Chapter 16
Nothing about today makes sense.
I’d been on edge since Spencer’s cryptic message. Well, more on edge. Everyone has been since Jade disappeared, but today seems to have taken everything I knew and flipped it on its head.
Jade showing back up was a welcome surprise, but I still had a million questions regarding what had happened.
I hadn’t even gotten the chance to ask before I was hit with yet another mindfuck in the form of Spencer and Jade making out in the kitchen in front of all of us.
I know we said we wouldn’t make her choose, and I still stand by that.
But last I checked, those two were more likely to slit each other's throats when left unattended, not fuck.
When did that change? Judging by the looks of surprise around the room, I’m not the only one caught off guard. At least there's that.
As if I need anything else to add to my ever-growing migraine, none other than Elio walks into our kitchen, looking at home and greeting Jade as if she’s an old friend.
“What is happening right now?”
Trent asks the question that I’m sure we're all wondering as he looks between the two of them. If I thought it was bad for me, it must be even worse for him. I’m positive he knows who Elio is.
Most everyone does, even if it’s just the businessman side of him.
He’s a successful man, after all, even without his mafia roots.
I know that Vengeance has some ties to him, with the clubs, drugs, and even weapons deals we source through him.
But we keep all of that on a need-to-know basis.
“We’re getting to that,” Jade says, looking around the room at each of us, her calm demeanor helping to put us all at ease. We might be in the dark right now, but we’ve all learned to trust her judgment.
“Now that everyone’s here, we have a lot to go over.”
She hops up onto the counter so that her legs dangle as she kicks them back and forth.
The picture of ease, but something tells me whatever we're about to dive into isn’t as light-hearted as she’s making it seem.
I can’t place it; it’s just a feeling, but I’d like to say I’m pretty good at reading people.
It’s a huge part of what I do, after all, and while she used to be a mystery to me, somewhere along the line, that changed.
“So, where do you want to start?”
“Start with Elio,” Kratos says, nodding toward him, and I almost laugh out loud when I realize he’s just as lost as the rest of us. Looks like there are some things even he doesn’t know.
“No need to be upset, brothera, whatever it is that you are thinking. I assure you, it’s not the case.
” Elio tells him, moving into the kitchen to lean on the counter less than a foot from Jade.
The tension in the room is thick enough that I feel like I’m choking on it as I curl my hands into fists, attempting to resist the urge to rip him away from her.
“Stop trying to rile them up,” Jade chuckles.
“Oh, but they make it so easy, Gurriero Capo,”
“Enough,” Jade says, her tone letting us all know she’s serious, but her smile remains, so she must not be too upset.
“I only met Elio face-to-face for the first time at the auction the other night with Randall. I didn’t even realize who he was until I saw him tonight at Hopper’s. At first, I thought he was just some asshole with money and a death wish.”
“Ouch, you wound me, Bella,” he says, dropping a hand to her thigh, and it seems to be Kratos’s final straw.
He marches across the kitchen to stand on Jade’s other side, glaring daggers at Elio’s hand.
“That doesn’t make sense,” he says, turning his attention to Jade.
“I know you sent me to that fight on purpose all those years ago. You set up my meeting with Elio. You’re the reason Vengeance had him as a backer.
I always knew you pulled all the strings, but it didn’t matter before.
We did what we had to do to get to where we are now. ”
Jade smiles at him, leaning forward to caress his cheek.
“Are you saying it matters now?” she asks, and I watch his body tense at the implication of her words.
I don’t blame him, though. I stand at war with myself.
Stuck between the urge to go to her and claim her as my own and staying put, listening to orders like a good little soldier.
“Yes, it matters. You’re mine. Ours!” he says, sweeping his arm wide to include the rest of us where we stand scattered around the kitchen watching.
“My very reason for existing these last few weeks was to find you! The reason I pushed so hard to make Vengeance what it is today was to ensure your freedom. I will not allow you to keep going back to that life!”
His words are harsh, but I see the pain in his eyes, and I know Jade does as well. And for the first time, it really dawns on me how hard it must have been to watch her walk away and continue to put herself in danger. We had a hard time with it after only a few weeks of knowing her.
What must it have been like to love her and still have to let her walk away over and over again?
I can’t imagine.
“No need to worry, K. I won’t be going back again,” she assures him, and I swear I see him breathe a sigh of relief at her words. “As for Elio, he’s on our side because we share a common interest. One that had nothing to do with the rings. At least not in the way you're thinking.”
“Elio.”
Jade drops her hand from Kratos’s face but reaches out instead, lacing her fingers with his, offering him comfort even as she turns back to face Elio.
Elio’s easy smile melts away. For the first time, I feel as though I’m looking at the mafia man I know him to be, instead of the playboy businessman he usually acts like.
“I grew up in a home that was of very old beliefs. Women were to be seen, not heard. They were good for housework and taking care of the children.”
Elio scoffs as he pulls his hand back from Jade to face the rest of the room.
“I don’t even think my madre and padre ever actually loved one another.
Their marriage was only one of convenience, a business transaction, if you will.
Madre had three girls before me. Padre did nothing to help, hardly even acknowledged them as his own.
He always said it’s a man's world, and he lived by that. Once I was old enough, my whole life became the family business. I was groomed to take his place. It was all I was born to do.”
His eyes are far away as he tells us this, and while I don’t know the point, I can’t look away. This man, with all his power, isn’t much different from most of the people in this room. He grew up shitty but turned it around in his favor, clearly.
“I hated every minute of it. I enjoyed playing with my sisters and baking with Madre, things he did not allow. By the age of eight, I could take on grown men, shoot, assemble, and disassemble any gun you handed me, and had been to my fair share of illegal dealings. But it was never enough for him. He knew I didn’t enjoy it and didn’t want to be a part of the runs or do the training. So, like always, he wanted more.”
His hand clenches into a fist, and his eyes harden, and I know whatever he’s about to tell us is where this story turns.
“He wanted another son. One who wouldn’t be such a disappointment,” he spits before barking out a laugh. It’s not a pleasant sound, though.
“But the universe doesn’t cater to the wills of men, and he wasn’t gifted with a son but another daughter instead, sixteen years later.
Mother had been sick for some time, and not long after, she passed, God rest her soul.
My older sisters were long gone, married to get out or for convenience.
Anything he could do to keep them away, he did it while holding tight to me.
He’d used them to make me compliant for years, and now Emma at least gave him a new bargaining chip. ”
“After that, I did whatever I could to keep him happy. The deals, the hits, whatever it took to keep Emma out of his mind. I didn’t care what it was.
I thought if he was happy, he would leave her alone, but I was wrong.
One morning, I woke, and she was gone. I didn’t dare tell him.
I figured she’d wandered off or something, but I searched the whole damned house for her, twice.
Eventually, I had no choice but to go to him. ”
His hands remain clenched into fists at his sides as he shakes his head at the memory.
Jade reaches out to rest a hand on his shoulder, offering him comfort even with her own anger written on her face.
This time when she touches him, I feel nothing, no jealousy, knowing she’s simply doing what she always does. Taking care of the people around her.
“When I let him know, the motherfucker laughed. ‘I got rid of your distraction,’ he told me, and I lost it. I blacked out and lost my fucking mind. The whole time, he smiled. After I’d destroyed his office, I put a gun to his head and threatened to kill him if he didn’t tell me where she was.
He didn’t even flinch when he told me to pull the trigger.
But I couldn’t, and he knew it. As much as I might have wanted to blow his brains out, he was the only hope I had to find her.
I’d given everything for my family. I’d done it for years.
” He lets out a huff that sounds all too familiar and broken.
“He used my one weakness, and he won.”
“Shit,” Zander whispers, pressing a hand back through his hair. Elio gives a nod of agreement at his word but presses on.