Chapter 71

~Eliana~

My phone had been ringing nonstop, even though I had texted my parents that I was fine, and was just running a little bit late. I didn’t want to pick up the call because I was in no mood to start thinking of a lie to tell them. When we were on our way home, I could think of something to tell him.

It had been so long since I stepped into Alistair’s house, and it remained the same, even after six years had passed. He didn’t seem to be interested in the interior, and I couldn’t begin to think of how many ways it could be made to look better than it did years ago. Fashion and style always evolved, and it was too bad that it didn’t get bad, or he probably did but didn’t care since he was the only one that was usually at home.

Ian had finally calmed down, thanks to the wolfsbane and sedative, and was in one of the rooms in Alistair’s house, sleeping peacefully as though he wasn’t the same person that had tried to kill us a little while ago. He needed more training, and I couldn’t help but come to a conclusion that I was going to be in Los Angeles for a while.

“What are you thinking about?” Alistair asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m just wondering why my son who is just six years old is having bloodlust at his age,” I said.

“You knew he was going to be a werewolf if you had unprotected sex with his father. You signed up for this,” He said.

I heaved a deep sigh. “That’s because I didn’t know he was going to trigger his abilities at such a young age, and I also didn’t have any idea that things would be bad with my relationship with his father. Hell, I didn’t even think I was going to get pregnant,” I explained.

“Well, I’m glad you got pregnant, and I’m also glad that he triggered his abilities at a young age. I would never have gotten the chance to see your face again,” He said.

I scoffed. “Oh, please. You seemed to be enjoying seeing the face of another,” I said.

He looked confused for a while, then an understanding look came upon him. “Oh, Gina Leblanc? There’s nothing going on between us, I swear,” He said.

“I’m less concerned about that,” I told him, sitting down on the sofa.

“Well, I am. It was the first time I was ever seeing her, and I had agreed to see her simply because Garrett won’t let me be, and he and Carrie set me up with her. To be very honest, that was my worst date ever,” He said.

I suppressed my laughter. “Nice, but like I earlier stated, I don’t care, and it is none of my business. We’re parents of a little boy, not a couple,” I told him.

He nodded his head, agreeing with what I said, as he sat beside me. “I know, but it’s really good to have you here,” He said.

“Tell me something though, you mentioned Garrett and Carrie. Are they still together?” I inquired.

He nodded, in the affirmative. “Yes, they’re even married now,” He said.

A small smile appeared on my face. “I’m so happy for them. They always looked so good together, and they’ve been together for six years. To think that they met at the beach that we invited them to. Truly, the universe has its way of doing things that you could never expect. I’m glad that they have stuck with each other for so long,” I said.

“I wonder what the secret could be. Perhaps, it’s because she is older than he is, or maybe it’s because there was no person like Jenny to tear them apart,” Alistair said.

“The truth is that no one can tear anyone apart. Like I’ve always said, trust is the most fundamental aspect in a relationship. Once there is no trust, the relationship will get broken in no time,” I said, understanding fully well the point he was trying to point across.

“Trust, you say. If you had seen explicit photos of me and some other girl while we were in a relationship, would you have trusted me and believed I was innocent?” He asked.

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t know about that, but I am a hundred percent sure that I wouldn’t have released the pictures so that the whole world could see them,” I said.

“Why?” He asked, looking up at me.

“Are you that dumb? I wouldn’t have done that because even though you betrayed me, there was a time when you were my happiness. I would have asked you why you cheated on me, and if you truly did, I would have expressed how disappointed I was instead of subjecting you and your family to public ridicule,” I replied.

“What I did to your family isn’t majorly because I thought you cheated on me,” He said.

“Then, why did you do that, Alistair? I really didn’t want to have this conversation with you, but since we’ve already started it, just tell me why. Didn’t you say you loved me? Why did you have to hurt someone you claimed to love?” I asked.

He heaved a sigh, and pushed back a strand of hair that was in my face, as he touched me lightly on the face. “Yes, Eliana. I loved you. I loved you more than anything in the world, and you must know that I have never for once stopped loving you, even during the years you were absent from my life,” He said.

“Then, why did you hurt me and my family?” I asked again.

“To be honest, I only wanted to be close to you in order to learn of your family’s secrets and also use you as a means to hurt your family. Betrayal hurts more when it comes from a family member, and I wanted to use to accomplish my mission of revenge,” Alistair explained.

“I don’t get it. Revenge? What revenge?” I asked, confused.

“Remember when I told you my parents were killed by werewolf hunters?” He asked.

“Yes. Yes, I do,” I replied.

“Good. I was informed that those hunters were from your family, and I saw the sword they left behind. It had your family’s initials on it. I swore to have my revenge on your family, and to make the revenge painful, I wanted to hurt their children so badly as well. Maybe they could take it if they were the ones who were hurt, but when one’s children get hurt, it hurts in many ways,” He said.

It was then the pieces started to fall in place. “You wanted revenge? Is that why you had to do what you did?” I asked.

“Yes,” He affirmed.

“Why didn’t you just kill us? Wouldn’t that have been easier?” I inquired.

“Death is an easy way out, Eliana. I felt the worst punishment for them would be to become poor and live with regrets everyday. They’ll never be able to lift their heads in the society again, they won’t be able to protect their children, their wealth would be gone, their reputation would be lost, and their kids would be emotionally and mentally destroyed. It would be a very sad life,” Alistair explained.

I scoffed. “You were so wrong, Alistair. As long as the family is still together, they’ll be fine, wealth or not. Can’t you see how well my family is holding up? Even though they lost their wealth and reputation, they aren’t living sad lives. Why? It’s because we have each other, and once a family is still together, they have hopes of facing a better tomorrow and they’ll never hang their heads low. That’s the beauty of family,” I said.

“So, you’ll survive as long as your a family?” He asked.

I nodded my head, in the affirmative. “Yes, Alistair. We may all have our differences, but we know that when something threatens us, we have to stand together. Family isn’t only there just to celebrate with one another; family is there to also wipe your tears when the world is threatening to fall apart, and to give you a shoulder to lean on. Family doesn’t need to be perfect; it just needs to be united, and as long as we are united, nothing will break us apart. That’s just it,” I explained to him.

He heaved a sigh. “I wish I had known this earlier. I wouldn’t have wasted my precious time in seeking a revenge that I was bound to lose,” He said.

“So, if you knew this back then, would you have changed your strategy?” I asked.

“Probably, but then, I would never have met you,” He said.

“Why did you say so?” I asked.

“I saved your life sixteen years ago, remember?” He asked.

“Yes, I do,” I told him.

“Can you try to remember the reason I said I saved you that night?” He asked.

I tried to go down memory lane, but I could hardly remember anything. “It’s been such a long time ago. How do you think I would even remember anything?” I fired at him.

He gave a half-smile. “Well, that day, I said I saved you for future purposes,” He said.

It was then that the memory all came back to me. “Yes, I remember now. Wait a minute! If I hadn’t been someone you planned to use for your future revenge, you would have left me to die,” I said.

“Exactly. Then, I’d never met the 28-year old Eliana, who I fell in love with, and ended up being the mother of my son,” He explained.

A smile appeared on my face. “Are you trying to say something good came out of your revenge?” I asked.

He nodded his head, giving me a positive response. “Of course,” He said.

“So, the plan all along was just to get me to fall in love with you, so that you could break my heart in the process?” I asked.

“Yes, but the good thing is that I ended up falling in love with you, and now, I have a child with you. It all happened because of my plans to have revenge on your family. Honestly, I changed my mind about having any sort of revenge when I fell helplessly in love with you, but when I thought you broke the trust I had in you, all I did was just go back to the plan I first had in mind. I hated myself for falling in love with you, but I see now that the time we were so in love were the best moments of my life,” He confessed.

I heaved a sigh, not wanting to be swayed by his words. “If you had left me to die that day sixteen years ago, I wouldn’t even be alive and there would be no Ian. So, I guess I have to thank you that I am still alive today,” I said, ignoring the part where he reminisced over our time together.

“What can I say? You’re welcome,” He said.

“However, what will you do if you were to discover that you were wrong and my family wasn’t to be blamed for the untimely death of your parents?” I asked.

“I know you want to believe it so bad, but trust me, I’m not wrong. Your family is to be blamed for the unfortunate death that befell my parents,” He said to me.

I cleared my throat, not wishing to continue with the discussion, because I knew for sure that I was going to spill the beans if he kept on blaming my parents for something they weren’t guilty of. I just didn’t want him to feel more guilty than he already felt now if he discovered that he had just hurt my family for no reason, because I knew it was easier for him to console himself with the fact that his revenge was justifiable.

“I wonder when Ian will be awake,” I said, fiddling with my fingers.

“He is already awake. As a matter of fact, he’s here already,” Alistair said.

“What?” I asked, looking up.

Ian dragged his feet slowly to where we sat, looking tired even after he had slept for several hours.

“We should get going,” I told him, rising to my feet.

“Okay, mum,” He said.

I wanted to ask him how he knew Ian was awake and was already present, then remembered that he was a werewolf and he had no problem with knowing such things.

“Thank you for helping him out, Alistair,” I said, taking Ian by the hand.

“He’s also my son. You don’t have to thank me,” He said, also standing up.

He saw us off to the door, and I was surprised that Ian smiled and waved him goodbye, when he had grudgingly entered into his house the previous morning.

I was just going to tell my parents that we had spent the night at Carrie’s place, and inasmuch as I didn’t want to teach my son how to lie, we didn’t have any other option, as they would get mad if they discovered that we had spent the night at Alistair’s place, even though we barely talked to each other, and were just doing everything within our powers to ensure Ian was okay.

Alistair had done all he did just to get revenge on the people he thought murdered his parents, and he had even be willing to give up on his revenge because he loved me. I never knew he loved me that much, and I could now understand why he had taken the cheating allegation too far.

He felt that he had been a fool, and after forgetting his lifetime plan of having revenge on his alleged parents' murderers, he had stupidly gone ahead to fall in love with the daughter of a werewolf hunter, who wouldn’t even have done the same for him.

Against my will, I was beginning to understand why he had broken my heart six years ago, but I also remembered he had saved my life sixteen years ago. Wasn’t it unfair to hate him because of one bad thing, instead of allowing the good things he had done for me overshadow the bad?

I felt like I was punishing him a little too much, and I didn’t know what else to do anymore. I didn’t want to forgive him, but after knowing the whole story, I felt that I owed him forgiveness. He had hurt me a lot, but he wasn’t an entirely bad person. That, I knew.