Page 62 of In Her Shadow

“Well, whenever she decides, I’m gonna be right there, ready to meet her.” Katelyn leans forward and places her hands on my tummy, moving them around to try to feel a kick for herself. My little girl doesn’t disappoint, pushing out what I think could be a foot and making Katelyn smile. It’s a smile that quickly fades when she looks up past my shoulder.

“Katelyn, what’s wrong?” I ask, too scared to turn around and look at whatever is behind me. “Katelyn… We didn’t lock the garage door,” I remind her weakly, and when she shakes her head, looking full of regret, my eyes stretch open when I feel a sharp, painful stab in my neck. Cool liquid seeps into my bloodstream, and my friend goes blurry as I try to stop my head from flopping, and when I eventually give up and let it fall back over the couch, I see a motorcycle helmet staring over me.

REN

Itell myself that she’s distracted by all the fun she’s having; that her phone is probably on silent, and she left it in her purse. I tell myself all these things, but I still refuse the drink Nic Conte offers me to celebrate our deal. I leave the club Dario DeMarco owns, and I get straight in the car to head for Katelyn’s. I know this will probably be another example of me overreacting, but I’d rather look like a fool than take the risk.

I arrive at Katelyn's place half an hour after leaving the club, and when I see the garage door open and no sign of a car inside it, I get a nasty feeling in my gut.

“Eloise.” I swing open the door to the kitchen; there's blood smeared on the floor, and it looks as if there's been some kind of struggle. I want to rage, I want to let all my crazy take over, but I can’t fucking let it.

“Eloise! Katelyn.” I call out as I rush into the living room. There's no sign of them, just a bowl of strawberries tipped out on the carpet next to a pool of blood. Blood that I can’t even let myself think could belong to her.

“EL!!!” I scream her name out again, getting more desperate, and when I see her purse on the couch, I quickly lift it up andsearch through it. A lump forms in my throat when I find her phone and realize I have no way of tracking where she is.

“Fuck.” I toss the bag back at the couch, reminding myself to fucking breath so I can think about this, clearly. My girl is heavily pregnant, vulnerable, and by the looks of this place, bleeding. I haven’t got the luxury of time to think this over. I have to use my primal gut instinct, and right now it’s leading me to one man. A man who was very keen to ensure that Eloise got her way today.

“Ren?” He sounds scared after I storm into his office and pin him to the wall by his throat.

“Where’s Eloise? Who did you pay to fucking take her.” I speak through my teeth and press the gun I pulled from the console of my car, tight against his temple.

“Ren, listen to me. I have no idea what you’re talking about. Calm down, explain.”

“Calm down?… Calmfuckingdown?! Don’t pull that shit with me. How do you expect me to be calm when I don’t know where she is? Now, you are gonna tell me where she and her friend are, right now!” My hands are shaking with rage, and I can’t stop the images of her, scared and in pain, from flashing in front of my eyes. I’ve never been more murderous, and I’ve killed plenty.

“Do you really think I would do something like that to you?” He looks me dead in the eyes, with a hurt look on his face.

“Come on, you weren’t exactly happy to have me home. You said yourself you were worried about the effect she was having on me. You hate that now I have her, my views on the world have changed, and I’m trying to be a better man. You much preferredme when I was your sick-headed, psycho nephew, who fed on people's pain. I was useful to you like that, wasn’t I? It helped keep you in that fucking seat.” I look at the chair behind the desk that used to be my father's. “You were never fucking king, Stefan, you were just warming the throne while the prince was finding his way, and you hate that I found it in her.” My grip on his neck tightens, and I force the barrel of the gun deeper into his skull.

“No, Ren, none of that is true. I swear.”

“You hate her. No…you can’t hate her ‘cause you never took the time to get to know her. You could barely fucking look at her. You think I’m stupid enough to believe that the stunt you pulled this morning, when you took her side, was a coincidence? You saw an opportunity to separate us and you fucking took it.”

“Ren, you have all this wrong,so wrong. I don’t hate Eloise.” I watch the sweat pour from his forehead. “I just…I…”

“What?” I hiss at him, losing my patience.

“I’m jealous.” I see his eyes well up with more of that hurt, and it knocks me back.

“Jealous?” I release him, out of shock.

“You heard me.” He looks at the ground. “I was jealous of your dad for finding your mom, for being so fucking sucessful at everything he did. I was even jealous that he had you.” I shake my head and take a step back.

“When he died, I saw an opportunity to step into his life. You needed guidance, and I saw a chance for success. Success I could be a part of. I wanted you to like me, but I didn’t know the first thing about kids. I’d never been interested in them, and there seemed no way of getting through to you. You didn’t want to pitch a ball or watch football games. Your head was always somewhere else, and every day I felt myself failing. Then one day I saw that spark in you, it was dark and ugly, but it’s what we needed to stay on our feet. It’s whatyouneeded to build everything your father left to you. Ren, I’ve always known oneday this would be yours. I just wanted to be the person who helped make it great.” He sinks into his chair and grabs the bottle of whiskey.

“I can swear, I had nothing to do with whatever's happened. I’ve seen your heart break once, and I never want to see that again.”

I stare at him, not knowing if I can believe him. I’ve always trusted my uncle. He may be ruthless at times, but he’s always been so driven and determined for everything my dad worked for to succeed.

“Ren, you’re the closest to a son I’m ever gonna get. Do you really think I’d want to destroy your chance at a future?”

“But you're, you're so–”

“I’m a miserable old man with a lifetime of regrets.” He smiles at me sadly before drinking from the bottle. “Now, if you want to find your girl and bring her home, the first thing you're going to need to do is calm the hell down. Get that clever head of yours screwed on straight and start thinking about who would really want to take her. Does the girl have a past?” My uncle’s always known of Eloise’s existence, but I’ve never told him anything about her. I’ve always felt the need to keep her to myself, locked up and sacred.

“Anyone from her past who would have caused her harm is dead. I’m starting to think this has more to do with me. I’ve got my hands dirty plenty of times, fucked a lot of shit up for the people who choose not to be on our side. O’Driscoll?” I look at my uncle, but he shakes his head.

“Went back to Ireland a few weeks ago. DeMarco got a whisper of him selling narcotics, and he ran scared.”

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