Entwined With the Villainous Guardian
Chapter 328: Smell of Fire

Chapter 328: Smell of Fire

"She’s like a persistent shadow..." Viviana rubbed her forehead. She rolled down the window. "Move, Tabitha!" Viviana shouted.

Seeing Viviana Tabitha ran at her. "I knew it was you!" Tabitha shouted. "Stop! I knew you’d be here for the meeting. You’ll be arrested..."

Tabitha kept on talking but Viviana rolled up the glasses. "Luca, drive without stopping," she said.

Luca did what she told him to do. Tabitha ended up hitting the side view mirror and stumbled down. Viviana didn’t even turn to check if Tabitha was okay. She didn’t want to deal with Tabitha right now.

Leander occupied her every fiber of being.

"Signora... we can... Capo won’t be happy to~"

"I do not care about his happiness right now, Luca. Keep moving," Viviana said in a stern voice.

She didn’t care what Leander would feel seeing her there. She had a very bad feeling about today and she can only rest when she sees him.

As they got nearer to Orchid Gardens, the sky started to darken. She saw dark clouds rising on the horizon.

A storm is coming!

Viviana rubbed her arms as she felt chilly looking at the sky. The day she met Leander on the rooftop, she saw a similar sky. She got reminded of Leona that day seeing Leander’s eyes.

’I’ll watch over you...’

Those words she heard in her dream kept on echoing in her mind.

What is that dream? Why now?

God, please... please protect my husband. He’s all I have. Please... please...

She prayed in her heart and repeated the prayer of protection to St. Michael and every other prayer she knew in Latin.

As they got nearer, she noticed that the entire street was empty. There was no sign of any other cars. There might not be any meeting happening. Tabitha must be wrong.

As their car rolled to a slow stop at the gates, she noticed that the house was just the way she left it. Leander told her that a full-fledged repair work was happening and that was the reason she couldn’t visit there.

But there was not a single sign of repair work getting done there.

Viviana opened the car and alighted. The gates were not opening and that means it was locked inside. She stood in front of the gates. Leander’s car was in the driveway and she couldn’t see inside the house as it was dark inside.

It hurt her to see their house standing in the dark like a haunted manner. The garden has all withered away. Only the big tree was left standing tall.

Luca honked the horn. From inside the house, Steve ran out. He was petrified seeing her there.

"Luca..." Steve gritted his teeth and checked his phone. His eyes widened.

He probably received calls and texts but he didn’t look at his phone.

"Steve, where is Leander?" Viviana asked him. Her intuition was right. There is something wrong going on here.

"Signora, you can’t be here," he said holding the gates. "Boss is in a meeting... Go to the mall. The boss will be there after he finishes." Steve tried to be polite with her but she could see the hurry in his eyes.

"Luca! Bring Signora to the mall!"

He turned and looked inside the house.

"What meeting? With who? There are no other cars here," Viviana asked.

"That’s not important!" Steve shouted. Realizing he was talking to her, he turned with an awkward smile. "Signora, we carpooled. Will you please... It’s dangerous..."

"I want to look at him once. Did he visit me last night?" she asked. "Steve, please. Ask him to stand by the door. I just want to look at him."

Steve gulped as he tried to refuse her without hurting her. "Signora, he is with dangerous people. He needs me there. Please..." In the end, Steve found out the words to say to her to make her back off.

"He’s alone?" she asked.

"Yes, except for me..." Steve said.

Viviana let go of the bars of the gate and took a step back. She didn’t want her nervousness to affect his safety.

Steve nodded with a grateful smile.

"Promise me, Steve... Promise me I’ll see him later today," she said placing her hand on her heart.

Steve turned and ran inside the house looking at his watch. Viviana let out a deep breath and watched him running in. He must have nodded and she failed to notice it.

Another car pulled up behind her. She turned in a hurry hearing the loud thumping footsteps.

It was Helena Palatini.

"Where? Where is she?" Helena rushed to Viviana’s side. "You... Where is my baby?" she asked.

"I don’t have time for you today, Helena. Go away," Viviana fisted her hands. She was already stressed and she didn’t have the patience to deal with Helena’s drama.

"Ha!" Helena scoffed. "Are you locked out?" She laughed. "Who’d have thought? Leander threw his Lemon away. Have you gotten old or rotten?" she sneered.

Viviana rolled her eyes. "As if... Did you think my name was Helena?"

Helena gritted her teeth and fisted her hands. "I’ll..." She took a step forward but then controlled herself and turned away. Helena spotted the baby inside the car and walked to the car.

"Martha, lock the door!" Viviana shouted.

Martha did what Viviana asked of her. Luca got inside the car getting ready to leave.

Helena turned her attention toward Viviana. "She’s mine! I didn’t even look at it and you stole it from me!" she dashed at Viviana with raised hands.

Viviana gripped her hand before she managed to hit her. "You’re a heartless, cruel wench to throw your baby away without even looking at her. But are you crazy too? Why are you asking me for your baby?"

"Because you have it," Helena tried to grip Viviana’s hair with her other hand.

"It?" Viviana pushed Helena back. "You keep on mentioning her "it". Why is that?"

"F*Ck!" Helena held her chest as her chest heaved. "Are you, my psychiatrist? Why should I tell you? And stop hitting me!" She lunged at Viviana once more, this time with her claws out and ready to scratch Viviana’s face.

Viviana straight up grabbed Helena’s hair. Women become pretty much incapacitated once their hair gets grabbed. She knew if she didn’t grab Helena’s hair first, Helena would grab her hair and then it would be she who gets incapacitated.

Viviana might not have been in many fights throughout her life but she had watched a lot of them. She had observed said fights to learn of the tricks the winners used and the wrongs the losers who got pounded committed.

Helena had long arms considering she was taller than Viviana and she tried to punch her. Viviana anticipated Helena’s next move and dodged Helena’s attacks. She had plenty of opportunities to hit her abdomen but she didn’t want to hurt a woman who just gave birth.

Viviana gave a strong kick to Helena’s leg. Helena shrieked in pain and started to cuss.

"Calm down, I’ll let you go. Otherwise, I’ll hurt you..." Viviana said clutching her hair and keeping her at a distance.

Seeing the commotion outside, Martha stepped out of the car. "Get back inside!" Viviana shouted.

Martha stood holding the open door wondering what she should do next.

"Martha! Get inside!" Viviana shouted.

*BOOOOM*

Viviana’s voice was drowned by a loud boom that sent vibrations to the bottom of her heart. Her ears rang and the wind displayed messed her hair and made her lose her balance. She was thrown to the ground.

Viviana winced in pain covering her ears. She looked up to see everywhere covered in dust and debris.

The baby...

The car was covered in dust and Viviana sighed in relief upon hearing the cry of the baby.

Ziya is fine... Thank God!

Along with the smell of dust, another familiar smell that traumatized her arose.

The smell of fire...

Leander...

She got up and turned to her side to take a look at the house. The sound came from there and that means... The dust had settled but what she saw...

Tears streamed down her cheeks as Viviana stood frozen across the street, her trembling hands clasped tightly over her mouth. The once-familiar building that housed them was now an inferno, thick black smoke billowing into the sky, choking the air with the scent of burning wreckage.

Panic and despair surged through her veins, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the horrifying sight.

No! Leo... My Leo...