Chapter 148 - Chapter(Hundred) Forty Seven: Sickening

I am deeply sorry for my inability to upload frequently this month. I have been plagued with unfathomable depression and writer's block. I have also just recently recovered from a perilous flu which was not covid but equally as annoying. I hope to do better this March. Please don't forget to support my work with votes, gifts, and most especially comments. I love reading comments, it really brightens my mood. Sorry for the long intro and thank you for making my author's dreams come true. 

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Lorenzo's death left Leo with a wrenching feeling of worthlessness. The feeling was always there, laying leaden beneath the surface. His father's death only caused it to fester. 

No one wanted him, even his own mother didn't want him. To this day, his grandfather still thought of him as a failure, a disappointment. A wasted opportunity for him to have a more befitting grandson, one that would make him most proud.

To him, Leo would always be the second-best.

After his father's death, reality robbed him of the coddled memories from his childhood— the ones he fought hard to cherish and preserve, replacing them with vile ones. Memories of pain and torture. Of death, staining the once pristine perception he had of people, of his family, and the suffering they had made him endure. The suffering he had grown accustomed to.

Greed and hate being catalysts, Leo had watched role model father figures, turn to monsters ready to gorge him up, he had seen allies turn their backs on comrades at the heat of conflict. It disheartened him beyond proportion that he was now slowly losing a friend he had known for a decade to that same spiteful hate.

Leo's gaze remained fixed on Johnny, his hand was still firm around Becca's waist. Both men exuded chilling auras, condescending snarls splotched on their faces as if physically restraining themselves from lunging at each other but at the same time, waiting silently for the other to do or say something disdainful— a valid excuse to snap. And Becca was cut in the middle.

She looked at Johnny, then at Leo, her eyes begging them not to cause a scene, or at least not crack each other's necks. But for a moment, Becca became invisible to them, contempt cladding their vision. Both men wielded contrasting desires. All Johnny wanted was to rescue his innocent little sister from the clutches of a man like Leonardo. A man who slaughtered with the slightest chink of remorse. Johnny had witnessed on multiple occasions how deep Leo's desire for blood ran, how messed up and broken the man was. The fact that Becca let Leo touch her like that made Johnny's heart lurch, just the sight of Leo's arm around her, convulsed him with anger and fear. Any man other than Leo would have been just fine.

Johnny had never questioned the decisions Becca made for herself but this situation pushed him to doubt her credibility to distinguish good from horrible. Leo was horrible, what he did to people was even more grisly and whatever Becca thought she had with him was an error that best be expunged from existence as fast as possible. It started with a spark of wariness and panic, soon escalating into a blazing inferno so sweltering, it torched the memories of a friendship that has lasted for ten long years, only leaving Johnny with one thought. A single prediction.

Becca, Leo was going to hurt her. If not now, then eventually. She would never be safe with him. Johnny wouldn't be able to live with himself if that ever happened, especially when he could have averted it.

Leo, on the other hand, tightened his hold on Becca. She was one of the exceedingly few people that ever took a second out of their day to care about him, she was the one who egged him to open up about his scars, something he never thought he would ever be able to do. She fell in love with him, a monster even after his mother had damned him to never receive a sliver of anything resembling affection. Yet here she was, loving him, seeing past his damaged bits. He would rather die than lose her. He would take all the hatred tossed his way, leap over every hurdle if it meant keeping her by his side, if it meant having her forever.

The air between them was appallingly stuffed, so thick with tension that Becca wanted to scream and faint all at once. 

Her lips parted to speak. " Johnny," Was the only thing she was able to mutter, hoping to quell a fraction of the heat of anger oozing from her brother but he was momentarily calloused, even to her as he continued glaring at Leo.

Her heart quivered with distress. She took a step forward but couldn't go further than that, not with Leo's arms still around her, holding her in place. Keeping her put. For all Leo knew, she might never come back to him if he let's go. There was a massive chance that she wouldn't return, not with her family members bearing their teeth at him like a pack of vicious wolves. 

Becca shot Leo a look, telling him to let go but he stared back at her, blatantly refusing to. She decided to ignore him and turned back to Johnny.

" Johnny, please hear me out. I didn't mean to keep this from you." But she still did. She deliberately lied to him, multiple times. She had all the freedom to tell him about her relationship with Leo, there were tons of opportunities she could have utilized; a lunch date, an explicit text, even a simple phone call could have done the job but she didn't do any because she didn't want him to know from the start. And the route this situation was going was the reason why.

Johnny looked at her, eyes softening a bit. " No, Becca. You didn't do anything wrong." He turned to Leo with a piercing glare. " It's that bastard over there who has done wrong." 

It was then Becca suddenly realized her surroundings, the people; the receptionist, clients coming in and out the doors, and a few meandering employees. They were all there, watching. She would surely be the hot topic of the week.

She shut her eyes, calming her unease but all it did was heighten the sounds of murmurs, the scrutinizing eyes of onlookers pricking holes through her. It reminded her of high school when she was constantly under people's scrutiny. They were always watching her, waiting for her to slip and fall so they could get a good laugh out at her expense. To bully her. 

And even till now, she was still under her grandparents' scrutiny, only no matter how much they watched, no matter how much they saw, they would never accept her. Their actions always reminded her that she was no more than the result of adultery, after all, her birth was a sin. She was never wanted. It was indeed a miracle that Regina accepted her as a daughter, glad she didn't let the hate she had for Amanda to transfer to the next generation.

" Let go of my sister. " 

Becca heard Johnny's crisped tone as clear as a gunshot. She opened her eyes and felt her stomach churn as she caught sight of the unsubtle stares of her staff, expected but sickening. Gone was the warm bliss when she now pictured having brunch with Leo. Gone was the pressing urge to try to make Johnny understand the situation. All of the sudden, she felt lightheaded and her body barely had a sheer helm on stability. Her strength was debilitated by the second. It no longer felt like she was in the arms of her lover or in the presence of her brother. No, it felt like she was trapped between the jaws of two ferocious beasts, both now barely familiar. Both keeping her static in a cage made entirely of their serrated teeth. She couldn't feel. She couldn't breathe.

It sickened her.

Desperate for escape, Becca's hands slinked to Leo's arm that was still fastened around her waist and tugged it away from her as hard as she could. He stared at her with baffling confusion cloaking his beautiful dark blue eyes but she didn't have the time to explain anything to him. She needed some air or she feared she might suffocate. She needed to leave. And she did, Johnny's eyes following her until she was out the door, scampering her way outside, to her car to make a swift exit. Panic spurred Leo at once, inciting him to do something. 

Ignoring the stares, He went after her.

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