Page 22 of A Second Chance for the Beta
I nod, feeling a bit relieved that at least my failure in protecting my money wasn’t too grave and I will get my money and cards back. Ella and I follow Gerard into the building and to a small meeting room. It’s warm and comfortable inside.
When we enter the meeting room, my eyes fall on the face of a man of middle age. Next to me, Ella gapes, and I wonder what got her so shocked.
What’s wrong?I ask her.
That’s him,she links me.The man from the photo.
My gaze snaps back to the man in question, scanning him from head to toe. Ella is right; he looks like the man in the picture. She has always had a fantastic memory, especially for people and faces. I take a careful sniff, noticing that he is human. My curiosity grows. What does he have to do with Charlie, and who was he to Candy?
nine
Charlie
*ELLA*
Istareattheman in front of me. He has sun-kissed skin, black hair, and brown eyes, and he is clearly human. “Who are you?” I mutter.
The man tosses a gaze towards Gerard, and when Gerard nods encouragingly, he gets up and carefully stretches his hand out towards me. “I’m Lorenzo,” he says. He speaks English well, but he is carrying an accent.
“Ella,” I say. “Ella Messina-Hargrove.”
“Hargrove?” Lorenzo stares at me. “So, it’s true!”
“Who were you to Candy?” I ask.
“Candance… I barely knew her,” he says while we sit down. “But I know who she was, and well, I knew your dad. He was a really good friend. I’m mated to a wolf, you know? Your dad saved my life once, and we became really good friends. Then one day he contacted me and said he was in danger and couldn’t look out for his oldest pregnant daughter.”
“And he asked you to help him?” Dante asks.
Lorenzo nods. “He set me up with the alpha of a pack in Tuscany, and we worked together. He and I both owed a lot to your dad. Besides, no one knew of our friendship. I am just a measly human after all, right?” he says with a smirk curling his lips. “That pack in Tuscany was a small one, perfect to act secretly and fly under the radar, but we both decided that Candance wouldn’t be safe there. If someone were to track her, they would find her and her child.”
“So, they brought her and Charlie to London,” Gerard explains.
“We pretended Charlie was human,” Lorenzo admits. “And didn’t tell any of the UK packs that there is an underage werewolf here, aside from the alpha of my own pack. A very capable and good man, if I may add. He must be because he accepted me as a human in his pack.”
“Charlie is a rogue,” I mutter, my heart clenching. Our stories might not be the same, but they have some similarities.
“At the time it was the only thing we could do,” Lorenzo says sadly. “We never got to know what happened, just that one day your father stopped calling. Candance got nervous and went back to Tuscany. She never returned.”
“She—” I feel my body tensing up, my fingers clenching into the fabric of my pants. “They found her. She didn’t make it. I’m so sorry, Lorenzo.”
Tears fill his eyes. “Deep down, I knew that. Before she left, she asked us to do everything to keep Charlie safe.”
“You never made Charlie part of a pack to ensure the child wouldn’t be found.”
“The kid’s supposed to be safe,” Lorenzo explains. “In a pack someone might have caught on and blabbed. It was safer with the humans. But my mate, my alpha, and I were aware that we couldn’t keep going for much longer. Once Charlie’s wolf spirit would have woken up, we would have needed to handle it somehow. It’s not good to be without a pack for so long.”
Charlie has been without a pack for many years, I realize. Fuck, I know it was to keep him safe, but still, this has probably put a toll on his mind already. Yet I’m glad Lorenzo did everything to keep him safe.
“Were you in on it?” Dante asks Gerard.
The elder shakes his head. “Had I known, I would have made sure to contact you months ago already.”
“News travels slowly sometimes,” Lorenzo admits. “And we only recently heard that there were massive changes in some packs in the US, your pack being one of them.”
“That’s true,” Dante reassures him. “The old alpha and his men were killed, and we have a great new leadership. Justice was brought to everyone, including Ella,” he explains. I let him do the talking, letting him explain what happened, all the details, while my thoughts run wild.
There is a feeling, and I’ve had it since we arrived here. It’s like something keeps pulling me out of this room. I felt it already when Dante and I waited for Gerard in front of the building and watched the kids, and I feel it again now.
