✴Isabella Marciano POV✴
~Eight years ago~
I locked myself in my room for a week now. Shame was eating me up inside. Whatever John thought would happen in asking the Lucian boys to come here is not happening. I can't tolerate asking for their help after I ended their parent's lives.
Santi deceived me, played me like a puppet, and pulled the strings in his favor. What did Dad feel when I killed his best friend? I can't imagine how bad he must've felt, he must've felt hostility towards me.
I can't remember the last time I cried. Even when I got shot on my first mission, I didn't cry. Pain tolerance was something thought to us at such a young age but this. This revelation of how foolish I had been, how I hurt my father, how Santi tricked me, it's much worse than being in the operating room without anesthesia.
A knock on my door sounded but I did not bother opening it. John was urging me to talk to the boys. What will I tell them? 'Hey, what's up? Still mad at me for killing your parents?' That's just insane. John must've lost his mind.
"Open up!" That was definitely not John. Why would Drake Dare talk to me?
"Go away" I murmured weakly. John resulted in using his last resort on me. 'If you want food, go and get it yourself' he said to me on the third day of my sulking. I haven't eaten anything nor drink for that matter in the last four days and it's starting to affect my body.
The doorknob jiggled and then there was complete silence. Thank God he did not barge inside my room. The next thing I know, the wooden door was thrown open.
"What the fúck?!" I snarled sitting up in my bed. The door will definitely have to be replaced. It was ripped open in two, one was still attached to the hinges and the other was on the floor.
Smirking Drake walked inside my room. He looked around as if looking for evidence in a crime scene before his piercing blue eyes landed on me. The smirk on his thin lips turned onto a scary grin as he got closer to me.
"What do you want?" I stared back at him, not cowering on his intimidation.
Drake scoffed "for a tiny girl, you sure talk big. I've heard a lot of stories about you but they forgot to mention how bad" he sniffed "the princess of Manhattan stinks."
Heat crawled on my skin. I sniffed my armpit and they do smell bad that I gagged. The intruder in my room chuckled "your beauty can't even hide that foul smell."
My cheeks flared up in embarrassment. Sure I smell bad, only because I haven't taken a bath for a week. "What are you doing here anyway?"
His face scrunched "I made lasagna. You can have some if you take a shower."
"I don't want it" I laid back on the bed and pulled the duvet cover over my face. "You can go now, disappear somewhere-" a yelp escaped my lips when I was roughly pulled by my ankles. My back hit the floorboards as I kicked Drake's hand. He pulled me out of my room, my attempts at escaping his grip were fruitless, even if I tried to hold on to the door frame of my room, he was still able to pull me out. "Let me go!"
"No. Not until you grow up" he said before pulling me into the bathroom. "Take a bath, princess." He let go of my ankles and crossed his arms over his chest as I fixed my shirt.
The fact that I wasn't wearing anything other than my white shirt and underwear wasn't helping the situation. "Why are you doing this?"
Drake scoffed "as if I have a choice. Go shower before you can eat." He turned his back on me and I was left bewildered.
What's his deal? He tried to kill me just a week ago and now he's helping me.
Because I smell like a garbage pit and fermented socks, I did take a long rejuvenating shower. The feeling of being clean made my stomach grumble like thunder on a stormy day.
When I walked out of the bathroom, I wrapped a bathrobe around my body and a towel over my hair. The delicious smell of pasta, tomato sauce, and coffee meet my nose and hungry tummy.
Drake was sitting in the dining room with his face buried in his phone. I took this chance to study his appearance further. His skin was kissed by the sun and looked softer from a distance. The way his black shirt clung onto his body hides little for human imagination what is hiding under. He looked a lot like his mom. Just the thought of having meals cooked by a Lucian sent my stomach to turn sour.
"Done drooling?" He murmured without giving me a second glance.
"Not even worth drooling" I scoffed and took the chair across from him.
"Liar" Drake pushed a plate of mouth-watering lasagna towards me. "This body and face are worth every drool, princess." He used his forefinger to draw an imaginary circle over his face melodramatically.
What he did made me giggle and I was surprised that he joined laughing with me. "Thank you." I took a big bite of the food on my plate. It tastes heavenly and I finished everything in record time.
"You are very welcome, princess."
"Why are you being kind to me?"
His face turned serious and I regret every word that came out of my mouth in an instant. Drake sighed before speaking "I'm sorry for what I did, you know... The almost killing you part. John told us everything and I shouldn't blame you for what you did."
My jaw was literally touching the floor right now. He's sorry? When I should be the one groveling on his feet. "You are a victim of this world princess. We all are."
Tears flowed on my face as soon as he said those words. Who would have thought that I'd hear those words coming from a Lucian?
"Let's make them pay, Princess" Drake offered his hand to me with a grin.
"Let's do it."
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