The Illusion

Six

I grinned, taking the red box from his hands as he pulled out of the drive through. I was thoroughly aware of how spoiled I was and no, I didn't care. I wasn't horrible about it. I knew it was a privilege. I was lucky. Does not mean I'm not going to take that as my advantage.

"I can't believe you got a happy meal just for the toy."

"I didn't get it just for the toy. Extra fries and a little cheeseburger will never be a bad thing." I shifted, the heat of the food burning my already delicate legs. "The toy is a plus side and no matter how cool it is, I'm not sharing."

"I don't want your child's toy Freya." I gasped, hand over my heart.

"You say that now. Wait until-" I opened the box "YEAAHH."

"What?" I giggled, turning my back to him and putting it together quickly. A child. I am literally a child but I do not care. I am way too excited about this.

"A DRAGON." I put it on the centre of the dashboard as he pulled into a parking spot at the back of the carpark. No one would be able to see in through these tinted windows anyway but it's nice to know he still wants to keep me out of the way. I didn't want to get out of the car, I'd said. It was warm in here. That was my excuse, one he'd laughed at, offered me a jacket he had in the back and I scowled at him. I was not wearing his clothes are you joking?

"Oh, okay, that's kind of cute." He reached for it but I slapped his hand away. "HEY."

"You don't get to touch my stupid child's toy." He rolled his eyes, turning slightly in his seat as I passed him his food. The car fell quiet, radio playing quietly in the background as we ate and I was dragged into my head. Having a bodyguard now felt bizarre. I'd never needed one before so was the threat more intense now or was this simply because Zane had succeeded? If the threat was worse, why was I still here and not being carted off somewhere safe?

"I think you're killing the potato to ketchup ratio there Freya." I blinked, bringing everything back into focus before looking up. "What's up?"

"The sky."

"Funny. I meant what's wrong?"

"I don't know anymore. I thought murder but apparently-"

"Freya." He almost laughed, the smile on his face told me he was fighting it. I am very funny when I want to be. "You have to be able to talk to me."

"I am talking to you."

"Why are you being difficult?"

"I am not being difficult." I said, slightly insulted. I definitely was being difficult.

"You've got to have questions. About everything. Why aren't you asking them?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "I guess I've already worked it out."

"Talk me through it." I sighed. "Come on. Don't make me eat your brain to get inside it. Get it. Because-"

"Because I called you a zombie." I nodded, dipping another fry into the sauce and eating it quickly. "This isn't some business deal gone wrong. I'm guessing Dad and the boys are breaking laws like glowsticks and I'm guessing it's been going on since long before I was born and the casinos or whatever are just coverups to something much more serious going on behind the doors. My guess is Zane's in control of his families 'business' which is similar to ours. Like some mafia enemies in some fanfic written by a teenage girl online. Guns and drugs and money and everything else. Whatever happened, left Zane in a position where he's having to 'seek revenge' on us and sought sweet gullible Freya out in hopes of getting inside the family under some false name. Dad found out who he was so made me break it off and that's when Zane had to take action and run me off the road abduct me and do everything-"

"Say it out loud Freya."

"What?"

"What he did to you. It'll help you come to terms with it. As stupid as it sounds, talking about it, no matter how crap it was, makes it seem less big. I don't want to tell you it wasn't huge because it was. But right now, it's everything to you and you need to bring it down a decision someone else made that you had no control over. Start slow, take it easy." What's the point in taking it easy? He obviously just wants me to confirm exactly what happened. I'd read the same advice online. About talking about it.

"He said he'd stop hurting me if we had sex. I didn't really have another choice." I shrugged, looking back down at my food. "I didn't even know it was him. He just showed up, talked at me, made the cuts, slapped me a few times and then that and then he left and told me I better give him the information when he came back in 3 days or he'd start breaking bones. That he would get what he wanted to know through 'whatever means necessary'. I knew he was a little dark. The knife collection, covered in scars. I didn't think he'd hurt me though. He'd always been super gentle. Knowing it was all out of some ulterior motive sucked. I mean, it's not like I loved him or anything but he was the first guy I had a proper relationship with that wasn't a few dates and then vanishing off the face of the earth when I didn't sleep with them by date 3. I did like him though. I felt safe with him. Which is crazy, looking back on it now. How did my intuition not pick up on it. He literally had a room with locked cabinets you couldn't see through and a table in the middle with just a case of knives." I chuckled to myself, shaking my head as I laid it back on the seat behind me. "Maybe I should get my eyes tested because I have to be fucking colour blind."

"I don't think you're colour blind Freya. I think you see the best in people and chose to ignore the potential for bad. I just showed up in the middle of the night and you trusted me to keep you safe and get you out of there when I could have been putting you in more danger. I could have worked out that password. I could have done anything. But you trusted me. Same with the sleeping tablet I gave you last night. You're very trusting. The fact that you did end it with him tells me you kind of knew something wasn't right. You're intuition isn't built for this world where people are trying to kill you. You weren't even aware there is people out there that want you and your whole family dead. How were you to see it?"

"I guess."

"You're being thrown into mafia life at 23 Freya. It's not easy. The guys and Lili and Isla have been dealing with these things since they were kids. They know how to recover from shock and everything else. Your parents regret not bringing you up knowing and being prepared for it. They thought they could protect you from it and eventually tell you when you were older but apparently it never seemed like the right time. Nonetheless, you know now and keeping you safe also means teaching you how to protect yourself in case I'm not around when something happens. When you're healed up, I think it'd be good for you to start some kind of training. Basic close contact combat and shooting, first aid. Easy things to keep you alive if the need arises."

"You're joking? I'm 5ft 5, less than 150 pounds, wet through. Some of the guys in there were taller than you and built like a truck."

"And?"

"You are insane if you think I'd ever have a chance at getting out of that alive."

"You've done it once haven't you?"

"BARELY." A slither of a smile.

"It's possible Freya. I'm not saying it's easy but you can. Probably not knock them out. Not yet anyway. But I'd be able to teach you how to use their size against them, how to get the punches in that would incapacitate them enough for you to either get out of the way or get a weapon to finish it off."

"By finish it off, you mean kill them?"

"Yes." My mouth opened. "I'm not going to sugar coat it. In that situation either you die or they do. It's self-defence."

"It's murder."

"Freya. The laws of right and wrong don't apply in this kind of world. Other people aren't going to second guess putting a bullet in your skull because their mum told them they shouldn't. It's eat or be eaten, kill or be killed and my job is to make sure you don't get killed." A huff of air left my nose. "Besides, after he raped you, wouldn't it just be brilliant to watch Zane bleed out on the floor?" Yes.

"You're psychotic." He smiled as I stuffed some food into my mouth.

"I'll take it as a compliment."