6 Business

Evangeline’s PoV

My mother was screaming and fighting to get to me, She couldn’t reach me, He had tied her up to something I couldn’t see, She was restrained yet she still thrashed around, My father stood above me looking even more evil than usual as he punched, kicked and stomped on me,

He stood on my fingers making me let out a painful scream as I heard the fragile bone crunch under his heavy boot,

Suddenly, my eyes snapped open and I gasped loudly, “You’re safe,” Enzo spoke pulling me into his chest and stroking my head, “It was just a nightmare.”,

I panted and tried to catch my breath as my skin suddenly felt sticky and disgusting, I did my best to try and heal my fingers but I don’t think they ever healed right, Every bone he broke never healed correctly, I wasn’t allowed to go to the hospital,

“I-I was screaming?,” I felt him nod his head before he uttered the word ‘yes’ out, I let out a sigh, relaxing against his hold, I have no idea where his room is but it’s close enough that he heard me screaming,

“Whoever hurt you can’t hurt you anymore,” he reassured me,

“Evangeline,” Enzo sighed out, “Your name isn’t mentioned in your fathers file.”, Why would it be?, I am his nameless child, “Do you know why?”,

I froze and thought about the answer he was asking for, I’m assuming he wants to know about my past because after all I am a ‘ghost’, I have a strange feeling that Enzo has an inkling of my past, mostly because of that nightmare last night and the fact that he said I won’t be hurt anymore, “You want to know or Tobias does?,” I asked, trying to avoid giving him an answer,

“We all do, You’ve been here for a few days now and we’re just curious,” he told me honestly, “But you don’t need to tell the rest of us but you will have to tell Tobias.”,

“Why?”,

“He’s the owner or leader in our line of work,” he spoke carefully choosing his words,

“He makes all the big decisions?,” He nodded his head, I nodded mine and sat quietly before Enzo took me to his office,

“Evangeline,” Tobias spoke, greeting me, I nodded my head as I sat down, He cleared his throat, “I need you to tell me everything about you and your past.”,

He leaned back in chair as I sat forward, clearly uncomfortable, “I’m not in my fathers file.”,

“I already know that.”, I took a deep breath and opened my mouth to speak before closing it again, making me look like a fish, “I’m waiting,” he demanded,

Everything about my past…,

He let out a sigh and leaned forwards, “Just tell me the basics about you, like your full name, your age, those things.”,

I nodded my head feeling a little better, “I-I’m Evangeline Kingston, I’m 18 years old, I’ve never been to school so I never sat any exams or anything, Is that all you need?”,

“You’ve never been to school?,” he asked puzzled,

“My mom homeschooled me.”, Suddenly, his eyes zeroed in on my face and he reached out and held my chin, He turned my face to the side as he analysed something, I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion as he did what he felt he needed to, “W-What are you doing?”,

“Who did that to you?,” he asked, clenching his jaw, Did what…?, My eyes widened as I realised what he was talking about, The bruise I assumed was going to form did and I’m guessing was very visible, I stayed silent,

“Evangeline, who the fuck did that to you?,” I didn’t say a word, “Was it one of my brothers?,” I shook my head, no, “Your parents?,” I froze for a moment before slowly shaking my head, “It was your parents, wasn’t it?,” He let out a sigh and scribbled something down in the notebook in front of him, “Your father?,” I stayed silent,

He let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest, making the suit jacket hug his muscles, Suddenly, Enzo ran into the office, frantic completely unlike his usual calm and collected self,

“Hide her!,” he panicked, “They’re here!, For fucks sake!, Hide her!”,

Tobias swiftly stood up and pulled me up from my seat only to take me towards the bookcase he had in his office, He pulled a book out slightly causing the bookcase to shift slightly, Woah, this is like those secret passageways they have in stories, He pushed me in and closed the bookcase behind me leaving me in here all alone with a bunch of questions,

Instead of it being a passageway for me to follow, it was a small little room with food, tables and chairs, I let out a sigh feeling disappointed as I sat in a chair before opening a bag of chips,

They’ll be back for me, Hopefully,

Tobias’s PoV

Eros stood next to me with his hand on his gun that was in his waist band behind his back as he eyed up the intruders stood in the foyer,

Only they weren’t really intruders,

Nicholas and Theodore stood side by side, not really caring but prepared to attack in case anything goes wrong, Enzo was stood beside me on the side that Eros wasn’t on, I know for a fact that if they do attack us, we’d all protect Enzo without even thinking about it because he’s the youngest,

“Where’s the girl?,” the old man asked with a slight chuckle, “Tell him to stand down,” he said after a brief pause as he eyed up Eros stance,

I cleared my throat giving him the hint to listen, Slowly, he relaxes and moves his hand from his waistband, “We can’t help but be wary, you know,” I spoke, my voice deep and firm, stepping forward and trying to act natural, “It’s not everyday you just drop by like this.”,

He shrugged his shoulders as the guards behind him kept their eyes on us the whole time, “I haven’t received my package.”,

“We don’t have one.”,

“Really?,” he mused, “I heard you exchanged another one.”,

“We tried to,” I lied, “But he pulled out the last minute, Said he’ll find a way to get the money.”,

“I was looking forward to receiving this one too, I heard she was a nobody, Quite a mystery she is.”, The old man rubbed his grey moustache slightly,

“You heard right,” I told him, “He pulled out but has a few more days to give me the money, If he doesn’t, then we take her or we kill him.”,

“Tobias,” he snapped, “Don’t give me this bullshit, I know you received her, I need to know if you still have her.”,

“I’ve never met her.”,

He let out an annoyed sigh, “If I hear you’ve lied to me, I’m gonna fuck up this side of the business.”,

I shrugged my shoulders, knowing that this side of the business barely scratches the surface of what I bring in from the main mafia filled with blackmails, missions, deals, clubs, that sort of thing, I’m just stuck now and I can’t get out of it,

“Would I lie to you?,” I said rhetorically to him,

He shrugged his shoulders before opening his mouth, “Tell that one to stop looking so fucking cagey.”,

I side eyed Enzo before giving him a little signal causing him to walk off in the direction of my office, “How are they?, The other people?,” Eros asked making me want to punch him, He doesn’t learn, nor does he fucking listen,

“Good, They’re busy working but they’re good,” the old man spoke proudly, “They’ve been bringing in a lot of fucking money.”,

“I told you that guy with one brown eye and one blue eye was gonna be good for business,” Eros spoke proudly, Sometimes, I wonder how I’m even fucking related to this clown,

“It’s called having heterochromia,” Theodore spoke, rolling his eyes at Eros, Eros shrugged his shoulders, not really caring,

“I don’t give a fuck, Business is booming and that’s all that’s important.”,

“That’s the only business we have that you even care about,” Nicholas remarked, Eros straightened his back before he slowly began to walk towards them, I put my arm in the way stopping him,

“Hey!,” I said sharply, “If you wanna fuck around do it some other time!,” Eros stopped walking and slowly moved back to where he was stood before,

“Anything else?,” I questioned the old man, narrowing my eyes at him, hopefully giving him the hint that he’s not wanted here, He shook his head and slowly looked around before turning towards the door and leaving,

“She’s been abused,” I told them once the old man was out of earshot,

“So were the other people,” Nicholas compared, not really knowing what’s happening,

“Not like the other ones,” I told them firmly, “She knows nothing, Enzo was with her all night last night because she woke up and had a nightmare more than once, We’re not giving her to them until we know she can handle it.”,

“If she can’t handle it, we’ll lose the money we could’ve got from her father instead of making more,” Nicholas put together,

“It’s all about the business.”,