Just like I’m going to fight tooth and nail for the people we are going to rescue from Dominic. Vanessa told me not to get too caught up in the feeling, but when I think about what we are going to do, it fills me with so much satisfaction knowing that Dominic isn’t going to be able to complete this heinous plan of his. We are going to take it from him just like he took so much from me.
We get to Gio’s office and Drake knocks softly. Anthony opens the door and motions us in. “We just got the time. Tomorrow night at seven.”
My body starts to buzz with nervousness and excitement. It’s finally here. No more hiding. We are going to rescue those women, and finish this finally once and for all. My head comes up and Ilook around the room at the three men who freed me, who saved me from my parents and then Dominic.
My eyes tear up, and gulping back a sob, I go around the room and hug them all. “Thank you all, so much. For saving me, and now for saving all these women. No matter what happens, I will be grateful to you for the rest of my life.”
Gio says, “Don’t thank us yet. We still gotta get through this safely. There’s a lot of planning to do now that we know the time and date. We would like you to sit in on the meeting too, if you feel comfortable. We want to keep you posted on all the things that are happening. I know you’ll be worried about Drake and we will be worried about you and Reba. So we want to make sure everyone is on the same page.”
Nodding, I say, “Sounds good to me. Let me go grab Reba. Conference room?”
Gio and Anthony both nod and I get up to go find Reba.
I find her in the kitchen. “Hey, meeting in the conference room. We finally got the information we’ve been waiting for and Gio wants to get us all together to finalize the plan.”
She looks nervous. I know that they found something out about Aiden being involved in what happened years ago during the attempted takeover, but Reba hasn’t wanted to talk about it yet. “You okay?” I ask sitting next to her on one of the stools.
“No. Not really. All these old feelings are coming up. I know I haven’t said anything yet about what we found out, but Aiden is the one who shot Eddie. The goal was to take out Gio’s right hand, and in the chaos that was happening it was Aiden who made the shot, though no one knew it until they found one of Dominic’s men recently and they got it all out of him. Tony and Eddie’sdeaths were both calculated for Gio to be the one to take over and then make Aiden his right hand so that they could get information all these years,” she says.
Holy fuck. Talk about the long game. Dominic’s father is a bastard. To take out Gio’s father and his right hand man at the same time is diabolical. Dominic would never be smart enough to think of that. Which is most likely why Aiden has been working with him. Aiden probably thinks of Dominic as an easy mark. With Dominic trying so hard to be in control of things, this was a perfect opportunity for Aiden to really fuck Gio over.
I rub Reba’s back as we sit for a while in silence, both of us lost in our own thoughts on what the Petrucci Familia is responsible for.
“I know it isn’t going to bring Eddie back, but we’re going to get retribution for what they have done. We are going to save those women too. Doing that is going to give us some of that power back that we’ve lost. They won’t have control over us any more. It’s almost over and then we can heal and move on,” I say fiercely.
“I have watched you go from a scared little girl to a strong woman, Elodie. I’m so proud of you, and I’m so glad you have Drake. I know I tried to warn you away because I was afraid of what may happen, and bad things did happen, but not because of him. All this time, I have wrongfully blamed Gio for not protecting Eddie well enough back then. But it wasn’t his fault,” she says softly.
“You need to tell him. You need to tell him you forgive him and that you wrongfully blamed him and apologize. I know you all were friends then and you still are but there are a lot of things thatneed to be said. I think you should say them before we all go into this tomorrow. Just in case,” I tell her.
She looks at me with tears in her eyes and says, “You’re right. You are. I’ll do it after the meeting, though I don’t really know what to say,” she says with a small laugh. “Hey Gio, I’m sorry I’ve been such a complete ass to you all these years.”
“You know, Gio opened his home to us when we needed it. I don’t think he’s holding a grudge. In fact I think it’s the exact opposite of that,” I say cryptically.
She looks at me in question but I just shake my head. That isn’t a conversation she is going to want to have right now. But when he thinks no one is looking, Gio looks at Reba with longing in his eyes. I don’t know what kind of friendship they all had when they were younger, but I don’t think there was a time where it was just friends for Gio. I know he met Drake and Anthony’s mother not long after all that, and that he did love her. But Drake told me it was more that they were content with each other and comfortable. Not a big sweeping love, but a quiet one.
Makes me wonder if he wasn’t also in love with Reba and could never say.
“Well, we should probably get to the conference room for the meeting,” I say standing.
When we get to the conference room everyone is waiting. Gio sits at the head of the long table, every bit the Mafia Don that he is, face serious, suit immaculate. Anthony on the right and Drake on the left, like bookends. All blond and blue eyed Italian yumminess. Geez Elodie, get it together. Reba looks as gobsmacked as I am to see them like this. Everything is usually so casual. Seeing them in full form like this, makes goosebumps raise on my arms. It’s easyto forget how deadly these guys can all be when I mostly just see the sweet and caring side of them. But none of that is visible right now. Every single person in this room is taut with barely hidden violence crawling under their skin.
Marco sits on Anthony’s right, followed by Louis, and then Reba takes the next seat. To Drake’s left is Zeke, then Eren, and I take the seat next to Eren.
Gio clears his throat. “The date is tomorrow at seven pm. We have all the crews ready on standby. Everyone needs to gather their team and let them know. I want everyone loaded with every weapon you can fit as well as your vests. No one is to be without a vest. Including the ladies. Especially them. I know they aren’t going to the main warehouse but that doesn’t mean Dominic won’t send his men looking for them, knowing we are there.”
Drake looks down the table at me, an expression in his eyes that I can’t quite read. I see Gio glance briefly at Reba as well. I honestly hadn’t thought of that. But it’s not like Dominic knows where the second location is. Aiden isn’t even aware of the location. Nervousness slides through my body.
Nope. Just breathe Elodie. You got this. It’s going to end tomorrow night. No more needing to be afraid and hopefully Dominic will be dead and it will all be over.
Looking around the room at these faces that have become dear to me, I shiver. I don’t want to lose a single one of them.
Gio, the father I never had. Anthony, the best big brother. Louis, jokester and getaway driver extraordinaire. Zeke and Eren, my saviors. They better all make it out of there alive or I don’t know what I will do.
CHAPTER 31
DRAKE
Looking at Elodie down the table I can see her fighting her nerves. She is so very brave. I know that being here and feeling safe is what finally got her where she needs to be. I can see the gears turning in her head as she looks at each of us in this room, cataloging, taking snapshots in her head like the photographer she is.