✨Her Essence✨

26. The test

LANA's POINT OF VIEW

"You know, Lana, I trusted you. But you betrayed me."   I watched as Sir Adriano carefully arranged five different types of knives, two hammers, and one star-shaped branding iron—on the table in front of me. As always, he wore a black suit, but his hair had been cut down close to his scalp.

I try to calm my racing heart down, hoping that he doesn't stick one of those knives into me, or bring the hammer and the branding iron anywhere near my skin. I could barely feel my arms because of how numb they had gotten from being tied to my back for so long. The chair I was made to sit on was quite uncomfortable and my bra was still hooked on tight under my bust. "I never betrayed you, Sir Adriano."

He picked up a Damascus steel blade and walked slowly away around the table until he stood in front of me, towering over me. He brought the blunt edge of the knife to the side of my face and drew a line down to my chin. "You enter my home just to get information about me, and give it to another... that's a betrayal to me alright."

I maintained eye contact with him. Those green eyes had never shown any emotion other than anger and on rare occasions, amusement. But at that moment, I saw sadness. "I could not refuse them, you know how it is, King would have killed me."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"How sure am I that you wouldn't have killed me either? You were always mad at everything, I was scared to come clean"

He sucked in a quick breath and exhale slowly. "You should have trusted me. You were my mother's favorite, I would not have hurt you"

"Ava was your mom's favorite as well. Yet you let her die"

His shoulders dropped. He returned to his former place and returned the knife to the table. He then sat on an edge of the table with both hands clasped together. "Ava was the cause of her demise, don't be deceived."

"How so? Cause she got pregnant for your son? Why does he walk out a free man while she loses her life?"

He stared blankly at the black wall behind me. "She wasn't pregnant with Nico's baby."

"Uh, why would you think that?"

His gaze returned to my face. "She was pregnant with my baby."

"Oh"

"I know you think I am a terrible person...well, you're right. But I loved her, I wanted to marry her but then I found out about her relationship with Nico." He dropped his head to his chest. "She started blackmailing me because of the baby. She demanded a large sum of money so she could travel to Europe. I told my mother about it." He looked up at the ceiling. "Whatever happened after that, I wasn't aware of."

"You didn't know it was Ava under the bag?"

"No. My mother takes care of those things, I never questioned her." He pushed off the table and walked over to me. He put his finger under my chin. "You're not going to be alive for much longer, hija. When Peter gets here, I'll send you both to purgatory."   After saying this, he walked out the door that is opposite where I sat.

Peter, please be safe.

I concentrated on the knives on the table. If I could just get a hold of one of them, I can free myself from this rope. But why would he leave them there? Either this is a trap, or Sir Adriano isn't thinking straight. Either way, I'm getting out of here.

"Get me outta here!!!!!" I screamed at the top of my voice.

I didn't stop screaming until one of the men peered through the door to check on me. After he went away, I continued to scream, but no one came by. Perfect! My voice was loud enough to distract them from the sound the chair was making as I dragged its feet across the floor. I reached the table and picked up one of the knives with my teeth. I released the knife onto my lap, it sliced through my thigh but that wasn't enough to stop me. I continued yelling while carefully nudging the knife toward my right hip. Ignoring the pain in my shoulders and my wrists, I twisted my arms towards my right hip and stretched my fingers until they got hold of the knife edge. I breathed out a sigh of relief for a second, then began cutting the rope as fast as I could.

Several skin cuts later, I freed myself from the rope. My arms felt like they weren't mine anymore, I gave them a minute for blood flow to stabilize at the bare minimum. Then I picked up the hammers and the Damascus steel blade just cause it caught my eye.

I gradually opened the door and peeped into the grey-colored hallway, but I saw no one. I stepped out and made my way to the left wing. It felt odd that no man was parading these corridors as I had expected, but isn't this what every escapee hopes for?

I caught sight of a wooden double door down the hallway. I held up my knife and opened the doors. The room was dark... Crap! The light suddenly went on and I saw Sir Adriano sitting in a lazy chair.

He clapped his hand three consecutive times. "Congratulations, you passed the test."

"Test?"

He got up and sauntered to where I was standing. I held up my weapons in defense but he didn't seem the least bit scared. "I knew there was a fire in you, Lana Grey. You have potential". He offered me his hand. "Work with me, and I will spare Peter's miserable life."

"I don't trust you"

He raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, I see." He put his hands behind his back as he walked around me. I kept my eyes on him the entire time. "Let me make it clearer for you, Lana Grey. Work with me, or die with Peter. You're both mates or so I heard. I know the madness that losing a mate can cause to our kind, and I wouldn't put you through that suffering. Because believe it or not, I need your brain intact when we're working together."

I could sense the genuineness in his tone. Accepting his offer is the best way to keep Peter and me alive for the time being.

But why does he want me to work for him?