Page 15 of Desolation

They will be furious when this is served to them. And I know without a shadow of a doubt that they will violate it if they find me. What if they ask for Dominic’s help? It’s not like I can get one against him too. I don’t know what to do. On one hand, I know I should, but I’m scared.

My emotions must be showing on my face because Gwen takes my hand.

“Things like this are hard. I know,” she says, the look of pain on her face tells me she does know. “But I promise you when you take this step, you’ll feel better. It’s a start to your freedom. It’s a start to the new life you are going to have where you can be happy and feel loved by someone. Don’t get me wrong, it’s scary as fuck, and things won’t be easy. They will fight it. They will break it, given the chance. But Drake and Gio won’t give them a chance. I can promise you that. But you have toletthem. That’s the scariest part of all. Asking for help.”

She’s right. There hasn’t ever been a time in my life where I had anyone else to lean on until I met Reba, and even that was limited because I didn’t want to bring trouble to her door. But this? Thisis a big step. Do I trust them? Do I trust that Drake means what he says? Am I crazy if I do? Can I just take the first hand that’s offered to me and hope that things will end in a fairytale?

“It’s completely up to you, Elodie. But let me say this. I have been in an abusive situation before. Evan gave me a job when I looked like you do right now. Though mine were more yellow, and he saw through the makeup I had on to cover it up. I haven’t regretted making my choice one single time since then, though things got a little bit scary for a while. The men in this family protect what is theirs viciously, ruthlessly, and without remorse. That itself can be a little overwhelming, but trust me when I say there’s no safer place you can be than right here,” she says.

I search her face, seeing the sincerity on it and in her words. Just because I’m doing this doesn’t mean I’m saying yes to Drake. I can take the help and make decisions about the rest later. Looking over at the boxes again, I sigh.

He rescued me, bought me all new things, stalked me to protect me for eight years, got me a doctor, and gave me a place to feel safe. At the very least I can think about what he has said. Make an effort to try to give him a chance, even if it’s just friendship for now.

“Do you have a pen?” I ask.

Smiling, Gwen takes out a pen and I begin to sign documents while she gets the camera ready.

CHAPTER 11

DRAKE

Evan 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 sweettalked 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.