Page 37 of Endure the Pain
He shook his head, looking disappointed. “You don’t have to be the one to do it all—take all the risks. As a leader, you must learn to step back and rely on others, use their strengths where they’re needed.”
“It may be that easy for you, but as a woman, they won’t—”
He slammed his hand down on the table. “That is no excuse to be reckless! Your ass is already in the chair. You need to show everyone you can lead now, not how to die.” He stood from his chair and threw his napkin on the table. “The party is in a week. You still need to get a dress. If you leave the house, you need to take more than Asher and Dean with you.”
I opened my mouth to argue.
“I know about the phone call you had with Buck Werner. You painted a fucking target on your back. Your security will be doubled. I will not negotiate on this,” Stefan said, his tone brokering no argument, and he stormed out of the dining room.
I slowly turned to glare at Rourke. He was looking anywhere but me. “Of all the fucking things to tell him,” I practically growled.
He grimaced.
“I’d go home, Rourke, because I’m debating whether or not I should cut your tongue from your big fucking mouth or maybe sew your mouth shut!” I screamed as I slowly rose from my chair.He is so lucky Vincent is sitting between us.
Rourke quickly jumped to his feet, knocking over his chair in the process. “I’m going, I promise! But you should know that Stefan kept me here for hours, interrogating me for every minute detail. I can’t get away with shit like you can! I’m sorry, cuz, but he’s still the boss and ten times scarier than you.”
I picked up Vincent’s butter knife that was lying next to his plate. “Are you sure about that?”
Rourke briskly walked out of the room and I sat back down with a heavy sigh.
“That was fucked up, even for you,” Jamie said as he continued to eat as if nothing had happened. Louie was at least pushing around his food. Vincent was wide eyed, his breakfast completely forgotten.
I shrugged. “I understand he had no choice, and I didn’t exactly tell him not to tell Stefan either. But this will teach him that it wasn’t okay to throw me under the bus. In the future, he’ll hesitate—he’ll think,How can I do this without screwing Maura because I don’t want to betray her?I get that Stefan is everyone’s boss and that puts you all in a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t situation. All I ask is that you try. If you fail…well, do you think Stefan would punish anyone trying to protect me?”
“Is this you admitting that you believe he loves you?” Jamie asked.
Noah entered the dining room holding a tray. He set a plate of pancakes with syrup and butter on the side. “Can I get you anything, Miss Maura? Some coffee maybe?”
“No, thank you,” I said without removing my eyes from my stack of pancakes. They smelled mouthwatering. Noah made his rounds around the table, asking if anyone needed anything else before returning to the kitchen. I got to work by spreading butter and syrup all over my tower of fluffy, cakey goodness. “How can you truly know someone loves you if they never say it? I know Stefan cares and that he’s trying to be more my father than the boss. I guess, to answer your question, I’m still not sure.”
“He loves you, beautiful,” Louie assured.
“You have the weirdest family,” Vincent mumbled and returned to eating.
I smiled at him before taking a bite of my own food.Oh, wow, that’s good.I moaned around my pancake. I caught Jamie trying to hide his smile.
“Huh,” Louie said as he eyed me with a slight tilt of his head and then looked at Jamie. “She really does sound like that.”
Jamie tried to stifle his laughter but failed miserably. I frowned at the both of them and that seemed to wipe the smiles off of both of their faces.
“Since I need to double my security, can you pick me some good ones?” I asked Louie.
He nodded. “Already on it. I have a few in mind. I’ll have them come by this afternoon. When were you wanting to go dress shopping?”
“Tomorrow. I’m taking the day off today. My goons and I have TV shows to catch up on.” I turned toward Vincent. “You’re welcome to join us, Vin. Unless you were wanting to return home today?”
“I think I should head home. I’ve been here for weeks,” he said.
“If you ever get bored, you’re always welcome to come over here,” I told him, and we all continued eating.
Later that afternoon, Louie texted me to meet him in the lounge. I peeled myself from my couch and went downstairs with Dean and Asher accompanying me. I walked into the lounge, just off the foyer. It was a large room with soft cream-colored couches, a giant fireplace, and an entire wall full of photos of my family over the generations. A few pictures dated back to when cameras were first invented and were printed on tin plates.
My photo wasn’t on that wall. Nope. Mine was hanging over the fireplace.
When I had been three or four years old, Brody had taken me to get my portrait painted by a professional artist as a gift for Stefan’s birthday. It was a precious picture, if I did say so myself. Brody had dressed me in a beautiful white gown and had my hair curled into tight ringlets that reached my tiny shoulders. The background of the portrait was stark black, making my pale skin and dress almost look as if they were glowing.
Louie was standing beside the fireplace with two goons I recognized.Well, there went my good mood.I’d worked with the two goons before. They were the two who Stefan had ordered to stay behind with me when I'd done my first exchange with Nicoli after Samuel’s execution. One of them had told Jamie that I’d kissed the don, and that information had also seemed to make its way toRourke, as well. I’d asked Asher to find out which of the two was the rat. All I'd gotten was a name before my accident.Hank.