Page 26 of Scar

She blows him a kiss. “Anytime, sweetheart,” she calls back. The brothers all file out, following Ghost. I am the last to get to my feet. Lizzie walks over with her cloth in hand and begins to wipe down the table, collecting the money as she goes. “Do me a favour sweetheart, and let me know she is okay,” Lizzie states, looking up at me. Her eyes are soft and full of concern.

I drape my arm over her shoulders and place a kiss on the top of her head. “Yeah darlin’, I will,” I confirm. I give the back of her neck a gentle squeeze before walking towards the door.

“You don’t get her out, she will die,” Lizzie adds, causing me to pause. With my hand on the door, I turn to look at her. “I’ve been there, you get used to the beatings. It’s everything else that destroys you. It gets to a point that when the beatings come, you pray that they will be the end. You pray that they will finally kill you.” Her voice breaks a little as she clutches the cloth in her hands tightly.

My grip tightens on the door. “Did he pay for what he did?” I ask through gritted teeth, because whoever it was that did that to Lizzie, we would hunt the fucker down and kill that mother fucker.

She gives me a small smile, knowing exactly why I am asking. She nods. “In prison on an 18 year stretch for manslaughter,” she states softly. “For killing my sister.”

I blink. Not her, her sister. “Name,” I demand. She knows the connections, the power Ghost has to take care of shit in prison if it’s required.

Lizzie pauses for a moment, then she sighs. “Daniel Evans from Eastmound.”

I just give her a curt nod and then leave.

Two dayslater I’m sat at the bar back at the club, staring at the phone Ghost gave me, wondering if I should call her. “You know for that thing to work, you have to pick it up and actually press some buttons,” Star states sarcastically from where she’s sitting behind me at the bar.

I give her a look and knock back the rest of my drink. “I’m trying to decide if I call her, what do I fucking say?” I state, not bothering to go into the details of who it is, as I know Ghost would have told her everything. “What if someone else answers her phone?”

“You could speak in a lady’s voice, like ‘hi, I’m like calling to speak with erm, your girl, as like we are total bff’s’,”Bambi suggests, turning his voice into a high pitched squeal. I slowly turn my gaze to his. He tenses when he sees my expression. “Or not.” He shrugs sheepishly before slinging the cloth over his shoulder and disappearing as quickly as his feet will take him.

Star snorts with laughter. “I fucking love that kid.” I grunt and pour myself another shot of whiskey, tensing when Star snatches the bottle off me. “How many have you had?” she asks.

“Not enough,” I answer.

She rolls her eyes and as she places the bottle down, she snatches the phone and hits the call button. My eyes go wide, and I try to reach for the phone, but she jumps off the stool and swats my hand away. She puts it on speaker so I can hear, and after 5 rings I think she isn’t going to answer, then the phone clicks.

“Hello?” Elsie’s soft voice answers.

“Hi, this is Sally,” Star answers. I try to get the phone off her, but she keeps side stepping out of my grasp. “From Chic Couture,” she adds. I pause and frown, confused at where she is going with this. “It’s about your wedding dress, are you available to talk?” Star asks.

How in the fuck did she find out the name of the bridal shop Elsie went to?

“Just a second,” Elsie answers.

Star looks at me with a wink. We hear a man’s voice on the other end. “Go on. I don’t want to know baby, but if she startsasking for more money, tell her to go and fuck herself.” Fucking prick Layton.

We hear what sounds like a click of a door and then Elsie speaks. “Hi, sorry about that. I was with my fiancé and you were on speaker, so I had to make sure I moved to a new room. What seems to be the problem with the dress?” she asks politely.

“Are you able to talk to me off speaker, just in case your fiancé would walk back in? I wouldn’t want to spoil anything before your big day,” Star says as she gives me a wink.

“Of course,” Elsie says, pausing for a split second. “Okay, all good,” she states.

Star holds out the phone to me and I step forward and take it from her. Star walks back over to the bar, giving me some privacy but staying close just in case she is needed again.

“Angel,” I say softly. I hear her suck in a shuddery breath.

“How did you? You shouldn’t be calling me,” she whispers.

“This is a burner, so it can’t be traced. I need to know you are okay, and I want you to know that if you ever need me, to call this number,” I tell her.

“I’m...” She pauses. “I’m okay,” she whispers, but something in her voice leads me to think otherwise.

“Meet me at the bridal shop,” I demand.

“Wait, I can’t. I...” she stammers.

“I don’t care when. Make it out to be an appointment, a fitting, anything,” I tell her.

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