Once Broken

Chapter 20

Daniel POV

I was sitting at my desk, my laptop open in front of me, the only light source in my large, dark room. I was looking at my emails, which was filled with messages such as antique or vintage car deals, old car news, stuff like that. By the message in particular I was looking at, was one from Oliver

"Dear brother. You have serviced me well in all these years of our partnership in these vehicular endeavors, namely our street races. But I'm starting to see you as a weak link in my large chain of partners. Ever since that girl has come into your life, you've been doing less and less to help me. I'll give you the option, a friendly option; give her to me, get rid of her, or ignore her. I don't want this partnership to end, for our two's sake. Besides... who would you be without me, Daniel?"
-Oliver

I read the email, over and over again, trying to make sense of it, but with each time, I found it getting harder and harder to understand what I had to do. Though it was simple. Get rid of Nicole, in two ways, or ignore her. I.. i couldn't do either. But.. loosing my business would kill me financially. The underground street races were 40% on my income. And though that may not sound like much, loosing 40% would absolutely devastate me. Money would be tight.
I put my head in my hands, sighing heavily, running my fingers, through my thick, curly hair. My head was running around and around, with no place to go but insanity, though I felt like I was already there.
I checked my clock, seeing that it was almost 8. I knew I had told Nicole I'd be gone from the house, but the email had been bugging me almost the entire time. I stood up, dressing in my nice clothes and walking out of my room, taking it step by step until I was to the private dining hall. I sat down in my usual chair, resting my chin on my hand, staring at the door and waiting for her to arrive. I was always early, never late.
She walked in, her hair covering her face as she shut the door behind herself, moving her hair as she turned to me. When her eyes met mine, I felt her take away my breath, like every time I ever saw her. It was a warm and fuzzy feeling, each time that I saw her. The smile that I couldn't help from spreading across my face, like a virus that I couldn't cure, and didn't want to cure. Fuck what Oliver said. I wanted her in my life like this.
I got up, pulling out her chair for her, pushing it in gently as she sat down at the table. I sat down at the opposit end, just like last time, staring over at her. The chef brought in the food, setting it down in silver platters before us, taking off the covers and revealing the dish; a fancy kind of roast, with the beef, potatoes, carrots, celery, all that I liked. And by the look she had, she thought it looked good as well.
"Good evening." I said, smiling.
"Yeah, good evening." She said, smiling back as well.
"How was shopping?" I asked her.
"Oh, great! I got some clothes, and some art stuff." She said.
"Art stuff, huh? The painting and drawing you mentioned last time, right?" I asked carefully, not wanting her to get upset about the last conversation about her art.
"Yeah. I really enjoy doing it, though it sucks..." she said, starting to get onto the trail of sadness, frowning.
"I'm sure it doesn't suck. As I said, you'll have to show me. Hey, how about this; invite me over some time and I'll watch you." I said, smiling.
"Um.. sure. That would be okay." She said, getting her smile back a little.
"I'd love to watch."
"Ha, maybe your eye balls would burn off at the suckiness." She joked.
"Oh hush, I'm sure you are a great artist." I assured her.
"Maybe." She finally said.
I chuckled. I remembered the email, and what Oliver wanted me to do, and I let out a heavy sigh. She tilted her head, looking at me rather concerned.
"What's up?" She asked.
"It's.. its complicated."
"I'm a complicated kind of girl. You can tell me."
"It's... between my brother and I..."
"What's going on? Did you two fight?"
"Not really.. he's just a dick, as usual.. do you know he's part of the mafia?"
"U-um, no, I never knew." She said,
"Well.., he's the mafia boss for the Finland mafia..."
"Okay. So what's the problem?"
"He wants something... that I won't let him have. But if I don't give it to him, he'll cut off our business ties.. and he helps with my car business."
"Oh. What does he want?"
"Something close to me. But I'd rather not talk about it."
"Um, alright.... but.. you are really famous.. why would him cutting business ties hurt you so badly that it makes this a hard decision?"
"It's basically a billion dollar contract... he gets some cars of mine, he wins races, I get my percentage." I said simply.
She pondered this deeply, looking around in deep thought. She hummed a little, tapping her top fingers rapidly on the table.
"Hello?" I asked.
"I have an idea." She said, grinning.

(To the one I love that reads this. Happy 5 anniversary tomorrow. Thank you so much for all you do for me, and being my rock and inspiration ❤️❤️❤️. Thank you, angel.)