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I knew he was, he had to be.
I needed him to be good.
Because he was good for me.
“No, he's not! He’s a Gioti, and you’re an Agnelli. There's no good men in that family. No one cared about your mother like we did. No one cared about you! Where the hell were they when Maria was killed? Pounding on your door and asking you to come live with them? I don't think so. We were there for you. We saved you. And don't you forget it.”
“I won't, ever. But I really think we have it wrong. If he did kill my father, there had to be some deeper reason.”
“You care about him, don’t you?”
I shook my head, “No.”
“Then do your fucking job Vienna. Call me when you have the information I want.”
It seemed simple to Roberto. But it wasn't to me. I was stuck between two lives. He wasn't there that night. He didn't hear my mother's screams. He didn’t see her blood stained face. He just saw her lifeless body in the casket. I remembered thinking it looked like she was sleeping. I remembered Roberto, my uncle, crying over her, while I knew that after that night, I would never be the same.
He also wasn’t falling in love with a killer. I wanted to trust Luka so much. It was why I ran, I couldn’t handle both.
“I'll be in touch,” I said. Roberto scared the hell out of me. I had to continue to play my part for him. Even though I didn’t want to live a double life anymore. I just wanted to start over. Even though I needed to know the truth.
I could hear him smiling on the other end of the line. “Of course you will.” Sick bastard.
I took one last look at my apartment and pulled the door shut behind me. I locked the door and took the keys down to the front office. No one was inside, so I put them in an envelope and tucked them in the mail slot. They could try to find me for the rent, but I doubt that they would. It wasn't that type of place. I clutched my duffel bag next to me and got into the cab.
“Where to next?”
I opened up my wallet and looked at the wad of hundreds I had in there from Luka. “Fourth and Pine, the apartment complex on the corner, and I’ll pay you an extra fifty to never tell anyone I was in this cab, that good?”
He sped off in the direction of Leah’s apartment and I looked out the window, rolling th
e locket between my fingers. I wished my mother was here. Maybe she could tell me what to do.
12
Vienna
Days passed, and as I was standing next to the window with my fingers curled around the curtain peering out I heard Leah come up behind me. That window had become my post, I spent most days standing there looking, waiting. Trying to breathe through my terror. I tried not to spin around as fast as I had been, she had already commented twice on how jumpy I was, but what she didn't know was that the mob was probably after me. Either Luka was looking for me, or my own uncle was seeking me out, either way at any moment someone would come take me away from this place. I slowly turned around cognizant of her eyes on me. She set two mugs of tea on the coffee table and beckoned me to sit down with her. I sat down on the worn brown leather sofa, she told me a friend had given it to her last year when they upgraded to new furniture. I could tell that she was hard up, I bought groceries a couple times since I'd been there and offered to pay a few bills with what I had left from Luka. Besides the groceries, she wouldn't hear of it. She knew I wasn't working, and I think part of her knew that I was on the run from something more sinister than an old flame.
“Vienna, you have to tell me what's going on. You can't live like this! It's just not healthy.” I looked into her trusting brown eyes and I knew that she was trying to be honest with me. She didn't want to see me get hurt. How could I tell her that I had done this myself? That I knowingly put myself into danger in the form of attempting to set up a mob boss’s son? I no idea what I was going to do.
“I was involved with someone. But I shouldn't have been, he’s dangerous. He doesn’t come from a good family. But then again neither do I.” I took a sip of my tea and I heard a car door slam. Immediately I felt like my skin set on fire as I lifted my eyes to peek out the window again.
“A family? Like the mob?”
I chewed on my lower lip while I nodded slowly. I set the mug back down on the coffee table. “Yes. I come from a mob family, and so does the guy that I was involved with. And I shouldn't have been. It was dangerous. But I couldn't help myself.”
“You never can with the bad boys. Part of the attraction. But you’re away from him now, so what's holding you back from moving on? Maybe even go back to Jersey?”
I shook my head. “The only reason I'm here is because my uncle sent me. If I come back empty-handed, I don't know what he'll do to me.” Far worse than what would've happened to me had I stayed with Luka, that was for sure.
“Okay, so what's the plan? I mean you can stay here as long as you like, don't think is this is about you leaving. I just hate to see you like this, so nervous all the time. You used to be so full of life Vienna, I just don't want to see you hurt.”
“I know, I know. Your heart is in the right place. I just need a little bit more time to figure all of this out. Maybe a couple weeks? I promise things will get better the longer I'm away.”
That was a lie. I knew it as soon as it escaped my lips. But she smiled in a comforting way and for a moment I tried to believe it.
A couple weeks later Leah was standing in the kitchen dictating a grocery list to me. I hadn't been out of the house since I moved in here. Anytime she needed anything I just gave her money, but I hadn't actually done any shopping myself. But today I was going to break out of this invisible prison I had built for myself. I was going to the grocery store, and that was a big step. I was going to go out and mingle with society. And I hoped to nothing happened to me because of it.
