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Chapter Seventeen
Elena
I sit on the love seat across from Stefan Dalca, my legs crossed, in a new dress I was able to buy with some of the money that Migual had given me. I wanted the dress to make me look both feminine and strong. It wasn’t particularly low cut, but it was tightfitting and black. You know, my signature color, as always.
Now, a scotch is sitting in front of both Stefan and I, as if it’s some kind of test to see if I can take this like a man. And I damn well will.
I narrow my eyes at Stefan as he leans back in his own seat, his foot over his other knee and his arm stretched back across the chair like he has no problems in the fucking world. Like we are at our leisure here. Really, we don’t have the time to sit around, but I think I can figure how this works. I have to impress him. I have to say the right things in the right way at the right fucking time. And so, I will.
I pick up the scotch and down it fast. I don’t break a sweat, I don’t choke, and I slam the glass back down on the table.
Stefan nods at me, impressed. “And see, this is why I am more okay than some of the other old hats about the fact that women have a little bit of power in the Clans now. You’d be surprised what’s hiding behind a pair of tits.”
I pretend not to be offended by the comment. And let him keep believing he’s calling the shots instead.
“So, I know we have business to discuss, but I’d like to know what happened after you got dragged out of that wedding by Luca. My curiosity is world-renowned, after all, so you must know I would have asked for all the dirty details.”
While I hadn’t thought of it, I should. He’s like the big gossip. Like this is fucking high school. But I’m not ashamed of what happened to me. So, I tell him everything. I tell him how I woke up in a cage sick as a dog. About how the cage was a bedroom. I tell him how I was tasked with loving Luca in 90 days or being killed. I even told him all the disgusting details about being raped by Luca’s friends and about the drug overdose. All that was on the table, so that he has no reason not to trust me. He knows exactly what I’m willing to do in order to make sure I get what I want out of this.
“Fuck, it’s like a god damn movie. I love every fucking minute of it. You and my wife should sit down and shoot the shit some time. I think you’d get along just fine. Presley’s considered the wild child of the South. Her father was an oil mogul until we took over his business. Found that he was preaching an anti-gay agenda and fucking assholes on the side. Literally. I think Presley’s been through some of the same things as you too. Sort of. But for right now, I guess we need to figure out what to fucking do about the Badescu sisters. Can’t say I was surprised that they’re the ones behind this. I knew that shit had to come back to bite us in the ass one day. Though, not like their father didn’t deserve every bit he got. But whoever made this final decision to exile the Badescus instead of just executing them, was way too damn soft. Just don’t ever repeat that. I’d get a lot of shit for it.”
Stefan is so fucking entertained by all of this, I just want to puke. I want to make sure it gets all over his white designer suit. But I don’t suppose it’s going to go over well if I’m going to have his help in all this. And if anyone has the resources to stop this from happening and save everyone, it’s going to be Stefan Dalca.
So, I leave it alone for now, putting it at the back of my mind that at some point, I will at least let him know what an ass he is.
“There’s one more thing.” I really didn’t want to bring it up, but it’s hurting my chest so bad just sitting on it, I just can’t go without the answers. If anyone is fucked up enough to understand Luca at all, other than me, it’s going to be Stefan. So, if anyone might know how to pull him out of this stupor, it would be him. “About Luca… I’m worried about him. I know it’s fucking ridiculous considering everything he’s done to me. But he truly has a problem. I think there are some things in his past that are doing this to him. A past with women or his past with his family… I don’t know all the details, but I also don’t want him to die before we figure out if this is something real. If he can be saved at all. And I wondered, even though it doesn’t seem like you’re necessarily close, if you might have any idea what to do. Or if you could even bring him here, get him into rehab, something.”
Stefan turns serious, and for the first time, I see a real man behind the façade. “I’m sorry, but your husband has always been like this. He’s a broken man. I know very little of his history, but I know it’s not a good one. The kind of story that always ends in tragedy. Something has always been a little bit off about him, but I would say that his parents probably made it that much fucking worse. Just like all Clan parents do. It’s like a fucking rite of passage. This is why his brother was the one who was chosen to run the Clan and not him. Though, it’s too late for that now. Not that I wouldn’t have pegged something like this to happen at some point anyway. If you hadn’t taken Isaac out, Luca eventually would have.”
I let that sink in, and of course it all makes sense. It was exactly why Luca had his name put on the marriage license instead of his brother’s. If I hadn’t done what I did, at some point he would have anyway. I still would’ve ended up in that cage. Funny how fate is like that. Funny how I thought I would ever be free when this was basically predestined all along.
“I do wish I could help. And I know that it doesn’t seem genuine coming from a man like me, but even I know what fucking love feels like. I think there is something strong between the two of you, otherwise, you wouldn’t still be here. You would’ve taken that fucking money and ran and let us all die. But unfortunately, fate and strong wills will play their course, no matter what we do. We’re just fucking humans, right? But I do have a plan. I’m pretty confident I can save everyone, and I thank you for letting me know this information when you could have run. Because I do love my wife, despite what I seem like. And I don’t want anything to happen to her.”
“So, what’s the plan?” I ask, wanting to change the subject from Luca as soon as possible. Yet again, I don’t want to fall apart in front of someone that I need to stay strong for. Even though he’s showing me a little bit of vulnerability, I just can’t afford that right now.
“Needless to say, I know some seedy men. These seedy men owe me some favors. I’m positive that these men can disarm a bomb without an issue. So, the two of us will be going to London early. I need you to make sure that you keep face with these women so that they don’t suspect a fucking thing. They cannot know that you’ve been with me. They cannot know anything is going wrong with Luca other than typical marital strife from having been thrust together. Or that you’re planning to help the Clans at all. Do we get each other?”
I nod. Of course, I know this, but I understand his skepticism considering I’m not part of the Clans at all. Other than through marriage, a sham marriage at that.
“Good. My plan is this. We catch these women red-handed. And I plan on doing that by shocking them that the explosion doesn’t happen. You don’t go with them. When they leave to safety, you stay behind. They will not be expecting that, and they will worry something’s happened to you. They’ll have to risk coming back, and when they do and they don’t die? They’ll know that the jig is up. Or that something went wrong with the bomb. That will bring them straight to us and make it obvious that they expected something to happen. And the Clans will be on them. I’ll get to reveal to everyone what we know and who saved them. And then we put bullets in their heads.”
“Bullets? That’s all?” I raise my eyebrow at him, only half teasing. I would expect some kind of questioning and torture out of a situation like this, but maybe Stefan likes it cut and dry.
Then, he takes a shot at me, but I have to admit, it’s a little bit amusing. “Well, we can’t all go around stabbing people in the eye with hairpins, can we?”
I give him a look. “I guess not. So, can you show me where I will be staying? I’m kind of exhausted, no offense.”
“Of course.” He calls one of his servants over to me. And I’m taken into a small room with just a bed and a closet. Interestingly enough, there are a few dresses in the closet. Looking at them, some of them are a little small for me, or at least snug. These must be left over from Presley. Maybe dresses that she doesn’t like for some reason.
I wait until I know I’m completely alone, and then I shut and lock the door before getting down on my knees by the bedside. Growing up Catholic, I was forced to pray every day, sometimes two or three times a day. I would have to pray about meals, pray about bedtime, and pray for world peace and that kind of fake shit.
But, despite the lies that I told my father, I haven’t prayed in a very long time. I’ve been conflicted about my faith considering all the things that I’ve seen even in Christianity. But, there hasn’t been a doubt that there’s someone or something up there running this show. I just don’t know who or what they want from us animals down here.
But for the first time in a long time, I don’t care. I need to do this.
“Dear Lord in Heaven, I don’t know how to do this. It’s been a long time, and I have mostly been coached in all my prayers in the past. But this is going to be raw and real. I hope you can appreciate that. I don’t really know for sure if you’re merciful or somebody to be feared. I don’t know anything about you personally. I only know what has been taught to me. But I’m begging you right now for two things and two things only. The first thing is, I need this plan to work. And while a lot of it is selfish, I don’t want to see innocent people die. Even though the Clans are not good people, they have wives, they have children, and they don’t deserve to be blown up over getting rid of someone who was bad. The second thing I ask for is for you to save my husband’s soul. I know he doesn’t deserve it. And maybe I don’t deserve to have something done for me either. But whether or not we end up together, I know that his soul has been destroyed by something in his life. Probably something that was out of his control. I know this because I know what it feels like to have your life planned out for you, to have trauma in your life that you couldn’t control. It creates a darkness in you that other people can never understand. And I ask for his soul to be scrubbed of some of this darkness, enough of it that he can pull out of this. Please, can you help me?”
