Blind Loyalty with the Enforcer

Chapter 2: The Invitation

ELEANOR'S POV

“Hey," I whisper quietly to Ren as all of the family and employees of Marcell Russo funnel out of the hospital room.

The Underboss of the Russo family turns immediately too me, though my voice is drowned out by the sounds of the hospital. The overcrowded hallway is a mix. Some are individuals who just witnessed the uniting of the two beautiful souls. There is also the busy bustle of the hospital staff. All of whom had some hand in fighting for Olivia and Marcell's chance at happiness.

“You okay?" Ren asks me. His dark eyes are so different than the blue ones that make my heart sweaty. A concept I didn't know could happen till I met Pauly.

“I was sort of hoping you might be able to give me a ride back to Olivia's apartment?" I hesitantly asked.

Ren snags my arm gently. Marcell's cousin and wife regard us pensively. Ren nods at the previous Underboss waiting for them to completely pass before he looks at me again.

“You wouldn't be running, would you?" Ren bluntly asks tucking, his hands into his pristine dark blue slacks.

“No—"

“You're lying," Ren interrupts me leaning against the hospital's beige wall.

“What's left for me?"

My question would be obscure to anyone else. But those of us who just experienced the last few weeks, understood the context of my feeling of lack of place in all of this.

Olivia now has her place with Marcell. Pauly's loyalty is to Marcell and Olivia. Ren and Hal work for Marcell. Even Marcell's cousin Diego and his wife Katie have a place in this. But my role in this game was temporary. Dragged in by Olivia, I was a voluntary recruit.

“Just because the threat is no longer active, Ellie doesn't mean that you're safe," Ren warns. “What is your plan, Ellie?"

“My mother's been trying to get me—"

“Your mother?" Ren interrupts me. His cool, calm mask slips slightly. “s**t, Ellie. Olivia won't mind at all if you stay at the apartment. The lease has been paid for the entire year. There's no rush for you to be making any decisions. Especially a decision to go back to your mother. Pauly would kill me if he knew I took you back home, only to let you make a decision like that."

“What does Pauly have to do with this?"

Ren pins me with a look rolling his eyes.

“Don't pretend for one moment that we both don't know that, for some reason, the two of you are refusing to admit feelings." Ren pushes off of the hallway. “Come on."

We walk in silence down the winding labyrinth hallways of the hospital wings, until we reach the main waiting room. Familiar faces turn as we walk in much later than the rest of the party.

Ren's stoic mask is firmly planted once more as he places his hand out for me to wait. A silent command I obey. I wrap my arms around myself as the exhaustion of the long day weighs me down.

Ren returns quickly.

His presence beside me is a stark difference than that of Pauly. Ren's last spoken words are the only thing that bounces inside my head as we walk to the car waiting for us at the valet. Ren surprises me as he gets behind the steering wheel.

“You're overthinking it." Ren breaks the silence as he turns onto the main road.

“What?" I'm not necessarily confused by what he said. But I don't know how to say that yes, I am overthinking my feelings for the broad broody man. That I don't know how to even put words to how I feel for him. That I just feel. Alive. Awake. Brave. For the first time.

“Is it that I know you have feelings for Pauly? Or that you just realized you have feelings for him?" Ren asks.

“It's the freedom to know that I can have feelings for him." My response shocks even myself. I don't have to see Ren to sense him stiffening beside me. “How much do you know about my mother?"

“I know enough. Enough to understand the feeling of uncertainty you must be feeling—"

“It was easy to live with Olivia. She sort of took over decisions that were hard for me, and shielded me from having to answer the phone, to think about the consequences of what I did. When I ran." I admitted. The ride was quickly coming to an end as the neighborhood started looking more familiar.

“So, you would just go back to your mom to not prolong the inevitable?" Ren asked turning into the apartment complex.

“To make it hurt less," I sighed before opening the door.

Ren's silence in response to my omission wasn't because he didn't have anything to say. It was because he was a guarded person. Observant. He regards everyone with the same exact intensity. I would have been like anyone else in feeling like his silence was judgment or worse. Just silence. If it wasn't because of the common thread that connected us. Parents who didn't respect boundaries. So, I let Ren do what he needed to do. Waiting with him to ride the elevator alone. Walking to the apartment door all of it was done in guarded silence.

“Don't run from a potential hurt into guaranteed torture," Ren quietly states as I put the key into the lock of what once was my shared apartment. “Give him a chance. If after that you decide that you don't want anything to do with it, tell me. No one will know where you are. Not Pauly. For sure not your mother. I'll help you disappear."

“Why are you being nice to me, Ren?" I asked him, my hand hovering over the door handle.

“Your mother bred you to believe that men want something from you in an exchange for their protection. I want nothing from you. You're a part of this family. My family. We were both raised by people who didn't know what it meant to be parents. My number is in your phone. If you need me, call me. Regardless of what it is."

“Eleanor?"

My heart stutters to a stop as I slowly spin around to face the man I had just been longing to see. I was unsure of if I was imagining him if I had somehow crafted a daydream version of him purely out of longing. But the way he was sizing up the man next to me with complete scrutiny, quickly faded any suspicion that I was fantasizing about Paul.

“I'll leave you two to it." Ren takes a step back. “Remember what I said, Ellie."

Paul and I stand in silence, him standing just to the side of the elevator. His chest rises and falls as if he had just been running. I am still holding onto the door handle of the apartment. I hold my breath, waiting until the doors of the elevator close before I dare to blink.

“I looked for you at the hospital—"

“Oh." I interrupt him suddenly, feeling self-conscious insecurity wash over me. “I didn't know how long you would be with Marcell, and I just asked Ren to take me home—"

“You were planning on running, weren't you?"

I don't know why I was surprised Paul could see right through me. “Ren was just trying to convince me to stay."

“Ren… was trying to convince you?"

“Convince me to give you a chance. To convince me. To stay." My words sound broken, almost robotic to my ears.

“Would you?" Paul asks as he slowly closes the gap between us.

“Would I?" I repeat dumbly.

“Stay… for me?" His blue eyes twinkle with an emotion I have yet to put words to.

“I don't know. You haven't asked me yet." My boldness catches me off guard. I like the feeling it gives me, however. I feel I have power over the strong, intimidating, quiet man in front of me.

“Marcell… he's given me an official place in the family. He's sending me to Philly to take care of business. A part of that business is to take care of my family debts. To get my sister back. Come with me." Paul asks, a breath away. The heat practically radiating from his chest to mine warms me to my core.

“As your lawyer? Or?" I ask.

“We can figure it out as we go. I need you, Eleanor. I need you. Desperately."