Amelia Montgomery was just acting on instinct--protecting a scared little girl from a dangerous situation. She didn't know the girl's last name, or that one simple trip to the grocery store would turn her whole world upside down.
Thanks to Elijah Mi...
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[A/N - There's smut ahead.]
***
"Your father?"
I scrunched my face in confusion, the snippets of information swirling around in my head like scrambled puzzle pieces.
"Okay, I'm going to need to know everything now."
Elijah heaved a deep sigh before finally nodding once.
"Let's go somewhere we can talk."
I was focusing on my breathing, trying to ignore the flashes of terror that kept creeping into my thoughts. Every time I closed my eyes, I was reminded of the man in the skylight.
Looking back at Dolly, I noticed she had already fallen asleep at the foot of the bed.
"Come on." Elijah's hand slid down to wrap around mine as he led me back out the door of his missing sister's bedroom. We walked silently down the hallway until we reached a pair of French doors.
When Elijah pushed open the doors, a patio was revealed, complete with stone benches and a rectangular marble fire table.
He leaned down to turn the knob on the bottom of the table and after a few soft clicks, the whoosh of the flames startled me out of my tumultuous thoughts.
Elijah sat on the stone bench and pulled me down beside him, curling his arm around my shoulders to ensure I stayed warm.
He rubbed the side of my arm with his palm when he noticed I was shaking, not realizing it had nothing to do with the crisp air swirling around us.
"Are you okay out here?"
I nodded, glancing at the meticulously groomed bushes and trees surrounding us. With the twinkle of the stars above, it felt like a scene from a dream.
If only the conversation didn't have to be so terrifying.
"Now, I need you to prepare yourself. You will not like the things you are about to hear, and I know you have plenty on your plate as it is."
"It's okay, Elijah. I'm ready."
His free hand covered mine, giving a comforting squeeze as we both stared into the flames.
"Do you know exactly what it is that my brothers and I do for a living?"
"Uh.." I dropped my gaze to the floor, and felt my cheeks grow warm. I didn't want to lie, but I didn't want him to know what I had been imagining, either.
"You think we're in the mob, don't you?" He chuckled darkly at my lack of response. "I can assure you that it's not that sinister, lovely Amelia. Although I would be lying if I said we didn't encourage the fear and respect that comes along with that assumption."
"Well, that's a relief," I admitted. If Elijah wasn't in the mob, then he wasn't as dangerous as I had thought. "So what is it that you do, then?"
"We run a security company of sorts. My father Mikael created the system a number of years ago, after a string of assaults had the people of Mystic Falls leaving town in droves. The business owners would pay my father a monthly fee, and he would protect their stores for them."
