BOND

56.

Its a hell of a thing

Watching you stand in between

Me and the end of the world

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Elena did not even spare her father a second look as she dropped her bag down on the floor and dashed into the room, heart already in her mouth and a sick pit growing in her stomach with each step she took. 

He tired to reach out to her and she slapped his hand away. Hard. 

"Don't you fucking put your hands on me!"

In herb haste to get away wrench herself away from him she tripped a little and when she straightened up the man who had been standing next to Michael was walking past her up to her Dad.

She watched, shocked and speechless, as the two of them conversed in low tones.

She blanched at how carefree they seemed given the fact that there was a person bleeding out mere feet away from them. Or that she was there.

Brian looked over behind her and with a jolt she remembered about Michael. 

There would be a time to throttle and hurt him later but right then all she could think of was Joey.

They were relaxed. All of them. She didn't kid herself into thinking that she could just shout at her father to let him go. It was strange how he wasn't already throwing her out. And then she understood why. 

He wasn't bothering with her himself because he had already put someone on it.

She spun around and stiffened as Michael got into her way, making her hit him head first.

"Let go," she hissed and tried to shake away his hands.

Michael grabbed a tight hold of her arms and shook her slightly. "Stop!" he passed a wary glance around the room and looked back at her.

Elena stopped fidgeting against him and tore her eyes away from Joey, he was just coming around, to Michael's.

"Whose side are you on?" she whispered through gritted teeth, her body tensing up in dread. Her dad was one thing, she did not want to fight Michael.

He immediately answered, "Yours! I found out that he was coming here and came to warn Joey."

She released a hard breath as he pulled her in a bit closer, leaning down by her cheek discreetly.

Her father, Brian, was paying them no attention, completely focused on Joey as he groaned and tried to lift his drooped head.

"There is a fucking gun pointing at Joey's head," Michael murmured, keeping an eye on everybody to make sure they were not listening. Luckily, Joey had impeccable timing of recovery. "Your dad's not just going to let you pick the future Boss of Camorra up and usher him out of here."

Elena looked at Brian.

Some part of her thought that she would see a glimpse of the man she had once thought of him to be, however imperfect he had been towards her. At least that man had been human.

She looked at Joey, cracked lips and a thin trickle of blood flowing down the side of his head, and then back at her father.

All her hope drained away as she saw him look at Joey as indifferently as someone might look at a stray spot on the floor and not a person.