Page 29 of Red

“Nicholas, you see this knife? I received it as a gift from my father as he did from his.”

Nicholas’s eyes start to drift back to Blanche. Not being able to take the disrespect anymore, I growl at him.

“If you don’t take your fucking eyes off my wife, I will cut them out.”

The man cannot keep his emotions in check like Old Lady Marelle. He fucks up and I can see the fear in his eyes. He’s seen what I’m capable of, causing him to gulp. That’s when the old lady interrupts.

“Now, boys, no need to get violent. We can all agree that Blanche is a beautiful young lady.”

Nicholas visibly relaxes with her words, but he should know better. She’s not the one he should be scared of. I’m a wolf and I will devour anything that threatens what belongs to me. Gregory finally breaks up the tension by bringing in a tray of drinks.

Sipping my scotch, I look over to Old Lady Marelle just as she starts speaking to Blanche.

“Now that you have agreed to become the heir of The Wolves, I’m going to need to train you and introduce you to the members. For that to work, I will need you and your husband to stay here in the house.”

Blanche is listening to what her grandmother is saying and nodding along, but I know that she won’t agree with us staying in the house. We discussed this too before arriving. We knew her grandmother would demand her to stay. Since that wasn’t an option, Blanche wanted to present a solution.

Red responds by offering to come to the mansion each day at a certain time for her training.

By the look on her grandmother’s face, I can tell she doesn’t like this answer. Ready to get out of here, I shoot back the rest of my drink. Old Lady Marelle starts to manically chuckle while Blanche finishes her drink.

This cannot be good. Wondering why she is chuckling, I look up from my glass, “You know, Blanche, I thought that you would say that. Being my heir is not about compromise, it's about obedience. Precisely, being obedient to me.”

She narrows her eyes at me, then she cackles again.

“I can see that you’re confused. The drugs that I had Gregory slip into your drinks should start to take effect. When this is all done, your husband will be dead and left out in the street, set-up to look like a drug overdose. Blanche, this time you will fall in line. I’ll make sure of it.”

With those words, my world starts to spin with a sharp pain in my chest. The thought of not being near Blanche is unbearable. I have always been obsessed, but my heart belongs to her. Old Lady Marelle might as well take an actual knife and cut my heart out of my chest for the second time in my life. I vow right then and there that no matter what, even if I have to come back from the dead, I will drag her down to hell. With those parting thoughts, everything goes black.

***

Beep, Beep, Beep…

What is that fucking horrid sound? Someone needs to turn it off. I can’t take it. I try to open my eyes to get someone to stop those awful sounds. My eyes are so heavy they feel like they’re glued shut. Wondering where I am, I hear a deep voice, “When will he wake?”

Jake. Maybe he can turn off this noise. A female voice that I don’t know answers him.

“We don’t know when he’ll wake. All of the drugs are out of his system, but now we have to be patient. He’ll wake once his body has recovered.”

Needing to speak to let them know that I’m awake, I try to get my words to come out. Darkness starts to take over the room as I’m pulled back into my dreams.

I see my father and my mother sitting on the couch at our old house, holding hands and looking at peace. Growing up, my parents never looked this peaceful, never showing their emotions when I was younger, always conveying strength.Taking a deep breath, I look around. This has to be a dream. I haven’t been back to this house since the night my parents were killed. I look back to my parents.

“Mama, Grandpa, what are you doing here? Am I dreaming or am I dead?”

“No mon fils, you are not dead,” my breath skips.

I didn’t realize hearing my father call me by the endearment, my son, after all this time would affect me so much. I close my eyes as he goes on.

“We are here to help guide you on a path of love and not revenge. I don’t want you making the same mistakes. I was consumed with revenge for the boss and I couldn’t see what was in front of me. I should’ve been making sure that my family was safe and knew that I loved them. I thought The Wolves were more important than you and your mother and I paid the price.”

My mama speaks next, with a strength in her voice that I’ve never heard before. “Think hard about what is important and fight for that, everything else will work out.”

A bright light starts to consume the room, causing everything to disappear. Before they’re completely gone, there is a whisper in my ear.

“I love you mon fils, remember that always, that you deserve the world.”

The room starts to come into focus and I hear that beeping sound again. I try to sit up, but that causes my head to pound and the room starts to spin. I hear a male voice as his hand pushes on my shoulder.

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