Chapter 3: Aunt Lisa

My body froze as she enclosed me in what appeared to be a hug but felt like a death trap.

"I'm so glad you're home" She smiled and held my shoulder, leading me up the stairs, I wanted to pry her fingers away and slap her hard but I couldn't do that, not yet anyway so I forced one leg after the other and followed as she led.

"I tried to convince Dad so many times but he just didn't think you were ready to accept your mistakes but you are now, aren't you?" She said sweetly, eyeing Damian as if asking a secret question but I knew what she wanted to know, would I take the fall for the crime I didn't commit in front of the pack and spoil whatever image they have left of me? The answer was a short no but I wasn't about to inflate her balloons.

"You look so thin, do they feed people in prison at all?" She asked with wide eyes, her tone was soft but her words were insulting. It was getting harder to keep my anger under wraps so I just shifted my focus to the house,

It was everything you would expect the ruling family lived in, it was grand and beautiful. The decor spoke of history and wealth.

"Oh my dear Rowena!" A female voice exclaimed sharply forcing my thoughts away from the decor, I looked above the and saw an older lady descending the stairs with the help of a young woman. My grandmother and mother.

My heart softened as I watched the old lady, she was the only person that stood up for me and went against the family before I was sent to prison.

"Be careful grandmother" Vespera said softly as she ran to the bottom of the stairs. What a fake, if she killed the only man that raised and accepted her despite knowing she wasn't his biological daughter then she wouldn't hesitate to snap anyone's neck. I sneered as she stretched her hand to help grandmother but was surprised when the old lady dodged and waved her off.

"Come to me my darling girl, let me take a look at you" She smiled radiantly in my direction and motioned for me to come, I walked towards her and she pulled me in for a hug.

My emotions almost took the best of me but I pulled away before I could let my tears flow on her shoulder.

"Hi Nana" I gave her a warm smile, she looked even older than three years ago, looking frail and weak but I knew the strength that lay beneath the wrinkles.

"How dare you try to run away?!" A voice thundered from the grand stairs. Lucien's voice pulled everyone's attention and I watched him descend, taking the stairway two at a time.

"You ungrateful thief" His eyes were cold and furious, I studied him silently before turning back to grandmother.

"How have you been?" I asked her, Ignoring Lucien.

"Oh I feel younger than I look that's for sure" She laughed and enclosed my hand in hers. She ignored him too.

"I've prepared your room for you, now that you're back I promise I'll take proper care of you this time" She patted my hand gently.

"You can't just make Vespera move out for her, that would be wrong! Not after everything she has put us through" The second woman spoke for the first time since she came down but she couldn't even acknowledge me directly. She spoke like I wasn't there.

"This matter will be laid to rest right now, Vespera would give the room back to the original owner it was made for and that's the final decision" My nana said so sternly and it seemed like everyone was going to accept it until Lucien talked.

"You can't do that to my sister, Vespera has been nothing but nice and caring to the family, you can't just give this..." He stared at me darkly, he wanted to say the word thief so badly,

"She doesn't deserve anything from us, not after what she did, you can't make Vespera move for her" My mother said so staunchly that I wondered if she was the same woman that cried till the rim of her eyes were red the first time she saw me.

A few hours ago I would have left them without giving it a second thought but even though we were strangers with no fond memories, I've wanted a family for a long time and I would do anything to protect them even if they hated me.

"You don't-" Grandmother was in the middle of saying something when Vespera suddenly burst out crying.

"Don't fight because of me, I'll move out if grandma wants it" She sobbed and sniffed noisily, Damian looked uncomfortable with the situation and stuffed his hands in his pockets, shifting from one leg to the other but Lucien was the opposite, the rage on his face was visible as he crossed to her side, hugging her sobbing body while serving me a death glare.

My mother also crossed to her side, leaving the old lady with me,

"Hush my dear, no one is making you do anything like that" she said softly while stroking her back gently, she sent a pleading look in grandmother's direction.

"Fine, she can have the room, I have something better in my mind for my darling girl anyway" She rolled her eyes at them and turned to me with a warm smile.

"You're going to take your aunt Lisa's room" she tapped my nose gently. That shocked me and everyone else. She had refused anyone access to her daughter's room after the girl ran away with a rogue alpha at 17.

Aunt Lisa had been her favorite and her little girl and even though I never got to meet her, I've heard a lot about her. She ran away before I was born and in any case we wouldn't have met anyway since I met my family for the first time at 14.

"I'll take you to your room, it has the best view in the entire house" She smiled and patted my hands when it was starting to look like I would never close my mouth.

"You can't do that, she-"

"She what? Stole the diamond your father gave Vespera and sold it? Where's your evidence?" Her grip tightened on my hand, The topic was clearly irritating her and me too.

Her clear blue eyes shone with such fervor that it somehow didn't matter if anyone else believed me.

"The money was in her room, defend her all you want but she's a thief and Vespera doesn't deserve to suffer because of her" Lucien said firmly. Vespera? How is she suffering now? She gets to keep the room, doesn't she?

"I'm the biological daughter of this family but I get treated by my own family like I'm here on charity, my own brother calls me a thief and my mother treats me like I do not exist. Vespera's suffering? Then you don't know what the real world is like" I replied, staring back at him with the same intensity but not hateful. The kind of stare you would give a child for being naughty.

"I promised I would accept the crime at the marriage for my freedom and I would keep to my word but what you will not do is disrespect me." I added, if I couldn't defend myself then I shouldn't expect salvation from anywhere. I looked at my nana and she looked proud.

"You think you have the right to speak here? You're just a-" Grandmother never let him finish.

"The next time you call your sister that disgusting word, I will disown you and have your name written out of the legacy"