CHAPTER 18: THE DINNER GAMES

Olivia’s POV.....

She had the biggest frown on her face especially when she realized who was standing beside me.

"Liv; what are you doing here?" She asked, that question meant something else, she wanted to know what I am doing with Luca. Why did he stand beside me and hold my hand?

It’s a one in a million dollar question.

She stared at me with a frown on her face, and my eyes met hers gently when I looked away.

"I have missed you so much." She spoke when she rushed toward me and she wrapped her hand around me,

If she is here, that means they are all here, every one of them, I didn’t expect that to happen.

"Why are you here?" I whispered against my breath. "How are you here?" I asked again.

Luca stared at both of us, obviously waiting for me to speak again. He didn’t have to even say it, I would not be surprised if he knew that, he should have stalked me hard enough to know about my step sister Aria.

"Luca, can we have privacy please?" I whispered against my breath. Aria stared at me like I had spoken wrong to a God.

I just needed some time alone.

"Please," I whispered against my breath and he didn’t budge; he moved closer to me and his lips found their place to my ears.

"Two minutes and I am watching you, I don’t trust you so you stay here and talk to you, two fucking minutes Olivia, and don’t give me a smart ass." He spoke before he walked away.

I didn’t dare move from where I was.

"You are with the Alpha really," Aria asked, her tone hinting a sarcasm, she was pretending to be good for him, to make him feel like she was a great person, not the first time she had done something like this and won’t it be the last either.

The more I stared at her, I realised I hadn’t seen her since the last time I left, I forgot about her, I forgot she was ever here, and her mom.

"Is Father and Rebecca here?" I asked.

"Yes, he would be shocked to see you with the Alpha Luca. What are you doing with him, what happened with that man of yours, God was the Alpha the man you ran away with." She asked and I didn’t speak to her, there was nothing I wanted to say.

"I don’t owe you anything Aria."

"You do especially when you know that I have always had a crush on him, I was the one who always talked about being with him, and for years I have prepared just for you to fucking."

"What do you want me to do?" I asked. "You want me to leave, walk away, and never look away because you had a crush on a man ten years ago, because he never even knew about you and now you think he is yours," I whispered against my breath.

Memories came rushing back to me, I truly didn’t want to have a conversation with her because if I did, I would end up yelling, all the anger piled inside of me would be directed to her and she was never a good sister, she never took care of me, she never cared for me.

I stared at Aria for a second when I realized Luca was still staring at me, waiting for the time to come.

"Just, just let me be for now." I breathed out.

"You always tend to take what is not yours, never in a million years would I think that you would be here, I guess I blame myself for even thinking you would not try and go for someone I wanted, someone I care about." She spoke and I rolled my eyes at her.

Aria is my stepsister, I am two years older than her, when I was five; we found out that my father had another daughter and I told my mom to leave him. She didn’t. Instead, he forced his second daughter to stay with us while her mother was still in his life.

Mom didn’t deserve to go through and now I guess with now with mom dead. Rebecca is his new wife and they have the perfect family, a family I would never fit into.

"Listen to me, tell Father not to try and contact me and you can tell Rebecca all about how you met and you saw me with Luca." I gritted my teeth.

I didn’t want him to hear any of this conversation. He may know about my family, but he can never know that my sister has a huge crush on him and maybe she still does because the way she stared at me, it felt like all she wanted was for me to die, for me to get hurt, and for me to lose everything.

She never really liked me I guess.

"You know he is never going to marry you, he won’t choose you as his mate." She smiled, like she could tell what was happening. I didn’t want Luca but Luca is better off with someone else than her.

I didn’t satisfy her words, I didn’t cry or feel bad, I only gave her a smile to piss her off before Luca headed toward me and her friend turned to a smile, she stared at me with that fake smile.

"Alpha Luca." She smiled, she bowed her head to him and she looked up at me.

"Can we leave?" I whispered against my breath and he nodded.

She desperately wanted to ask what was going on between the two of us. Who am I to him, but she won’t dare; she can’t question the Alpha even if she wanted to, she would not say the words that were on her mind and all she can do is think of what we shared.

Nothing, that’s what we shared.

We were about to leave when he got a call and he led us into the garden, I could see everyone from here, I wanted to leave before she would tell Father about me, I couldn’t see him, and I couldn’t watch him pretend to be happy when my mother was dead. And it’s because of him, he should have been there for her but he was not, he didn’t care.

I watched as Luca was still ok his call, it felt like he was not going to finish it and all I wanted was for him to conclude it: why didn’t he even come here; what was the purpose and why did he agree to leave so fast if it didn’t mean anything to be here?

"What’s wrong?." I heard a voice from behind. As Luca turned off look at me, one glance at the man who asked that question was enough for him to leave without even having me respond to him.

"We have to stay." Luca suddenly spoke the moment he headed toward me, I felt my chest pressed against my body, my eyes filled with sorrow, why did we have to stay, it was going perfectly, and now he wanted us to be gone, he wanted us to stay here and I was scared.

"I have a meeting I need to take care of, it’s sudden, you don’t have to worry about your family, you are going to stay by my side no matter what?" He spoke and I nodded, they won’t come to me while he is with me, maybe Aria will but Father would not

Because he is not too sure if I told Luca anything about him and he is not worthy of being in our presence, he is not worthy of being close to me or even talking to me.

We headed back in and I saw my family toward the end of the room, Rebecca stared at me like she wanted me dead, I am sure Aria has told her what she needs to hear, and not only that my father didn’t even look at me twice, there is no surprise to that.

He didn’t care for them and he never will.

After some time we got to his meeting, I didn’t understand half of what they were talking about, it felt like I should not even be here and by the time we were done, we found Rebecca and Father standing toward us.

It seems like they have been waiting outside, like they wanted us to come out for a conversation.

"Why are you here Father?" I asked, I didn’t want to look at them, I didn’t even want to speak to them. "Or did you come to talk to Luca?" I asked, the way they stared at me when I mentioned his name, I could tell they didn’t expect it.

"Luca, can we leave?" I whispered looking away.

He stared at me for a second before he looked at my father, what is he about to do, I can tell that he is not about to make it better.

"I have nothing to say to you." I suddenly spoke.

"Just one chance," Father begged and I didn’t speak. Why did he want one? I stared at Luca again. As if he were calculating something.

"Join us for dinner tomorrow, Olivia will have a conversation with you then," Luca announced and my eyes widened.

He didn’t have the right to do that