“Baby, what’s wrong?” I say as she lifts her head up and gazes at me through her tears.
“Un-Uncle Harry,” she whimpers. I feel the anger course through me. I’ll kill that man if he hurt her. I clench my fists together, trying to control my growing rage.
“What did he do?” I ask through gritted teeth, wrapping my arms around my gorgeous broken girl.
“I told him that I wouldn’t sell. He said I was ungrateful and that he’d get his way, one way or another. He thinks it’s your fault, Brax, and he acted like he knows you,” she says through her sobs.
“Baby...hush,” I say, pulling her into my lap as I sit beside her. “That man can’t do anything to us. I’ll make sure of it.” Fuck! I knew he recognized my name! There aren’t that many Brax’s around.
“How does he know you, Brax?” she asks. The look on her face is breaking my heart.
I cup her face with my hands, hoping she’ll believe what I’m about to say. “I don’t know, Elle. I’ve heard of him before, but I’ve never met him. That’s the honest to god truth, darlin.”
“He said my father wouldn’t be happy with this, that I couldn’t stop him.”
I brush my lips against hers, murmuring against them, “I’ve got this, Elle. He won’t ever be able to hurt you.”
Empowered by my words, she returns my kiss with all the passion she can muster. It’s like she is starving and I am the food she needs to survive. I let her take control, her tongue exploring mine like she’s trying to memorize it. I move her legs so that she is straddling mine and move my hands down her body, cupping her bottom and bringing her closer to me.
We stay there on the floor of our living room for what seems like an eternity, both of us unable to stop touching each other, comforting the other. Pouring everything we’ve been through, everything we have, into it. When we finally break apart we are both breathless. I stand up, carrying her with me over to the couch where I sit down and position her on top of me, rubbing her back, making sure she is okay.
I grit my teeth when I think of Brimstone. That man is going to be the death of me. If he hurts just one hair on her head, I will maim him. He will regret the day he ever threatened Elle. I need to take action, and that involves me talking to Shay and Gibbons.
“Brax, and for what do I owe the pleasure?” I ask.
“We need to do something about Brimstone,” he says. He sounds furious and I wonder what Harry has done now.
“Why’s that? As far as we know, he hasn’t done anything. He hasn’t made any moves against Elle as yet. We’re watching him like a hawk, Brax, you know that.”
“He’s threatened her. She told him she wouldn’t sell Brightlight this afternoon and he went ballistic, told her that he would get the company one way or another and that nothing would stop him” he says angrily down the phone.
“Brax, calm down. We can’t do anything until he makes a move, you know that.” I hear him grunt into the phone, an admission that he knows I’m right. “And anyway, Elise is safe with you living there and Shay monitoring the situation from the outside. Nothing can happen to her, right?”
“I know that, but it doesn’t stop me have a bad feeling about this. He seems to know me, gave Elle the impression that he knows exactly who I am,” he says, sounding defeated.
“How would he know? Brax, there is nothing connecting you to us,” I reply, hoping like hell I’m not giving anything away.
“I still think Evans is in on this with Brimstone. I just can’t prove anything,” Brax says. I can tell this is doing his head in and knowing him, he is frustrated to all hell. He may think he knows what is going on, but he has no clue.
“Look, Brax, just do your job and look after your girl. You and Shay have each other’s backs and I’m watching everything from down here, okay?” This conversation is getting a little exasperating now.
“Yeah, boss, will do. You’ll let me know if you hear about anything going down?” he asks
“Yes, Brax. It’s my job,” I add before hanging up.
I sit back in my chair and run my hands through my hair. I hope like hell this goes as planned. If anything goes wrong, I know I won’t live long enough to ponder the fact.
It feels so good to be in Brax’s arms. I always feel protected when he is around. I haven’t felt that since my family was ripped away from me. I don’t know what I’d do if he left me, or if I lost him. Uncle Harry’s words have stuck with me—he’s blaming Brax for my decision. Brax had nothing to do with it, he just helped me admit what I truly wanted, to retain the last piece of my father that I have.
It’s his legacy, it’s my destiny.
I have a bath after Brax calms me down. Even though I’ve already had a shower, Brax thinks that a bath might relax me and take my mind of the whole Brimstone affair. He is right. He even helps wash my back, and takes a few liberties while washing my front as well, but that’s why I love him. He definitely succeeds in taking my mind of Uncle Harry’s threat.
After almost dozing off in the water, I get up and throw on a pair of jeans and one of Brax’s wife beaters to wear. I smile to myself when I think of how Brax reacted when he got home and saw me so upset. I know he doesn’t cope well when I’m like that, but he has always been there when I needed him. He makes me feel invincible, like nothing could bring me down again. I walk into the kitchen, finding Brax sitting at the counter and staring at his phone.
“What’s up, babe?” I ask, taking a seat beside him.
“Just this Brimstone thing, sweetheart, I can’t stop thinking about how he threatened you,” he says sullenly.
“It’s okay, he was just blowing off steam. I know Uncle Harry wouldn’t really hurt me. Not intentionally, anyway,” I say quietly, suddenly doubting my own words.
“Okay, baby, I’ll try to stop thinking about it, if you will,” he says, grabbing my hand and entwining our fingers before bringing my hand up to his lips.
I suddenly realize that I forgot to check the mailbox when I came in. Ever since I almost confronted the man in the black car, I’ve been on edge about going down into the foyer by myself. Although we haven’t seen him since then, I’m hoping he got the hint and will leave us alone from now on.
“Babe, did you grab the mail on the way past?” I ask as I get up and pour myself a coffee.