Chapter 29 - 30
In the Southern Bellini Pack, mornings were supposed to be bright, busy, filled with chatter and the buzz of the city below. But for Liora, that morning felt heavy the moment she opened her eyes. Her first instinct, as always, was to call Aunt Sienna.
She pressed the phone against her ear, waiting for the warmth of that familiar voice. But instead, after only a few words, Sienna’s tone shifted to a more soft, hesitant, almost guilty tone.
“I’m going back, Liora,” she said.
The words crashed through the little girl’s chest, breaking her heart. “What? No!” Her voice broke instantly, tears rushing before she could stop them. “You... you can’t go back! You promised you’d stay here with me!”
Sienna tried to soothe her, but the line and conversations felt unbearably cold and at the end she couldn’t succeed in pacifying little Liora. The moment the call ended, Liora’s trembling fingers dialed another number. “Dad,” she blurted out the moment she called Dante’s line. “Did you know Aunt Sienna’s leaving?”
In the Pack’s high-rise headquarters, Dante’s deep voice came through, calmly, like he was already buried in a mountain of contracts. “Yes.”
Her tears came harder. “Since when? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“A while ago.”
Liora clutched the pink wolf plush pressed against her chest. “Daddy, that’s so mean. You know I can’t live without Aunt Sienna. If she’s leaving, then I don’t want to stay here either. I’ll come home! I’ll—” her words tangled with sobs, “—I’ll quit school if I have to.”
“It’s already being handled,” Dante replied, almost detached.
She sniffled, confused. “Handled? What does that even mean?”
There was a pause, papers shuffling in the background, before his voice cut clean through. “We’re going back next week.”