Page 14 of Tristian (The Doherty Mafia)
“You should go to the kitchen with Isabelle. She’s my sister.”
Elsie didn’t move a muscle and I fought the temptation to take her in my arms. Was it possible this girl actually trusted me?
Isabelle already made her way to the kitchen while Elsie lingered behind.
“I’ll come get you in a bit, you’ll be fine,” I said.
As much as Elsie wanted me to believe she was strong and fully capable of taking care of herself, the truth was, she relied on me. She wanted me to protect her.
I didn’t know if I could. If I was ready to.
When I entered my father’s office, the others were still there.
“You brought her here?” Killian asked. It looked like none of them took me seriously when I said I would.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”
Killian and Nolan exchanged looks and I had a feeling I knew what was coming.
“Because we figured you’d want to keep her away from us,” Nolan said with a grin.
“What the fuck are you talking about? Why wouldn’t I bring her here? I want to figure out what to do with her. Just because she’s staying at my place doesn’t make her my sole responsibility.”
Aidan nodded while our father tapped a pen on his desk. He watched us squabble, but hadn’t chipped in with his two cents yet.
“You don’t have to get all defensive of her,” Colin cut in.
“I’m not being defensive! I’m just fuckin’ trying to do my job, maybe you should do yours.”
“Boys!” Dad finally interjected. We stopped snapping at each other and turned to him. He swung his head around to stare directly at me with his dark green eyes.
“So where is she? Why haven’t you brought her in here?”
Now that I had a chance to think about it—what I had to say wasn’t going to go down well with this crowd.
“She’s in the kitchen with Isabelle. I just wanted to come in here and make sure…you guys…cut her some slack.”
There was complete silence in the room for about sixty seconds. Then Aidan cleared his throat.
“You think we should trust her?” he asked.
“When you have no proof if she’s a spy working for Aldo fuckin’ Baron, or not,” Killian continued.
“I’m not telling you to trust her, I’m just reminding you she’s a girl who doesn’t belong to this world. All this is new to her. She’s…uncomfortable. A little scared.”
Colin clenched his jaws tightly while Nolan visibly squared his shoulders. I sensed my brothers were frustrated. And the truth was—they had every right to be. In our business, we were trained to never trust anyone at face value. And right now, all I had to go on was Elsie’s version of a story.
But before anyone else spoke up, it was Dad who broke the silence.
“You don’t have to remind us how to behave, son. We, as Dohertys, always treat women with respect when they deserve it. As of now, this girl hasn’t done anything to make us believe she doesn’t deserve our respect, so that’s what she’ll get.”
I nodded at him. Now that Dad had publicly stated how the rest of them were supposed to behave with Elsie, I knew I didn't have to worry.
I glared at Killian and Colin and walked out of the room.
The last thing I wanted was to be at loggerheads with my brothers over a chick. This had never happened before and I didn’t intend on letting it fester.
Either way, I just wanted to find out the truth about Elsie so we could all move on with our lives.
When I went to the kitchen to get Elsie, I saw her sitting with Isabelle at the table. They shared a sandwich from a single plate. All of a sudden, Elsie seemed at ease with my sister. That was the power of Isabelle, and I was glad I arranged for them to spend some time together. I wanted Elsie to feel better about herself and the place she was now in.
They looked up at me when I walked in.
“You need to come with me,” I said to her in my most ‘professional’ sounding voice. Elsie tried to hide the lump in her throat she gulped down.
“Where are you taking her?” Isabelle asked, sounding a little worried.
“To meet our brothers and father,” I answered.
Elsie walked over to me quietly and Isabelle stood up.
“You’ll be fine, just be yourself. I know that’s easier said than done, but the truth is, these guys are all big softies on the inside, as much as they try to keep up their tough exterior.” Isabelle grinned at me while I glared at her.
Elsie passed her a weak smile, but Isabelle’s encouraging words wouldn’t help her now. She was already too nervous for that.
We walked out of the kitchen together and Elsie stopped in her tracks in the hallway.
“What do they want to know?”
“Your story. Tell them what you told me. Tell them everything you know. They want to figure out if they can trust you.”
