Deadly Mafia Bonds

Chapter 3 - Elle Robinson

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Lucah

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“Luna? Come on, put that thing away! You didn’t seriously drag my ass across countries for this? I had to send pops to Italy alone to be here with you.” I scold my sister, who's busy frowning at her phone. She sighs and looks at me with this sad look in her eyes before placing the phone on her lap. “Come, give it here,” I add, gesturing for her to hand it over.

“I’m sorry, okay? I’ll put it away, I promise. I just miss him so much, Lucah.”

“I know, but you must give him the space he wants. You have no choice.”

“You’re right,” she says, putting her phone inside her bag. “Please pour me a big glass. I came here to enjoy myself, and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m sorry I’ve been making you watch me sulk the entire time. It stops now,” she says, taking the glass of whiskey.

“Good, I do enough of that at home. Tonight, you’re going to follow your brother’s lead and let him show you how it’s done.”

“To my brother’s lead,” she says, clinking our glasses, and we drink to that. I didn’t want to come here. I had just flown back from Italy and had to go back for an emergency board meeting, but she asked me to come with her. She hasn’t been interested in doing anything since she lost her baby, so I couldn't say no. I asked my grandfather to attend in my place and jumped on the plane with her to be here for her. But ever since we’ve arrived, she’s spent every second on her phone, stalking Evan, the same Evan she’s supposed to give herself a break from.

She and Evan are engaged or were engaged; I’m not exactly sure which one it is anymore. She was also pregnant, but her baby was stillborn. When she lost the baby, he, out of the blue, asked for space. He said he wasn’t breaking the engagement, but it pretty much feels that way, cos even the wedding was put on hold. It’s like he was marrying her for the baby. I don’t understand it. This is the time she needs him the most, but this is when he chooses to be unavailable. She says it’s his way of dealing with things and that she understands him, but I don’t know how she can. I hate him for what he’s put her through. I never liked him to begin with, but I didn’t hate him as I do now. There was just something I couldn’t shake about him, but I couldn’t prove he was bad for her, so I had to let it go. Plus, I was tired of fighting with her. I also saw how much it was hurting her.

Luna and I lost our mother at birth. Our grandparents raised us, and our grandmother died when we were eight. From there, our grandfather raised us all by himself, and I’ve always tried to look out for my sister, and at times she’s hated me for it.

We arrive at the club, and our driver parks the car and lets us out.

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My sister said she was going to the ladies about an hour ago, but she’s still not back. “Where is she?” I ask Zack, our bodyguard.

“She went outside.”

“What? When? And you let her go alone?” I cannot believe Zack right now. Why would he do that? “Why would you let her go out on her own?”

“She asked me to stay.”

“Then you should have told me! Come on, man!” I don’t believe this s**t. “Can you get off of me, please?” I ask the girl through gritted teeth as she annoyingly continues clinging onto me while clearly seeing that I’m trying to get up.

“I’m sorry, Lucah, but she ordered me to say nothing,” Zach says, following behind me, signaling the rest of my guys to follow us as we head out.

“f**k!” I cuss in frustration, looking around, not seeing her anywhere. Her phone goes through, and just as she picks up, I see her emerge around the corner, south of us. She cuts the call seeing me, and I walk up to her. What the hell is she thinking? What is she even doing over there? I open my mouth to speak, but I see her come to an abrupt stop before looking back in the direction she came from, like she’s listening to something. “What are you doing?!” I ask, advancing to her, but she ignores me. “Why-”

“Shhh!” she shushes me, putting her index finger on my lips.

“Do you hear that?” she asks, frowning, looking back again.

“What?” I ask, my voice now a little lower, noticing her serious expression. I remove her hand from my lips and keep it in mine.

“Crying. Like… a baby,” she mutters softly, and my heart immediately sinks to the pit of my stomach. Not this again. After she lost her baby, she would wake up in the middle of the night saying her baby’s crying. I thought she was over this.

“Luna, come back inside. Come on.” I softly tell her, wrapping my arm around her shoulder.

“I’m not crazy, Lucah. I really heard a baby,” she states, resisting.

“Luna, we are in a club. There are no babies out here. Come; let me take you inside, please.” She stops resisting, taking reluctant steps forward, but she's still looking backward.

“Luna, come on.” She reluctantly turns her head, hearing the concern in my voice, but just as she does, I hear the sound too, and we both stop, looking backward. Could there really be a baby out here?

“You heard that, right? I told you I wasn’t hearing things,” she says, taking my arm off of her and turning around. Zack and I follow suit as we can now clearly hear the baby.

“Luna! Wait up!” I catch hold of her arm, causing her to stop. “What?”

“This is not a good idea. It-”

“It’s a baby, Lucah!” she exclaims, prying my hands off of her.

“Stop! Stop it! Will you just listen to me for a second? I’m not saying we must turn back. The guys and I will go look, but you will stay here until I find out if it’s safe-”

“But-”

“No, no buts. It’s either that or I’m turning around and carrying you back inside myself.”

“Fine, go. You’re wasting time.”

“Stay with her,” I tell one of my men, and the rest of us move forward. The guys take out their pistols as we quietly approach. There’s a big trash can on the way, and the sound is coming from behind it. We carefully walk around it, the guys now taking the lead. And our eyes widen as we come across the shocking sight. It’s a girl, and she's passed out on the ground with a baby in her arms.

“What the hell?”

“Oh, my God!”

I hear Luna behind me. “I thought I told you to wait,” she doesn’t reply but quickly rushes past us, taking the hysterical baby in her arms. The girl stirs as she does, but she looks weak and goes out of it again. “We need to take her to the hospital,” I tell Zach, taking my jacket off and covering her with it. Zach picks her up, and we take her to our car. What could have happened to this girl? Why would she be out here with a baby in this cold?

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Caitlin

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I hear voices from a distance and try to open my eyes, but I can’t. I feel my baby slipping from my arms, but I can’t move. Please, God, please, help us. I plead, and my eyes open, but I can’t see. It’s all blurry. I try to speak, but the lights go out again. I hear the voices again, and this time I can hear that they are talking about a hospital. I try to move my head and open my eyes. I can’t go to the hospital. No, hospital, please, no hospital, I repeat, but I can’t say it out loud. I try to open my eyes again, but I open them just to close them again as darkness takes over again.

The voices come back again. They start becoming louder and louder, and this time my eyes open without difficulty. I frown, looking at the very high, fancy-looking ceiling. Where am I? What is this place? Was it all a dream? I try to move but feel something weird in my arm. I lift my head and look to find a drip attached to it. “No, no, no,” my memories come flooding back, and I start hyperventilating as panic sets in. I tear the drip off my arm, causing a small scream to leave my mouth, and try to get up, knocking something down as I do. I think it was a glass of water. “Hey, hey, it’s okay.” a girl, who looks just around my age, comes rushing in and tries to hold me down. “Zach!” She calls out, and a guy comes rushing in.

“My baby, where’s my baby? Where is he?”

“He’s fine; he’s sleeping; your baby’s fine. Relax, it’s okay,” she tells me, but I want my baby.

“No, I want my baby. I want my baby, please.” Tears start coming out as the guy makes it impossible for me to go anywhere.

“Keep holding her down,” she tells the guy and walks out of the room. The guy keeps holding me down, and I scream, struggling even though my struggles are futile against him. I’m scared.

I’m still struggling in his hold when the girl comes back to the room with Alaric. She hands him over to me, but my tears won’t stop flowing. I hold him close and continue to cry. “It’s okay; you’re safe now. You’re both safe.” The girl says, placing her hand on my back. She rubs my back until I calm down. Alaric is now wrapped in a blue blanket and dressed in a navy romper. “It’s okay; we won’t hurt you; no one will. I promise,” she adds, and I look up at her. Her face is very familiar, it’s like I've seen her before, but I don’t know where. She smiles at me, and I see her eyes shift to the door. I follow them to find a guy standing by the door, looking at me. He looks exactly like her. They must be twins. His gaze is intense, and I find myself looking away from him, his green eyes also giving me chills. “You’re scaring her, Lucah.” I hear the girl say, and the guy starts walking towards us.

“Why were you out there with a baby in the middle of the night?” he asks, his tone authoritative and expression cold. I stutter, not knowing what to say; only tears come out. “It’s okay, relax. You don’t have to answer him.” The girl says, glaring at him before tugging at his arm, asking him to follow her. They walk out of the room, the guy giving me one look before exiting.

Alaric starts to cry, and I pull up the sheets, wanting to feed him, my eyes on the guy who’s still in the room. I see him get up and stand by the door, looking away from me. I proceed to cover us and feed my baby. He looks adorable in this romper, and it’s nice and warm too. I glance at the clock on the wall, and it's 11 am.

I’m still feeding him when the girl comes back again, pushing a tray with food on it. “I got you something to eat. I didn’t know what you liked, so I just got a bunch of food.”

“Thank you. Where am I?”

“You are in our hotel in Sandton. What’s your name?” she asks, sitting down next to me, and I stay quiet for a minute, unsure if disclosing my real name is a good idea. From the look of this suite, I can tell they are rich, and they could know my father. “Danielle… Danielle Robinson, but I go by Elle.” I give her my middle name cos even though my father knows the name, he never calls me by it. It’s my late aunt’s name, and he never got along with my mother’s family, from what I gathered. The name’s also not documented. The only reason I know about it is my grandmother. She used the name, and when she passed away, no one ever used it again. So I know the name wouldn’t quickly arouse any suspicion in my father’s ears. Robinson, I just came up with.

“It’s nice to meet you, Elle. I’m Luna Vásquez, this is our bodyguard, Zach, and the uptight dude you saw earlier is my brother, my twin brother, as I’m sure you can tell, Lucah,” she tells me, and I’m finally able to remember where I know her from. I’ve seen her in the tabloids. She’s a famous designer and the granddaughter of Murray Vásquez. He’s a rich and well-known businessman. I’m not sure if he’s richer than the Ashtons, but I know he’s rich. She smiles at me with a knowing look as my eyes widen, realizing who she is.

“This might be a dumb question, but are you in trouble?” she asks, and I look at her for a moment, unsure what to say. It’s obvious I’m in trouble, but I know that’s not what she’s asking. She wants to know why they found me on the streets with an infant.

“You can trust me; I only want to help you. I promise,” she says, taking my hand in hers.

“Why didn’t you take me to the hospital?” I ask her, not answering her question.

“You asked us not to.”

“I did?”

“Yes, we were on our way there, but you opened your eyes and asked us not to. We figured you must have been running from someone, so we brought you back here instead. I called someone I know and told them I required a doctor, but I didn’t tell him it was for you. He organized it for me.”

“Thank you,” I tell her, and she gives my hand a light squeeze. I take a breath and look at her, deciding to provide her with the necessary answers.