Her Mob Boss (Book Three Of The Brave Series)

23-A Sopranos Moment

23-A Sopranos Moment

Rysen felt Elena's body begin to shake, but when he looked at her, her big doe eyes hard as steel and unwavering he felt a pain in his chest. It wasn't jealousy, no, it was sadness, for her. Mitchell had been her friend. She'd laughed at lunch with him and the twins and now she was seeing him as an enemy with a sinister smile. Rysen himself had no idea Mitchell was a McGreaves. All he knew as that Mitchell was a nerd that he almost punched in the face and that's how he met...oh no. He looked to Chase who sat to the left of Elena, to find Chase looking back at him with similar worry. Katherine sat across from Rysen, making sure to lean down plenty enough to show too much cleavage for a seventeen-year-old. Mitchell sat across from Elena, his eyes never leaving her. Rysen found it odd though, the more Mitchell stared, the less sinister the look became. Almost like it was a façade.

It was quiet for a moment as the butler filled everyone's glasses. Rysen's parents sat at one end of the table. The McGreaves' parents at the other. Harry sat to Rysen's right, Chase to Elena's left and the two in front. It almost felt like a standoff to see who would break the silence first. Katherine seemed to be wasting no time though.

"Hi there, Rysen." She said, leaning in forward, her arms tucked underneath her breasts to emphasize them more. It took everything in Rysen not to snarl at the girl in disgust. Instead he remained calm, which was relatively easy with Elena's hand in his.

"Katherine." Was all he replied with. She paused, not liking the lack of conversation. To be fair, Rysen would have usually gone for a woman like her. Long and tan legs, blond haired, big breasts and little brains. It made it easy to up and leave when he was done with them. It sounded awful, but that was the way of life he'd had for the last couple of years. However, things had changed. Rysen met Elena, and when that had happened it was like a switch went off in his mind. He no longer craved a vane and momentary satisfaction from someone. Instead, he wanted something real, something that had sustenance. And he wanted it with someone with long dark hair and big doe eyes. He wanted it with Elena and no one else.

Katherine's eyes narrowed slightly and then her lip twitched upwards slyly. She flipped her hair back and nonchalantly diverted her attention to Elena. That made Rysen nervous. Yes, Elena was a strong woman, but would she be able to handle someone like Katherine? Katherine opened her mouth then.

"So, Alana-"

"Elena." Rysen paused, looking towards Elena as he heard her cut off Katherine's purposeful mispronunciation of her name. She was making Katherine respect her by not allowing her to say her name wrong even once. Rysen glanced at Katherine as she tried to recover snootily. She waved her hand.

"Pish posh, anywa-" She started, but Elena cut her off again.

"Not 'pish posh', my name is Elena, should I spell it out?" Elena raised an eyebrow at Katherine as she froze. The table was dead silent and Rysen watched as Chase cleared his throat, hand covering his mouth to hide a smile. Even Mitchell's mouth twitched slightly.

"Right. Elena." Katherine seethed, gritting her teeth while she smiled. She looked like an angry shark.

"I was going to ask, how did you two meet?" Katherine asked. Mitchell leaned back in his chair and Rysen felt his stomach sink. Mitchell knew something was off with their story, and his parents knew a different one. How was she going to be able to keep the secret? Rysen felt a grip on his thigh and he took a deep breath. She had it.

"He was my partner for a science project a while back. When he tried to make me do it all, it didn't go over well. A few weeks later he asked me on a date. Here we are now." She said, short and sweet, sticking to the original story that was told to his parents so long ago. Rysen noticed Mitchell lean in then, curious, and his breath froze.

"Then how come you seemed to not know each other when Rysen tried to give me a shiner and you blocked it?" Rysen could feel the stares directed at them.

"We were trying to keep the relationship under the radar, however, and Rysen knows this, I hate bullying, and when I saw such a small and meek boy getting picked on, I had to step in. The 'not knowing each other' was all for show, so that people that could potentially be hiding under a false cover, wouldn't be able to hurt me since, at the time, I was not living with them." Elena smoothly and flawlessly insulted the gang boss's son within two sentences, and the tension in the room could be cut with a knife.

"Right," Katherine chuckled, diverting everyone's attention to her, "you were living with, what's his name? Jackson! Yes, sweetheart, we looked into your past. Tell us, before the 'big stunt' that you threw to get my potential husband here to pity you so much that he brought you to his home, how many times were you Jackson's little whore?"

Rysen was instantly enraged, seconds away from tearing into her, but a few things happened before he could. First his father spoke.

"I would suggest you keep your kid on a tighter leash McGreaves." Rysen tensed.

"Excuse me, how dare you-" Mrs. McGreaves began in a shrill voice before she was silenced.

"Enough." One word from Rysen's mother, calm, but loud enough to be heard, had everyone freezing in their seats, mouths zipped tightly.

"Go ahead, Dear." Rysen's mother said to Elena. Elena merely tilted her head in thanks and turned back to Katherine, taking in a breath.

"Katherine, firstly, let me tell you that in no way was Rysen a potential husband to you. The only thing someone like you will ever be good for is a night in the bedroom. You're straining that bra to make B-cups look bigger, the layers of make-up on your face emphasize just how fake the blond on your head is, and did anyone teach you to find the color foundation that matches your skin? Honey, you're trying way to hard to be seductive, it's not working, and we can tell. Secondly, if you looked into my history then you would know that I was adopted into Jackson's family by his parents, unfortunately, the day they picked me up, there was a horrible car accident that took them away from this world. Due to that fact, Jackson legally had responsibility over me. He blamed me for his parent's death and ruining his life and in turn used every day thereafter to beat, torture and abuse me.

"The day that this 'big stunt' as you call it happened was a first and only occurrence. He attacked me, and tried to rape me, because I hugged Mitchell, whom I thought was upset, but now I understand he is merely a coward and a liar. Rysen, luckily enough had followed me home because he had seen bruises on me from a previous attack of Jackson's. Together, Chase, Harry and Rysen saved me, which lead us to me living with them. I am still a virgin, so your taunts mean nothing to me, though I am sure that is not the same case for you. Before you open your mouth and try to start a problem where there isn't one, maybe use that small brain of yours and think. Now, are you done?" If it was tense before, Rysen wouldn't even know how to describe this moment now.

Katherine looked at her dumbfoundedly for a moment before she turned to her father, finally realizing just how much she was insulted just now. Suddenly Mr. McGreaves laughter floated through the air and everyone turned to him.

"Daddy!" Katherine whined out loudly.

"Don't you whine Katherine, you started it, she finished it, now I don't want to hear a single word out of you. Elena dear, I apologize for my daughter's behavior tonight, I only let it go so far to make sure the stories were true, and it seems they were. Please let's end this Sopranos moment and move on to dinner."

And just like that, the dinner went onquietly, with soft conversations between the parents. Rysen found himselfintensely baffled once more by this small girl who seemed so fragile when theyfirst met. Then Rysen realized, she had never been fragile, she'd always beenstrong and courageous. She just had done what she could to survive. He'd neverknown the whole story, and now that he did, though vaguely, he couldn't helpbut be even more impressed by her and want her more.