𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 • 06 || ❝𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩❞

>𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐃

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𝐄 𝐋 𝐈 𝐉 𝐀 𝐇 • 𝐉 𝐎 𝐇 𝐍 𝐒 𝐎 𝐍

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭. He was tall and definitely looked older than I do, but all I did was stand their unexpectedly and speechless.

"Liam." He reaches out his hand, ready for me to shake. I shake his hand and say my name, a smile forms on his lips and he looks at Olivia and creates an even larger smile.

"This your daughter?" He asks and raises a brow, I chuckled and shook my head.

"My sister." Shock is written all over his face, he wasn't expecting me to say that, nor to even think that was the truth.

"Wow, you two have similar facial features." He smiles at Liv and she smiles back before leaving us alone.

"I'm Jayden's father." He says as but when Jayden appears he adds something to the sentence.

"Well... Adoptive father you could say.-"

"-No you're my real father." Jayden adds with her demanding tone, she suddenly has a wash of sadness that crept onto her face, she didn't like the reality of Liam not actually being her father and that in itself is upsetting, I could see how that was affecting her.

"Yes." Liam adds, in agreement with his daughter. I sigh and leave them to it.

"It was nice meeting you." I add before looking for Liv, but when I do find her she's talking to Max. The man who has always helped us, I peak over the wall and notice that Max is helping her with her homework, which was sweet and it was nearly the weekend, meaning Liv would want her free time and not worry about homework. I chuckle and emerge from behind the wall to go and say hi to Max. But a female voice stops me in my tracks.

"Hello again, Elijah." She looks at me and bites her lip, which in my opinion is a bit much.

"Lillian." I say and smile, not biting my lip and going over the top, unlike she did.

"Jayden would like to see you in her office." I nod and turn to stare at Liv who seems to be miles away- doing her work.

"She'll be fine." Lillian interrupted my thoughts and allowed me to feel trust towards Max. I left Olivia to go and find Jayden, where I find her sitting on her chair staring at me.

"You needed to see me?" I ask and raise my brow at Jayden.

"Yeah, I have a shipment arriving tonight at the docks, I need you to collect them with Max. There isn't many but you don't have much choice." She looks at me as she counters her words. I feel slightly confused, what shipments?

"What are these shipments?" I raise my brow and her eyes begin to roll dramatically.

"Guns, knifes, the whole lot." I nod and turn to leave but her words stop me.

"Wait."

I turn back around and wait for her response, which keeps encouraging me to stay when in reality I should just be going.

"He is my adoptive father but I'd rather just call him my father." She states and the familiar sadness washes over her face once again, I'm unsure to why she has suddenly brought it up, maybe she is in need of having closure? 

"It's fine, you don't have to talk about it." I announce and try to encourage her not to talk, but she does, because she wants to.

"I have to, you've told me about your mother, well I've mostly done my research on it but you've been through a lot, I'm not made of bullets and steel." I raise my brow and question to why she is so down.

I take a seat opposite her as I double check that the door is shut.

"I lost my mother and my sister." She sighs and looks down at the floor.

"I'm so sorry." I state and look at her as she fiddles with her fingers to reduce her anxiety that is consumed within her.

"It was ten years ago, I was only eleven at the time. A fire started. I survived, I'm still unsure how." She takes a deep breath before continuing with her story. "They both died, my dad never returned to the house. He let it burn and didn't come to find us, he became a drunk. I didn't want anything to do with him. And then I met Liam." She begins to smile with her plump lips before she talks once more.

"He helped me become stronger and the person I am today, Max never wanted to be a mafia leader, so Liam grew me up to become one. I have no idea where my father is today, probably on the streets as far as I care. or even dead." I look at her and she looks like she wants to cry. I feel awful for her. I couldn't imagine losing Olivia, she means everything to me and I would always help protect her.

"I'm glad he picked you up." I say as she begins to smiles at me with her kindness, deep down she must be a nice person, I'm beginning to believe Max now.

I mean, the other day she went to see Liv once she had her nightmare–I didn't even hear her. I felt awful but I'm just glad Liv had someone to talk to.

"Your real dad is a dick." I state the obvious and Jayden let's out a large chuckle, echoing the room with her sweet unfamiliar sound.

"You got that right." She agreed with me and took a large sigh.

"You better get back to Olivia." I nod and leave her be to gather her thoughts.

I turned the knob of the office door and walked out of it, knowing Jayden slightly more makes me feel better, she isn't everything she makes out she is. She isn't this strong woman who hasn't been through a lot, she's a human too, emotions and all.

𝐉 𝐀 𝐘 𝐃 𝐄 𝐍 • 𝐄 𝐕 𝐀 𝐍 𝐒

As soon as Elijah left the room felt quiet, almost too quiet. I looked around the office to find some files among the  silent atmosphere. I stand up out of my chair and there a knock encounters my door.

"Come in." I demand and the door slowly opens and there I see my father. And his black hair and blue eyes find there way through the door and stare at me kindly with the care that has been given me throughout the years.

"Everything okay?" I ask and raise my brow in response to his sudden presence.

"Yeah, your new friend seems nice." He looks at me and smiles, he plants his self into the leather chair where Elijah sat and stared at me with his blue orbs only a few moments ago.

I begin to chuckle before talking. "Yeah, they're not my friends though." I state and stare at him but all he wants to do is laugh.

"Yeah, anyway Jonas and Amy are coming tomorrow, mid-day." I nod as I walk to the office desk and begin to sign documents after documents.

"You're still saying yes to the agreement aren't you?" He raises his bushy brow at me and I chuckle and nod.

"Anything for my family." I smile, deep down it's not what I want, but like I said. It's for my family. My family that I love, anyone would do anything for them especially if it would keep them alive. I mean... That's what Elijah is doing right now. You have to fight and do things for your family you've never expected to do.

"Elijah is doing the shipments with Max tonight, I thought I'd let you know just in case you saw him roaming around at night." I chuckle and my father joins me not long after, I do seriously see him as my father, biological and everything. I know we don't look anything alike but he acts like a dad to me, he's always been there. He'd helped me through things my 'real' dad has never done. I sigh and take a look at my father and his dark hair, he knows when my emotions are terrible.

"You okay?" He questions but I'm confused with how I feel. I just nod and our conversation stops quietly.

We both walked out of the office and were met with Max and his pitch-black hair and his blue pale orbs, he looked at us and smiled. He never wanted to be a leader, so our father never forced him, especially if they had me to help.

"You ready for the shipments at the dock tonight?" I question Max and he nods continuously.

"Good." I state and begin to walk off and notice Olivia walking around with her pyjamas on, I look out of the window at watch as the sun begins to set, it's so late we haven't even had dinner just yet. I decided to order everyone a pizza which arrived a few moments later.

We all surrounded the dining table and took our pizzas, each of us took a bite and drank our fizzy beverages. We all spoke and laugh, I was nervous when it came to Elijah helping with the shipments, but he has to soon learn, plus Max is there to give a helping hand if he needs it, I'm sure he will but it'll all be fine, I wash the anxious thoughts away with my fizzy drink and let it bubble in my mouth before heading down my throat, giving my taste buds satisfaction.

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A few hours had past and Olivia was tucked up in bed all asleep, I was saying and waving goodbye to Max and Elijah who were both dressed up in black, Max was wearing his dark black jeans and a simple black T-shirt with a leather jacket, Elijah was wearing just some black jeans and T-shirt, how he wasn't wearing a jacket I don't know. The temperature definitely dropped as it got later.

They exit out of the front door and there I rested my head against the doorframe and watched as they entered the range rover.

"Have fun!" I shouted and began to chuckle soon after, as I witnessed Elijah's smile.