Chapter 5 04.

Brendan laughs as his friends and him sit around his dining table having a light lunch.

"Remember that time when Malcolm tried to hit on that girl, but she slapped him and kneed him in the balls", Draven, Malcolm's older brother chuckles.

"Shut up I'll have you know, she did came back and apologize then we went back to my room", Malcolm smirks and did a fist bump with his brother.

"That's my bro, I trained you well my apprentice."

The door bell rings,"were you expecting someone?" Zane looks at Brendan.

"Not this hour, but then again my mother loves to show up unexpected hours", he gets up.

"What if its someone trying to kill you?" Draven asks.

"You really think a killer will be kind enough to ring the door bell?" Brendan laughs and he shrugs.

The door bell rings again,"someone's impatient", Zane says.

Brendan opens the door,"what do you-", he stops when the person hugs him, he looks down at the girl his age with brown blonde hair.

"I missed you Brendan", she says.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Yes he had dated in the past, but sure she wasn't one of his ex.

"Seriously? You had memory lost after five years?" She looks up at him with a glare.

"Lisha?"

"The one and only", she smirks.

"What are doing here? Here in Chicago?" He frowns.

"About that.. Do you remember that promised you made?" She ask.

"The one where..."

"Yes didn't think I'll need it huh?" Elisha chuckles while he shakes his head.

"Me neither, cool house by the way."

"Something has to happen to let you come back here after five years right?" Brendan takes her luggage.

"Yes and I don't know how long it'll be till they track down my exact location", she sighs.

"They?" He frowns.

"Yes my cruel father, I'll tell you everything soon", she promises.

"Damn Brendan you didn't tell me your new girl was hot", Draven checks out Elisha.

"Elisha?" Zane gaps at her.

"Did you miss me King?" She smirks and Draven looks confuse.

"How do you know each other? Did you guys sleep together?," he ask knowing what kind of guy Zane is.

"What? No, she's the only female we considered into our little group since kindergarten", Zane explains.

"Oh yeah, Draven you met her once when you came to walk me home from the park back when I was in third grade", Malcolm reminds him.

"Oh yeah you were that girl who had two ponytails and snatched Brendan's snack from his hand", Draven laughs.

"I'm still a savage I'll have you know", Elisha winks.

"One question though, why are you here?" Zane questions.

"I need protection which this guy here", she pinches Brendan who yelps and glares at her,"promise to do."

"What makes you think he can protect you?" Malcolm inquires.

"I know he can, because he promised", she looks up at Brendan.

"Promises get broken you know", Zane mutters.

"He will protect you after all he's a gang leader", Draven announces.

"What?" Elisha gasps and the three guys watch Draven.

"Someone would of have to tell her and I know Brendan is a coward to say anything", he shrugs,"just tell her up front."

Elisha is still in shock, her friend well best friend is a gang leader. A gang leader? How did this happen? Was she gone for so long?

"I'll show you the room you can stay in for the time been", Brendan snaps her back to reality.

"How many rooms do you have?" She ask as they leave the kitchen area.

"Six each with their own bathroom", he adds.

"Cool, so gang leader huh?"

"That's a story for another day, after dinner tonight we'll discuss your situation for now you look like you need a nap", he opens a door revealing a light blue with peach room. A queen size bed with fluffy pillows and s huge blanket.

"I'll shower first then I'll take my nap", Elisha says as she takes her luggage.

"Dinner is at 7:00, but that's my time not sure how your dinner routine goes", Brendan says.

"It depends on how my day went, sometimes I have early dinner then sleep to get up to study like around 2 am and other times late depending on where I went for the evening with my roommates", she shrugs.

"Okay 7:30 dinner", he leaves.

***

Elisha wakes up a couple hours later, the sun is just setting and the place is very quiet. No traffic noise or vehicles passing on the street.

She glances at the clock, 6:00 pm. Shoot she forgot she had to text Tony to tell him she reached her friends safely.

Elisha: I forgot I know, so sue me

Tony: Gladly, so you got to your friend's safely?

Elisha: Yes and laying down peacefully on a very comfortable bed

Tony: Lucky you, I had to sit next to a guy who snored loudly and talks loudly

Elisha: aw should of came with me

Tony: Next time Darling 😉

Elisha: I'll hold you to that

Elisha walks down the stairs one hour and a half later,

"She'll stay here as long as she needs mom", she hears Brendan talking on his phone.

"Yes I have enough grocery mom, I'm 22 for goodness sake", he sighs and Elisha giggles a little.

"I'll see you on Friday", he hangs up as Elisha enters the kitchen.

"Hey you're up, food will be here any mi-"

The door bell rings,"its here", he claps and went to the front door.

"You ordered?" Elisha laughs as she sits by the dining table.

"Yes I wasn't feeling to cook, hope you like food Olive Garden", he opens the brown bag.

"It's alright, but nothing beats pizza", she shrugs and Brendan nods in agreement.

They eat in silent and Brendan breaks the silent,"what made you come back here Lisha? What's all this got to do with your father?"

Elsiha takes a deep breath and let's it out,"it all started when we moved to Georgia five years ago, dad got really busy with work, Ace started university right in Georgia and mom spent most of her time out the house or with dad,

Then during Thanksgiving dad brought over one of his close friend who had a son about Ace's age, he attended the same university like Ace but dropped out the next semester. One year later, dad dropped the bomb that his friend and him agreed that when I graduate high school his son and I would have an arranged marriage. We talked a few times when he came over to hang out with Ace, but there wasn't any attraction, you know well for me at least", she stops and Brendan mouth falls open.

"Arranged marriage?"

"Yes so dad's business and his friend's own will be joint, but when I learned I got into a university in Connecticut and my family was out as usually for a weekend after my graduation, I packed my stuff and booked a flight to Connecticut. I was going to study law, but then I heard dad's lawyer was killed after I left so I switched over to finance department", she explains.

"Good to know you finish university, I got a diploma by taking online courses", Brendan smiles.

"Why didn't you go to the University of Chicago instead?" Elisha ask.

"Wasn't feeling to and mom needed me plus I was in a gang and anything could of happen so I had to be alert always and also near", he explains,"now back to you."

"So technically yesterday was my graduation then I went to this club opening with my best girl friends and their boyfriends, one of my best friend's boyfriend introduced me to the owner who was no other than Jett, the guy my father arranged me with to marry to but I didn't realize it was him till I saw the name of the club run when I went outside,

"He left and went upstairs to his VIP area to greet his guest who happened to be my father so I left and called my other friend to come pick me up and book the earliest flight to Chicago so here I am now after I found out where your mother lived and got your address", she finishes.

"Wow that's a lot to take in, but now that your father saw you in that club there's no doubt he's on your trail", Brendan points out,"wait does Jett's surname happens to be Smith?" He frowns.

"Yeah why?"

"He's one of my archenemy, he's the leader of a gang in Connecticut", Brendan explains and Elisha gasps.

"So my father's business is-"

"Dealing drugs and stuff, no wonder he was busy when you moved to Georgia now I remembered my old boss was saying something about a strong dangerous gang in Georgia was run by a man who's name we had no access to", he cuts her off.

"So my father wanted me to marry Jett so his gang and Jett's father's gang would of been joint?" Elisha puts one and one together and Brendan nods.

"Seems so, but then you ran away so technically since Jett took over his father's gang they been close business partners."

"No wonder he was invited to that party last night", Elisha comments.

"I made a promise to you Lisha and I'll do everything in my power to make sure you are safe. Two years back I stumbled onto some top secret information on your father's gang which can take him down and have him put in jail", Brendan informs her.

"How you got access to the info?"

"That's secret, but I was on another mission and found the information by mistake which turned out to be luck", he says.

"Whenever it's safe for me to get back out into the world, I'll have to fly back to Connecticut, my boss at my internship programme offered me a permanent job in the finance department", Elisha explains.

"Nice, but I think by the end of the summer you'll be able to go get that job", Brendan smiles at her.

"Or if I decide to stay here and go live in Illinois I'll call her and take my job offer in one of her extended business branches", she adds.

"That can work to because I don't think I want you disappearing on me anytime soon."

They laugh and talk until Brendan's phone rings.

_____________

"How long is Elisha staying?" Zane asks Brendan when he picks him up an hour later.

"As long as she needs to and if she wants to rent an apartment for the summer she can do that", he answers.

"Why is she here? I know its not just a friendly visit for the summer."

"She's in trouble and I made her a promise before she moved five years ago."

"Okay man when you're ready to give me more details than that I'm all ear", Zane says seriously.

"Let's just hurry up and get this delivery finish quickly so I can get back home", Brendan wipes his forehead.

"Or to someone", Zane winks and he groans.

"Shut up man."

They arrive at the warehouse a few minutes later where Brendan's men are waiting for him.

"Ah the main man has finally arrived, let's get this thing over with. I got a date night at 10", the other gang's right hand man says.

"Get the stuff", Brendan tells Zane who opens the trunk to his van and a few men help him take out the stuff.

They place the parcels on the ground in front of the man,"count it to take sure its our exact order", he orders one of his men.

"All thirty parcels accounted for sir", his man says.

"Good give them the money and we'll be on our way", the man says.

As Zane takes the duffel bag, a gun shot rings out and the right hand man falls to the ground, dead.

"Sh"*t take cover!" Brendan yells and runs behind a barrel taking out his gun.

He shots where the gun shot came from and someone groans. He curses as he feels a pain shot through his left shoulder,"f*ck", he hisses.

"We'll cover you, get out of here", Zane rushes to his side with the duffel bag.

"I'm not going any where", he snaps.

"You're bleeding and our men can handle the situation here, Malcolm is out back with his car", Zane explains.

"Fine then cover me", Brendan takes the bag and ducks his head as he runs out from behind the barrel.

He winces as the pain in his shoulder didn't stop, he needs to get the bullet out of his shoulder quickly.

Malcolm opens the back door for him and leads him to his car, he rips piece of an old cloth and tie it around Brendan's shoulder then speed off.

"We're being followed", Malcolm says.

"Let's lose them, I'm not putting Lisha in more trouble than she already is in", Brendan orders.

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Long chapter, what do you think?

Who do you think ambush them? Or following them?