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“No, I’ve got my knife. And my fists. That's all I need.”
“You can dump him off at the docks, son. Our clean up crew can take care of it from there.”
“Pops, give the kid a chance, will ya?” But I knew he was right. I would find something on this kid. I’d end him in the end.
He put his hand on my shoulder. “It's good to have you back, my son. We missed you.”
Just then, my mother bustled toward us with a plate full of homemade spaghetti and meatballs. Exactly what I had expected. She sat down next to us at the table, and we didn't talk business anymore—it wasn’t allowed over family meals. It was as if our past conversation never happened. I just ate dinner and listened to my parents bicker like the old married couple they were.
It was moments like this that I felt like we were a normal family.
Sometimes, I even believed it.
9
Vienna
I turned my body to the side and reached for him. “Luka?” But as my hand felt the satiny sheets beneath my fingers, I didn't feel the warmness of his flesh. When he didn't reach out to touch me, I rolled over completely and found a handwritten note and a wad of cash. What the hell? I slammed my head back into the pillow and let out a frustrated groan. Jesus, he sure knew how to make a girl feel good. I wasn't some tramp he could just give money to. But then I read the note.
I want to see you when I get home.
I love you.
Luka
A love note? Maybe prison really had reformed him. The Luka I knew was the type to have sex and split, not really caring about the girl in his sheets. This note reminded me of what he said earlier. How he would protect me and keep me safe. About how this time was different, how we would be together. He promised not to make any decisions within the family that would hurt us. Nothing that would get him sent away again. And because I was stupid, I believed him.
But shit. How the hell was I supposed to complete my job now? I wasn’t supposed to fall for him. Roberto would kill me. I looked around me, I was lying in Luka’s bed. The man who may have killed my father. I couldn’t fall in love.
I shook my head in disgust. Did I really even want to do this job anymore? Given how I felt about Luka, how I always felt about him, I didn’t think that my heart would let me get the revenge I craved in the past. I knew I couldn’t pin all my anger on him anymore. Maybe I could stay and prove everyone wrong. Maybe Luka was innocent in all this.
Maybe I had been wrong.
I wanted to be.
But I couldn’t be sure. And that terrified me. So I did the only thing I could.
I ran.
I put on the clothes that I'd worn at the diner the day before. Luckily, it wasn’t a real uniform, just a black skirt and white blouse. My boss, as obnoxious as he was, deserved a phone call. I had overslept and missed my shift. I needed to get my job back, mostly I needed time. I had to create a new plan. This one had obviously failed. I fished my cell phone out of my back pocket and called the diner number.
“Jack? It's me, Vienna. Listen, I know I missed my shift today…”
“You don't have a job now because of it.”
“But I need this job. I’m really sorry. I mean it was only this once!”
He didn't even respond, and when I looked down at my phone, I realized he had already hung up.
Shit. That was the only real thing I had left. Everything else was a lie. My whole life here was fake. I lied to Luka when I told him that I was making something out of my life. The truth was, I was barely making it. I hardly had an apartment to go back to. Just some little studio spot that I found on Craigslist. But there were a few things there from my past. Things I needed, pieces of my life that I couldn’t just abandon.
My brain was spinning. I had to leave. I had to get out of this apartment and figure out what I would do next. I needed to call Roberto.
And there was Leah. I had to call her and explain what was going on, that I had lost my job. She had always been there for me.
I grabbed the rest of my things, which wasn’t much, and was about to dial a cab company when I realized I had no idea where I actually was. I opened up the maps app on my phone and was luckily able to figure out the address fairly easily. I called a cab company next, and they told me that it would only be about fifteen minutes before they showed up.
I sat down on the bed, and for the first time since we came in, I actually looked around and took in my surroundings. Luka had captivated all my thoughts from the moment I entered his car.
