Eternally

62. settling scores

He smiles wide at me again before grabbing my face in his hands and kissing me everywhere on my face, saying 'I love you' in between all of them.

I scrunch my face, and place my arms over his shoulders, hugging him. He immediately wraps his arms around me, "Oh God, I missed this too. I missed you so much."

His arms wrap around as tight as a vice, "I missed you too, Vince." I kissed his cheek, "I love you. I love you so much."

He nuzzles his face in my neck in response and I feel him smiling. I don't think he's ever smiled this big or for this long.

"Am I forgiven?" I ask.

"Of course you are." He mumbled in my neck. "Oh and remember when you asked why I had the knife?"

We pull back but he still keeps me in his arms, chest to chest. I raise an eyebrow at him. "Yes."

"It was for Karter." He grins.

"Well I'll have you know, I was never going to go on a date with him. I turned him down after you left. I didn't give him my number either, I gave him a fake one."

"Then why'd you let me think the opposite of those things?"

"I wanted to see if you still cared."

He scrunched his face. Adorable. "Of course, I care, my witch. How could I not?"

I stared at his face. He was so handsome. He was so perfect. He was mine.

He looked down at my chest for a second and scowled, "C'mon." He pulled my hand and dragged me along with him to his closet. He rummaged through some of his drawers before finding what he was looking for.

He turned me around so my back was against his chest. He put something around my neck and I looked down to see it was the necklace. Well, the tracker. He locked it into place before turning me around.

He pulled his necklace out and connected our hearts. He leaned his forehead against mine, "Please don't break my heart again. I know it was my fault, but you understand what I mean, don't you?"

"I do. I want you to know that I never fell out of love with you. I always was and still am in love with you."

"I should've thrown the eggs at Karter." He sighed.

I laughed, "And you're back."

"Vincent?!" Soria called out from the room.

Vincent poked his head out of the closet, "Yes?"

"Ah, there you are. I wanted to know what you'd like for dinner. I'm cooking."

He looked back at me, "Do you want anything specific?"

I shook my head. "I'm okay with anything."

"Who are you talking to?" Soria asked.

Vincent walked back into the closet and pulled me out, "I was talking to Oriya." He grinned.

"Oh, sweetheart!" Soria exclaimed, pushing Vincent out of the way and pulling me into her embrace. I laughed and hugged her back as she rubbed my back. "I'm so happy you took him back." She whispered, pulling back from me.

"How do you know?" Vincent asked her.

"Because you're happy."

The three of us talked for a few minutes before Soria went down to make food. She made pasta for everyone. The table went quiet when Vince and I walked into the dining room, holding hands. The only ones who weren't surprised were Soria, since she already knew, Sarah, and Ryder.

"Oh thank God!" Lucas sighed, "You don't understand how depressed he was."

"He was more grumpy than usual." Theo nodded.

We finished up dinner and the guys did the dishes as the girls sat in the living room and talked. The guys eventually joined us. We watched movies, told each other interesting stories about each other to catch Soria up on all the years she missed out, and played games.

I enjoyed these couple of hours. It was pure joy.

Eventually, the night came and everyone got tired. Kena and Lucas went upstairs and took Ryder and Sarah with them. Theo and Sienna headed upstairs after a few more minutes as well.

Soria yawned and talked about going to bed as well. Everyone was going to sleep meaning Vince and I could finally go down to the cells, where Leo was being kept.

Nobody else knew Leo was in the same house as us. We didn't want him there but Vince didn't want to risk him escaping at any cost. And besides, torturing him is way easier when he's at such a near distance.

"Goodnight," Soria said before she started going up the stairs.

We said goodnight back and decided to sit in the living room a little longer before we went down.

Leo spent years torturing Soria in ways we don't know of. We don't know what he did but we were determined to make sure that the ways we'll destroy him will be worse than whatever he did.

"Are you sure you'll be okay doing this?" I asked Vince to be sure.

He nodded, "Ori, I've spent years waiting for this moment. Trust me, I'll be okay. Will you?"

"Of course, I will."

"Well, he's right downstairs," he said standing up, "let's go."

"He's what?" Soria said from the dark.

My head snapped in her direction and she turned on the lights. I thought she went upstairs. I looked down at her hands and noticed the empty glass jar she was holding in her hands. That's probably why she came back down.

Vincent's eyes widened, "Mom. I know I didn't tell you, I didn't want you to be scared. I'll move him right now-"

Soria didn't seem mad though. She didn't seem upset. She didn't even look scared. Her face hardened and she pulled out a gun from behind her back, "Take me to him. I've got a score to settle with him."