Chapter 5 Elena
CHAPTER 5
ELENA
She couldn’t reach him. Elena put down the phone when it went straight to voicemail and slumped back onto her bed. It had been three days and still no word from Viking. She couldn’t reach his brother Sy either. What was going on?
Of course, Giorgia chose that moment to strut inside. “What? Still no word from your hotshot?” Her pink puckered lips held a sneer.
“Get lost, Giorgia.” She turned her back on her cousin and opened a book, pretending to read. With exams coming up, she should be nose deep in her books, but the words swarmed before her eyes. It wasn’t like Viking to disappear just like that. Part of her was worried, ready to call hospitals and the police. Another part of her, that tiny piece of insecurity that was slowly growing into a full-blown monster, screamed at her to open her eyes.
The signs were all there. Open up your pretty eyes, as her mother would say. Smell the roses and the shit that the pretty flowers have been placed in. Don’t turn off your smell for the shit.
Giorgia plopped onto the chair next to her. “I haven’t seen you two lovebirds together in days. What happened? He dump you after you gave him exclusive access to your cherry?”
Something inside her snapped. Elena was on her in a second, hand around her throat. “I said shut up. Viking isn’t like that.”
Only when her cousin started coughing did she let go. She rolled off her and stood next to the bed, ready to pounce if she opened that big mouth of hers again.
Giorgia crossed her legs and glared.
“Don’t hate me for telling you how it is. You’re naive, Elena. Men only want one thing. And when you give it to them, well…they don’t want it anymore. It’s all about the chase.”
She hated her condescending tone, as if being just two years her senior made her old and wise.
“Maybe men in your life, but Viking isn't like that.” He’d been holding off making love to her for months. And to be fair, she had all but begged him for it.
Giorgia rolled her eyes. “Let me guess. What you two have is special? He will never leave you. He will always love you, blah, blah.”
“Just leave. Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” She usually didn’t spend a second longer in her presence than she had to. They were like fire and ice, hitting each other’s buttons, since they were little kids. For some reason, it had gotten worse since she’d been with Viking. Giorgia really seemed to hate him. Then again, she probably believed every man who didn't give her the time of day was a loser. Or gay. Yep, her cousin was one of those women—if a man didn’t swoon for her, he must not like women. Such a cliché.
Giorgia redid her hair in the mirror. “Of course I have other places to be. Much nicer places than this crappy apartment. Excuse me for caring about you and wanting to see how you were doing.” After one more pitying look, she left.
Another hour passed, then another, and Viking’s phone still went to voicemail. Doubt crept in, making the faith she had in their relationship show cracks, forming tiny fractures.
What if Giorgia was right? After all, she did have more experience with men.
Elena plopped down onto her bed and pulled out her knife, contemplating that scenario. On the off chance Giorgia was right…well, she was going to rip out Viking’s spine and feed it to the dogs. No, not the dogs, she loved dogs, they deserved better. Jackals. Yes, they were a more fitting species.
She waited another hour before she finally broke, calling a dreaded number Viking had said to only call in emergencies.
She called his mother.
“What?”
Elena cleared her throat, unsure how to ask a woman she had never met before about her missing son. She wasn’t sure why Viking had never introduced them. All she knew was there had been a falling out between them and he’d never mentioned her again.
“Mrs. Skarsgard, I’m Elena, Viking’s girlfriend.” When she was met with stony silence, she continued. “I wished we could have met under better circumstances but… um… I can’t reach him and I was hoping that maybe you could?”
“My son is dead to me.”
The harsh words were like a punch in the face. How different the relationship had been between her and her mom.
“Look, I don’t know what happened between you two, but—”
“What happened?” the woman screeched. “I’ll tell you what happened. That boy ruined my life.”
“I…” What was going on?
“But this time, he won’t get away with it. I’ll make sure of it!”
“I’m sorry, I really don’t understand what—”
“Viking’s in jail and he'll stay there. He hurt my Frank. My poor Frank.” The woman started sobbing, talking about how her kids had ruined her life.
Who was Frank? Wait, what? “Viking’s in jail? Is Sy there? Can I please talk to him?”
“He’s not here.” For the first time, she heard a softness in her voice.
Unsure of what to make of that, she asked, “Where is he?”
The line went dead. Dumbfounded, she stared at the phone. The woman had hung up on her.
She needed to see him. Now. Without giving it another thought, she grabbed her purse and ran downstairs. She almost collided with her brother underneath the stairs.
“Where are you going off to in such a hurry?”
Like she would ever tell him. He didn’t like Viking. And the second he found out about his incarceration, he’d try to stop her.
“I need to go see a friend.”
“You mean Viking.”
The voice came from the dining room table. Morelli. Why was he still here?
“It’s none of your business where I go.”
“That's where you're wrong.” He walked up to her, scrutinizing her from head to toe. Once again, she got that feeling he was viewing her like a scientist would a bug underneath a magnifying glass. It wasn’t exactly sexual, but something else. Something she wanted to be no part of.
She needed to leave. Now. When she tried to, her brother blocked her way.
“Just hear him out,” he pleaded.
Her eyes darted around the room, looking for an exit. There was only one way out, a way that was blocked by them.
Even then, after all she’d been through with her brother, she waited for him to speak up. Waited for him to pick her side as he’d done when they were little, when he hadn't been consumed by drugs. She looked into his eyes, hoping he’d step up, kick Morelli out of their home, out of their lives. But his eyes darted away from her, staring on to the floor.
Heart pounding, her other hand slowly went to her pocket. If she had to fight her way out of this house to get to Viking, so be it.
“Get out of my way.”
“He’s not seeing any visitors until Monday.”
Morelli knew where Viking was. How? And why did he care to share this with her? Once again, she cursed fate because it had put her on Lorenzo Morelli’s radar.
He leaned closer to her, his breath fanning over her neck, making her feel nauseated. “Like your brother said, hear me out.”
“Whatever it is, I don’t care. I want to leave.” Thinking of ways to get out, she was taken aback when Morelli stepped back.
“I’m not going to hold you against your will, Lena.”
“Don’t call me that,” she snarled. The only ones who did were her family and Viking. Morelli hadn’t earned that privilege, nor would he ever.
“Fine, Elena it is, then,” he conceded as he pulled out his phone. “Just watch this, and I will never bother you again. You see, I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse.”
She shouldn’t have listened or looked at his phone. She should have run away, fast and hard. But something in the threatening tone of his voice, in the darkness lurking in his eyes, made her stop and pay attention.
His following words shattered her, defining and destroying her future.