"Episode 44 - Life after."      

Ross: I can get you set up in Oregon.

Me: Done. What do you want?

Ross: Get me some evidence on Jude's criminal part or on Mason Capone.

Me: Done.

Ross: Good luck.

Me: I'm going to get rid of this. I'll contact you when I can.

After a long day of anticipating, Oliver finally left and Jake replaced him. I packed a small bag with my belongings, I headed for the door that currently belonged to Elena. The door flew open within seconds of my knocking. Her beautiful face greeted me. She pulled me in quickly making sure no one else saw. I had locked my door and asked Jake to let me know if anyone was knocking on my door.

I'd have to figure something out but I'd at keep up the illusion that Elena and I weren't together anymore.

"Oh, Gabriel, you look so tired. Didn't you sleep at all for the past couple of days?" She pulled me down, ran her hands down my face and hair. My inner turmoil settled to somewhat of a degree.

"Capone literally can't run a business. I've been doing that and security, I'm just exhausted." I allowed her to drag me to the only sofa in front of the window. There were a couple of bowls, plates and cutlery on the coffee table. The sofa wasn't a plush couch but a Victorian looking chaise couch which wasn't very comfortable.

"Why don't you shower? Then we both can eat? I got Jamie to get us some Thai food." She suggested. I couldn't help but stare at her. She looked tired herself, both of us waiting to get out.

"You know if I wanted, I could sneak you out right now. We could keep running until they get to us." I offered her the option but I knew for certain that we'd be found within 24 hours. I hired the best trackers myself and knew their talents. 

"Without the fake I.D.s or sometime for appearance change, we would be like sitting ducks surrounded by hunters. "You know what, Ross got back to me and even if he didn't, we somehow managed to get out I.D.s I would have taken you with me so quickly."

"How many did you order to be made?"

"12. Just in case you know." Standing, I stretched to have her soft hand find its way up my t-shirt, giving my back a gentle rub. Her touches were always welcomed, sexual or not. I lived for them.

After I got out of the shower, I was only in my boxers while she was wearing a simple off the shoulder dress that reached her thigh. The deep beige colour suited her skin so perfectly, I wanted to fuck her in it. I wondered if she was wearing any panties.

"Can I ask you a question?" I started off with the tom-yum soup.

"Yes." She went for the pad thai.

"I didn't know you were close to Capone's mother?"

"She was always sick since... as long as I can remember. She always let me hide in her room or her closet, away from Jude. She used to put up a fight with Jude before but the sicker she got or when she had to stay overnight at the hospital, she knew what would happen but couldn't stop it because the men worked for the brothers not her anymore. Once Their father died, she didn't really have any power." She shrugged like it was no big deal. When, in reality, it was a huge fucking deal. The bitch could have called the damn police. She could have killed the bastard considering she was dying anyways.

"She told me she wished she could have done more." I contradicted her.

"Honestly, she was the only person who wasn't hurting me so I didn't care if she wasn't going to the cops or not." She carried on eating without giving her abuse a second thought. She compartmentalised her trauma or otherwise I doubt we'd be sitting here, eating dinner.

"How does Daniella come into the picture?" I asked.

"She was one of Mason Capones daily... erm... companion?" She made a face. "Anyways, she didn't know who I was so she always spoke to whenever she was around so when Lydia got sick for the third time, she threatened Mason to hire her full time and legitimise everything. Lydia had a lot of evidence of course so Mason agreed. He couldn't kill her because she was his mother so that's how Elena Capone was born."

"Do you remember your old name?" I asked.

"Lucia. That's all. I have snippets of images of a people that's not the Capones and as time went by, their faces faded away. I didn't even remember that I was a Catalan until you said it the other day." She explained.

"Trauma could do that to you." I sounded like my therapist form the rehab centre.

"You sound like a shrink." She chugged down some coconut water.

"You remember when I told you I was in rehab, I had a shrink so, I guess I listened to whatever the hell she was going on about." I explained.

"So, what would she say about me?" Her sombre eyes stared at me with curiosity.

"She'd say that you have some type of Stockholm syndrome considering you managed to survive for this long. You know who you are but blocked out majority of the trauma to keep sane. You use your sexuality to gain the power back you lost as a child. And that you're a survivor." She looked down that the end of my evaluation.

"Can we leave at the end of this week?" She asked. When she looked up, I made sure she had dry eyes before carrying on.

"I'll ask Jake to give me whatever he has, I have some money. We can go."

Fuck Ross. If my girl wanted out, then that's what we'd do. We'll figure it out on the way.

"I heard you speaking to your mom this afternoon." She surprised me with the sudden turn of our conversation.

"You did? Where were you?" The sudden heat I felt down my spine was none other than her.

"On top the stairs, behind the pillar. I missed seeing you." So, she came out to watch me from afar. My chest expanded, a foreign sensation shrouded me. We were definitely leaving on Friday. I just had to remove the GPS tracker from on the cars, pretend I was going out for work or to the office and have her hiding in the back seats until I was cleared and we would leave the state before switching the car for something else.

"Are you close to your adoptee parents?" She asked.

"Not much but I keep in touch you know."

"You called him dad though."

"That was an accident and I said it for the first time." I tried not to dwell on that but the next time I spoke to them, I'd have to explain that. "I just got a bit sentimental."

I guess after being with her, with all these raging feelings swirling around me, I lost my control for a minute. I wondered how he reacted. He's never forced me to call him dad but he told me once that he wouldn't mind.

"Tell me about Daniella." I asked, trying to steer the conversation towards her.

"I remember seeing her for the first time, I was hiding behind one of the sofa's trying to figure out what the fuck was going on and why everything was happening to me. She was leaving and she waved at me with a genuine smile and said hello.

"So, I waited the next day for her, she was, once again really nice to me and I started speaking to her. Literally asked her to take me to my mom. She told Lydia. So, she blackmailed Mason into getting keeping Daniella around for me while Lydia was gone." She's returned her attention to her food.

"Did you leave before Jude was gone?" I didn't understand the time line.

"Jude left when I was 13 and after he was gone Dany started working again. When I was 15, one of Mason Capones "friend" tried to force himself on me and I wasn't having it so I wacked a lamp across his head, bashed his head in until he died.

"Of course, I was in trouble and they didn't really beat me, they'd threatened that his youngest brother will come back. I was scared of him. I told Dany and she literally put me in her car and we left. Dex sent his men and killed Dany." Her voice trailed off near the end.

"So, Dex wasn't your first kill?" I asked, somewhat not surprised.

"No." She shook her head, some colour returned to her face.

"Impressive, you killed way before me. Respect." I smirk making her laugh after what seemed like forever.

"What the hell is wrong with us?" She shook her head.

I wondered that myself. 

________
Thank you so much for  reading this. Please don't forget to vote and comment. xo