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“Yep, I just want to drive by and check something real quick and then we can go. We don’t even have to stop,” I say. I know Elodie isn’t off work yet now, but by the time we get there from the city she will have been for a while.
Nodding, he puts the car in gear and we are off, though I notice him taking his gun out to keep it handy. My dad trains his men well. None of them would dare to let anything happen to Anthony or me. Though Anthony has his own group of friends that act as his guards.
When he takes over for my father, most likely they will all move up with him. That’s just how it works. You never know who you can trust in this lifestyle so when you find those ride or die people, you keep them around. When it’s life or death, you want to know you’re going to make it out alive and you can’t do that with people you don’t trust having your back.
Driving the forty-five minutes to Elodie’s neighborhood just ties my stomach up in knots even more. Something is wrong. I feel it. Tapping out a message to my dad, I let him know where I am so he doesn’t worry. He probably won’t see it till he gets out of his meeting anyway.
The text from Reba came not long after I knew the diner was closed. She’s giving Elodie a ride home tonight. She says Dominic showed up after I left and some things went down. Not good.
Reba and my father went to school together. A long time ago, Dad was best friends with Reba’s boyfriend, Eddie, but he was killed by a rival Family during an attempted takeover while my grandfather was still in charge.
She won’t take much help from my family, but she and my father have remained friends, and I’ve asked her to help me look after Elodie. Once again, just like with Bates, she was already looking out for her and was grateful to have my help as well. I know she doesn’t approve of Elodie and me having any kind of relationship. I think that’s mostly just because of what happened to Eddie, not because she thinks I’m a bad person. Though that’s debatable.
That doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying. I will have her one day.
I don’t know what possessed me to approach El with the vow of friendship, but I just couldn’t help myself. Her almost catching me watching her this morning on the way to school was just too close for me. I want to have a reason to be around her so I don’t have to worry about that anymore.
Being up front seemed to be the best way to do it. If she lets me.
Elodie is as skittish as a baby colt, though. Who can blame her? Dealing with her parents will do that to a person. Not to mentionI’m sure she sees things at home she probably wished she hadn’t. I can only imagine how traumatic it must be living with two addicts that don’t give a shit about their daughter.
Pulling into Elodie’s neighborhood, I slide forward in my seat a little to get a better view. As we drive by El’s I see her parents screaming and hitting something, or someone, on the floor through their front window. Telling Louis to stop the car, I watch, horrified, as I see Elodie crawl across the floor and then up the stairs. What. The. Fuck. Nope this is not happening.
Louis looks for a place to park that’s safe and I whip out my phone and call my dad.
He answers immediately, “What’s happening?” he asks.
“I’m about to climb the side of Elodie’s house and take her out of there. They just beat her, Dad, so badly she had to crawl up the stairs. I’m not leaving her there and she may need help,” I growl into the phone, fisting my hands tightly. “I can’t do it. I know it might make things hard with the Petrucci Familia, but I don’t care. We will just have to figure it out”
“Okay, Drake, I agree. You can’t leave her there. But if we’re going to do it, we are going to do it right. You stay in the car, I’m sending some of the guys to you. You’ll all go in masked up, grab her and get her out. No crawling up the side of the house. You could get hurt or caught and I won’t allow that,” Dad says.
My hands are shaking. I want to go in there right now and kill them. How am I supposed to wait till my dad’s men get here? She needs medical treatment, I know it. A lot can happen in forty-five minutes.
“Drake, I can hear the gears turning through the phone, I am willing to help with this but youwillfollow my rules. Period,“ hebarks. “I know that you want to get to her, but you will do it my way.”
Sighing, I hang my head, he’s right, I just have to pray to all the gods that nothing happens to her in the meantime. “I’ll wait. I’ll have Louis take me to Reba’s to wait so that we aren’t just sitting here. I’ll have to fill her in anyway. In fact, I’ll just bring her too so Elodie will have a familiar face.”
“Okay son, they’re on their way, don’t worry we’ll help her. Just keep yourself safe till then,” my dad says and then I hear the click of the line as he hangs up. He is going to have to do a lot of damage control. I get what he says about trying to be smart about this since her parents buy from the Petrucci’s, but they aren’t part of the Familia just because they get drugs from them and they have no claim on Elodie.
There is no way I can leave her there after seeing this. I won’t. Fortunately, my dad agreed because if he hadn’t I was going to get her anyway and damn the consequences. Louis pulls out and drives to Reba’s.
We park in front of Reba’s already dark house. Louis comes around and opens my door. “Go wake her up. I’ll wait right here and make sure we haven’t been seen,” he says. Nodding, I head to Reba’s door and do our secret knock. She answers after only a few minutes.
“What’s wrong? Why are you here so late?” she asks.
“It’s El. I don’t know why, but I just saw her parents beating her. She couldn’t even walk up the stairs. She was crawling,” I say between gritted teeth. Grabbing me by the arm she pulls me inside and shuts the door behind us.
“Okay Drake, you have to keep it together. What’s the plan? Cause I know you have one or you wouldn’t be here,” she says. She leads me to the sofa to sit, rubbing my arm to try to calm me down. “What do you need from me?”
“Dad is sending a car of men and we are going in after her. But I don’t want her to wake up at the penthouse not knowing anyone, on top of not knowing where she is. She needs medical treatment. What I saw was bad. Very bad. Will you come?” I begged her.
I’m trying to keep myself calm. The last thing Elodie needs right now is me losing my shit completely. Taking a few deep breaths, I close my eyes and wait for Reba’s answer.
Sighing, she nods. I know this will be hard for her. She hangs her head and closes her eyes and I know she is probably picturing her last time there with Eddie and my dad. She hasn’t been there since Eddie’s funeral twenty years ago.
Hugging her, I apologize. “I don’t know what else to do, Reba. She can’t stay there anymore. It was one thing when I just knew it was happening, but couldn’t prove it. It’s another story now that I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
Nodding she says, “I knew it was getting bad. I gave her the phone I got from you but she won’t even take it home with her. She’s too afraid they will find it. She never actually talks to me about what’s going on there though, Drake. She’s going to freak out.”
