Taken and Misused.

[Stephen’s Point Of View]

I approached Vaughn’s house, slipping the keys to my car into my coat pocket after I locked it. The snow that had been hovering over New York, never reaching the ground, had begun to form a small layer on the concrete. It looked like a light haze had fallen over every surface. A beautiful scenery to conflict with my troubled mood. I had come to see what my father had asked of Vaughn and what Vaughn had done to manage to get out alive.

Pausing before I knocked on the metal door that led into what I assumed was once a warehouse, I thought over the last conversation we had had in Las Vegas. I had told the authorities about his illegal street racing and the stolen parts he had, this was back when he used to steal cars and sell them part by part to make money. Vaughn had called me a backstabber because at that time we had actually been good friends, brought together by dance. But he knew I had told the authorities about him so he would finally leave Las Vegas. The black market boss in Las Vegas had always taken favor to me because I was the son of the New York boss; he told me the plans he had for Vaughn after a deal had gone bad between them. Vaughn didn’t listen to the death threats; he didn’t even leave when gun shots were fired into his apartment. Not even when I warned him would he leave. Calling the police was the only thing I knew would make him run, and it had cost me his friendship.

I checked my watch to see it was eight o’clock and I pondered for a moment about whether or not he might be asleep. I knocked anyways, on the third knock the door opened and there stood Vaughn in a white button up shirt and black jeans, his expression changed to pure hatred when he saw me standing there.

Before I could even get one word out Vaughn pulled his fist back and slammed it into the side of my face, which was something I had not expected at all. I clutched the side of my face, moving my jaw around to decrease the sudden throbbing. He had really put a lot behind that punch. My eyes were wide when I brought them back to meet Vaughn’s, his were narrowed slits of silver.

“Nice to see you too” I muttered, still rubbing my jaw.

“Your pops got another death threat to press on another person I love?” he spat at me, each word laced with venom and hate. He was still standing in the door way, his fists clenched like he wanted to hit me again.

“I have no idea what my father wants from you, may I come in?” I asked, keeping my voice level. It hurt to see him so mad at me, especially when everything that made Vaughn angry with me was caused by my father’s business.

Vaughn seemed to think for a moment, I noticed Glory come up behind Vaughn to see what was going on. I held Vaughn’s gaze for nearly three minutes before he finally turned around and gestured for me to follow. As I closed the door behind me I noticed Aleksander leaning against the wire fence across the street, even from this far away I could see the smirk on his face. I knew the little tattle-tale would go tell my father, one minute you thought he was on your side, the next he went and told everything you had told him to someone else. I shut the door and followed Vaughn into his kitchen. If my father had been considering questioning my loyalty before, he would definitely be questioning it now.

“Why are you here if you don’t know anything?” Vaughn asked, his temper seeming to simmer down. He grabbed a coffee mug and poured a cup of black coffee and turned to face me.

I leaned against the wall opposite him, crossing my arms as I thought over my words. “Believe it or not Vaughn, but I’m not your enemy, nor have I ever been your enemy” I said, earning a snort from him. “I want to help you out of this mess-”

“Why? You’re his son, aren’t you supposed to follow along in daddy’s footsteps?” Vaughn snapped, his temper spiking again. The pent up anger inside of him was nearly touchable, but I kept my calm, getting angry with him when he was like this never spelled well.

“I do not want to hurt people, I never have.”

“Well, it sure as hell hurt when you nearly got me arrested in Las Vegas, when I thought we were friends” Vaughn said, finishing his coffee.

“ I called the cops on you in Las Vegas so that you would take your team and leave, the boss there was contemplating how he should kill you at that time. As your friend I could not stand to see what he spoke of carried out but you would not see sense Vaughn. I did what I did as a friend. Not to hurt you” I said, clenching my jaw in an effort not to yell the words at him.

“Still, you’re his son” Vaughn muttered, saying the word ‘his’ like it was some curse word. But I could see the anger begin to really leave his expression, a flicker of understanding lighting up for a moment.

“What did he want from you?” I asked, ignoring his comment.

Vaughn sighed, tugging his hand through his messy hair in a habit I had seen so often as one of frustration. “He said he’d give me the chance to pay of double my debt in one month, and invited me and Elisabeth to some event thing” Vaughn said, and I could tell he didn’t think my father would let him off the hook just like that.

“I thought Marco made the deal?”

“Yeah well, I took responsibility and Marco and the rest of them aren’t in town anymore so, no use in going after them” Vaughn said the words with a wry grin on his face, I had a feeling Vaughn had told them to leave, but I had no clue what lie could have gotten his friends to leave so quickly. If they had known what kind of trouble Vaughn was in they would have stayed no matter what.

“And why must Elisabeth come?” I asked, slightly more concerned now. I cared for her, I didn’t want her getting dragged into a ball room full of contract killers, mafia bosses, and other shady business men.

“Well, it sounded like I either take Elisabeth, they get you to take her, or they bring her themselves”

“And why don’t you just take her and leave?”

“Your dad gave me a personal babysitter outside and I can’t uproot her from her life here” he said, sounding more and more depressed with each word.

“Well you’re going to have to take her away from here, I don’t want to see Elisabeth get hurt because of this deal” I said, sitting down by the little table that sat in the center of his kitchen. Vaughn poured another cup of coffee and sat across from me.

“I want her to stay unhurt too Stephen” he said, staring into his mug. Glory started barking at the television screen, it was on but I couldn’t see what had sent the dog into a barking fit. “Glory, be quiet!” Vaughn said, raising his voice so he could be heard over the barking. Glory settled back on the couch and made a humph noise, staring at Vaughn. “He barks at anything that resembles a dog on TV” Vaughn muttered, turning back to me.

“A distraction” I breathed, a plan rushing into my mind as I replayed how much Glory’s barking had diverted Vaughn’s attention from me so quickly.

“What?” Vaughn asked, obviously confused.

“I have a plan that will help you and Elisabeth” I said, confident in my words.

"Is this some type of rebellion against your parental figure?" Vaughn asked, smirking even though I could see inside he was still a burning man. Distressed about putting Elisabeth in danger, scared about going to the event, and confused about everything.

"I've never really thought of him as family so I wouldn't call it rebelling against my parent" I said, folding my arms on the table.

“And how do I know for sure I can trust you?” Vaughn asked, crossing his arms over his chest”

“Because I want Elisabeth safe and sound just as much as you do”

“So I don’t matter?” Vaughn asked, raising an eyebrow.

I grinned at him, “Would you believe me if I said you do?”

“It’ll take more than an explanation to get me to forget what happened in Las Vegas, but as of now…” Vaughn held his hand out to me, “I guess we can call a truce” he said and shook my hand.