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Natalie
* * *
We don’t talk about it much on the way home. He drops me off at my house and I wait to see if he’s going to talk to me but he doesn’t say a word. He just kisses my cheek and then gets in his car and drives away.
I head inside. Eileen is back from the hospital, waiting up to hear how my evening went. I collapse on the couch next to her. “Jasmine all right?” I ask.
“Fast asleep.”
There’s a knock on the front door. I jump up and head over to it, pulling it open to find Angelo standing there. “Listen,” he says. “I know you might not believe me but I don’t think Winnie or Luigi are dead. Just thought you deserved to know that.”
“And you know this how?”
“I know my father. He’s not the type to kill for no reason.”
“Which means he would kill if there was a reason?”
“No, that’s not what I’m trying to say.”
“What are you trying to say, Angelo?”
“I’m saying that I think he’s testing me but I’m not sure. I have to go to the bank tomorrow morning with the box. He wants Flavio to supervise me taking out the contents of the vault. Says if I don’t take it all back to him, we’re all dead. Flavio’s got instructions to shoot me if I try anything.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Go to the bank with the box. What else can I do?”
I examine him closely. “There’s something you’re not telling me. What is it?”
“You’ll see tomorrow. I should go. Let you get some rest.”
“You think I’m going to get any sleep knowing you might die tomorrow?”
“I won’t die.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I know what I’m doing.” He pauses. “I think.”
“You think?”
He reaches into his pocket and brings out the box. “I won’t need this.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Keep hold of it. I don’t show up here by ten tomorrow, you toss the thing in the trash, lock the door and wait it out until the vault burns. After that, no one will come after you. They’ll be too busy fighting about who’s fault it was no one won.”
He turns and starts walking back to his car. “Hold on a second,” I say to him. “Am I just supposed to trust you?”
“You got a choice?”
He gets in and drives off, leaving me to look down at the box and wonder what the hell is going on.
Eventually, I go back inside. Eileen is waiting for me. “What happened?” she asks.
“I’m not sure but I got the box back.”
“Did he tell you how to use it?”
