47. Thursday Week Twenty (the negotiation.)

Everyone on my side of the table stood up as abruptly as I had. But no one dared utter a word. My mouth parted as my breathing became heavy, fear and anxiety became prevalent in my mind.

I locked eyes with my Nan, "it's gonna be fine."

Cowardly was how I felt as I realised that I couldn't look at Tyler all bound up and being carried in the arms of the boy who had caused me more pain than anyone in the world.

"And how could you possibly know that Rei-bear," Marcus taunted.

"Fuck you, Marcus."

All he did was smile as if I had given him the exact reaction he wanted.

"You fucking asshole," Eli growled at his father.

My eyes looked back over to Mikael, "I'll leave, I'll go as far away from here as possible, I swear I'll do whatever the fuck you want if you just let them go."

Mikael's head tilted to the side in contemplation, "I want Vincent for starters. He may be a prick but he does well at getting the messy jobs done."

Dante immediately left the club to go and get Vincent from the others who were waiting outside. Within minutes he was back with Vincent blindfolded and his arms tied behind his back.

"Here," Dante roughly shoved Vincent forward causing him to stumble on his feet.

Mikael nodded at Marcus, "give them the boy."

Tyler's arms were released and his gag removed. The second he was free he sprinted across the room and jumped into my arms.

I cocooned him in my embrace and buried my face into his tiny shoulder, disregarding the fact that I was soaking his little hoodie in tears. Pulling away I assessed his face and using the hand that wasn't holding him, I wiped the tears from his cheeks and kissed his forehead as many times as I could.

"Okay, baby, I need you to go with Noah, okay? It's going to fine, he's going to look after you."

Just like I knew he would be, Noah was already stood by my side, his arms open and ready to take my little brother somewhere safe.

Feeling a sense of relief, I passed Tyler to him. Noah's arms tightened around him securely and I knew that he was going to look after him. He reached for me next, pulling me into a hug.

"Please be safe, Reillyn, I love you, okay?" He whispered into my ear and I clenched my arms around him tightly to tell him I would be.

With one final kiss to my forehead, they were off and released a breath of air before turning back around and surveying the scene laid before me.

"What do you want, Mikael?" Cayd asked

"You know, it's so great having the upper hand," he casually spoke, still reclining in his chair, "why don't you all sit back down so we can talk calmly about this?"

Eli's hand slammed on the table again, "let her go, now, Mikael. We'll stop attacking you, hell, I'll start fighting for you again and you can have all the profits from it. I don't give a fuck, just let her go."

Mikael smiled at him before speaking calmly, "I will," and then his voice rose as he yelled, "as soon as you sit the fuck down and listen to what I have to say."

I reached out and gripped Eli's arm in my own, tugging on it and silently willing him to do as his father said.

"Great," Mikael clapped his hands together, "now that all the drama is out of the way, why don't we talk deals? It's quite simple really. In return for your grandmother, I want you to leave the state and not come back, much in the same way I agreed to do earlier."

"Fine. Done. Let her go," I responded.

"That's not all."

Momentarily, I was distracted from Mikael by the sight of Eli's phone screen flashing on his lap. His head bent as he read the message before he tucked his phone away in his pants and focused his glare back on his father. I noticed Cayd's phone brighten suddenly on his lap also; something was happening.

"I want everything you have stolen from me returned. My money, my drugs, guns, girls, everything."

Dante nodded stiffly and I silently wondered why he was being so compliant, he wasn't our friend, we had paid him to do a job for us — a job he had evidently failed at — so why was he just going along with every one of Mikael's demands.

At that moment, Vincent returned to the room. He had changed out of his blood-soaked clothes but it did nothing to minimise the effect of his beaten face. Someone had stitched him up in the few minutes he had been gone and I took pleasure noticing all the places on his face that were dotted with little white bandages.

"Father," he began before pulling out Marcus' now empty seat and placing himself in it, "I would like to propose another deal."

Mikael waved his hand across the table, giving him silent permission to speak freely, "like I know you believe, I agree that Reillyn Cole here is the cause of all of our problems," my fists clenched the material of my dress in my hands as my anger grew.

"My proposal is that instead of leaving the state, she stays here and works for us."

Immediately, Eli yelled out his disapproval, Cayd along with him. My Nan began shaking her head furiously behind Mikael, staring at me and willing me not to accept. I gave her a soft smile, I had no choice.

"She's not working for you, no fucking way," Eli shouted across the table, he pointed at Mikael, "I'm not going to let her get stuck in this life like we did."

Mikael smirked at his youngest son before looking over at his eldest and grinning, "I like the way you think, son."

He looked back at me before holding out his hand, "do we have a deal, you in exchange for your Nan?"

Nodding, I reached out to shake his hand but a tight hold on my wrist stopped me. I followed the ringed hand, up a tattooed arm and stopped when I met a pair of crystalline eyes that shone with a multitude of emotions.

He shook his head, "don't you dare take this deal, Reillyn, we will find another way."

"What other way, Eli, we are out of options? I want my Nan back and if this is the quickest away to do that, then I am going to do it."

In a second, his eyes hardened and I took note that he had stepped into Fighter Eli mode. The guy who didn't mess around, the one who I knew could kick the ass of everyone in this room. I frowned at the change in him, at the shutter which had come down.

He used his hold on my wrist to tug me into him for a hug, lowering his head so his lips were placed by my ear. Then in a whisper so low, I knew no one could hear him, he clued me in, "tigru," he breathed, "I need you to trust me. Can you do that?"

Subtly, I reached up on my tiptoes so I could nod slightly into his neck.

"Okay," he kissed the shell of my ear, "when I say so, I need you to sprint for the door," I opened my mouth to protest but he knew what I was thinking, "baby, I promise your Nan will be fine, but I can't get you both out so I need you to run when I say, okay?"

My heart pounded relentlessly in my chest, beating and pumping at a frightening pace. But I willed myself to calm down, I trusted Eli. Even when he had hurt me more than anyone else, I trusted Eli.

"Okay," I whispered into his ear.

He pulled away but kept a firm grip on my hand like he was scared that even though I had agreed to trust him, I would still take Mikael up on his offer.

"She's not going to work for you, Mikael," Eli started, "you have taken everything from me. My family. My friends. My whole fucking life. And there is no way in hell that you are getting her too."

Marcus chuckled from where he was stood behind Mikael, I had forgotten that he was here.

"That's cute, Ryker," he spoke, "but you and I both know that she cares about her family more than anything in the world," he shook his head, that smug smile still firmly rooted on his face, "she would never let you or anyone do anything that could hurt them."

His words got to me and I doubted the boy's plan but my doubts went flying when Eli's thumb began rubbing the inside of my wrist soothingly.

Before anyone could respond to Marcus, there was a loud bang and panic ensued.

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Pt3 next - I'm so sorry that this chapter is so long, I don't know how to shorten it because so much is going on and Reillyn is feeling so many things.