47. Thursday Week Twenty (the meeting.)
"Hey, if you don't wanna do it, no-one is gonna make you Reillyn," he squeezed my hand and I looked over at him. Noah.
He uttered the same words he reassured me with on our first day back to school all those months ago and just like did back then, his soothing voice and comfort made me feel instantly better.
"I need to do this, but thank you for being here."
"I'm glad you asked me to be here, I've missed you mad amounts, Rei-Rei."
Beaming at him, I reached across the centre console to wrap him up in a hug, "I've missed you too, but friends forever remember, nothing will ever change that."
He nodded into my shoulder and pulled away to place a kiss on my forehead but just as his lips brushed against my skin, my car door was yanked open to reveal a frowning Eli.
"Alright, enough, let's go."
I rolled my eyes at his possessiveness but still grabbed his hand so he could help me out of the car.
His frown deepened when he spotted Noah exiting his Pontiac also, "what do you think you're doing?"
"Look, man, I know we don't get on but you and I are the only ones with Rei as their first priority. Everyone else's main concern is this Mikael guy, even Cayd and Raven will put taking him down first," Noah gave him a sincere look and held his hand out, "I just wanna keep her safe and well like you do."
My eyes flickered nervously between the two boys but I released a breath and relaxed the tension of my shoulders when Eli reached out to shake Noah's hand and they shared one of those weird male head nod things.
The warm grip of Eli's hand around mine tightened as we stood outside the entrance to Staircase and I derived a sense of calm from knowing that he was with me this time; that he would always be with me.
Dante, Cayden and Noah all stood behind us, patiently waiting for me to raise my hand and push the door to the club. My mind flashed with the image of Marcus punching me in the face but then I looked over at Eli and instead saw the moment where I put him on the floor.
Upon entry, I assessed that we were joined by Marcus and three other men who I didn't recognise were seated around the large table which had been placed in the middle of the club section of Staircase.
"You're late," Marcus pointed out
I shrugged carelessly, "it's better to be late than to arrive ugly." I gave him a pointed look and I noticed Cayden trying to stifle his snickers at my jab.
"And you could hardly be considered ugly Miss Cole," Mikael greeted, "come and take a seat."
Me and my party of four moved forwards and took our seats at the huge table. I was sitting facing Mikael with Eli and Noah on my right and Dante and Cayd on my left.
Marcus sat opposite Eli and was smirking at him smugly as Eli glared daggers across the table â if only looks could kill.
Once seated, I shrugged off my jacket to reveal the navy dress I was wearing which cinched at my waist before flaring out and the silky material fell down gracefully to land at my mid-thigh.
Mikael shot me a pinched smile, "where is my eldest son?"
"Indisposed," Dante offered with a polite smile which somehow also conveyed the threat he posed to Mikael.
Mikael's eyes narrowed at Dante before flickering back over between me and Eli before they finally rested on me, "I knew you were going to be trouble for this family, the second I caught wind of your name. 'Cole,' I've always had a distinguished dislike for that name."
"Stop talking in riddles, Mikael, what are you getting at?"
He smiled at me before leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table, "I knew Papa Cole, Reillyn, I knew him very well."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Eli practically growled as he lost his patience.
"Well, son, do you really think that Reillyn's parents just died of unfortunate circumstances? I can promise you that, for me anyway, the circumstances were most fortunate."
"You bastard!" Noah yelled, jumping up out of his seat but before he could launch himself at Mikael, Cayd grabbed his arm, tugging him back and telling him to calm down.
A laugh sounded from Mikael and my eyes tracked the movements of his face. The crinkle of his eyes, the stretch of his mouth. This man had killed my parents and now he was fucking laughing.
"Tigru?" Eli reached for my hand but I pulled away and placed them on the table instead â we were here for a reason, my parent's death was in the past and for now, we were here to deal with Mikael, the present.
"I'm fine," I spoke sharply, "you asked us here Mikael. More specifically, you asked me here, was it just so you could waste my time with tales of the past, or was there actually something you wanted?"
"You don't want to know why I had them killed?" He questioned, that stupid mirthful spark still gleaming in his eyes.
My fists clenched at the words killed before I answered through gritted teeth, "I'm not stupid, I know my parents had no money after Dad lost his job. Putting two and two together, they came to you for help and you killed them when you didn't get back what you were owed."
Mikael raised a brow at me, seemingly impressed, "yes actually, that's exactly it. I went to high school with your parents, I was actually best friends with your dad and so when he got in a bit of a rough spot, he reached out to his old friend. I guess he didn't know how much I had changed over the years."
There was a loud bang as Eli's hands came down sharply on the table and he directed his fierce glare at Mikael, "enough, Mikael, you tell us why we are here or I swear to god we will leave and attack everything you own until you have absolutely nothing left."
"Well, it's nice to see that at least one of my sons has a spine," Mikael muttered; as if he had any right to be proud of anything Eli did.
"You have nothing worth anything left, Mikael, we've taken everything that makes you powerful. This," Dante motioned to the table and the club, "this is all you have left and this meeting is your final power play. After this, you're done."
Cold eyes regarded Dante carefully as Mikael took some time to choose his next words, "as you said, you've attacked my business," Cayd scoffed, "and I have little to nothing left, I suppose you want something out of it, your freedom I presume."
"We want you gone, Mikael. As in poof, vanished, disappeared," Cayd declared.
"Sounds more like you want me dead."
"That would be preferred," Eli mumbled, "but we aren't going to become criminals."
"Well, son, as much as I love to hear about how much you and your little girlfriend care about keeping me alive," I rolled my eyes, "I would prefer to have my own form of insurance that you," he gave Dante a pointed look, "don't come after me."
"I will step down from running the organisation. I will leave the state and you will never hear from me again. On the one condition that Ryker takes over the business."
Eli's eyes narrowed at Mikael, "that's too simple."
Mikael smiled maliciously, making my skin shift and my spine straighten, "well, that's obviously not all I want," he pinned me with a hard look, his gaze unwavering from mine, "I want you gone. You have ruined everything that I have built so if I am leaving, so are you."
"Okay," Cayd said slowly, "that's a fuck no."
My head turned to look at him and I caught sight of Noah's anxious gaze, I nodded at him and shot him a smile which I hoped reassured him that I wasn't going anywhere.
Mikael leant back in his chair before turning to look at Marcus, who had been suspiciously quiet, before giving him a nod. Two matching pairs of sick smiles adorned their faces as Marcus rose from his seat and marched off into a back room somewhere.
"I thought you might say that," Mikael's fingers began tapping on the table as if he was completely content, "so I had Marcus here pick me up a little insurance policy."
My heart stopped.
Wriggling around and yelling through a gag in Marcus's sick hold was my little brother Ty and behind them, my Nana, her hands tied together and a piece of cloth wrapped across her face and through her mouth.
He had my family.
â â â â â â â â â â
Pt2 next, this was tense, I will post pt 2 later today XX
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