Chapter Two
Two
Elsie
Was there a description for this feeling?
Numb yet not. Pain, horror, fear … and then a humming that drowned it out.
Told me this wasn’t real. It was all just one awful nightmare.
A cycle that kept repeating itself since I’d been woken up by a phone call, warning me to stay where I was.
Not to show my face. That a security escort would be there to get me soon.
One that I hadn’t waited on. Instead, I’d listened to Calvin over the DEA my father had worked for. Had worked. Past tense.
I winced as the sharp pain hit my chest again, reminding me how I wasn’t numb.
“We land in the next ten minutes,” Calvin said, breaking into my thoughts.
I blinked and lifted my gaze from my hands clasped together tightly in my lap to see him watching me.
I knew all his facial expressions. I could read him like a book.
I’d spent most of my life memorizing every detail about my best friend.
And right now, he was hurting for me, concerned, and determined. I believed he would keep me safe.
I trusted him over anyone else in the world … but then he was all I had left. The other two people I trusted …
I sucked in a breath as images I didn’t want to think about plagued me. I’d not seen any photos, but the officer who had called me—my father’s friend—he’d said they were murdered in their beds. I’d gone into shock at that moment and not asked more questions.
The “how” was taunting me, causing horrific scenes to play out in my head.
“My cousins and uncle can keep you safe. I swear it. They can protect you far better than the fucking DEA. They didn’t protect their own and now …” He trailed off, his eyes flickering regret at mentioning it.
He was so sure of these cousins and uncle of his.
People I’d never met or known existed, and I’d thought I knew everything about Calvin until today.
I’d been to his family get-togethers, parties, and met other relatives, but they had always been from his father’s side of the family.
His mother rarely came around to see him.
I’d not realized he had any contact with her family.
“I trust you,” I replied, my voice sounding raspy from not speaking the past two hours. “But I’m worried that they don’t realize the complete situation. If we get there and they—”
“I told them everything. Oz—that’s the oldest of my three cousins—he knows all the details. And …” He paused and sighed heavily. “The media has the story now. I told him more than the media knows.”
I still didn’t understand why he felt these men were safer than the DEA. I’d never even heard of Madison, Mississippi. Perhaps their location was one of the reasons that Calvin decided I’d be safer there.
There were a million things I should ask. That I should care about. Like how they would be able to protect me, how long I’d be there, or if it was some cabin hidden in the woods with hillbillies who had an illegal firearm stash. But the aching void in my chest wiped out all other concern.
Calvin moved to the edge of his seat and reached across the space between us to take my hands in his.
“I can’t stay with you. I’ve got to get back to LA.
Even if I could, I couldn’t keep you safe.
I’m not … I’m not like my cousins. Hell, I’ve never used a gun in my life.
The only way I can leave is knowing you’re safe, and there is no safer place for you than with them. ”
I nodded. He really believed that. I didn’t think it was accurate though.
The security system on our home had been the best. My father had always had protective measures in place to keep us safe due to his job.
Yet this Telos Kris person had had no problem getting through it or the security systems of the other families who had been murdered.
Calvin’s mouth tightened with frustration. He was reading me, much like I did him. We knew each other too well.
“Look,” he said, squeezing my hands in his. “I didn’t want to tell you this. I wasn’t sure how you’d react to it, and I needed to get you to agree to get on this plane with me and leave.”
I waited as he seemed to have an internal battle with himself. Finally, he blew out a breath and leveled his eyes on me.
“My mom’s sister, Aunt Ellender, married a man who was born into a family that is dangerous and powerful.
I’m not sure how long the Savelles have been involved in it, but it goes back generations.
My father kept me from them most of my life because he’s scared of them.
Who and what they are. But I’m not. I mean, I wouldn’t piss any of them off, but I also know that they will protect you for me. They’ll do it for their mom.”
I waited to see if he’d say more, and when he sat there, staring at me, gauging my reaction, I decided that perhaps I should ask those questions.
“What do you mean by a dangerous, powerful family?” I asked.
Calvin bit his bottom lip and glanced out the window as the plane began to lower before turning back to me. “Their part of the Southern Mafia.”
What? What did that even mean? I hadn’t realized Mafias were still a thing.
“Um, what is that exactly?”
He continued to hold my hands in his. “The Southern Mafia is all over the South. There is a branch in every Southern state. They are wealthy, powerful, and control most all government officials in those states. They are exactly what it sounds like. Organized crime. They know who Telos Kris is. They’re not scared of him.
In fact, they may be more feared than he is.
They have more power than he does. He is a criminal that has to hide.
They are just as dangerous, but they get to live out in the world controlling things. ”
“We are landing,” the flight attendant interrupted as she stepped out of the closed-off area in the front of the plane. “Sit back and tighten your seat belts,” she informed us, then went over to sit in the chair she’d been in when we took off and buckled herself up.
Calvin let go of my hands and sat back, taking his seat belt and clicking it back together.
I’d not taken mine off during the flight.
This wasn’t the first time I’d flown on a private plane with him.
He liked to take these over commercial, and seeing as his father still bankrolled his life, he could afford it.
Today, however, it had been necessary. I didn’t need to travel openly or where my flights could be tracked.
The little that I’d comprehended after being told that my parents were both dead included the fact that their killers may very well know of my existence and want me dead too.
No one could be sure if they’d hunt me down with my father dead and their retaliation made clear.
I stared out the window. Not sure what to feel. There was too much to process, and my emotions were drained. Perhaps the numbness would take over. I’d much prefer it.
I gripped the armrests as the wheels hit the ground, and we came to a stop.
There was no snow outside, like there had been when we left Colorado.
When we got off the plane, I wasn’t so sure that there would be officers waiting on me.
Calvin had taken my cell phone and destroyed it.
I’d had to leave all my things behind. The clothing I had on were things he’d bought for me at the resort’s boutique.
It would be difficult for them to track me, but they had ways.
“They’ll find you and question you about my location,” I pointed out.
He nodded. “I know. I expect it. And I intend to tell them.”
When he didn’t say more, I realized he truly believed that even the DEA would be afraid to come get me from this Southern Mafia.
The flight attendant stood up, and I unbuckled to do the same. For the first time in my life, I was questioning my trust in Calvin. I didn’t think he would put me in danger knowingly, but I was afraid he’d made the wrong decision.
He stood up with me and gave me a reassuring smile, then took my hand in his. “It’ll be okay. I swear it.”
No, it wouldn’t be okay. Nothing in my life would ever be okay again.