Chapter 12 Dorian #2
I slam a fist in his face when he tries to get by. Marcus reels, crashing into the wall. I grab him by the front of his shirt and shove him back into the wall. Salvatore and his remaining guard grab Marcus’ arms and pin him down like his friend across from us.
He sucks in a breath, panic sparking in his eyes. “Hey—”
“Shut up.” I get up in his face and ram my knee into his stomach. “Explain to me how Elodie came here to pay you a lump sum and left here with her face fucked up and a shoe print on her chest.”
I glance down at his boots. It was him. He stepped on her.
“She was late with the payment.”
“Oh no, no. Where I come from when people are late with payments, they don’t get beaten up. Especially when they come with a lump sum to try and make up for the inconvenience.”
He blinks.
“Also, they certainly don’t inflate the loan back to its original cost.” I tap his nose with my knuckles.
“It’s my policy.”
“Not anymore.” I shake my head. “Which one of you hit her?”
I look from Scarface to Marcus. Neither of them answers, and that tells me everything I need to know.
It was both of them.
I land a hard punch square in his face. Blood spurts from his nose. “That was for her lip.”
Marcus spits blood onto the carpet, eyes wide now.
I hit him again, this time across the cheek. “And that’s for her eye.”
“Fucking stop.”
“Fuck you. That was for threatening her.” I throw more punches, hitting him in his chest and stomach. “That’s for making her life hell and making me leave in the middle of an important meeting.”
“Stop. I didn’t know she was under anyone’s protection.”
“Break them.”
Behind me, the guys beat the shit out of Scarface. Soon, the sound of knuckles meeting bone fills the room.
I land a series of punches in Marcus’ face, and I don’t stop until Marcus looks a hundred times worse than Elodie.
I let go suddenly, and he stumbles to the ground in a bloody heap, barely conscious. Scarface is completely knocked out.
I lean down to Marcus, grinding my knuckles into his sternum. Sweat beads on his forehead.
“Here’s what’s going to happen.” I press harder. “I’m going to be generous and allow you to stand by the terms of the original loan agreement.”
Motherfucker. He shouldn’t get shit. Not a cent more. But I don’t want this coming back on Elodie.
“By my records, you’re owed a hundred and twenty thousand.” I checked it out on the way here. “Does that sound right to you?”
Marcus nods, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
“I’ll pay the balance. So, consider this loan gone. You will never contact Elodie Harper again. No calls. No messages. Nothing. You will forget she exists. Do you hear me?”
“Yes,” he rasps. “I understand.”
“Good.” I pat his cheek lightly, right over the massive bruise blooming there. He flinches.
“You sure that’s all you want?” Salvatore asks. “You still have the option to make them disappear.”
I glance at Salvatore then gaze down at Marcus. “This is enough for now. Now this motherfucker knows who she belongs to and what will happen to him if he steps out of line again.” I let a smile ghost over my lips. “Let him live in fear.”
* * *
“That was eventful,” Knox says as I pull back onto the road. “Been a while since I had to fight.”
I grip the wheel a little harder and cut him a sideways glance. “Same. Thanks for having my back.”
“Anytime. Besides, it’s not every day I get to ride in with the cavalry.” His mouth tips toward the rearview mirror, and I know he’s talking about Salvatore.
“I guess not.”
“So… Elodie Harper.” He gives me a sharp stare.
I was expecting this conversation. After what just happened, it was imminent. But I still don’t know what I’m supposed to say.
“Is that Jack Harper’s little sister?” Knox raises his brows.
“Yeah, that’s her.” I look away and fix my gaze on the road ahead.
“Didn’t know you were still in touch.”
“I’m not. I ran into her last week. I didn’t know she was in this kind of trouble.”
Until I saw her standing on an auction block ready to sell her body to the highest bidder. And I just happened to put a stop to it by buying her.
I hold back those parts.
It hasn’t escaped me that she could have gotten more money in that auction. Fuck, she could have gotten the full amount for the loan easily. But the problem is, what would have become of her if someone else had bought her?
I sound like I’m a better man than the self-righteous bastards who frequent the Dark Odyssey. I’m not.
And I can’t quite decide if I bought her to save her or if I bought her because I didn’t want anyone else to have her. Either way, it would mean I care.
“Interesting,” Knox says with reflection.
“Which part?”
“All of it. For this girl, you…left a meeting with your most important clients, sent her to your home, and summoned the family doctor while you rushed down here to fight her loan sharks with one of the heads of the Italian mafia. Then you paid out a hundred and twenty thousand dollars,” Knox points out. As if I didn’t know.
“Yeah.”
“What does this mean?”
“It means she owes me now.”
Those brows go up again. “You know she can’t pay that money, Dorian.”
“I know.”
“Dorian—”
“Another time, Knox. Not now. I’m tired as fuck, and there’s blood on my shirt.”
He holds up his hands and smirks. “Alright. Another time, then.”
Knox is like me. Insightful. But that sometimes means he sees too much.
Thankfully, he doesn’t bring Elodie up again. I drop him off at his place, then head back to mine.
By the time I reach my house, the doctor has already left, but Levi and Locke update me.
Elodie has no broken bones. It’s just the bruising on her face, which should go down in a few days.
They also put her to sleep. In my bed.
Bastards.
I can’t even be upset with them.
They head out, and I don’t miss their silent exchange of curious glances.
I stand there in the hallway for a long moment, thinking, before I head upstairs to my room.
My steps slow when I see Elodie’s tiny, helpless frame curled up in my bed.
She looks out of place among my things. In my world.
In the sense that she doesn’t belong.
It’s like I captured some hallowed being and brought her into my unholy lair of corruption.
I move closer to the bedside and gaze down at her.
A week ago, I was going about my business, not even thinking about Jack and his family or the past.
Now, his little sister is sleeping in my bed.
And she owes me.
Once again, I’m at the crossroads most people find themselves in when they have to make serious decisions.
But the difference between them and me is, I have no moral compass. No conscience, no integrity, no line between right and wrong.
Everything is gray with me.
I live by my own rules.
So, I don’t do anything for free. Even when I can. Even when I should.
Like now.
Though, I have a feeling my little lamb would never accept a handout. Especially from me, the man who should be her villain.
A truly fucked-up idea crosses my mind on how she can pay me back.
And it actually brings a smile to my face.
Poor girl. She doesn’t realize yet she ran from one devil to the next.
Or maybe she does.
She’s always seen the darkness in me and never shied away from it.