Desolation (New Rochelle Mafia #1)

11. CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 11

DRAKE

E van and I head down to my dad’s office. Neither of us say a word. I know he is probably thinking about when Gwen first came to him. Battered and broken. Anthony and Marco had been called to an abandoned building where she was found by one of our men. We didn’t know how she got there. Later on we found out she had run from her boyfriend and hid there.

Before she got with him, she was a paralegal. He was a criminal that the law office she worked at represented and he sweet talked her. That’s usually how abusers get in. Love bombing, getting you hooked, making you feel loved and special, and then they always show their true colors.

Evan gave her a job in his office. They worked on her case and her ex is now in prison for a long time. Right where he should be. Though I think something else should have been done with him. She didn’t want to go that route though, so we did as she asked.

That’s another reason I figured her and El would get along. Bonding over similar trauma can create the most concrete friendships. Having someone there who knows how you feel gives you a sense of knowing that you aren’t alone. That’s what she needs right now. She needs to know that we will fight for her. Or burn the world down trying.

My dad is waiting for us when we get to his office. He looks at us in question and I shrug. “Gwen is talking to her now so we will see,” I say. I don’t know if she will sign. It’s probably going to be one of the hardest decisions she will ever make in her life. I will do whatever I can for her to make sure she never has to do something like this again.

Evan is quiet. Almost too quiet for him.

“You okay?” I ask.

“Yeah, I mean you did tell me it was bad. And I remember how bad Gwen was too when she came to me. But to see that and know it was her parents that did that? I just have no words,” he says.

We all sit there quietly for a few minutes, lost in our own thoughts. This is how I have felt for the last several years. Knowing I couldn’t help her was the worst feeling in the world. But we have her now. That’s what matters, and I will never let anyone hurt her ever again .

“Gwen will get her to sign. I have a good feeling about it,” my dad says.

“So the plan is hopefully she signs and then we are going to hide her out here, yeah? We need to check where she is as far as graduating and get her classes moved to online if we can because she definitely can’t go to the school or they will catch her there. Dominic is also another immediate threat that we need to do something about,” I say.

“Yeah, and also, have you heard from Reba? I expected her back a long time ago. She stopped in here on her way out and said she wouldn’t be gone long. I tried to call her and it went straight to voicemail,” my dad says.

I immediately get a sick feeling in my stomach. For one thing, Reba’s phone almost never goes to voicemail, she always has it on. Not to mention Elodie is here and hurt and she said she would only be gone a couple hours and it’s been almost six now.

“We need to send someone to the diner,” I say, taking out my phone.

“Already sent Marco there. Just waiting for him to get back to me. I just wanted to make sure you hadn’t heard anything since then,” he says.

Fuck, this is the last thing I expected to happen. It’s not like her to just go ghost like this. El will freak out if something happens to Reba. We all will. My dad would never forgive himself, especially after what happened to Eddie. But I have a bad feeling that Dominic has something to do with this especially considering he was just at the diner last night. I’m sure El’s parents have realized she’s gone now .

It’s a hundred percent possible that their first call was to Dominic to send his people looking for her. We need to start doing some damage control now.

I wouldn’t put it past them to use Reba to get to Elodie.

I probably should let Elodie know about Reba. I know it’s going to upset her, but I don’t want to keep it from her either, and she’s going to notice.

There’s a knock at the door and Gwen steps in, paperwork in her hands.

“She signed. I took the pictures too and…fuck. It’s bad. There won’t be any problems getting this that’s for sure. She looks worse than I did,” she says, shuddering.

I don’t even have a reaction; I saw her earlier so I already know.

“I gave her my number, but she doesn’t have a phone. I want her to be able to call me any time and I will be here,” Gwen says, looking pointedly at me.

Shit. I did forget to do that.

My dad waves his hand at me and says, “I’ll get her one sent up. We have some extras. Just go check on her, and you’re gonna want to talk to her about Reba. See if there’s anywhere else she might be.”

“On it,” I say standing and heading up to go check on her.

When I reach her door, I hear her crying. Should I go in? Does she need a minute? No, I’m not letting her cry alone. I will help her bear these burdens.

Softly knocking on the door, I open it and pop my head in. Elodie is sitting on the floor leaned up against the wall, knees drawn to her chest .

“Hey,” I say quietly. Sitting down next to her I wrap my arm around her and just let her cry. We don’t say anything. What is there to say? I don’t know all the details of how her homelife has been. I just have guesses based on things I’ve noticed over the years. This was the first time ever seeing anything actually happen. Who knows what horrors she has had to live through in that house.

Leaning into me, she wraps her arms around me, one around my back and the other resting lightly on my stomach, like she’s afraid to touch me all the way, afraid to accept comfort.

“I know this isn’t the greatest time, but I need to talk to you about something. It’s pretty important,” I say gently.

She looks up at me, eyes red, tears running down her face. How do I tell her the only person she trusted might be missing?

“We haven’t heard from Reba. She should’ve been back by now. Dad has Marco on it, but we wanted to see if you know anywhere else she might’ve gone?” I ask.

“Oh no, no, no, no,” she cries. “There’s nowhere else she could be if she isn’t at home or at the diner. Not that I know of anyway. You don’t think…?”

“We don’t know and we don’t want to make any assumptions, but she isn’t answering her phone either. In fact, it’s going straight to voicemail, which is unusual for her too. But I also think we need to keep every possibility in mind,” I say.

El chews on her lower lip. Getting a determined look on her face she says, “I have to go back. I’m sure the first person my parents called when I wasn’t there was Dominic. Which means he may have grabbed her right? To get me to go home? So if I just go home they will let her go right?”

“You’re not going back. Then they will just have you both. Not happening,” I say, angrily, swiping my hand down in the air. “We can get her back without you sacrificing yourself. That’s the last thing Reba would want anyway. You don’t understand how these things work. Just let us handle it. My dad’s men are good El, they know what they are doing.”

“Drake, you don’t get to make choices for me. I’m not going to let them keep her if there’s something I can do to get her back,” she says standing and pacing angrily.

“First of all, we don’t even know that they have her. I didn’t want to keep things from you. Let’s just wait till we hear back from Marco. Please, El,” I ask her. “Let’s go down to the kitchen and get you something to eat. You need to take some pain meds again and you probably need to eat something.”

She crosses her arms and looks at me. I can see the warring emotions on her face. She’s angry, and scared, probably tired, and she’s definitely in pain. It’s a lot. She finally nods her head.

Holding my arm out towards the door, I let her go out first, grabbing her pills off the table on the way out. She’s wearing some leggings and a soft sweater. And against my better judgment, I can’t help but look at the way they mold her ass and it sways when she walks. I’m also fairly certain she doesn’t have a bra on either.

I’m a goddamn creep.

She has her hair pulled up in a messy bun on top of her head. I’m sure to keep her hair off her face. But it means her neck is bare and her sweater is falling down her shoulder just a little. What I wouldn’t give to slip it the rest of the way down and lick her delicate collar bone .

She turns around as if she feels my eyes on her and her cheeks get pink with embarrassment. My dick is hard as fuck. I see her flick her eyes down and she gets even more red.

Clearing my throat, I gesture to keep walking. This is definitely not the time or place, but I can’t help how I feel about her. She nods and turns back around. We make it to the kitchen and Ellen, our housekeeper, has some sandwiches laid out. There’s also some cream cheese danishes and a few options for drinks.

Grabbing a water, I pull El’s pills out of my pocket. Shaking a couple out, I hand them and the water to her. She swallows them and takes a drink, throat working as she drinks the water.

She watches me from the corner of her eye.

I never realized it would be this hard to control myself once I was around her. Watching her from the shadows I didn’t have to worry about how I reacted to her. But now that she’s in front of me, and I can touch her, smell her, see her up close…it’s gonna take a fucking miracle to keep my hands off her.

Obviously I’d never touch her without permission, but it’s going to take the patience of a saint, and I’m definitely not a saint.

Making us each a plate, I get her settled into a seat and sitting next to her I start to eat.