"She can't leave. What're you thinking?"
"I do not want to hold her against her will--"
"But we're doing what's best for her. What if they take her?"
"They could kill her, Fox!"
I sighed and got up from the bed they had showed me in the little room upstairs. What was the point of putting me behind closed doors if they were just going to gossip about it right in front of the door.
They seemed a bit shocked when I opened the door and stepped out.
"Oh sweetie," Siena called with her arms wide open, pulling me in a gentle embrace. "How're you holding up?"
"We think you should stay here," Kade quickly butted in before I could even talk. Of course he'd want me to stay. Did he really think I had anything to say to him? Did he really think I didn't have a life? That they could hold me like they did before and a bunch of people wouldn't ask about me?
"I'd rather not--"
"Emily, it's for your own safety," Siena tried to reason with me. "Sergio could send someone to get you or something and it could be last we see of you."
"Sergio can not kill me," I rolled my eyes at how none of them had thought about it this way. "He needs me to get what he wants. My father wouldn't give in if I'm out of the picture. He needs me alive."
"True he needs you alive," I was shocked to hear Angelo speak, especially since he had made up his mind on not holding me against my will. "But when he gets you, torturing you could speed up the process of getting what he wants."
I looked at him in the eye. Why in the world was he standing against me? I had a life I finally loved and they just wanted to drag me back into this?
How would they even expect me to feel safe in a house where a human being was going through this same torture Angelo speaks about.
"So kinda like what you guys are doing to Tobias downstairs," I spoke with sarcasm laced on every word said.
Kade was about to unleash his anger and hatred towards Tobias. Probably about to tell me how he deserves to be hurt and then killed eventually, but Angelo held him back, and beat him to it.
"Exactly," he said. "Now imagine the look on your father's face when Sergio makes sure he sees what they would do to you."
I gulped. So maybe he had a point. But I wanted to think the chances of it happening would be close to zero.
I looked at all of them in the eye. Sienna looked at me with hope that I'd agree to stay with them, Kade was angry at whatever. Probably the world.
And then Angelo. Impassive. Just waiting to hear what my decision was going to be.
I walked back into the room and heard Sienna give a sigh of relief. When she saw me reappear, this time with my bag over my shoulder, her smile dropped.
I looked at Angelo one last time before walking away, down the stairs and ready to go home. I couldn't stay in a house where they're torturing a man who doesn't even know himself to speak.
