Page 18 of Drowning in the Deep
The shed doors were partially open. Feeling brave, I pulled my pistol from my holster and approached, fairly certain the place was empty but wanting to make sure I had the upper hand if things got dicey. I pulled the door open and looked around. Even in the darkness of the night, I could tell we were alone.
Vin pulled out a small flashlight. Its beam was obscured by the metal walls as he shone it around. On the shelves and a small table in the back, we saw familiar bags of chemicals and other necessary ingredients one needed to make meth. A devious smile pulled up the corners of my mouth, and I began to chuckle quietly under my breath.
“What the fuck’s the matter with you?” Vin asked, grinning right back at me.
All I could say was, “I have a plan.”
CHAPTER13
ELISA
Walking into the café across town, my thoughts were on Daemon. I’d hoped he’d call me after our encounter in the car, but he hadn’t. I knew he was busy trying to rule the world, but it still would’ve been nice to hear from him.
I couldn’t let that weigh on my mind at the moment, though. Looking across the café, I spotted a familiar face through the crowd and lifted a hand to wave, a smile falling into place.
Drake, the only brother I had that I actually liked, stood waving back at me. He looked good, tall and handsome as always, but he had a light glowing from inside of him that told me he was happy.
A pang of jealousy shot through me because I envied how he’d managed to escape the family in a way that I had only dreamed of. Being a doctor had given him the opportunity to break away from our father’s clutches. I had hoped that getting my law degree would give me the same sort of distance, but so far, I was still getting dragged back in at every turn.
Dodging families that were on their way out of the restaurant, I danced around tables and made my way to him across the crowded café. This part of town was always busy on the weekend, even though it was closer to one of the bad parts of town than the suburbs. Drake worked in a poverty-stricken area of Chicago now, so this was a decent place for us to meet near his apartment which wasn’t all the way up near mine. Meeting near Father’s mansion was out of the question. The last thing we needed was for some of his men to see us and wonder what we were up to.
Drake pulled me into a hug, nearly crushing me. “There you are! It’s so nice to see you, little sis.”
I squeezed him back, not wanting to let go. In his strong arms, I felt safer than I had in a long while. Only Daemon could make me feel safer, and in a lot of ways, he still made me feel like he might crush me himself.
“Hey,” I said as he released me. “You look great.”
“Thanks. You are beautiful as always, though I have to say, you look a little tired.” He gestured for me to take the seat across from where he’d been sitting, and I did, removing my coat and hanging it on the back of my seat.
“I am tired,” I admitted, not sure how to respond further without getting into everything that had been going on. It seemed wrong to drag my brother back into the family business when he’d fought so hard to escape it. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.” I hoped that would suffice for now. “How are things at the clinic?”
Before he could answer me, the waitress came over to take my drink order. Drake was already sipping on a glass of water, and I knew he wouldn’t order anything else. Always the healthy one, he hardly drank alcohol at all and watched all of his carbs. It was no wonder he always looked so good.
Once the waitress left, we looked over the menu as Drake filled me in on what he’d been up to. “The clinic is going great,” he said with a smile. “I’m still working some shifts at the hospital while we get things up and running, but it seems like we’ll be able to open in a month or so.”
“That soon? That’s amazing.” He’d only started this project a few weeks ago, so that seemed like fast progress to me.
He shrugged. “The other doctors that are working with me have been at the hospital a lot longer, so they’re more established in their careers. They have more money at their disposal than I do.”
Nodding, I thought about how much easier it would be for both of us to help other people if we had access to any of our family’s money. But, of course, our father only wanted to use his funds to hurt other people or for whatever he wanted for himself.
“That sounds great,” I told my brother as I decided on a salad and half sandwich for lunch. “What do you have left to do?”
“Well, we’ve gotten most of the equipment moved in and everything set up. We just need to finish up some paint and décor, not exactly my strong suit.” I laughed at that. “And then we’ll get a receptionist and a few nurses to join us, and we’ll be up and running.”
“Wow. I am so proud of you, Drake.” I meant it—I really was. Proud and jealous. I reached across the table and squeezed his arm, hoping he could see the genuine joy I felt for him.
“Thank you. It’s been a dream of mine for so long, it’s kind of hard to believe it’s actually happening.” Tears glistened in the corners of his eyes.
It was difficult for me to believe that this man was related to our other brothers who would never show that kind of emotion. Sometimes I wondered if Drake and I were actually part of the La Rosa family. But he looked just like our other brothers, so he had to be. I was a foreigner in every way but not lucky enough to have been born to other parents.
The waitress came and took our order, and then the conversation shifted away from the happiness that was the clinic as he asked me, “What’s going on with you? How’s the law firm?”
I growled and took a sip of my tea. “It’s hard to say. Having Father involved in my workplace makes it a lot tougher than it would otherwise be. I always thought that I’d move away from Boston, out of his clutches, and I’d have some freedom here. But now, not only has he moved himself down here to be close to his wife, but he’s completely involved in my work, too. Sometimes I think the only reason they hired me was because of Father.”
Drake arched an eyebrow and then ran a hand down the back of his neck, struggling to know what to say. “That sucks. I know that you didn’t want to become a lawyer for the money, just like that’s not why I wanted to be a doctor. It’s about helping people for us, something Dad simply can’t understand. With him sticking his nose into everything you’re doing all the time, it’s got to be rough.”
“It is,” I agreed. “I do want to help people. I’d love to be a lawyer who can help the downtrodden, maybe taking casespro bonoto help people who’ve been wronged by corporate America or the rich. I’ve even thought about changing to criminal law and helping people who’ve been wrongly imprisoned. But I’m caught up in real estate transactions now, and nothing’s happening that Father doesn’t have his hand in.”
