Old and New

Chapter-21

VINCENTS POV.

Erica explained everything countless times.

Hell, even I'm convinced she wasn't the one who did it.

But why would Kristen?

We had known Kristen for years, and she wouldn't purposely do anything to hurt us, right?

"Erica, would you mind if I talked to my siblings?" Dean asked. We all found Erica a bit more tolerable within the past few hours.

"I'm actually supposed to meet my father, so I'll be heading off." She excused herself.

Once she was gone, Dean began to speak.

"Kristen should be here at any minute, now." He sat down, looking at his watch.

"What motive do you think she would have?" Damon asked the four of us.

Lana had been pretty quiet, which was nothing unusual, but it wasn't a normal type of reserved quiet. It was more of a shocked and in distress type of quiet.

"Look, I don't think she would do it without a proper reason." Axel answered his question.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that she's Kristen. She wouldn't do it out of hate or spite. She would have an actual legitimate reason."

Was she blackmailed into it?

"I'm with Axel on this one." I said. "She's the type of person that tries to love everyone and everything. I'm not sure she would do it out of spite, or hate either."

It was only moments later when we hear the front door open.

It had to be Kristen.

As soon as she walked in, we knew she had done something.

Her slightly wrinkled eyes had dark circles underneath. Her eyebrows furrowed, and her face stained with tears.

She looked at us, and we stared right back at her, wordless.

"I-We needed money for my daughter and her son." She began. "She was overworking herself, and it was killing her. She could barely feed herself, much less my grandson."

And there it is. There's the motive.

"That's your reason?" Dean asked as he stood up again.

"I didn't know what else to do."

"You could have killed us. You know what, screw us. You could have killed Lana." He advanced towards her like a predator stalking its prey.

"I-I wouldn't have done it if I thought that you five wouldn't be able to find it."

"Right. And if we weren't able to catch it in time? What would have happened then? Tell me. What would have happened then?"

Dean was pretty damn angry, which was understandable. But, he had to remember his audience before he went any further.

"I knew you would. T-that man gave me fresh spearmint leaves, but I switched them out with dried so it wouldn't be as bad for the five of you."

   "Yeah, an almost full pillow case worth of it." I muttered under my breath.

"You could have not put it in there at all!"

"He would have known. He's got eyes everywhere."

  Does that mean he knows about Erica not holding up her end of the deal?

Who else has he been paying?

"Kristen, this is considered treason in mafia law. You should know this. You can't disrespect the Capos family and expect to get away with it. Our people will be out for you." Dean fired back.

"Please. It was for my daughter! I had no time, I-,"

"You what? You thought that this was the right thing to do?" He countered with a dry laugh.

He's a lot more mad than I thought.

"I'm so sorry. Please just-,"

"You aren't sorry enough Kristen." Dean growled out, taking another step closer to her.

Damon, Axel and I knew better than to step in. He was too mad. Mad enough to where he would just toss us to the side if we interfered. But, we all stood up. We had to be ready to take Lana out of the room, or hold Dean back if needed.

However, Lana tried this notion.

No one saw her stand up, but what we did see was her grabbing Deans arm.

He stopped right there, and looked down at her.

Even I could tell that he was torn between listen to Lanas silent pleas, and letting the Capo in him do all of the dirty work.

And in the end, Lana won.

But he was still very angry.

"This is what is going to happen. You are going to call you're daughter. She will work in this house, and her son can be here with her too. You will answer some questions, and we will decide what is to happen."

Is Lana some sort of guardian angel or something?

Kristen seemed just as shocked as the rest of us.

Deans never loosened like that. I was pretty certain he would kill her.

"W-what?" She asked breathlessly.

"And for the record, we would have helped you. Go call your daughter before I change my mind." He dismissed her.

Apparently, she knew better enough to do that instead of putting spearmint in my sisters room.

    But whatever, I guess.

One she was gone, he turned around face the rest of us.

"It will benefit us more if we keep her around. At least until we catch Woodruff."

That's not a bad point.

"Maybe her daughter will be pretty well off here?" Damon mentioned.

"Maybe she will, just don't flirt with her." I warned.

"Oh come on! I wouldn't flirt with Kristens child."

"Yeah ok, let's try that again, but tell the truth this time."

He rolled his eyes. "I would only flirt if she starts it first."

"Yeah right."

"Ok, fine. I won't flirt with her." He rolled his eyes again.

  I turned my attention back to Dean while Lana sat back down.

      "Do you think that the 'eyes' could be that close to us?" I asked referring to Woodruffs 'eyes everywhere.'

  "I don't know."

"Do you think that he will come after Kristen or Erica? You know, once he finds out that neither of his insiders succeeded in his little plan?" Axel asked.

     I didn't even think about that.

Dean gave a slow look to all of us before shaking his head.

                 "I don't know."