Page 103 of Scarred King
“Not now.” He says harshly and I look at him in disappointment. “Sit down,” he gestures towards the couch and I sit down, agitated. “Elena, you have to come to the bar tonight.” The sentence shoots out of his mouth and I look at him in shock.
“But we agreed that I don’t have to work there anymore, I don’t want to—”
“You’re not coming as a waitress,” he answers irritably. “You’re coming as the Duchess.”
“No!” I gasp. “I don’t want to play that role anymore. I don’t want to be part of that world.”
“You don’t have a choice,” he replies coldly. “After a long and difficult period, both sides are now willing to negotiate and put an end to this story.”
“I don’t want to hear. I don’t want to talk about it.” I clamp my hands over my ears.
Liam sits down next to me and moves my hands gently. His expression softens, and so does his voice. “Elena, I wouldn’t ask you to do this if it wasn’t important.” He puts my hand over his mouth and kisses it. “The Jews agreed to mediate. And to show our respect, the senior partners from both sides have to be there.”
“What’s that got to do with me?” I ask.
“You took over and claimed ownership.” He kisses my hand again. “In our world, you’re a senior partner in our organization now. There has to be a unanimous agreement by all the partners including you, otherwise we won’t be able to end this war tonight.”
I’m amazed by what I’ve just heard. I’m considered a senior partner in the organization? I feel dizzy and I tilt my head sideways pleadingly. “Liam, they can’t still believe that I’m really connected to this whole thing.”
He doesn’t answer, but pulls my hand and leads me to the dining room table. He turns on his computer screen and clicks on several links. Finally, he reaches a website that looks like another news site, except that the background is completely black.
“It’s not just another news site,” he says, as if he has just read my mind, and he smiles at me. I sit down on the chair and he stands behind me. “This is the Dark Net, remember?” he asks, massaging my shoulders.
“I know there are thousands of these networks, but I’ve never seen a site like this one.”
“Look away from the screen a minute,” Liam puts his hand on the mouse and I see that he is scrolling down quickly. “Now look. Look at this.” He clicks on a link and a new page opens with an article and a picture. It turns out that someone at the club took a picture of me on my first evening as the Duchess.
“Oh no,” I mumble and start reading the article. “Turn it off.” I say and move back in fear. “Why did they write all these terrible things about me? I never did that. It’s a lie.” I clutch my head in panic.
“Part of it is true,” he sounds amused.
“I’ll sue them.” I stand up and start pacing. “I’ll sue them, and they’ll have to take down all that horrible stuff before someone who knows me sees it.”
“It doesn’t work like that.” He comes closer and I move away. “You’ll never be able to find out who posted that information. And even if you do, I believe you realized by now that we don’t solve things in court.”
“It’s horrible!” I clutch my head again and collapse on the sofa.
“Will it make you feel better to know that there’s no chance that anyone who knows you will ever see it? It’s the Dark Net, don’t forget.”
I look at him suspiciously. “It doesn’t make me feel better.”
“Then will it make you feel better to know that my Duchess is admired and revered?” he sounds amused again and I raise my head and look at him threateningly.
“Everyone thinks that your Duchess is the head of a crime organization, a cruel sadist. And you don’t even care.”
“Of course I care. I’m very happy about it.” He laughs and I hit him with a pillow. “Well, the truth is I don’t care what people think about you.” He shrugs. “I know who I chose to live with, the other stuff doesn't really matter.”
His simple but romantic sentence doesn’t comfort me. “It’s horrible. Just horrible.” I mumble again and he pulls me into a hug.
“I promise I’ll never ask you to go back to the bar again, but tonight you need to do this for me.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
“You can. You have to.” He groans, and when I see his troubled expression again, I close my eyes and nod.
41
The motorcycle stops outside the bar and I see ten armed bouncers guarding the entrance. We go straight inside and I put my backpack on the counter. The regular bouncers inside are joined by five new ones. Charlie stands behind the counter waving at me enthusiastically, the girls nod affectionately from their regular seats.