Filed to story: Bring It On My Mafia Life Novel (Rhea & Lukas)
Elijah couldn’t understand why she would do that till death. For sure, he took time, however, Elijah never expected that it would last this long too, things just get complicated! However, the signs were there, couldn’t she have waited for him? Couldn’t Rhea hold on? Or had he read her wrong?
Moreover, of all people she could like, why was it, Lukas? Hasn’t she heard of Lukas’s father, Daniel, his reputation and relationship with women? Why would she subject herself to such fate? Like father, like son, was she so blinded by love that she couldn’t see the connection? She would never be happy with Lukas, just like the way Lukas’s mother was never happy with his father.
Also, this was the man who ruined Aunt Natalie. Elijah didn’t know the full story but he guessed she and Daniel had history, however, it didn’t work out to the point she had to run for her life and up to date, lives in hiding. No, he would not allow Rhea to have such a fate. He would get her out of there by all means and not even Adele would be able to change his mind about that – no matter how much he enjoyed having sex with her.
“What happened?” Elijah asked, putting on his innocent facade. It was no longer a matter of putting on the mask physically as the phantom ghost anymore, these days, he put on so many masks he was beginning to have an identity crisis.
Adele hesitated, and he understood instinctively that this was another secret she kept from him. It wasn’t a matter of trusting him or not, as the second in command, there were a lot of secrets she had to carry for Lukas.
“There’s something I haven’t told you and it’s related to our work,” Adele told him.
“I’m all ears,” Elijah said, expecting Adele to spill more secrets about Lukas that he could use against him when the time comes. But to his greatest surprise, Adele began to tell him about Lukas and Rhea, and their great love, blah blah. It was a surprise he didn’t throw up.
“In one word, Lukas wants us to pull an all-nighter. We have to come up with a plan for him, find something, anything strong enough to be used against his father or even Clara. The wedding must not be held tomorrow.”
Well, bless his holy soul because Elijah was all in for the wedding happening.
Stick To His Side Like A Parasite
Lukas didn’t return that night because he was engaged in meetings, meaning that Rhea had to spend the night alone. Although she knew that Lukas didn’t mean to leave her and was busy trying to find a way out of the wedding tomorrow, it still didn’t stop her from missing him terribly. She missed him so badly that it was difficult to breathe.
Hence, when a knock came on her door, she glanced up with hope, thinking it was Lukas only for Mimi to peep in and her expression fell instantly. However, Rhea still managed to put on a smile for her friend.
“You don’t have to try so hard, you know.” Mimi knew that she was disappointed.
“I’m sorry,” Rhea gave her an apologetic look, “I just thought -“
“You don’t have to explain, best friend. I know what you’re thinking.” She told her, “Victor’s away as well.” Mimi walked into the room.
Rhea was thankful that she had moved back to her own room earlier, else she wouldn’t know how to stop her friend from climbing into Lukas’s bed. Not that Lukas minded, but the bed felt intimate, personal to the both of them. Moreover, his room smelled too much like him, and with the events of the day, it seemed like the world was crashing in on Rhea, so she had to leave. It was suffocating.
However, the moment Mimi stepped in, her gaze shifted to the lion lying at the corner of the room, facing the bed, and halted in her footsteps at once. Nope, not happening. She was not ready to become Samson’s food.
Rhea, noticing Mimi’s reactions to the lion, encouraged her,
“Don’t worry, he’s well behaved right now.”
…..
Believing Rhea’s words, Mimi took a step when the lion made a warning growl at the back of his throat. She was about to cross the territory he was assigned to protect and he didn’t like that.
“Maybe, he’s still a tiny bit temperamental. Today was too hard on him.” Rhea pointed out, shifting her gaze to the lion, “Alright Samson, you don’t have to go all macho on her, she’s a friend.”
Having done that, Rhea gestured to Mimi to move, but Samson released another growl. Although this time it was less threatening than it was still a warning and Mimi felt the vibration deep down to her bones and stopped. As much as she loved her best friend, she was not ready to become a lion’s meal.
“I don’t know what’s up with you males,” Rhea sighed as she got out of the bed and walked over to Samson, beginning to run her hands through his beautiful mane. The purr Samson produced told Rhea that he was enjoying her treatment.
With each day that passed, she was beginning to fear the lion less than the first time they met, but that doesn’t eliminate the fact that he’s a predator no matter how tamed he was. Hence Lukas taught her every trick in the book on how to treat him, just like now. Lions were domineering, hence she couldn’t impose on their actions. Just like now, he doesn’t want Mimi near her, so Rhea had to pet him and bribe her way through.
“Mimi is family, so if you’re going to protect me, you would have to keep her safe too,” Rhea told him, scratching and petting Samson in areas that were sensitive to the touch till he gave in. Just like men, lions couldn’t resist women as well.
“Aww, I love you so much,” Mimi pressed her hand to her chest when she finally passed through. She was so touched by Rhea’s gesture that she pulled her into her arms and hugged her friend tight.
“I’m fine,” Rhea said, trying hard not to cry.
“I know,” Mimi answered, “I’m fine too, but I need to hug you right now,”
Rhea didn’t know she needed comfort until Mimi was tapping her back and she leaned into the hug. She was so lonely. They stayed that way for over five minutes and the next, both women were on the bed, hugging each other. It has been a long time since they spent time together like this, just like the both of them.
“It’s going to be okay, you know,” Mimi said, using her hand to straighten the furrowed brows she had formed unconsciously.
“I hope so,” Rhea said without much conviction. The wedding was tomorrow, what could they do now that would make a difference? Would Lukas even go to war for her? Rhea didn’t know the answer nor did she want a war. There’s always a casualty loss in war. War does nothing but take.
“Hey,” Mimi propped herself up on her arm, “Listen to me, Rhea, you have come a long way here and there’s no way on earth you’re giving up on your relationship just because your-would-have-been handsome-but is an unstable father-in-law wants to separate the both of you. That is not happening, young lady, not on my watch, do you get me?!” She told her firmly.
When Rhea didn’t answer, Mimi shook her seriously, “Do you get me?!”
“Fine, you win! I won’t let Lukas go and would cling to his side like a damn parasite, are you satisfied?!” She said at the top of her lungs.
Mimi smiled, “Now, that’s the spirit. Come on, let’s sleep. Tonight, it’s just the both of us.” She pulled Rhea close to her body, and spooned with her.
Together, they were prepared to sleep when Rhea suddenly remembered,
“Chloe! Where’s Chloe?” She was curious to know.
Thanks to the incident today, she had forgotten all about the mission to bring Chloe home. Rhea’s heart arched for Lukas, he had too many battles to face.
“So where is she?” Rhea had a bad feeling the mission didn’t go as planned. If Chloe was back, she would have heard of it already.
“Nah, mission failed,” Mimi answered nonchalantly, lying on her back.
Rhea’s heart sank. It didn’t work. Who knows how Lukas is feeling right now? He needed to meet his sister badly.
“But don’t worry, we have a second plan, and Winters has a temporary job as a nanny already.”
I’ll Go
Rhea slept quite late yet woke up very early. Mimi was gone and she was alone again, but not for too long because a message reached her, Lukas wanted her to dress up.
Of course, the message startled her. Why does Lukas want her to dress up? Was he sending her away as she feared? Or were they going somewhere else? Today was his wedding day. Has he found a solution or was he giving up already? He was not even able to see her face to face. Was he unable to face her because he couldn’t come up with a solution? Those questions without an answer troubled her. However, Rhea decided to trust Lukas. He knew what he was doing, right?
Even at that, it still didn’t stop Rhea from bursting into tears as soon as she made it into the bathroom. She wanted to be strong; wanted to trust Lukas but she was human and was scared too. Hence, she couldn’t stop the negative thought from coming in. What if this was the end for her and Lukas? She wanted to believe like her friend, Mimi encouraged, but it was hard with reality staring at her in the face. Maybe, it was time to face reality, instead of hoping for things not seen.
By the time Rhea emerged from the shower, her eyes were red and puffy from crying. She walked back into her room only for a scream to rip out of her throat the moment she lifted her head and saw Lukas standing in the middle of his room. With Lukas there, Rhea was finally able to breathe and everything seemed to make sense again.
She drank Lukas in and though he looked good in a change of clothes from last night, he was extremely stressed. Rhea saw the dark circles around his eyes and his hair was ruffled as if he had been running his hand through it. Rhea felt guilty, she hasn’t even done anything to alleviate his stress. She felt useless. She had nothing to offer him, except bring him trouble. Maybe Clara was a good match for him anyway?
“Why are you crying?”