Chapter 43
The aroma of coffee roused me from sleep.
Outside, the streetlights still glowed against the pre-dawn darkness, casting long shadows across our bedroom ceiling.
For a moment, I forgot everything—the danger, the plans, the need to get Rhea away from Juarez.
Opening my eyes, I found myself alone in Elin's bed, the sheets still warm where she'd been sleeping beside me.
Stretching, I got up and pulled on a pair of sweatpants, not bothering with anything else at the moment, and padded barefoot toward the kitchen.
The sight that greeted me was so unexpectedly domestic, it made my chest ache.
Elin sat at the counter, coffee mug in hand, while Rhea leaned against the refrigerator, her hair still tousled from sleep.
"Morning, you hungry?"
“God, Elin. Doesn’t my brother have at least a T-shirt here?”
Elin smirked as she took another sip of her coffee. “Yes, but I rather like the view. If you don’t like it, don’t look.”
I took a couple steps to where she was and kissed her. “Anything for you, Goddess.”
“Ew. Gross. Gavriel, please.”
I chuckled and turned to her as I turned to make some breakfast for us all.
“What? How is this any worse than the three of us going to a club and me having to see my best friend make out and dry fuck my sister? Or when I’d be over at his house and you’d walk in and basically start making out him right in front of me? ”
Rhea looked at Elin with mock shock on her face. “I would never show that much public affection.”
I laughed as I poured the mix and water into a bowl and started beating the mixture for pancakes.
“Really, because Joel used to tell me how he loved to . . .” I shuttered and made a disgusted face.
“. . . have relations with his girlfriend in public.” I tipped my head to the side.
“Though, that was before he told me he was dating you.” I was unable to stop the smile that spread across my face at the memory of Joel’s absolute panic when he’d tried to tell me.
The look on his face that night as he’d fumbled for words had been better than any prank I’d ever played. And I’d played a lot.
I looked at Elin, who was sipping her coffee, and then at Rhea, who was giving me a look like I’d just grown another head. “You know, you could have just told me,” I said. “Saved the man a lot of pain.”
Rhea rolled her eyes, grabbing a fork from the drawer and jabbing it in my direction. “As if you would have handled it maturely. Come on, Gav. You wouldn’t have been able to keep your mouth shut for thirty seconds.”
She wasn’t wrong. That was the worst part. “Yeah, but at least I wouldn’t have had to sit through months of Joel’s awkward attempts at talking about his amazing girlfriend. I was his best friend, you know. The stories he used to tell me . . .”
Her face turned bright red. “Oh my god, do not finish that sentence.”
Elin smirked, watching the whole exchange like she was front row at a comedy show. “I’m dying to hear, actually. Please, Gavriel. Enlighten us.”
Rhea’s eyes went wide. “Elin, this is your father!”
She took a sip of her coffee and smiled. “Yeah. He was old, not dead. Just don’t give me explicit details. Gavriel, please continue.”
I grinned and started cooking the batter into something editable. “Joel once told me he was seeing this girl who liked it rough. Like, really rough. Wanted him to tie her up, spank her, call her names.”
Rhea sputtered, nearly snorting coffee out her nose. “Shut up. You’re disgusting! You cannot be talking about this. At breakfast, no less.”
I shrugged, totally unbothered. “Hey, you’re the one who kept it a secret. You should have told me your kinks before you started dating my best friend.”
“Yeah, that’s a totally normal conversation to have with your big brother.” She rolled her eyes.
Elin’s lips curled into a smile as she handed Rhea a fresh mug. “Don’t worry, Rhea. Your brother is just jealous because you got all the adventurous genes in the family.”
“Excuse you,” I shot back, but the words felt so light, so easy, that I was already laughing as I said them. “I’m plenty adventurous. I just like to save my kinks for the bedroom. Or, you know, wherever my Goddess tells me to.”
Rhea looked down at her coffee as if it might rescue her from the conversation. “This is the worst breakfast ever.”
I waggled my eyebrows at her, deliberately eating my pancakes with a little too much enthusiasm. “You’re blushing. Didn’t realize you were such a deviant, sis.”
“Shut up, Gav. You’re the pervert.” Rhea’s voice was muffled, but I caught the edge of a smile she tried to hide behind her mug.
God, I’d missed this. This was the stuff you didn’t realize you needed until it was almost gone forever.
I watched her as she grabbed some pancakes and dug in, and for a second, it was like we were kids again. No Azzaro drama, no shadows over our heads, just a guy and his bratty little sister fighting over breakfast.
Elin slid onto the stool beside me. She watched us with that careful, quiet look she had when she was cataloguing everything. I loved the way she could be both part of the chaos and slightly apart from it. Like she was always thinking three moves ahead but couldn’t help enjoying the shitshow.
“So, Rhea,” Elin said, pouring herself more coffee. “If you had to pick one, which is it: never have carbs again or give up sex forever?”
Rhea blinked. “That’s not even fair. You can’t ask me that.”
“I can and I did,” Elin replied, her tone smug. “It’s a classic dilemma.”
Rhea made a face like she’d just bitten into a lemon. “Ugh. I refuse to answer. Life isn’t worth living without both.”
I was laughing so hard I almost choked. “Just admit you’re obsessed with pancakes and dick. It’s fine.”
She huffed, tossing a piece of pancake at my face. “You’re the worst brother ever. You know, I could still tell Elin that thing you did in Miami.”
I felt my smile freeze, just a little. “You wouldn’t dare.”
She grinned, sweet as poison. “Try me.”
Elin arched an eyebrow. “Miami?”
“Nope. Not a story for the breakfast table,” I replied, stabbing another forkful of pancake and shoving it into my mouth before they could press further. “What happens in Miami, stays in Miami.”
Elin’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “I’m going to get that story out of you one of these days.”
“Not if I’m dead first,” I muttered, but inside I liked that she wanted to know everything. The messy, stupid, reckless parts of my life.
The sun kept coming in brighter, and for a moment, I let myself pretend that this was real. That we could actually have mornings like this, where nothing mattered except the syrup on the pancakes and who could get the last word.
I watched Rhea, and even though she was battered and exhausted, there was still some light left in her. She was tough, tougher than anyone gave her credit for. Maybe even tougher than I was.
I finished my coffee, then just sat there for a second, not wanting to break the spell. “Remember when Mom used to make us breakfast on Sundays?” I asked, voice soft. “She’d stand at the stove in that hideous pink robe.”
Rhea giggled. “And she’d sing along to Madonna and pretend she was a famous pop star. Dad used to complain about the noise, but I think he secretly liked it.”
“Of course he did,” I said. “He was a sucker for Mom’s voice.”
Elin smiled, this time genuinely, not just the smirk she used when she was about to destroy me. “It’s nice. The two of you together.”
I reached over and squeezed her hand. “You are family too, Goddess. You belong at this table.”
Something flickered in her eyes. I knew that look—I’d seen it after the first time she’d let me call her Goddess. Like she was finally letting herself believe she could be loved, too.
Rhea let out a dramatic sigh. “Fine, I’ll be gross and say I like having you around, Elin. Don’t get used to it.” Her demeanor changed as she continued, “I miss breakfast with Joel and you. This reminds me of that and what could have been.”
Elin took a long sip of coffee, fighting a smile. “I’ll savor this moment.”
I leaned back in my chair, folding my hands behind my head. “You know, if Dad could see us right now, he’d probably shit a brick.”
That got a laugh out of both of them. Rhea snorted so loud she nearly spilled her juice, and Elin covered her mouth, trying and failing to hide the full-body shake that came with real laughter.
I watched them both, feeling something tight in my chest that wasn’t fear or anger for once. It was . . . hope. Or maybe just the bittersweet edge of knowing this wouldn’t last, so I’d better enjoy every second I could.
Rhea pointed at me with her fork, syrup dripping onto the table. “You know what I remember? When Gavriel tried to cook eggs for me that one time when Mom was sick.”
I groaned. “Don’t. Just don’t.”
She was grinning from ear to ear now. “He said he knew what he was doing, but then he cracked all the eggs right into the pan without shelling them.”
Elin lost it, laughing so hard she had to put her coffee down.
Rhea kept going. “He was so determined to make it work that he actually tried to pick the shells out with his fingers. While the eggs were still cooking.”
“I was, what, twelve?” I protested. “At least I tried.”
“Yeah. And you made me eat it anyway. I crunched down on, like, five pieces of eggshell and you told me it was extra calcium.”
Elin was practically in tears. “You are an absolute menace, Gavriel.”
I shrugged. “I was looking out for her bones. See, Rhea? I’ve always been a good brother.”
She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling now, real and soft. “You’re insane, you know that?”
“Runs in the family,” I shot back. “You’re just better at hiding it.”
We went back and forth for a while, trading old stories, each one a little more ridiculous than the last. I told the one about her trying to cut her own hair and ending up with half a shaved head.
She countered with the story of me getting stuck on the roof the night I tried to sneak out to meet a girl.
Elin soaked it all up, laughing like she was getting a secret look into another world.
Eventually, the food dwindled, but the conversation just kept rolling.
Rhea nudged me with her foot under the table. “So, what’s the plan, big brother? Am I supposed to become ‘Claire Maddox’ and just vanish into thin air? What if I don’t want to?”
I looked her in the eye, all joking gone. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want. But if you want to be free, really free, this is how we get there.”
She considered that, her chin propped on her hand. “And you? What happens to you after I’m gone?”
I forced a smile. “Don’t worry about me. I’ve got Elin to keep me in line. Maybe I’ll open a pancake restaurant.”
Elin snorted. “You? Run a restaurant? You’d burn the place down within a week.”
“I’d hire you to run the books,” I replied. “And Rhea could be the face. People would actually come back for more just to hear her roast people.”
Rhea grinned. “I’d be awesome at that.”
For a second, it almost felt possible. A future where we actually got to be ourselves, not just tools or pawns in someone else’s game.
But the moment passed, leaving behind the taste of reality.
Rhea pushed her plate away and stretched, wincing as she flexed her hand. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
She hesitated, her voice softer now. “Are you scared?”
I thought about it for a second. “Yeah. I am.”
She nodded, like that was the answer she wanted. “Me too.”
Elin reached across the table, taking her hand carefully. “It’s okay, you know. To be scared. Bravery is doing the thing anyway.”
I looked at Elin, my heart stuttering a little. “You’re really good at this.”
She rolled her eyes. “At what? Handholding your wounded family through breakfast?”
“At making us feel like maybe we aren’t alone. It’s not something we’re used to.”
She looked down, her thumb brushing over Rhea’s knuckles. “Me either.”
For a while, we sat in comfortable silence, letting the day settle around us.
"So," Elin said, reaching for the syrup, "Rhea, you packed? Remember, essentials only, nothing that can be traced back to you."
Rhea nodded, her expression growing serious. "You mentioned a secure line. Will I be able to contact Gav?"
"Not unless it’s an emergency," I answered, meeting her eyes across the table. "It's too risky. But Elin can get a message to me. She’ll be your contact."
"And if something goes wrong?" The fear she'd been hiding finally crept into her voice.
I reached across the table, taking her hand in mine, but before I could say anything, Elin chimed in, “You will be perfectly secure. I’ll walk you through everything when we get there.”
The weight of what we were planning settled over the table. In just a few hours’ time, Rhea would be gone, hidden away from the world until her new identity was secure. And I would be facing the wrath of two of the most dangerous men in California.
"Enough doom and gloom," Elin declared, breaking the tension.
Rhea finished her coffee, then went to start packing her things, leaving just Elin and me in the kitchen.
I leaned in close, my voice low. “Thank you, Goddess. For giving us this morning.”
She smiled, slow and wicked. “You’re very welcome, Pretty Boy. But don’t get used to it. Next time, you’re making breakfast in nothing but an apron.”
I raised an eyebrow, picturing it. “Yes, ma’am.”
She kissed me, quick and possessive, tasting of coffee and something sweeter. I wanted to stay there forever, just soaking her in, but there was too much to do.