Filed to story: Bring It On My Mafia Life Novel (Rhea & Lukas)
“Have you thought about inviting Lukas here?” He said tentatively, waiting for her reaction.
Natalie froze for a moment as she let what he said digest and then she turned to Eric with an unbelievable look. “You.” She said pointedly, “Want me to invite Lukas to your place? Are you kidding me?”
Eric said to her, “I understand why you wouldn’t want to see the boy around your daughter considering your history with Daniel, but this is not just about you, Natalie. Rhea needs closure. If the both of them is to break up, they should do that face to face rather than on a phone call. Don’t you see how devastating it is for Rhea? She needs to move on. ” He made his point.
She stood up to say, “And what if things worsen after she sets her eyes on him? Rhea is a young woman with raging hormones and doesn’t understand that this stage would surely pass away. She would get over this, I know her. I am strong. She is strong.”
“Rhea is not a child,” Eric reminded, “She has the right to make her decision, and doing that would give her more chances to open up to you. You want your daughter to accept you, well, this is an opportunity to make up for your shortcomings. It’s left up to you Natalie to take the first step or you can let the bridge burn.”
As much as Eric spoke well, Natalie still had the final say and she said, “What Rhea needs is time to get over all of this. She will adjust.”
Only she knew what she – and everyone close to her – had passed through in the hands of Daniel. Even if by chance, Lukas’s intentions towards Rhea were pure, Daniel was there and it was a definite no. Natalie would not let that monster near her daughter.
Almost immediately there was a knock on the door and Jason came inside only to notice the tension in the room. However, there was nothing that he could do because this was urgent, and couldn’t wait even a minute.
…..
“Boss, you need to see this.” Jason went over to hand the file to Eric who received it from him while Natalie stared at the scene.
Eric didn’t know what he had been expecting but by the time he read through, he had gone pale in the face and his hand was shaking.
“What the hell,” The words left his mouth as he stared at the letter and drew Natalie’s attention.
Sensing something was not right, she walked over to where Eric stood and took the letter from him, and by the time Natalie was done going through the letter, she was not spared from the shock either.
“Well, you did get an invitation, after all,” Natalie said with thick sarcasm handing the letter over to him.
Eric turned to Jason, his eyes filled with anger, “Where is Elijah?”
And speaking of Elijah, he was busy spending time with his little niece. Even at that, he was distracted while the young girl went through his phone, lounging on his bed. He couldn’t help but think about Rhea crying earlier and it bothered him greatly.
Elijah was guilty because ever since Rhea arrived at this place, he has never seen her smiling. If anything, her time so far was miserable. Elijah had been sure that he was doing the right thing by separating her from Lukas and now he wasn’t so sure anymore.
He knew Lukas thoroughly and he was poison – poison to Rhea. He would make her miserable! He was not going to treat her well! He doesn’t deserve her! That had been his driving force. Elijah was confident that he was doing her a favor and now he doesn’t know if Rhea’s sorrow was worth it. It wasn’t a fairy tale yet who knew that a monster could find love?
Who knew that she really liked him and Lukas wasn’t a manipulation? Elijah’s conscience gnawed at him. Neither does he understand what’s going on in his life anymore.
He could have stayed at his own place where he will have the space all to himself – and wouldn’t have to obey Eric’s stupid rules – but he preferred the family house – which now belonged to Eric as the first son – where there was a lot of activities and could distract him from thinking about a certain somebody – a name that he had no right to call anymore.
Adele.
It still rang in his head.
Elijah couldn’t help but wonder how she was doing? Did she receive the letter that he wrote her? Has she gotten over him or like Rhea, was she taking his betrayal hard? The thought of that made his heart clench tightly. He didn’t mean to hurt her that way.
He was not going to lie, more than once, Elijah was tempted to call her, but he knew better than to do that. It would only make things complicated and make it much harder for her to move on. Right now, they have discovered his betrayal and that makes him her enemy. She doesn’t have to choose between him and her family.
His train of thought was interrupted when someone rudely banged into his room and he looked up to see that he was his brother.
Elijah got to his feet saying, “Seriously? Just because I’m under your roof doesn’t mean -“
The rest of his words were forever silenced as Eric landed a punch on his face, shocking him.
“I warned you, be careful of your games!”
Rose screamed, startled by the sudden violence.
“Heck! Rose is here, Eric!” Natalie frowned at his action. She quickly went and took the child by the hand, leaving the tense room with her.
While Jason held back the furious Eric and stopped him from murdering Elijah.
[Bonus chapter] Neutral Ground
“I warned you about the dangerous game you were playing! I warned you not to do anything stupid! What the hell were you thinking?!” Eric roared at Elijah who was seated on a chair like a good little kid and accepted his scolding.
It was a good thing that Jason was there to keep an eye on Eric because the amount of anger running through his brother was enough to make him strangle him. Eric might love and pamper Elijah but not when his family was endangered. Not one, but the whole of them.
Ever since their father died, Eric as the firstborn son took the responsibility of keeping his loved ones safe very seriously, hence, for Elijah to put their family in harm’s way was a big turn-off for him. He thought Elijah was better than this.
If there was anyone in their family that had a deposition for trouble, it was his mischievous brother and twin, Ephraim. Elijah had always been smart and promising and he didn’t have to worry about him causing trouble for the family. But not anymore. He should have kept his eyes on him from the start.
“I didn’t mean it. Heck! You think I don’t know the consequences?! I just never expected them to die. It was supposed to be a warning to Lukas that I was coming for her, and didn’t expect that his men would get so drunk they got themselves killed.” Elijah added immediately,” And technically speaking, they weren’t supposed to drink and drive in the first place. “
“Don’t quote the law with me!” Eric yelled at him, his expression stern with hard lines. He gestured, “You think the Luciano’s would take the fucking law as an excuse. Does it erase the fact that they lost five of their men, not to mention, a Capo, because of you?!” He fired at him, “No tell me, what do you expect me to say to them?! That it was their fucking fault for drinking and driving?”
Jason came to stand between him when he saw the boss advancing slowly toward Elijah, infuriated by what he had said.
Elijah didn’t say anything but lowered his head while grinding his teeth. As a man with pride, he didn’t take it too well to being scolded, but at the same time, it was his fault and he needed to take responsibility. Whatever sympathy Elijah had earlier for Lukas vanished knowing that he was the one that sent the letter. It had his signature on it and that.
So much for pitying him. It seems the bastard was doing well unlike Rhea who had it hard. Good thing, he took Rhea away. When Rhea finally gets over him, she can finally go for someone better than him. If only Elijah knew that Lukas was as helpless as he was in the case.
…..
Eric ran his hand through his hair in frustration while pacing up and down the room. He stopped abruptly, “I have to honor the invitation. The fact that they wrote to me means that they’re open to negotiation. I would have to clean up your mess.” Eric said.
“No, you can’t!” Elijah stood up, ” What if this is a trap and they want to take your life instead as vengeance.” He thought about it. There was no way he was losing his brother because of his brother.
“I’m the head of the commission and even as strong as the Luciano family is, I’m sure they cannot face an all-out war that comes with my death. Moreover, they want the meeting to be on neutral ground and we all know neutral ground must be adhered to .”
“There’s only one neutral ground in the city. I can have my men run the perimeter before the meeting just to be on the safe side. Even if the Luciano family keeps their word, there might be others who might take advantage of the situation and attack, blaming it on the other party,”
“Good idea, however, be careful. Daniel is a sly bastard and must have his men looking out for the place as well. I don’t want the innocent gesture to be seen as an aggressive move. In times of tension like this, misunderstandings are sure to arrive and I refuse to die because of a mere mistake. “
“Sure, boss,” Jason answered and took his leave.
It was Elijah’s turn to say to him, “I’ll come with you.”
And Eric gave him a glare that would have vaporized him on the spot if his eyes were lasers. He turned to face him,