The Monster - Chapter 86

“How can you trust someone this much in such a short time?” he asked.

“I just do. He is a great person. He can be a bit cold and harsh towards others, but he cares for me. He truly does.”

“How old is he?”

“Twenty-two. Not too old. The age gap is not too big, right? He is only five, no, four years older than me. I keep forgetting that I’m eighteen,” I said. “But I still don’t understand why you couldn’t touch me.”

“Because you didn’t want me to,” he said weakly.

“What? It’s not like… But Dane could touch me. I mean, I shook hands with him. He did not flinch. Well, I don’t know if he is a shifter either. Perhaps he was a human.”

“If he is a human, then he won’t feel this when he touched you. No human will feel anything. As you’re half marked, only humans will be able to touch you even if you don’t want them to. But shifters can’t.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I thought you know about this. Anyway, when someone is marked, then no shifter can touch the person without their consent. If they do, then they will feel a sharp pain. It will grow even stronger if the person touches you for long. And now that I’ve touched you without your consent, the person who marked you knows about it,” he explained. “And if I’m right, he is here as well.”

“You’re right. I am here.”

It was Leandro. He was standing in front of the door, with his arms folded, his eyes angry.

“It’s you!” Dad exclaimed and I could not comprehend if it was shock or surprise or anger or sadness.

“Long time no see, Alessandro,” Leandro said with a smile that was nothing but cold, unlike the ones he gave me usually.

“Don’t tell me, Ella, he’s the one who marked you,” Dad said anxiously even though he knew the answer himself.

“It’s him,” I murmured, not knowing what was going on.

“How could you go to him? How could you just trust him? He is a monster,” Dad said, almost in a yell.

“So are you,” I mumbled.

“What?” Dad was shocked. But did he have any right to be shocked? It was him who left me. When three years ago he found out about me, could he not provide me with a good life? It was Leandro who cared for me truly for the first time. How could he call Leandro a monster when he was the same?

“He is a shifter and so are you. How can you call him a monster when you’re the same kind?” I said, gritting my teeth.

“He is the Beast!” Dad exclaimed- disgust, hatred pouring down his words.

“So what?” I asked. “If a beast cares for a human, don’t you know that he becomes the lifelong partner of the human until death tears them apart?”

“Ella, you don’t get…,” Dad muttered as if not knowing how to make me understand, but little did he know, no matter what he was going to say, no one would be able to change my mind.

“Let me tell you, Ella,” Leandro said. “But first, don’t you have any more things that you want to know from your dad?”

“Sit down with me. Honestly, Leandro, if I knew you both knew each other, I would not have to keep up with the ‘he’ thing. And yeah, I have more things to hear from you, Dad, especially about what happened two years ago. You said so in your letter,” I said.

Leandro came to sit beside me though, by the look on Dad’s face, I knew he did not like the idea at all. But he was scared of Leandro like all other people and he thought that Leandro was not someone to put trust in, but I knew that was not the case. Leandro was not the type of person they said. Rumors were rumors after all.

“Are you sure you can hear again what happened two years ago?” Dad asked.

“Wait a moment… Are you talking about the night I got stabbed and almost died?”

“Yes,” Dad replied.

“But how do you know about that night?” I asked.

“Because I am the one who took you to the hospital,” Dad replied and I gasped internally.

I could not talk at all. How could he take me to the hospital? He was not supposed to be in the exact right position at the exact right moment, right?

“Well, I went to see you again the night before it happened. I stayed at a hotel there and from there, your coffee shop was visible. So when you left, I followed you in another car. That’s when it happened. You were almost deep inside the forest when I reached there. And when I found you, you almost lost consciousness. I killed those bastards…”

“Their dead bodies… What about their dead bodies?” I asked anxiously.

“I took care of them,” Dad replied.

“That’s criminal talk,” I muttered under my breath.

“What I don’t understand is why did they want to kill you? You were just a 15 year old,” Dad said.

“It’s your one-night stand’s boyfriend’s plan to get money. Well, Mom’s dad, I mean, my grandfather seemed to like me for some reason. He always thought I was better than Linda, perhaps because I helped him take his pills when he stayed with us. Anyway, so before he died, he wrote in his will that I will get half of his property. And if I die, then the property will go to Mom’s name and whatever belongs to Mom is Owen’s- it’s their private unspoken rule. So, he hired those big people to kill me and you know the rest. I was in a coma for three months,” I said.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t prevent that,” Dad said, his voice truly apologetic.

“It’s all your fault,” Leandro said angrily. “If you hadn’t left her, nothing like this would happen.”

“I know it’s my fault. But, my lord, it’s a matter between me and my daughter,” Dad said, his voice controlled or I was sure it would shake with fear for some reason.

“You dare to call her your daughter when you never have been there for her!” Leandro hissed. I had never seen him angry like this. He had never truly raised his voice as well. But now…

“How can you say that about her, my lord? You have no right over her. Just because you’ve marked her doesn’t mean you can say those things about her,” Dad said.

“So you think you have right over her?” Leandro snapped.

“Honestly saying, I’m an adult. It’s true that you’ve made a mistake, Dad, and you can’t say you have rights over me just because you’re my dad,” I said calmly. “I know I’m attacking your emotions, but truly saying, I don’t care about emotions. If you think carefully, you can see that whatever I’m saying is true. Even if we cry and talk like nothing happened, there’ll be no point. So truth works better.”

“You’re right,” Dad said. “But how are you still alive? Why didn’t he kill you?”

Dad was talking about Leandro. Everyone who heard that I was living with Leandro asked me the same thing. It hurt Leandro to hear the same thing again and again even though he never admitted it. But I was always ready to argue with them and make them believe that Leandro was not worth the rumors they said about him. It was not just a play of my feelings and emotions, it was the truth and I would never back away from stating this.

“Let me tell him this, Ella,” Leandro said, looking at me. His eyes were not as dangerous as before, but they were not gentle as well even though I could swear he tried to look at me gently.

I nodded, while at the same time wondering why he wanted to say this. He never liked to talk much, especially with other people. But today, he seemed to make something clear. There was a determination in his eyes, just like the time when he said he was going to wait for me to make my mind up.

I sighed thinking that all I could do was now listen to everything from his perspective that was also when my dad was present. I was kind of curious as well.. But there was one thing clear- Dad and Leandro did not like each other and I had a feeling that even though Dad called him ‘my lord’, he was totally against Leandro for some reason.