Desolation (New Rochelle Mafia #1)

2. CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 2

DRAKE

E lodie almost caught me following her this morning. Usually, I do much better about keeping myself hidden, but I had to skirt around a couple making out on the corner of the building and got a little closer than I usually do. I need to be more careful; the very last thing I want to do is spook her. Angry at myself, I think back to last week when I had to beat the shit out of two creepy fuckers that were following her on her way to school.

Elodie is so beautiful and this is such a shitty neighborhood, that I get into at least three fights a month, if not more. One of the guys actually followed her all the way to her house one day and tried to watch in her bedroom window. He doesn’t have eyes anymore.

I’ve been doing this for years. She has no idea; of that, I’m certain, but I’m going to have to be more careful if I don’t want to get caught. When I left for college a couple years ago, I had to start having Dad’s men watch her. Hopefully they stay out of sight better than I did today. His guys are good, though, since they do this a lot for him. On days I don’t have classes, I do it myself. Today is one of those days.

I may not be a part of my father’s business, but I can, and do, still give them jobs; only when it comes to Elodie though. Whatever happens outside of that is none of my business. I have to have plausible deniability since I am going to be the family attorney in a few years. I have been learning under my father’s current lawyers about the family business. At this point, I still have to take the classes, but I know everything I need to know already to pass the bar, and already have a job at the most prestigious firm in New York City.

Some people have problems taking anything handed to them, I don’t. For one thing, I have earned my place here, but also, I’d do anything to protect Elodie. It’s been this way for me since I was twelve years old and saw her for the first time. Little ten-year-old Elodie. The saddest girl I have ever seen. Ethereally beautiful even then, at her young age.

It was my first day back at public school. My father sent my brother and me abroad to a private school for elementary, but wanted us back in public school after that so we could build local connections. Someone bumped into her in the hall, scattering her books everywhere. No one stopped to help her, not even me. I couldn’t. I was transfixed by her.

She silently picked up each book carefully, a single tear sliding down her cheek. When she twisted to readjust her bag, I saw a wince of pain. Someone had been hurting her. That afternoon, I followed her home. Her parents are scumbags. They beat her that night. I vowed right then and there that I would protect this girl from this day forward. The absolute blinding rage I felt when I figured out who was hurting her almost prompted me to go in and take her home with me right then and there.

Unfortunately, Elodie’s parents get their drugs from a rival mafia Familia. My father won’t let me get directly involved in her life until she leaves for college. It’s frustrating, but I do understand. We can’t start a war over one girl, though I would in a heartbeat if she asked me to.

So, I watch her from the sidelines, and protect her in any way that I can. My father gives me the resources I need to do it and doesn’t complain. He is a good man, despite what he does. We can’t help being born to our parents. No one has any control over that. You just make the best of what you are given.

My brother, Anthony, is much better suited to leading than I am, and he’s the oldest anyway. He and my father have a “take no shit” attitude that I respect and they are both fair to those under them. Most of the people who work for us have been there for years, and their children also work for us in some capacity.

I have always been curious and determined, willing to argue for something I believe in. A lawyer in my heart through and through. Protecting my family, and protecting Elodie are both things that are important to me and I will do it with every breath I have in my body. No matter the consequences.

I know that she wants to be a photographer and I will help her in any way that I can. She got into NYU on a scholarship. What she didn’t know was that even if she didn’t get in, her tuition would’ve been paid by an anonymous source. But she did it, just like I knew she would.

I’ve already spoken to Ms. Bates. I tried to pay her to help Elodie but she turned me down, saying that she doesn’t need money to help Elodie when she knows how talented she already is. I donated the money to her for the camera Elodie uses. For whatever reason, it doesn’t bother her that I try to help Elodie either, which makes me wonder how much she knows about what goes on at her parents’ house.

The visceral anger I feel when I see Elodie pull her hood up to shut the world out shocks me sometimes. I know it’s a coping mechanism. She has panic attacks, too. I’ve seen it happen when she walks home. More than once, I have seen her slide down the nearest brick wall when she can’t breathe. She has these exercises she does when something like that happens. She’s so strong. I know she doesn’t go to therapy so I can only surmise that she’s read a lot to figure out how to calm herself that way.

So, Ms. Bates and I have a secret pact to help Elodie no matter what. Sometimes I think about what Elodie’s life would be like if Bates was her mother. Or really anyone other than the parents she has. She could blossom under the care and support of parents who really love her instead of hiding herself away so that no one notices her.

There will never be anyone else for me. I don’t care what I have to do to get her. I don’t care what I have to do to keep her. She will learn how to not be afraid ever again when she is with me. She can live her life in peace, taking all the photos she wants for the rest of her life. She will be loved, cared for, and pampered—forever. Just gotta get through the next few weeks.

But first, I’m going to put a new plan in place. I’m tired of watching her from the shadows right now, for the next few months, I’m going to become her friend.