Wings Of Choice (Joel Pimentel)

12 - Truth Hurts

"This is it." Cassandra shows the gateway to the Underworld to Matthew and the other princes's fathers. Lucinda comes along too, since she's more familiar to the Underworld.

"I'll take it from here." Lucinda tells her. "Take her back to the palace. Keep her safe. Don't let our kids know about this." she tells Renato, the head of Royal's bodyguards.

Before anything Cassandra reached for her aunt's hand, making her stops her feet. "Don't you need me with you? You haven't been there for a long time." she tells her.

Overheard what Cassandra says to Lucinda, Matthew steps back to face her. He put his hands on her shoulder, taking her attention. "Look, Cassandra. I wasn't there when you grow up, but you're still my niece, the daughter of my sister. I care about you, I don't want you to be anywhere closer to that place. Understand?" he says in serious tone. Knowing that she can say nothing to change his mind, she nods and choose to just follows what he says.

---

"Can we stop at my apartment for a while? There's something I have to deal with." Cassandra tells Renato. "Okay, but not for long." he says before telling the driver to take a turn to Cassandra's apartment.

When she gets in she immediately get into Luke's room and calls him out. Sitting in the living room, she tells him everything. "I can't do it, Luke. They are my family. There's nothing good in following Lucian. You know that." she speaks softly for him to understand. But Luke isn't taking it very well.

"So you're going to stay with them? What about me?" he asks with tears in his eyes, not approving Cassandra's decision. He feels betrayed. She reaches for his hand. "You can come with me, Luke. You can change your life." she convinced him.

Luke pulls his hands away from hers. "I'm not like you, Cass. I belong to this life. I'm bound to follow Lucian. It's in my blood." he moves his eyes away. "Just consider we're not related anymore." he says before he leaves her alone in the room, crying on her own for losing the cousin she grew up with.

---

It takes three days for the rescue mission to succeed. Cassandra spends the days she had to be with Joel as much as she can, for anything could happen once he knows the truth about her. She also reveals the truth to Erick, knowing that he might understands her, which he did.

Cassandra was sitting with Jodi by the training field, watching over the guys when Renato came. "King Jared summons everyone to come to the main hall." he announced.

Cassandra knows what's happening, that makes her stomach rolls, her face turned pale and her lips gone numb. "Babe, are you okay?" Joel asks, worried. "I am. Hurry, you father just summoned you." she pushes him to the front.

Noticing what's wrong with Cassandra, Erick runs to her. "It's going to be okay. I'm with you." he whispers to her, holding her hand tightly in his.

When they got into the main hall everyone was confused, except for Erick and Cassandra. Jared takes his place on the throne, telling everyone to pay attention to him. "I know all of you are aware that we once lost Matilda Vélez in the hand of Lucian Pierce. Thanks to Lucinda and Matthew, we finally saved her." he announces.

He then calls Matilda to the front. She doesn't wear the necklace anymore. They have broken the spell and destroyed the stone. "Also, you guys have a cousin. Cassandra, come forward." he says, making all heads turn to Cassandra.

Glancing at Joel who's looking at her with disbelief, Cassandra stands up hesitantly. Her knees feel weak as she steps forward. It was the most awkward event, too much surprises at one occasion, making the whole room falls in dead silence.

As soon as Jared allows everyone to dismiss, Matilda and Cassandra cries happily as they hug each other. "There's a lot of things that I want to say, but maybe you need explain everything to them." Matilda says, referring to the princes.

Richard, Erick, Chris and Zabdiel was waiting for her. Cassandra was so scared of what they might say, but instead of being mad at her they pulled her for a group hug. "Hm, guys, I lied to you. Aren't you mad at me?" she asks them.

"No, Erick tells us why you decided to stop following you father's order. It's because you can't afford to betray us. So, no, we're not mad. We love you." Chris hugs her even tighter, making her uncomfortable. "You're going to choke me to death." she says, pushing him away.

For a moment she feels relieved, and thanks the guys for understanding her. Until she noticed that Joel wasn't there. He's on the other side of the room, staring at her blankly.

When their eyes met he shooks his head and turn away. This can be good. Cassandra thinks to herself. She left the guys behind, and chase after him. She calls for him multiple times but he ignores her.

"Joel, listen to me." she says as she was close enough to touch him. "Joel, stop." she grabbed him, but Joel turns around and snapped his arm away. "Stay away from me, you liar!" he yells at her.

Before she can even say anything to defend herself, Joel point his finger on her chest. "Ironic isn't it? I told you repeatedly to trust me, when actually you are the one that I shouldn't trust. I was right about you all along. You're just playing with me and my cousins. Too bad they're still fool enough to treat you nicely." he hissed at her before he took a step to walk away, but Cassandra hugs him from the back.

"I love you Joel. That wasn't a lie. You told me you won't leave me." she cries on his back. With heavy breathe and clenched teeth, Joel use his full force to break free, causing her to fall to the ground before he bent down and hold her face in his hand. He held her face strong, and locked his full of rage eyes straight to hers.

"Listen to me, you half Devil. All those things I've said, was before I knew everything you did was just a lie. Now I'm taking back my words, and I don't want you anywhere near me, you get me?" he bawls out on her, before letting her face away from his grip, leaving her alone on the ground.