Out of Time

chapter 26 - crimson

I take a sip of sparkling water, ignoring the wine which was placed in front of me.

"After the recent..." Henry trails off, "circumstances, we thought we should finally have dinner all together. Just for all of us to get to know one another."

Sophie quietly drags her chair closer to mine. "Up until a couple of weeks ago, our families didn't really like each other. Dean and I have been on talking terms for a while, but everyone else despised each other," she explains.

Aaron sends me a look while she whispers in my ear, to which I insipidly peer into his honey eyes. Keeping his eyes on me, he brushes his shoulder with Xavier and mutters something under his breath. As I open my mouth to retort some toxic remark, his dad interrupts us.

"I'm glad we've come to an agreement about this alliance," he says to Henry, lazily swishing the champagne in the crystal chute. He then turns to me. "I assume you're the Lara I've heard all about."

Too drunk, I simply state "all good things, I hope," like the fucking idiot I am.

He chuckles darkly. "Oh yes, I'm very excited to finally meet you."

"Can't say that you've been on my to-meet list. What's your name?" I respond, sending him a lopsided grin. I felt uncomfortable with the nefarious undertones of his previous comment and decided to slightly bruise his ego.

"Lennox Campbell." I have indeed heard of him before, with his business being direct competition with the Wright family. He's a criminal, just like everyone else at the table, but he takes his cruelty up a notch. The first time I heard his name, I was told that he burned his employee's face off because she spoke when he did. It might be false, though.

"Yeah," I draw out. "Still not ringing any bells. Mustn't be too relevant then." Simultaneously, 4 things happen: Niamh laughs with a proud grin, brushing my hand with her own; Sophie nearly breaks my other hand by squeezing me so tight; Aaron starts choking on his champagne (Xavier smacks his back with a large thump); Lennox's face turns firetruck red, his hands shaking slightly.

"Not as popular as you once were," Niamh mocks. Her voice is surprisingly deep, sending a vibration through her arm, which is now resting against mine. "Sorry, Lenny."

Once Aaron had finished choking, he shook his head in disbelief before turning back towards Xavier. Henry sends a disappointed glance towards us, although humour clearly dances in his eyes.

"I assure you, they're both joking. Lara heard about you when she lived with the Wrights." I snap my head so fast it cracks. He doesn't have a right to tell my personal details to a stranger.

"Henry, next time you think it's alright to talk about my past to strangers, I implore you to shut the fuck up."

"He already knew," Dean speaks up. "Why do you think Callum was with the Wrights?"

"To gain information for Lenny over here," I finish. My brother nods before turning his attention back to Lennox. Pissed that I don't know everything, I turn my attention to my wine.

Niamh leans towards my ear but pulls back without saying anything. "Do you have something to tell me or not?" I press. "Actually, why am I here?"

Henry sighs. "It turns out that someone let it slip that you've been found."

He quickly scans my face and continues. "And we think it's safer for you to come and live with us."

"I can protect myself, thank you very much," I scoff. Henry clicks his tongue in dismissal, and I spot Aaron rolling his eyes.

"Not from our enemies, honey," the latter says.

The American Mafia and its associates have always been rivals with the Germans. It's unclear why the feud began in the first place, but when my family first formed the mafia, someone's wife was murdered by the leader of Ebenholz Krähen - which I believe means ebony crows in German. Ever since then, they've been at war with each other.