“Don’t make me wait, Elsa,” his voice lowered to a menacing tone, “…and don’t make me come for you.”

3: Game Plan

The sound of Elsa’s bare feet on the laminate floor of her kitchen as she paced back and forth drowned out the faint sound of the music playing on her MP3 in the living room. Victor’s words kept replaying over and over in her head and no matter how she looked at it - there was no getting out of what he wanted from her. Or was there? Perhaps if she changed her name and relocated… What a cruel irony that the man she was trying to free herself from worked for the FBI and had everything at his disposal to locate her.

Anyway, she wasn’t running anywhere. Why the hell should she? She had already given up so much of herself, she wasn’t about to give up her freedom or Nate. No matter if she didn’t love him. She cared about him, deeply, and that was enough to sustain their relationship. Maybe not indefinitely, but so what? Nothing lasted forever and life was too short not to enjoy it in the moment. That was another tough lesson learned from Mr. Black. Or was it Victor who had taught her that?

To not show up when Mr. Black called seemed like the best solution to protect her and Nate, but she knew he would show up to take what he perceived as his and only ruin her chances at any kind of normalcy in her life. The only thing that little action would cause is a fight of epic proportions. And a fight is exactly what she would put up if he tried to force her into something she didn’t want. But that promise. The one of letting her live her life uninterrupted… it was an offer she couldn’t refuse, even if she wanted to. And, God, how she wanted to. She detested the thought of going through anymore with him; of being put through his brand of danger again only to have her life wrecked by his insanity. What other choice did she have? No matter what her decision would be, she would end up hurt by either his cruelty, mind fuckery or having her betray the man she intended to marry.

Shaking her head, she frowned at her inner thoughts.

Nate’s key in the front door made her throat tighten. She needed to speak with him about his connection with Victor and anxiety besieged her. When he entered the kitchen, he found her leaning against the counter. When he graced her with a warm smile, she felt guilty and selfish for having spoken with an ex-lover behind his back. How could she even think about playing Victor’s game and betraying Nate? An unwelcome blush crept onto her cheeks at having lied about knowing Victor on the night they had told the world of their wedding plans. If he had done the same, she would not only be heartbroken, but furious

“What’s up with the pouty face?” Bending down, he lightly pressed his lips to hers and smiled against her mouth before withdrawing just as she attempted to wrap her arms around his neck.

An exasperated sigh fluttered past her lips at his coldness and standard detachment.

There was no point in putting off the question. “Why was Victor Laurenzo at the engagement party?”

Fearing her question would force her into a confession about her relationship with Victor, she prepared herself for a full admission and hugged herself for warmth and protection.

“I invited him.”

A heaviness centered in her chest at the casualness of Nate’s statement and the blank stare on his handsome face. As she stood silently trying to form her next question, he reached into the refrigerator for a beer.

“Why? You never told me you knew him…”

His shoulders lifted in a shrug as he popped the cap and brought the bottle to his lips. “We’re not good friends, just acquaintances, really. But it only seemed right to let him know about the engagement since technically he’s the reason we’re together.”

Stunned and sickened, Elsa’s hands dropped to her sides and she felt the blood drain from her face. “What do you mean?”

As if his statement and her question were no big deal, he tossed the bottle opener onto the counter and took a long drink before continuing. “He pointed me in your direction.”

Her shock quickly yielded to fury.

“I had a contract with the FBI at the time and so we talked on occasion about work and such. He’s the one who told me about your company. I was surprised you two acted as if you didn’t know each other considering he mentioned you by name as a contact. I guess we should be thanking him for…”

She only half listened to the rest of his statement as she struggled to maintain her calm. There would never be a thank you coming out of her mouth for anything Victor did.

“So even though he didn’t exactly set us up, he’s indirectly responsible for our being…”

Indirectly? What a crock of shit. Everything Victor did was methodically planned out and there was no way that what he did by sending Nate her way was anything but calculated. All along she had thought it was destiny that brought them together right at the exact moment she needed comfort; that it was a higher power watching out for her by bringing her someone to distract her from the mess that was her life when all along it was only sheer ignorance on her part for thinking that life worked in such divine and mysterious ways.

Victor, fucking, Laurenzo was the only power involved in making her life into what he thought it should be.

As Nate blathered on about the usual - his day, his experiences, his plans - the realization that playing Victor’s game again had always been her fate, sunk in. There would be no deliberating; there was no choice; her sentence for her own stupidity was to be Chapter Eight. Always.

A glazed look of despair began to spread over her face and her body became numb at the decision that was already forming on her lips.

*

A simple text from was the only communication between them. Right on time, three days later, she had sent him message stating when she would present herself. It had been a rough seventy-two hours waiting until she made her final decision, but in that time, she had formulated a plan. Things in her life were now irrevocably different after her decision to play the game again and there was no turning back. Nate would never know the reasons why she was doing what she was doing, and it was better that way.

Having her hand forced made her think long and hard about what she wanted to happen in her life. In a sense, this was a new step toward a, hopefully, brighter future, whether or not Victor or Mr. Black was involved. Neither of them was going to dim her light, no matter how hard they tried and she would never allow them to manipulate her outside life again.

Three days had passed and in that time, with each passing day, hour and minute, she had only become more resolute in her decision to take things with Victor to a whole other level. She could take whatever he could dole out, and then some. But could he do the same? Time would tell…

As she pulled into the driveway of Victor’s game pad, she moved quickly, knowing that he would be watching. She would show no hesitation or give him the slightest ounce of reason to believe that she was having second thoughts. She would prove just how strong she really was.

Pushing the last bits of hesitation aside, she stepped into the brownstone and closed the door behind her. Just inside the entrance, Victor was waiting.

“I wasn’t sure you would show up.”

Of course she would show up. He hadn’t given her any other choice. An outstretched hand took the bag from her shoulder and placed it on the floor behind him. Despite her having put on her best carefree face, panic rioted within her, but she stood before him, refusing to make eye contact. It wasn’t so much out of fright, but out of disgust; disgust with herself for having taken his bait and for him for having lured her back to East Grace Street with a threat and a promise.