Ready to hide

Patience is the key.

Magnus POV
Alec was standing next to me and we were both preparing dinner. Alec and I volunteered so Elliott didn't have to do it this time. After all, it was a pretty exciting day for him. You don't find your lost sister that no one knew about every day.

Joelle was sitting at the dining table with her phone in her hands. She appeared to be a difficult person, but there was nothing we couldn't handle. Even if she seemed bitchy, I hoped that we could show her that none of us wanted anything bad for her. We wanted to help her because she wasn't safe in this gang.

"Do you think she'll tell us anything about the gang?" I asked Alec softly so that she couldn't hear it. Alec was slicing the bread while I was cutting vegetables. I tried to do it as lovingly as Elliott always did. He shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, it seems critical." he answered. He was right. We didn't seem to be getting any information out of her. After all, she didn't even want to come with us at first, which confused me a lot. Didn't she want to be with her brother?

"I can hear you, idiots." Joelle pointed out to us. I looked at Alec and saw that one corner of his mouth quirked up, which was why I had to grin too. How charming, I thought. "When's dinner finally ready?" she sighed and at that moment I cut the last tomato.

"Patience is the key, sweetheart." I said friendly, and brought the plate to the table. Annoyed, she rolled her eyes and focused on her phone again. I called Celine, Elliott and Blake to the table when Alec brought the bread.

Everyone took a seat. Fortunately we still had a chair, otherwise one of us would have to eat on the sofa. Sure, that wouldn't be uncomfortable, but this person wouldn't be sitting with us. Everyone took a slice of bread and put on what they wanted.

"Do you do that every evening? You know, dinner?" Joelle asked confused, whereupon I nodded. I couldn't imagine it any other way by now. I mean, not everyone was always at the table because not everyone was always hungry but still.

"Yes, just like breakfast. Lunch is always conditional. Sometimes, but not always. Mostly Elliott prepares it, unless someone volunteers." I explained to her and still stayed friendly no matter what attitude she gave us all. There was no point in being rude to her, because she wouldn't want to stay that way.

"How cheesy." she murmured and bit off a bit. Cheesy? I wouldn't call it that. It was more of a routine. "I know why you brought me here. You want information about the gang, but you can forget that. I won't say anything." she let us know. Elliott frowned. He didn't seem to recognize his sister anymore.

"We didn't take you here to get information, we took you here because we wanted to protect you. You're my sister, do you think I'll just let you go back?" Elliott asked furiously. I could understand his feelings. I didn't know he had a sister, but I assumed she wasn't always like that.

"Listen, these people sent you to hurt us, didn't they?" Blake asked Joelle cautiously. She nodded hesitantly. "They told you we wouldn't hurt you, right?" he asked and she nodded again. "And these people didn't know Elliott was your brother, did they?" he wanted to know. Joelle frowned.

"No, they didn't know that. I didn't even know Elliott was in this gang, but what are you trying to tell me?" she asked confused. Now I understood all of this. I now understood the plan this gang had.

"They manipulated you. They sent you to death. They sent the youngest member of their gang because they thought we would hurt you because you attacked us. They wanted to send a message." Blake started to explain and that made sense for most of us. For everyone except Joelle.

"The one who runs this gang wanted to show that he has control over everyone in the gang. He will kill everyone if necessary to take revenge on us." Alec now ended. Joelle just seemed to swallow all this information. It was all crazy, and yet it was probably the truth. This person wanted revenge, and it didn't matter to that person how much blood would have to be shed.

"Listen, Joelle, these people don't care about you. They don't care what happens to you. Believe me, you're just one of many." Blake tried to explain carefully to Joelle. Blake seemed pretty sensitive and tried to explain this to Joelle as honestly as possible. She looked at Blake and it seemed like she had tears in her eyes.

"Liam said that he would protect me. Always and at all times." she said and when she said that there was silence at first. Alec looked at me and I looked at him because that was impossible. Liam. Liam Nolan.

"Liam, you mean Liam Nolan?" I asked and she nodded. "No this is impossible." I added what she couldn't really understand. Liam was dead. Alec had shot him, he was so sure about that.

"Yes, he wants revenge because he said you did something terrible to him and his family." she explained to us. Now she finally came out with the information. We did something terrible? Wasn't he the one who murdered so many people? "You destroyed his life." she blamed us.

"No we haven't!" Elliott said now. "He is responsible for the death or abuse of hundreds of people. We wanted to stop him, we wanted to help people. We murdered him because that was the only way." he explained to her a little upset. But she shook her head.

"Well, I don't know what you did, but you definitely didn't murder him. He looked pretty alive last night." she said in surprise. Alec leaned back and sighed. Fuck. That was probably wht everyone thought at that moment. That explained everything. That explained why this gang wanted revenge. But why after three years? Joelle picked up her phone and got up. "Can we please talk about this tomorrow? I just want to go to bed." she said convinced. She looked tired and exhausted, but where should she sleep? Everyone of us had their room.

"Yes, uh, take my room. I'll sleep on the sofa." Blake answered, which I personally found very nice of him. He pointed to his room. Blake wasn't always like that. This confirmed my theory that he was changing. She smiled at him. It was the first time that she ever smiled at anyone here.

"Thank you, Blake." she said with a charming smile that seemed very striking. Alec and I grinned at each other and Blake just nodded with a poker face. Joelle went into the room and Blake and Elliott started cleaning up.

Since Alec and I prepared food, we were now able to go to bed in peace. After we were both ready for bed, we dropped into bed. I snuggled up to Alec and he wrapped his arms around me.

"I really thought I had killed Liam." Alec explained to me and I sighed. That was certainly not easy to understand and not even Joelle could give us the answers to this night. "I should have shot more often." he explained to me. I frowned and shook my head.

"Stop it, Alexander. It's not your fault." he said and he just shrugged his shoulders. I sat up and put my hand on his cheek. He looked at me. "We're gonna get through this. We always did, didn't we?" I asked, trying to convince him that everything would be fine. He smiled a little and nodded. I put my head back on his chest and closed my eyes. I wish it was all just a stupid dream, but it wasn't. This was reality.