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He shrugged his shoulders and picked up the croissant that had been meant for M and took a large bite. Her bowl of oats remained untouched where she had sat.
He spoke through his mouthful of pastry.
“One of my many talents.”
5
Meg
The walk from my car to the house takes around ten minutes. I parked where he had told me to, and I’d dressed all in black and kept my hood up. It wasn’t late enough for the summer sun to have fallen beyond the horizon, so I kept my head down in another attempt to hide my identity. No one could know that I was here.
Sneaking out of the house had been easier than I’d expected. Lorenzo had gone out to a meeting at The Crown, one that I hadn’t been invited too. I was getting pushed out more often than not, usually as punishment for a button that I’d pressed. Lorenzo was treating me like a child, and it was taking every ounce of my patience to just take it rather than fight him. Sure, I was being difficult and quite frankly acting like a brat, but I was being careful. He was making it very clear where the lines were each time that I crossed one, and I backed down a little whenever he did. I would never give him what he wanted, but I’d keep my people alive. It was a hard balance to keep though.
I’d walked into the garage, grabbed one of the electronic keys that opened the sliding door and climbed into my car. I’d sailed down the long driveway and the guard at the gate had let me through with no questions. When I had arrived at my location, I sent a message to Cooper to tell him that I’d snuck out and to stay far away from the house this evening. I needed my friend safe. He was one of the only good things I had left in my life.
A short path led up to the white front door of a cosy looking house. It was cute, with little flowerbeds sitting under the front windows. There was a glow coming from one of the windows to the left of the door, but the drawn curtains blocked me from seeing inside. A nervous sensation bubbled away in the pit of my stomach as I raised my hand to knock on the door.
I took a deep breath and the door opened before I could exhale. A short woman was stood beyond the threshold wearing a pretty, floral dress. Her hair was tied into what I presumed had started its day off as a neat bun, but now curly tendrils had fallen around her face, they were a dirty shade of blonde and my heart leapt into my throat as the resemblance hit me.
“Come in, come in love.” she said and reached for my arm. I was stood frozen on the doorstep, but the small woman was strong, and managed to drag me into her home with minimal effort.
“Sorry, I-.” I mumbled as she closed the door behind us and rubbed her hand up and down my arm.
“Come on, let’s get you a drink, and let me take that hoodie, you must be roasting in that thing, Ron’s in the lounge, off you go.”
I pulled my hoodie off in a daze and handed it to her, then hesitantly made my way to the door that she had pointed to. I had wanted to come here so desperately, but now that I was here, I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to say. I’d been invited though, so there must have been a reason. I prayed that it was a good one, and that this wasn’t a trap.
The lounge was warm and inviting, and I found the man that I was here to see sitting in an armchair as I entered the room. In the comfort of his own home he didn’t seem anywhere near as intimidating as I had recalled, but I was still on edge. I was responsible for so much pain, and we both knew it.
“Megan, make yourself at home.” he said in his low grumbly voice and shifted in his chair to reach for a knife. He held something small and wooden in his hand and was carving something into it. I let my shoulders relax slightly as I sat down, but I kept my eyes trained on the knife in his hand, aware that this man could quite easily turn on me at any given second, and that Ishouldfear him.
“Here you go,” the woman said as she entered the room and placed a glass of what I guessed was whiskey on the small table next to the comfy sofa that I’d chosen to sit on. I thanked her and lifted the glass to my mouth. The scent of cinnamon hit me before the warm burn trailed down my throat and I groaned happily.
“You have excellent taste.” I complimented her.
She gave me a wide grin and sat down next to me.
“I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re here.” the man said, cutting off our nice moment and I turned my attention back to him, straightened my spine, and pulled on my business face.
“Yes, is this because of…” I trailed off, not sure exactly what to say. I was sitting here, in this lounge, with a man who I once believed to be an enemy, and could very well still be one, and a woman whose son… bad things had happened to their family because of me.And you’re sat there complimenting her taste in drinks. Jesus christ M, sort it out.
“I am so sorry about everything that has happened,” I began, tears pricking the backs of my eyes as I apparently chose now as the moment I’d break, “I never ever wanted anything like that to happen, I wish I’d never turned to him, it’s all my fault, I knew what Lorenzo was capable of, I wish I could take it all back and-.” I was rambling, but I halted as Yvette’s hand grasped mine. Her eyes were filled with tears, and I imagined my face was a mirrored image of hers. Neither of us willing to cry, but the emotions were hard to fight.
“It’s alright Megan,” Charon said calmly, and we both looked to him.
“No, it isn’t, you tried to protect him and keep him away from this life, and I dragged him in, it is not alright.” I said firmly, and he smiled at me.
“Dear girl, my son could never be protected, no matter what I did, he’s too much like me.” His eyes crinkled around the edges as he spoke about Toby and my heart skipped a beat as I saw how strongly this man loved his son.
“You aren’t here for us to talk about Tobias though,” he said, his expression turning serious now. “So pull yourself together, don’t make me regret this, you asked for my help before it all happened, and I said I would try. As you are probably aware, I have been sending my men out to send hints to Lorenzo. I plan on upping our attacks on The Brotherhood, not directly on members, but I plan to take down many of your businesses. This is where you may find your way out. Be seen with my men, but make it subtle, I have a couple who have agreed to trust you, they will make it look as though you are involved in these attacks, your Brothers won’t like that, and they will have to turn on you. Be prepared, it won’t be pretty, but it’s likely to work. Once you’re out we’ll be able to help more. That’s if you still want out?” He raised a brow at me, and I blew out a slow, steadying breath.
“You’ll really do this?” I asked, and he nodded. “Then yes, yes I want out.” I said and the tears blurred my vision again.
I blinked them back and gave him a thankful smile.
“I hope you’re ready for this Megan.” he said carefully, “I know that you are capable of a lot, I’ve seen what you can do, just do not get sloppy, now is not the time. This will be hard, but push through, the resultswillbe worth it.” He grinned, and I saw Toby’s face in his as the excitement radiated from the man before me. He was a giant puppy dog, just like his son.
“They really will.” A voice came from the doorway, and I spun around to face it.
