𝐒𝐀𝐅𝐄 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄✓

𝟐𝟑

ELSIE

I knocked on the door and grabbed the knob. My fingers wrapped around it and I pushed the mahogany door open.

I peeked my head inside and a big smile immediately stretched over my face.

Fenix was sitting behind his desk. His reading glasses hanging low on his nose.

"I brought you a tea." I lifted my hand and showed him the cup. I know that he would never ask for anything so I thought that I would make him a warm drink and bring it to him in his office.

He has been working a lot these past few days. Since the weekend that we spend at his parent's house, he got more concentrated on his job.

Which I was glad because I felt guilty that he was spending all of his time with us and neglecting his work.

"Come over here." He motioned with his finger and leaned back on the chair.

He tapped his thigh and I immediately hurried my steps. I placed the tea on his dest and sat down on his lap.

Fenix cupped my face with his hand and brought my lips down on his own. It was a sweet quick kiss that somehow made me blush and feel butterflies in my stomach.

"I missed you." I whispered and laid my head on his shoulder.

He squeezed my hip with his other hand and gently held me closer to him.

"Missed you too and thank you for the tea."

"You're welcome." I rested on his lap while he was still doing some work on his computer. I closed my eyes and took a moment to relax.

It was the calming feeling, being in his arms. I have never felt like this before. Being like this in his hands was my safe place.

I felt his heartbeat under my palm and a smile formed on my lips.

"How much work do you have?" I asked and lifted my head from his shoulder. My eyes glanced to his computer. It was past 10pm and I was worried of him being tired.

"Not much. I'll finish in about fifteen minutes probably."

"Okay, I'll look around then if you don't mind." I pushed myself up and straightened my skirt after I gave him another quick kiss.

"Of course I don't mind." He ran his palm over the back of my leg and I rounded his table. I began walking by the shelves. There were many of them.

Two of the walls were completely covered with them. They were mainly filled with documents and here and there different old objects.

There were also some photos of his parents and his sister.

Alannah was really beautiful and I couldn't wait to meet her. Bridget said that she was going to visit them soon. So she'll be visiting us as well hopefully.

I wanted to have a good relationship with his family. I never really had that when I was younger with mine.

I ran my fingers over the box folders.

What caught my sight was a folder that didn't have any labels. I picked it up and turned to Fenix.

"Can I see this?" I lifted it in front of him and showed it.

"Yeah I think that one has just photos. They are old. When my dad was the head of the family."

"Oh.. that's interesting." I marched over to him and sat on the edge of the desk. Fenix's hand immediately went to my bare leg. He slowly caressed my calf and then down to my ankle. It was a comforting touch and felt so nice.

He was concentrated on his work though.

I opened the files and began looking through.

There really were photos.

Many of them.

I bit my lip and my eyebrows creased together as I looked through them. I pushed my glasses higher on my nose and observed the old photos.

I even noticed Leon and Winston on some of them.

"Were you okay doing illegal work when you were younger? I mean before you became a boss?"

"Not really. It's all I knew." He answered simply.

He was right though. It's how he grew up. I nodded my head and continued with skimming through the documents when I came across a group picture.

There were many workers photographed in what it seemed a warehouse. They were smiling and had each other's arms over their shoulders.

I brought the photo closer to me and observed the faces.

Fenix was also there. He looked young, maybe in his twenties.

As soon as I came to the last person on the first row, I felt my heart stop for a second.

Because I thought what I was seeing was not true, I did a double take.

It was Aiden.

Oh my God!

"When was this picture taken?" I questioned Fenix. My heart was racing and he immediately noticed that something was wrong.

"I was about twenty here." He said. Which meant it was around fifteen or sixteen years ago. It was a year or so before Aiden died of cancer.

"Fenix this is Aiden. My brother." I pointed to the face with shaky fingers. I stood up from the table and placed a hand over my chest.

Fenix looked at the picture better and then looked at me.

"This my brother. What is he doing on here?"

"He worked for my dad." What? How was this possible?

"I briefly remember seeing him but... I didn't exactly know him." His words trailed off and he stood up as well after taking off his reading glasses.

"Did you know? Before you made the deal with me. Did you know that my brother worked for your dad?" This couldn't be a coincidence.

"No, of course I didn't." He spoke, his voice gentle yet he looked surprised as well. "Kieran did a quick background check but only what you were up to now."  Tears welled up in my eyes. I did change my last name after I moved in with my grandparents and so did Sally.

"There a lot of men who worked for my family. I didn't know all of them." I sniffed and nodded. His eyes softened and he cupped my face. "I'm sorry Elsie I really didn't know."

I knew Aiden had a job and he was rarely home in the last two years of his life, but I didn't know his job was being involved with the Mafia.

Why did he took that kind of job?

"He got so sick I just... seeing him here on that photo... I didn't know what he was doing. He was very secretive and never talked about his work." Fenix pulled me in his arms and I let myself cry. I fisted his shirt snd buried my face in his chest.

"Shh." He rubbed my back, comforting me.

I missed my brother so so much.

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And... your thoughts? Why did you think Aiden worked for them?

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