Chapter 31:
Mari never wanted to leave the compound, but she didn't seem to have much of a choice. Elijah had, on more than one occasion, told her he would remove her himself if he had to. Before meeting the Mikaelson's, she was a timid girl and not much of a fighter.
Even though she had been that way almost all of her life, it felt somehow wrong of her to walk away from the two men she loved most without fighting at least a little to stay. Then again, it wasn't smart to pick a fight with Elijah and Freya, the two people who wanted her gone the most.
She entered the apartment, taking note of all of the boxes that had arrived before her. Elijah spared no expense when he had everything shipped to her new place, the place he purchased for her. Some of the boxes contained clothes that didn't belong to her before. The price tags had been removed, but Mari knew they had to be expensive.
It was nice of him to send her away so well, but no amount of new clothes or fancy furniture was going to fill the void left in her heart. She loved them, even if it was wrong, even if it was dangerous. Nothing could change that.
Her cellphone rang in her purse, so she quickly dug it out. The moment she had been dreading for some time had finally arrived. Klaus' name lit up her screen.
Mari fought back tears as she clicked the button on the side to silence her phone. He wouldn't give up easily regardless, but if she actually spoke to him, it would be all the more difficult to get him to let her go. Klaus was ridiculously stubborn when his mind was set on something. Elijah warned her before she left not to answer his calls, no matter how many there were.
She sniffed back the tears that threatened to fall, then ventured further into the apartment with her suitcase to begin unpacking. Mari needed to do something, anything, to distract herself from the harsh reality of the situation. It hadn't quite hit her yet that she was never supposed to see them again, and she wasn't ready for it to hit.
"Tell me where she is, Elijah, or so help me-"
"You'll what? Leave me daggered in a coffin for another century?" Elijah raised a brow at Klaus, looking across his desk at him. He leaned back in his chair. "Believe it or not, I have your best interest in mind. Mari is causing more trouble than she's worth."
"Speak of her with such disdain again, and I'll rip out your tongue," Klaus growled angrily, slamming his hands down on Elijah's desk. Of course, Elijah knew Klaus how no intentions of harming him. He was upset, desperate even. That was all.
"Please, Niklaus, try to understand that your family is more important than some perishable human woman," Elijah frowned. "When she is long dead and buried, it is only your family you will left. Kol is a part of that family, and I will not have you two ripping each other to shreds over some girl."
"Some girl?" Klaus almost snarled.
"Yes, Niklaus. A girl. I know she's a young, pretty thing, but she is just a girl. There will be many more for you to conquer in the future, I can assure you. Lost love is painful, but it is something you always have and always will recover from." Elijah stood up from his desk chair and straightened his tie. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some calls to make."
As soon as he was gone, Klaus stormed up the stairs to the bedroom Mari had been staying in. As he expected, Kol was already there, yanking open every drawer and ripping out every paper in hopes of finding something, anything, that might tell them where she went.
"There's nothing," Kol groaned in frustration, tearing a drawer from its brackets and throwing it across the room. It shattered and splintered into wooden pieces against the wall. "How dare he send her away against her will! How dare he take her from us."
"We'll find her, brother. Elijah thinks she is some thing to easily replace, but he's wrong." Klaus walked over to Kol, grabbing his younger brother by the shoulder to halt him. "Listen, brother. When we find her, and we bring her home, we must prove to Elijah that we can handle this situation with her. We cannot fight anymore. I fear what he may do if he feels he has no other choice."
"Elijah wouldn't kill Mari," Kol grimaced. "He isn't a monster."
"We're all monsters, Kol," Klaus argued back. "Every last one of us. If he deems her a threat to this family, there is no telling what he may do. We cannot make this mistake again. We will find her, and we will keep her close, but we cannot fight again. Not over her."
"Fine. First, we must find her."
"Someone else must know where she's gone. Elijah probably paid for a place, or at least paid for a bus ticket or plane ticket. There should be financial records somewhere that might point us in her direction," Klaus noted, dropping his hand from Kol's shoulder.
"Shall I raid his desk then?"
"Perhaps that is the best place to start," Klaus nodded. "I'll see if I can press his cellular provider for records of any calls he made to real estate agents or moving companies."
"Call me if you find anything of use," Kol told him, then vanished from sight.
Mari let out a little grunt of annoyance as she struggled to lift the television onto the stand. All of the furniture, excluding her bedroom set, had been sent by Elijah. Unfortunately, she was left alone to rearrange and set it all up.
She was a petite woman, with very little muscle mass to put to use. Mari was undoubtedly struggling, as she had been all day, but like most things, she managed to get it done. Once the television was on the stand, she began to plug it all in.
It wasn't a bad life that had been given to her. If she hadn't been forced to give up the loves of her life, then it would be the perfect life. Once everything was ready, and she was sure she was safe and really alone, she planned to bring her brother to the apartment, too. Elijah had purchased a two bedroom, two bath apartment for that reason.
The thought of having her little brother with her, safe and happy, made things a little bit easier to deal with. Mari knew the universe was not kind enough to let her have her cake and eat it, too. She would always have to settle with one happy thing or another.
In this case, she finally had the means and freedom to help herself and her brother, but she lost two of the most important people in her life. She lost the men she loved.
She was just about to cry and break down in frustration when there was a knock at her door.
Mari was more afraid than anything. No one should know where she was, except for Elijah and Freya. Neither of them had any reason to drive out there to see her, so it couldn't have been them. Besides, Elijah would have called first.
She timidly made her way to the front door, wishing she was more capable of defending herself than she really was. Mari stood on her toes to look out through the peephole in hopes of seeing who was out there.
Her heart began to thud rapidly in fear when she saw him.
"You can't be here," she called through the door, keeping the lock in place, not that it would stop him. Her only saving grace was that they had to be invited it.
"Mari, darling, we've searched for you all bloody day," Kol huffed back at her. "Just open the door and invite us in."
"Elijah told me-"
"I don't give a damn what Elijah said," Klaus' voice reached her next. "Open the bloody door, or I'm going to kick it in."
Mari stepped to the side quickly and yanked the door open. She stayed on her side of the threshold, where they couldn't reach her. Her glasses made her already wide eyes look bigger as she looked out at them.
"Please don't make this harder than it already is," she whined. "Elijah made me promise I wouldn't speak to either of you, and that I wouldn't go back with you."
"Mari, he cannot stop us from seeing you," Kol tried to reassure her. "Nothing on this godforsaken planet could keep us from you."
"I promised..."
"To hell with your promise," Klaus shook his head. "We made no such promise. You can tell us to leave all you'd like, but it isn't going to happen. You're our darling Marigold, our precious flower. We aren't letting you go that easily."
Mari hesitated. Elijah would be furious if she let them in, but her heart begged her to say the words. She needed them, wanted them. Their sweet words only made it worse. She sucked in a deep breath, then threw caution to the wind with two little words.
"Come in."
A/N: Whoa it's been a long time. I hit a bit of a rough patch lol, which honestly I'm still in. Sometimes the universe just likes to make people suffer. But it's getting better, slowly. I started college again, which sucks, but hey summer is coming up soon, and I can write a lot more :)
I'm sorry if this chapter isn't great, but I gotta get back into the flow of the story :) I wanna update more often now. I missed you guys! Anyways, if you're still reading, thank you, and I'm so sorry. Look forward to more soon!
Also, sorry for any typos! I'm still writing on my phone :(