Chapter 1 #2
If only he had known what I had witnessed in the Weston house, he would understand why I never wanted to step into another situation like that. That was hell on earth, and it only took me five months to realize I couldn’t do it for a lifetime.
He pulled me just as I approached the back of the truck, and the detail opened the door for me.
“Remy. You’re right, and I’m sorry. Hearing you say how much of a failure I am hits hard.
But I swear to you it’s not me this time.
This was a proposal from the elites. I’ve dug my way out of the negative.
We might not be where I want to be, or where I should be, but it’s not where we used to be. ” I could see the hurt in his eye.
I really felt like I had the best father on earth, always had.
But I was tired of being the solution for his bad decisions.
Especially when the end result was always me dating someone.
I was starting to feel like the Mafia was my pimp, and I needed to get on the blade to make them some money.
Why couldn’t he go mowing lawns? Or do the dishes like they do at restaurants when you don’t have the funds to pay?
Why was it always straight to marriage? That’s extreme as hell.
I turned back to him and sighed a deep sigh. When I turned to face him, I caught sight of my mother, who had been standing on the stairs, watching our interaction. She gave me another sympathetic look.
“See you later, Mommy!” I yelled out as I turned to get in the back of the truck, still not responding to my father’s pleas.
“Love you, baby!” She called out to me as I slid into the back seat of the car.
“We have to be gone in seven days, Remy.” It was the last thing I heard my father say before my driver closed the door, and I turned my head forward and grabbed the shades that I had left in the side of it. I slipped them on my face and faced the road as we drove back through the gates.
The last time this happened, I shed a thousand tears.
I was losing who I thought was my happily ever after and walking into an unknown situation.
This time, I shed no tears. But not because I wanted to help my family, but because this time around they served no purpose.
The Mafia word was law, and no matter what, you either did as they said or they stripped you of everything before you died.
My phone buzzed from my bag, and I picked it up to see that Taylor had texted me.
Baby Sis: Girl, you have to fight me. You done made my daddy cry.
The message was sent with a million laughing emojis, and it made me burst out laughing. I sent her back some faces of my own and put my phone back into my purse. She lightened the heaviness on my heart for just a second. She was good at that type of thing. Her nonchalance always grounded me.
I didn’t intend to hurt my father’s feelings, and I would never disrespect him.
But he wasn’t the one who lay up in the same house with the devil for 156 days to save our organization.
He wasn’t the person who had to gargle every time they kissed their partner.
That was all me. So, if no one else told him the truth, I would.
Even if I had to do it gently. But he was still my favorite man on earth, though.
My phone continued to buzz, and I knew that it was Taylor, probably filling me in on the details of their conversation while I was gone.
But I didn’t want to hear it right now. I had other pressing matters to think about.
Like, in seven days, I was going to live in a new state and likely be with a new man I knew nothing about.
This Mafia affiliation was starting to get the best of me. Every day, it was something new.
I lay across the back seat of the truck as the seat vibrated underneath my head. I closed my eyes to take a nap for the two-hour drive back home. All I knew was Jaxon had better be kind to me.
***
I had been in New York City for about a week. By the time that I had made it here, my father had secured yet another ridiculous mansion with a full Tiki Bar out back that he swore on a stack of phone books was given to him by the elites for the acceptance of the union.
“Remy, you don’t need to look like that. Jaxon is a good guy. I’ve heard nothing but good things about him. Hopefully you all really hit it off,” he said as he pulled me into a hug that I didn’t reciprocate.
“I’m just ready to get this over with,” I mumbled.
When I left my father’s house, I was mad at him.
Even if this wasn’t his idea, it was a direct result of his mistakes.
But after I had a meeting with the elites yesterday, and they told me the same things that he had said, my anger shifted from one reason to another.
Because he had left out a single detail that he knew would change the game for me.
Jaxon was engaged to be married. It was a sad situation, and all I could do was imagine how his fiancée was feeling.
The same thing happened to me, and I hated my position.
I would never want to be the reason another woman felt all the things I had felt.
All of this was wrong, but this is the life we lived. I was born into it, I should have been used to it by now, but it never got any easier. We were bound by blood oaths and mandates that were hardly ever fair or moral, but we couldn’t change them.
“I think they’re here. I’ll bring them into the backyard, and you can come downstairs when you’re ready. Okay?” He asked as he pulled away from me and checked the time on his watch. I blew out a deep breath and nodded.
I paced the floor nervously and got myself together because there was no turning back now. Although I didn’t want to, I was going to make the best of the meeting, and if it went well, then great.
I went over to the window and saw them all filing into the backyard.
A super tall guy walked to the tiki bar and took a seat.
I moved away from the window before he could face my direction because I didn’t want him to see me staring down at him like a creep.
Then I took a couple of deep breaths, walked down the stairs, and went outside.
Inside, I groaned, because the two guys standing there were both handsome.
But that didn’t help to make me feel any better at all.
I walked over to my father first, who told me which was Jaxon. Then I spoke to the person he referred to as Trouble, but he didn’t respond. Just the dead stare in his eyes told me he was not the guy to be messed with. It’s not often I get chills from a person, but with Trouble, I did.
I sat down and nervously pushed my hair behind my ear.
I tried to make small talk with Jaxon, but he wasn’t really into it.
I was sympathetic to him because after the elites revealed he was engaged, my father finally admitted to me how hard he had fought to be with his fiancée.
I think it’s beautiful, something straight out of a love story.
It was only after I brought up his fiancée that I saw him soften.
His face was noticeably different. The hard scowl across his brows had disappeared, and the mug he was sporting evaporated.
It made the pit of my stomach turn. At just the mention of that woman, he was a different person.
That’s love. That’s something I don’t want to come between.
Not this contract power, they were always trying to cook up.
We exchanged a brief conversation, and he told me that he appreciated me before we parted ways, and I walked back into the house. I passed by Trouble and said, “Goodbye.” Again, he didn’t speak, just waited for Jaxon, and they walked back outside like they couldn’t leave fast enough.
Once I was back inside, I released the breath I had been holding since I sat at the table.
After meeting him, I could finally breathe.
I would like to think that I was a good judge of character.
My spirit was so calmed by Jaxon, and not in a romantic way.
There was something about him that immediately told me he was a genuine person.
The elites had talked about him like he was dipped in gold.
They spoke about him with a sense of pride that caught my attention.
Within two minutes of being in his presence, I could understand why.
That same loyalty he had to the organization that they raved about? He had that for his girl, and for me, that was more honorable than anything he’s done or could ever do for the Mafia.
I walked to the front of the house to look out the window and see if they had gone, but just outside the mansion, what caught my eye made my entire body tense up yet again.
Their security was standing outside waiting for them as they walked back through the large yard to the front area.
The security guy was beautiful if I could use that word to describe a man.
He was tall, had a slender yet muscular build, and locs that fell past his shoulders.
He was fine as hell. His expression, like he was waiting for food delivery, was a complete contrast to the rifle over his shoulder that was meant to send a warning.
His gaze scanned the perimeter, and, as if he felt the weight of my stare, he met mine.
We locked eyes through the glass, and it was literally like time stood still.
Neither one of us turned from the other until he looked toward Jaxon and Trouble walking toward him and nodded before he went back into the driver’s door and slid behind the wheel.
I fanned myself; something about him intrigued me.
I turned around with lust written all over my face and bumped right into my father, who looked down at me with a sneaky smirk.
I shook my head as I rounded him and went down the hallway.
He must have assumed that he caught me watching Jaxon, but he had no clue that I wanted to find the shooter.
The tension that I had felt earlier was gone, and my body finally relaxed.
I hummed a tune as I walked back toward the room to find something from one of the boxes to wear for the family dinner that we had scheduled tonight.
I didn’t even want to unpack because the elites made it clear that Jaxon and I would be moving in together tomorrow.
I pulled out the first dress I could find from the box labeled “dresses.” Then I went over to the closet and grabbed the steamer as I kept singing to myself. Maybe being in the Jennings house wasn’t going to be that bad after all.