I swallow thickly and try to smile up at him, but I can’t. My mind keeps racing with the memory of yesterday. My hands grip the back of the chair.
“Sweetheart, go grab yourself another cup of coffee.” Vince places his hand on the small of my back. My eyes are focused on the table as I try to will my fingers to just let go. I nod and as soon as I release the chair, I grab my cup and walk quickly to the kitchen. I stand with my back to them trying to listen to their whispers. I can’t make out what they are saying.
Tears come to my eyes and my heart races. This is stupid, so fucking stupid. He isn’t going to keep me. They’re going to kill me. I walk to the sink and dump the lukewarm remains of my coffee down the drain. My hands grip the front of the sink, and it feels like my legs are going to collapse. I close my eyes and try to steady my breathing. My back is still to them.
If they’re going to kill me, I wish they’d do it like this. During some mundane activity like washing the dishes or something. That’d be an okay way to go, I guess, if I didn’t see it coming. I squeeze my eyes shut and then jump and scream at the feel of hands on my waist.
“Sweetheart.” There’s a note of warning in Vince’s tone. “Whatever’s going on in your head, knock it off.”
I force my eyes open, but I can’t turn to face him. “If you’re going to kill me, please do it when I don’t see it coming.”
“Elle, stop it.” Vince pulls my body close to his so that my back is right up against his chest. He kisses my neck. I don’t know if he knows how comforting and at ease it makes me for him to hold me like this right now, especially in front of his father. It makes his claim to me that much more real.
“No one’s going to hurt you.” I hear Vince’s father and a sense of calm moves through my body. I dare to take a look at Vince’s father. “I promise you, we have no intentions of hurting you.”
“I told you you’re mine, didn’t I?” Vince asks me. I nod my head against Vince’s shoulder and try to stop my nerves from getting the better of me.
“No one touches what’s mine.”
Chapter 25: Vince
“You wanna pick some stuff out or something?” I push the laptop to Elle across the table. Pops left after having a private conversation with me about the shipments. I have a small list of names I need to handle to get shit back on the up and up on that front. They’ve got to know it’s coming though, since Javier made sure to take care of his end as soon as he found out who was stealing from him. Their partners getting murdered is a good sign that we’re coming for them. The Locos Diablos MC is gonna be short a few members real fucking soon. They're an offshoot of Shadows MC, essentially their rejects. They’re fucking stupid to think they’d start a war between the familia and the cartel by stealing from us.
And then there’s the issue of Elle’s mother, Sandra Hawthorne. She’s got to be dealt with, but I don’t feel like handling that issue right now.
“You’re letting me go online? What if I emailed someone?” she asks with disbelief. Leave it to her to give me a reason that I shouldn’t let her go online. She’s questioning everything she’s doing, which is good, but I want her to get comfortable. I want her to just act natural, like how she was when I took her for the first time. That moment in time is what I want every day.
“Don’t. I’m going to be right here. Just pick out what you need.” She reaches for the laptop and slowly opens it.
“I could just get some things from my house,” she offers.
“Your mother already tried reporting you missing. You can’t leave.” I’m short with her, but it's for a good reason. All she has to do is listen to what I tell her and everything will be fine.
“What?” she asks, looking at me with her eyes opened wide.
“Rule one, sweetheart.” She opens and then closes her mouth. I can tell she’s going to have a hard time with that one. It can’t hurt to let her know what’s going on with her mother though. I’m gonna have her give her mother a call sometime soon, but right now it’s too soon. “We have a guy on the inside, a police officer. Luckily he’s the one that got the call.”
“I’m surprised my mom gave a shit.” Her voice turns sad and her eyes focus back on the laptop. I don’t like it.
Apparently someone saw Elle with me and went to her mom's place to try and question her about me. Sandra didn’t say shit to the police, which is good. It means my sweetheart really didn’t remember anything that happened at the bistro until she came to my parents' house yesterday. It didn’t piss me off that Sandra tried to file a missing person’s report. But the fact that she attempted to make a will for my sweetheart today really fucking pisses me off.