Page 9 of Knot Your Pawn

They both grumble, but then hang their heads, following my orders. They know that I’m being serious and that if I have to, I will use more of my command, which will be a lot less fun for them.

As they pass me by, I hold out my hand, motioning for Mathew to give me the knife. With an unhappy glare, he hands it to me.

I follow them, closing the door behind me, locking it so they can’t immediately get back in.

If I don’t keep my eyes on them the whole time, I feel like I’m going to be putting out fires like this for the rest of the night.

Which isn’t something I feel like doing...

4

Vera

I keep the kids entertained as Luca reunites with his family. From the corner of my eyes, I watch them in the hallway, embracing, tears flowing, broken speech. They’ve been apart for years and his family has a lot of questions for him.

Luca told me some of his story while we were out on the balcony, a very condensed version, I’m sure.

But every word out of his mouth made me want to wrap him up in blankets more and more, keep him safe for the rest of his life, make sure he’ll never have to deal with anything bad ever again.

Protect him with all my might.

I have no idea how he survived for this long. The Hearts put him through tremendous horrors, all to make sure that they could keep him under control, while they were making plans how to use him to take down Mathew.

Luca reacting to Caleb and my pheromones a year ago seems to have been the moment that they started to finalise their ideas, set things in motion. And I hope that whatever the Hearts had planned, that us finding Luca last night will set those plans back for at least a little while.

If this wasn’t part of their plan from the start… That us finding him and ‘rescuing’ him wasn’t all part of their plan from the beginning.

No.

I have to stay positive.

I have to believe that this wasn’t planned.

I have to believe this wasn’t planned and that they’ll have to move to a plan B or C.

Because otherwise, I don’t know how to survive, mentally or emotionally.

I’m sure they’ve got backup plans for what to do if Luca manages to get away or if they couldn’t use him for some other reason. I’m sure.

But not having him under their control anymore must be inconvenient for them, right?

Right?

“This is Vera. She rescued us.” Luca’s voice breaks through my thoughts and, when I look up, he meets my gaze, a light blush on his cheeks. “Without her, we would all have been in a much worse situation right now. Two of her Alphas, Caleb and Jorge, were the ones who brought you here.”

An older man comes over to me, his eyes watery as he grabs my shoulders, pulling me in for a tight hug. “Thank you so much. Thank you, so, so much.” His voice breaks and I can’t help my own tears. “We had no idea where he’d been all this time. Thank you so much for bringing him back.”

I nod, not able to say anything, as other members of Luca’s family crowd around me.

I’m suddenly very aware how special this is, not just for Luca’s family, but for Luca too. From what Riley told us before, no matter what you’re being told, if the Suits feel like it, they’ll get rid of your family, and you wouldn’t even know about it.

Luca finally has his family back and they have him back. Something that Mathew or Riley will never be able to get.

“Please, let us know how we can ever repay you.” An older woman touches my arm, her voice wavering.

Their pheromones are strong, flooding around us, their emotions so clear, so painful. Relief that they’re all reunited, darkness for all the time they’ve been apart and will never get back.

“I’m just glad that you’re all okay and safe and that you’ve found each other again.” I push the words past the lump in my throat. “I know that this is all a shocking change. But we want you to be safe. That’s all we care about.”