Previous chapter: And I gave her a power I swore I would never give anyone. Not after Angel

Thought this song represented this chapter. I don't think I have used it before.

Elaina POV:

I decided to head to the local diner. My life just seemed like a mess. Angel. Ben. Cole. Gang. Not to mention the part where I almost died on the beach. Though those guys were really just a bunch of rookies. Their tattoos were unfamiliar, probably just wanted the falcon. For what reason, I don't know. I saw the huge sign that read Benny's.

I entered the diner and it is completely empty. It is one of those olf fashion diners that serves milkshakes and burgers and has an old fashion jukebox in the corner. I decided to scroll through Instagram on my phone. I was not stupid enough to do anything. Ben is still out there. But I wanted to see what my friends were up to. I saw a whole bunch of pictures from them. I go to my profile to see I was tagged in a whole bunch of pictures. I look at the most recent one and am completely awestruck by what I see.

My friends mentioned me in their post. They have not forgotten about me, but I had forgotten them this past month. I am a horrible person. I have to sudden urge to comment and tell them I am fine. That I will be fine. But that could lead to Ben tracking me down. Instead, I quietly scroll through all of the tags and the hashtag they created for me. At first when I went "missing", there were hundreds of tags wishing me the best, but now, it is just my friends who keep tagging me and I smile gratefully that they still remember me even though we barely knew each other. I guess no one told them about my entire father thing, which is surprising. A waitress who is in her 50s comes over. She has a bright smile and manages to make it a genuine one.

"Hey, I'm Casey, you look oddly familiar," She replies staring at me. I eye her suspiciously confused as to how she could have ever seen me.

"I think you are mistaken," I finally reply with a small smile on my face once I realize she does not have bad intentions.

"Oh, I'm sorry. What brings you here?" She asks with a small smile.

"I guess, just some drama. Wanted to get away from it all," I sigh.

"I understand. Life is no walk in the park," She replies.

"Yeah, I know. I was wondering if I could have the vanilla milkshake?" I respond, trying to simplify my life, I set my phone aside.

"No problem. Andre, please get a vanilla milkshake," She calls out, "So what are you doing here on a school day, you should not be ditching school."

"Not ditching, my parents know I am not in school, some bad things happened and I needed a break from life," I responded, staring down at the table.

"Guy troubles?" She asks, taking a seat in front of me.

"Just your usual rapist ex being on the lose," I reply, not knowing why I told her that.

"That's fine, you can tell me," She replied. I look into her eyes and she looks extremely familiar for some reason. I also notice a gun in her back pocket. Mentally scolding myself for not knowing earlier, I realized that if she was out to harm me she would have done so before. So I took my chances.

"Does the name, Venn Scorpio mean anything to you?" I reply, doubting she would say yes.

"Same meaning as the names Leo, Dylan, Jace, Alec, Jake, and Jayden. Not here, though," For the first time in years, my eyes go wide as I follow her to a back room. For some reason, I feel as though I can trust her. And I decide that I need to let my guard down. Not fully, I grab a butter knife and tuck it under my shirt.

"I am the newest inner circle member, Elaina or Ellie," I sigh as she scrunches her eyes.

"I did not know they accept gir-" 

"The falcon," I respond using my code name and I see her eyes go wide as she nods. And again I find myself scrunching my eyes.

"You are not going to kill me? No attempts to kidnap me? I believe the biggest price on my head is at what? 1 billion maybe? Haven't checked in a while," I responded, returning my face back to its normal emotionless expression.

"I am Leo's mother, sweetie, I trust his judgment and despite what he believes, I don't hate him," She responded.

"M...Mother?" I almost yelled out of shock.

"I take it he does not speak of us much?" She chuckles as I slowly shake my head.

"I thought as much, care to tell me the full story?" She pushed. I took a deep breath and ranted off. About how I was almost raped. About why I moved here. About how I joined his gang (she laughed). About my moments with the boys. About me seeing Ben again. About them finding out I'm the falcon. About Ben attacking us. Even about how I started liking her son.

"And there was this girl, Angel. He texted her he loves her and then Cole and I were attacked an-" She cuts me off before I could finish.

"Wait, he still texts Angel? That silly boy. Ellie, sweetie, Leo does not love Angel romantically. She was his sister," His mother laughed and I felt heat rise to my cheeks in embarrassment.

"Has you ever considered he may like you too? I know my son and I am pretty sure he does like you as well. Go for it, Ellie. It may have been a while since we talked, but he is my son. I still love him and make sure you tell him I love him," 

"Was?" I responded, noticing how his mother said she was his sister. I have been in the gang life for years and as the falcon, have been forced to pick up on the little details others may miss.

"I knew you would catch that, but unfortunately that is not my story to tell," She sighs. Questions run through my head, but I don't dare ask them. For one, how is it not her story to tell if Angel is her daughter? Instead, I nod my head and get up. 

"How much for the milkshake and may I please have it in a to-go cup?" I ask as I pack up my purse and get ready to leave.

"On the house," She responds. I smile at her and wave as I leave.

"Thank you," I let out before leaving. And right now, for the first time in years, I felt light. Pressureless, like my biggest worry could be not getting enough likes in social media as opposed to being beaten, killed, and raped to death by my ex-boyfriend's gang and it felt fucking amazing.