Caleb

Chapter Ten

**Spending the evening with family tonight which is when I normally write, so I woke up early today to make sure I could still give you guys a chapter! So much love for you sweet readers!**

Elaina~

Lainey's father kept his word and met with Santiago that afternoon, but the meeting did not go well to say the least. The last sentence to leave Santiago's lips was "You have insulted me and that mistake will cost you dearly."

It was possible that Santiago was making an empty threat, or was insinuating business related repercussions, but Declan didn't like the sound of it and met with the family to discuss next step precautions to avoid Lainey having any face to face interactions with Santiago in the near future

The group came to the decision that Pierce would now be permanently assigned to James which James agreed to willingly having spent time with Pierce and enjoying his company. It was also decided that if possible Lainey would not attend the events in which Santiago was scheduled to make an appearance. Since she was the initial target of his anger and aggression and the information was leaked to him that it was Lainey who spotted the shady deal and killed it, they didn't want to take any chances with her safety.

It had been a few days since the threat, but that evening Santiago was on the guest list for a gala that the Flores family had planned on attending. The entire family had concluded that it wasn't smart for Lainey to be in attendance. It was a decision that Lainey wholeheartedly agreed with, hoping to ensure her safety by staying out of sight and out of mind.

She and James were staying in that evening while Ricardo and Camila attended the event. This wasn't the first time her safety had been threatened and it definitely wouldn't be the last, but Lainey would be lying if she said she wasn't secretly enjoying the break from the limelight for a few days.

Caleb, James and Pierce were in the kitchen laughing about something as they reheated food from the delicious dinner Rosa had made. Caleb's laugh was unmistakable and made her heart do a little dance every time she heard it. It was always big and deep from his chest and it was the kind that was contagious and addicting.

Flipping on the TV she found a funny romcom and curled up onto the couch with a blanket, taking a moment to thank her lucky stars that she wasn't in a tight suffocating dress, having to make small talk with the sharks that her father did business with at the moment.

She was about twenty minutes in to her movie when the men emerged from the kitchen, making their way into the living room with plates of food and bags of snacks.

"Hand it over Bug." James said with a mouth full of food, motioning for the remote in her lap.

Lainey drew her brows in and scoffed at James' demand, picking up the remote and holding it close to her chest so he couldn't grab it.

"Get lost, I'm watching a movie and I was here first. Go watch something in the media room."

James walked over and took a wide stance in front of her, blocking her view of the TV.

"Projector bulb went out in the media room and we are not watching this shit." James said with a smile and his palm out.

"Well that really sucks fellas, because if you think I'm going to hand over this remote just because I'm outnumbered, you are sadly mistaken. I'm not scared of a single one of you."

She pointed a finger at the trio and clutched the remote tighter against her chest, giving all three men a sassy glare.

"Not even me?" Caleb said with his chest puffed out as he tried his best to feign intimidation.