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"Oh well, what is it then?"
"My stuff," he shrugged.
"Your stuff?"
"Yeah."
I hesitated a little before replying.
"Okay. Clean up or something?" I was about to enter my room when he replied.
"I'll be leaving, Sienna. Today. Now, even."
I stopped dead in my tracks.
"Why?" I turned around and looked at him. He looked all but happy.
"Transfer. Alessandro says there's business in east Manhattan I have to..."
My scoff interrupted him.
"So it's Alessandro." Even though I could tell it wasn't his doing I couldn't help but feel the same hopelessness I did the day Alessandro told me to leave. I felt like it was, at the end of the day, my fault that he was leaving. It was a problem for me.
... the poor gambling drunk.
I couldn't help the tears that welled up in my eyes and I let them stream freely down my face. I couldn't see his face properly because of the tears that blurred my vision, but he approached me and put his arm on my shoulder and even that, he did with hesitation.
"Come on, Sienna. It really can't be that bad. There are a lot of staff here that are really friendly. I can tell..." He started to say, but I cut him off with a big bear hug. I guessed he wasn't allowed to do this, and Alessandro was probably watching him, but since I was the one that made contact first, it wouldn't be his fault. I pulled back almost immediately, fearing he'd push me off himself. And looked straight at him. He wasn't as tall as Alessandro, but he was still a little taller than me. He gave me a reassuring smile and stroked my cheeks, removing hair stuck on my teary face.
"You know, I don't know why Alessandro is doing this, but one thing is certain. He's not doing it to punish you."
"Then why is he doing this? Why is he torturing me?" I sobbed.
"Beats me," he shrugged again. "I have to get going now. Don't want to get to Manhattan with a bullet hole in my leg, yeah?"
Something about the way he said it made me understand that it wasn't a joke, even though he gave a little teehee after. I nodded and stepped back, watching him enter his room, knowing that was the last time I'd see him in a long time...if ever. I didn't want to say goodbye. It'd hurt too much. I went into my roomand crawled into the bed, clawing at the sheets, bringing them to myself hoping they'd give me some kind of comfort.
My first close friend within my age bracket since I left Jordan was being stripped off me like he was just another guy, but I made up my mind not to show my weakness to him. I wasn't going to give him the pleasure of seeing me give in to depression from loneliness.
Stay strong. If not for anyone, for yourself and your daughter.That was my mind talking...encouraging me in Ricardo's smooth lecturing voice.
Chapter 19
One thing was certain when I woke up the next day, I wasn't going to let Alessandro see me weak or cry.
As the sun rays penetrated my eyelids and forced them open to see my daughter sound asleep in her custom cot beside my bed, I repeated the vow almost saying it out loud, but deciding against it so as not to wake her up. I'd do that in the bathroom later.
Later came quickly and I now had a fully awake Artemis in front of the mirror making gurgling noises as I brushed her teeth. While doing my humanly best to prevent her from swallowing the toothpaste residue, I continued to mouth to myself over and over again, the words "I am strong. I will not let anyone use my weakness against me." And was seriously considering making this a daily wake up phrase.
First thing was first though. In driving home this ideology of not showing weakness, I would have to confront him. Otherwise, there's no way he'd know that what he was doing was actually getting to me. I'd confront him about it and look squeaky clean in the process, not giving off any sign of emotion.
Once I was done with Artemis, we both headed out of the room to the kitchen for some breakfast. We would've gone out to eat instead, but the only time Alessandro ever had his goons at the gate let us out was if we were going with an escort - Ricardo. There was literally no hope there and I didn't even bother trying. I settled for breakfast with Mrs. Ricci, and we had a splendid one, even though all I could think about was how to get back at her son for what he did to me. When I told her about Ricardo's relocation she only laughed and said something about Alessandro's jealousy acting up.
"Yeah, right. Jealous of my happiness," I mumbled to no one in particular.
"He envies it so, my dear. Not just yours but Ricardo's as well," she said.
"Well, no offense, but he's a prick!" I cursed.
