Done deal

The night before

The day before the wedding was the very first day Ella laid eyes on Liam. After the meeting, she walked him out to the front door.

As he was to leave he turned around to face her and gave her a seductive smile, he tilted his head as he leaned a bit down, “is it too soon for a kiss goodbye? I know we just met, but since you are to be my wife tomorrow...”

Liam's eyes glinted as he tried to read Ella's expression, his smile was still on his face as he gently held out one hand and grabbed hers by her fingertips. He held the hand gently for a while before he took one step closer toward Ella. Looking at the floor Ella had not spoken nor moved since they got to the front door, she was paralyzed as she stood there with ragged breathing. It looked like reality had just struck Ella and her world was coming crashing down.

She snapped her head up to look Liam in the eyes, they were wide and watery as she spoke, “we’re getting married tomorrow? So soon? What about my friends, what do I tell them?”

Liam cupped one hand gently to the side of her face then leaned in some more, “shhhh Ella, I will take care of everything, all you have to do is show up.”

Then he leaned in some more hoping to get a goodbye kiss from his bride-to-be, Ella gasped and took a step back, “I’m sorry”, she whispered.

A small tear ran down her cheek, Liam took his hand from her cheek to hold two fingers under her chin, “it’s ok Ella when you are ready.”

Ella gave a sharp exhale and took a long breath before she smiled gently at Liam, “thank you, Liam, you have been very understanding. I still don’t understand the reason for this deal, but I am forever grateful for saving our lives.”

Liam nodded, “just one thing before I leave you for tonight, Ella, what is your favorite color?”

Ella frowned at that then quickly replied, “indigo.” Liam gave a small chuckle, “now why doesn’t that surprise me?!”

He gave a small smirk before he turned around and walked out to his car.

Later that evening Ella was sitting in the family kitchen cupping a warm cup of tea, she looked lost in her thoughts as her father entered. He sat down opposite of her by the kitchen counter and reached one hand out, Ella grabbed it and tried to give him the best smile she could muster.

Map let his head fall, then he finally spoke, “I have talked to all of your brothers and informed them that the debt will be paid in full tonight, and we are now no longer on a hit list. They all seemed very relieved, only Jacob asked how we got the money, the rest didn’t seem to care how things got solved. When I told Jacob about the deal he got quiet, then he just burst out laughing. He refused to believe me for at least an hour. After it sunk in he just got pale, I swear, it looked like he was going to hurl. Then he said something that surprised me.”

Ella lifted her head at that to look her father in the eyes, he now had her full attention.

Map squeezed his daughter's hand a bit before he continued, “he said that, of course, it would be you to save us all. You were after all the most capable one of us all. But I always thought it would be her brain that would save us, not her beauty.”

Map sighed and let his shoulders fall, “Jacob was always the wiser one of the boys, and that is not saying much since the others are morons.”

He chuckled at his remark, “after losing two children I was still petrified to lose any more. It doesn’t matter how idiotic they are, selfish and self-absorbed as well, I still could not bear to lose them.”

Map shed a tear, he took his hand off Ellas and wiped his tear, and sniffled a bit as his nose started to run.

Ella finally gathered enough courage to speak, she wanted to ask but never found the appropriate time, “my sister, the one in the nursing home, was she older than us?”

Map nodded, “yes, she was born five years before Eric, your mom didn’t want to have more children right away as Amanda was very difficult to deal with.”

Ella nodded, “so her name was Amanda...”

Map took his fingers through his hair, now free of his ponytail. He stifled a small cry, “if mom were alive to learn about this.... she would have died of sorrow. Amanda was her gem, she loved all of you with all of her heart, but Amanda was so fragile. You are probably wondering why we didn’t tell you guys about your older sister?”

Ella looked at her father with watery eyes.

“It was because of times like this when the family would be in danger. She was an easy target, we wanted to keep her safe. We visited her every week, and we showed her pictures of you guys growing up, I don’t think she understood though.”

Ella was now crying, tears falling relentlessly over her cheeks. They fell like a dripping tap onto the kitchen counter, some falling into her now cold tea.

Further out from the city was a larger area with forest surrounding a small ridge of mountains. It would be only thirty minutes by car, but it was still very much intact and untouched even though it was so close to the city. Behind a gated community was a small bundle of houses, in the middle was the biggest house of them all, it was centered with a small park-like area in front. Dusk had fallen and a few men were walking along the fence, they all were tall, broad, muscular, and menacing looking. They had their eyes looking past the gate, as to guard the area against intruders. The gate was at least eight feet tall, and it had sharp spears at the top. A small thud came on the inside of the gate as two feet landed softly on the grass, none of the guards heard as the man landing on the grass was yards away from the patrolling men. The man walked briskly towards the bigger house, went up the stairs, and opened the front door. He just walked into the house as he owned it, in his hand, he held a large briefcase. The people bustling inside the house stopped dead in their tracks, they had wide eyes as the man walked past them and burst into a large office. From the office came the sound of scuffle and growling, it sounded like large dogs were fighting. In the office stood now the man with the briefcase still in his hand. The bigger man of the crew that was in the office was standing behind a desk, hands on the desk hunched over, and seething. A low growl erupted from his chest while the man who barged in sighed. Spread around the office laid four other men, large and burly men, but they all had been knocked down and their faces were slightly bloodied. The man with the briefcase went up to the desk and put the briefcase down, he opened it to show the contents.

The man behind the desk made big eyes before he addressed the man standing before him, “what is this?”

The other man clicked his tongue before he answered, “$10 million, the full debt of the Girraldi family.”

He straightened his suit jacket a bit before he spoke again, “I’m here to settle the affairs between you ...”

He was interrupted by now a very annoyed man standing in front of him, “yes I know, the debt, but why should I accept your money? They already defaulted on their loan.”

He smirked as he was about to talk again but he also was interrupted, “you can take the money and be happy, or you can keep killing the Girraldis. If so, I will kill one of your children for each of his, I believe we are up to a total of two, and one of them is a fragile and defenseless child. Very much like your Carver, he seems to have trouble walking I think.” His tone was not icy and threatening.

They had a little stare-down before he continued, “it wouldn’t be that hard to take out little pups that can’t even shift yet, very much like the odds the Girraldis had against a pack of wolves.”

The man behind the desk let out a loud exhale, and the four other men were starting to groan and squirm around on the floor. “Very well Mr....” he made a hand gesture to get his name.

“Blackwell, it’s Mr. Blackwell.” His lips twitched up a bit on one side, he had to stifle a grin as he knew he had the upper hand. “Mr. Harrison, do we have an agreement?”

Mr. Harrison groaned as he shook his head, he looked down at the desk to think for a second, he then lifted his head and held out a hand.

Mr. Blackwell took the hand and shook it, then he turned around to leave before he left the office he took one last look at Mr. Harrison, “Oh, I’m getting married tomorrow, you are of course all invited.”

Then he walked out the door, Mr. Harrison slammed both fists into the desk and it cracked in half.