In the Southern Bellini Pack, mornings were supposed to be bright, busy, filled with chatter and the buzz of the city below. But for Liora, that morning felt heavy the mont she opened her eyes. Her first instinct, as always, was to call Aunt Sienna.
She pressed the phone against her ear, waiting for the warmth of that familiar voice. But instead, after only a few words, Sienna’s tone shifted to a more soft, hesitant, almost guilty tone.
“I’m going back, Liora,” she said.
The words crashed through the little girl’s chest, breaking her heart. “What? No!” Her voice broke instantly, tears rushing before she could stop them. “You... you can’t go back! You promised you’d stay here with !”
Sienna tried to soothe her, but the line and conversations felt unbearably cold and at the end she couldn’t succeed in pacifying little Liora. The mont the call ended, Liora’s trembling fingers dialed another number. “Dad,” she blurted out the mont she called Dante’s line. “Did you know Aunt Sienna’s leaving?”
In the Pack’s high-rise headquarters, Dante’s deep voice ca through, calmly, like he was already buried in a mountain of contracts. “Yes.”
Her tears ca harder. “Since when? Why didn’t you tell ?”
“A while ago.”
Liora clutched the pink wolf plush pressed against her chest. “Daddy, that’s so an. You know I can’t live without Aunt Sienna. If she’s leaving, then I don’t want to stay here either. I’ll co ho! I’ll—” her words tangled with sobs, “—I’ll quit school if I have to.”
“It’s already being handled,” Dante replied, almost detached.
She sniffled, confused. “Handled? What does that even an?”
There was a pause, papers shuffling in the background, before his voice cut clean through. “We’re going back next week.”
Her heart lurched. She shot upright in bed, hair tumbling into her face. “Really? You an it?”
“Mm.”
“Then... why didn’t Aunt Sienna say anything?”
“She doesn’t know yet. It was finalized this morning.”
Her tears slowed, replaced with wide-eyed hope. She clutched the plush tighter, her lips trembling into a smile. “Daddy... let’s not tell her yet, okay? Let’s surprise her when we get back.”
“Alright.”
“You’re the best! I love you so, so much!”
When the call ended, Liora was buzzing with joy, bouncing on the mattress, singing little songs only she understood. The storm of grief had suddenly turned to sunlight.
But the light didn’t last long.
Because as her laughter softened, she realized sothing. These last few days had been strangely quiet. Mommy hadn’t called. Not once.
At first, she thought it was because she had been avoiding the calls, leaving school before the last bell, keeping her phone off, making excuses because... because she was angry at her. Angry that Mommy was always too tired, too distracted, too far away to be with her like Sienna was.
But now... now that Mommy hadn’t called at all, guilt curled in her stomach like claws.
She sat there frozen, clutching the plush, staring at the silent phone. Mommy never ignored her for this long. Not when she was the one person Mommy always put first.
The thought cracked her chest open. Maybe Mommy really was angry this ti. Maybe Mommy had given up on calling.
The first tear fell before she could stop it. Her small fingers trembled as she finally pressed call, her heart pounding so hard it hurt.
For the first ti in days, she wanted nothing more than to hear Elodie’s voice.
Liora’s thumb hovered over the screen, her little heart beating so fast it almost hurt. She had been so excited monts ago, planning the surprise with Daddy, dreaming about seeing Aunt Sienna again. But then the thought struck her.
If they went back, if they returned to the Northern Bellini Pack, Mommy would make things difficult. She always did. Mommy would smile sweetly on the surface, but she would never let Liora run freely to Aunt Sienna the way she did here. She would control it, lock it down, and suddenly Aunt Sienna wouldn’t belong to her anymore.
Her throat tightened. The excitent soured into fear.
Without thinking, she pressed the call button anyway. The phone rang, and her mother’s na flashed on the screen. For a second, her heart leapt because she wanted to hear her. She wanted that familiar voice, the one that used to soothe her nightmares when she was younger.
But then anger surged, and before Elodie could pick up, Liora jabbed the screen and cut the call.
Her chest rose and fell quickly, hot tears burning her eyes. She hated herself for dialing at all.
In Northern Pack, far away, Elodie stirred awake in her bed, groggy from exhaustion. The sight of her daughter’s na flashing on her phone had jolted her upright, her heart pounding with sudden hope. But before she could answer, the line went dead.
Elodie froze, staring at the darkened screen, confusion bleeding into panic. Liora never hung up on her. Not once.
Fear prickled through her. Sothing was wrong. She tried calling back.
Upstairs in the villa, Liora saw the screen light up again with her mother’s na. Her chest clenched so hard it hurt. She wanted to answer, to cry into her mother’s voice, but anger pressed heavier. She turned her face away and let it ring out.
Her small hand shook as she placed the phone on the desk. If Mommy truly cared, she wouldn’t have disappeared for days. She wouldn’t have left her feeling like an afterthought.
But ignoring the call didn’t make her feel powerful. It made her feel lonelier.
When Elodie’s call was ignored, panic clawed higher. She quickly dialed the villa landline.
Sabina, the housekeeper, answered, startled at Elodie’s urgency. “The Young Miss should be fine,” Sabina reassured, though her tone carried uncertainty. “She stayed up late last night, she’s probably still in bed. I’ll check and call you back.”
Elodie closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose, fighting back the ache in her chest. “Please,” she whispered.
Upstairs, Sabina found Liora already brushing her teeth. “Your mother was worried when you didn’t answer,” she explained gently.
Liora spat into the sink, avoiding her gaze. “It was an accident. I pressed it without aning to.” She lied.
Sabina nodded, unsuspecting, and padded downstairs to ease Elodie’s fear.
When Liora heard the report muffled through the walls, she let out a tiny snort and rolled her eyes, but her stomach twisted painfully.
She wanted her mother to know the truth, that she was angry, that she was hurt, that she missed her so much it tore at her insides. But she couldn’t say it.
Liora stared at her reflection in the mirror, toothbrush still in hand. Her face was blotchy from crying, her eyes red-rimd. She pressed her lips together, whispering to her own reflection as if her mother could sohow hear it:
“You forgot first.”
Down the line, Elodie’s chest finally loosened when Sabina reported all was well. But sleep wouldn’t return. She lay awake until dawn, staring at the ceiling, her heart bruised and heavy, knowing her daughter’s silence wasn’t an accident at all.
————
Dante’s POV-
When I returned back ho, the first thing my eyes caught while ransacking the drawers for important docunts was the brown envelope. The one Elodie had given.
A frown creased my brows. For days, I hadn’t bothered to check to find out the content. Not bothering with it, I packed the important files I would take along and stuffed them into my suitcase and then walked down the stairs. Lincoln, my driver, was already waiting beside the car the mont I stepped out.
I signalled him, checked my Rolex and then ordered him. “Hurry, let’s go to the airport.”
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