Elle was in a room with two dead bodies. Bodies that had been living breathing people just minutes prior.
Gio had killed them, no, it was more than that. As a normal person, you could kill someone by accident. You could kill someone in self defence. What she had just seen Gio do was cold, calculated and efficient. Gio was more than just a regular killer. Gio was a trained killer. The Don, she had always known that was what he was. But for years all she had known him, she had never seen that side of him. And he was looking at her now like the Gio she knew, brown eyes wide, his worry clear.
"Are you alright?" He asked, and Elle looked away, regretting it when she found herself meeting the dead eyes of one of the recently killed men. She swallowed against the urge to throw up.
"Elle are you alright?" He asked again, moving towards her.
If she said 'no' would her kill her? She wondered, her body frozen on the spot. Her instincts at war. Gio meant safety, that was how she had come to view him over the years. A title that not many men held in her life anymore. But now her view of him had a new layer, Gio also meant murderer. But Gio, killer or not, was still Gio, she had never run from him, had never been scared of him. It was her first view of him that won out in the end. Letting him come close enough to touch her, to pull her into his arms. The same arms that had committed acts of unbelievable violence now holding her gently.
"Shh…it's alright, you are fine, you are alright…" He held her close and she buried her face in his chest, breathing in his comforting scent. Ink, expensive cologne, and his unique natural scent.
She was vaguely aware of more people coming into the room. But when she tried to look, Gio's hand and the back of her head, kept her in place. His fingers gently carding through her hair.
"It's alright, it's alright, it's alright…" He kept saying. His tone gentle his breathing even, and without meaning to Elle copied his breaths. Her body sinking against his as she allowed his words to seep in.
They stayed like that for a long while. Their bodies swaying softly. His soft reassurances never stopping.
When he finally let her go, it was to the sight of an empty room. No bodies, no blood, the broken pieces all gone.
One of the bouncers, Big L stepped into the room, and Gio guided her to him. She went without protest, the cocoon of safety he had enveloped her in making her compliant.
"I have got a few things to handle here. Big L is going to take you home. You're going to wash up and rest, you get the rest of the week of alright?"
I don't need the week off. I came here to quit. She wanted to say, but all she did was nod, still feeling foggy. There was one final squeeze to her hand. Then she was following Big L, getting into a car with him.
The normally talkative man was quiet, for which Elle was thankful, she had a lot on her mind. Silence was just what she needed to sort out her thoughts.
Number one, Gio had killed people in front of her. She was a witness to murder.
Self defence! Her brain screeched and she agreed with it. Those men had meant Gio harm and he had defended himself.
Number two, she had the week off. Was it so she did not let anything slip to the others? Or was he going to kill her and make it look like she had left.
She shook her head, leaning back against the chair. If he was going to do that. He would have killed her at the office, less effort and it would mean a single area to clean up.
Number three, what did this mean for her now? Would she have to leave? Start over somewhere no one knew her name and never set foot in the city again.
What did it mean for them? Would he find someone else to fill the lonely nights? Someone who had never seen him kill in cold blood. The last thought made her heart hurt, but she had to face it.
If she had quit like she had intended to. Their little arrangement would have been over either way. There was no reason to be cut up about the possibility of things ending.
It still hurt though.
Deciding she'd had enough thinking, she looked out the window, watching the passing cars.
After a few minutes of watching she spoke up.
" Big L, there's a car that's been on our tail for the last four minutes. Are they our back-up?" Big L looked in the rear view mirror, then he cursed. He tried to turn, but a second car smoothly cut him off, forcing him to keep going straight.
"Call the boss, tell him we have a situation," Big L said, his voice not betraying his unease, but his tight grip on the steering wheel did.
Elle dialled Gio on autopilot.
"Hello?" He sounded like he had just been yelling at someone, and Elle regretted that she was about to add to his stress.
"Gio, we are being followed,"
"Elle, what do you mean you're being followed. Where is-" The gunfire started then, and Elle could no longer hear him.
When the first bullet hit, Elle stared at it in wonder, a round metal disk, flattened against the window. Spider web cracks spreading on the glass. Then there was a second bullet, a third, a fourth, and somewhere between those two, reality kicked in. They were being shot at. The scream that tore from her throat was something so shrill, so primal, she barely even recognized her own voice.
Next to her Big L was swearing, his curses and her screams mingling.
"Get down!" He yelled, and Elle ducked down until she could no longer see outside.