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DAHLIA
Hector and his men take me to a warehouse on the far side of Queens, filled with old costumes and set decorations, plunking me down unceremoniously in a chair. “What’s going on?” I yell. I can already feel my stomach bottoming out at the thought that he might actually be the bad guy here. “Are you behind all this? When I nearly got shot and killed on your stage, was that you?!”
“Yes, that was almost very unfortunate,” he says without much concern. “But in my defense, the bullet wasn’t meant for you. I suppose you’re lucky that your new admirer gave you that Kevlar bodice. I assume it was Vari. Smart guy, protecting what’s his. I give him credit for that, anyway.”
“You killed our main actor,” I say. My breathing feels ragged as I speak the words aloud and let the terrible truth settle in. “You meant to kill him with the bullet, and when that didn’t work, you killed him with the drugs.”
“Pretty brilliant, right?” Hector boasts. “Granted, I hadn’t meant for it to be so tedious or messy. But it worked out in the end. I even planted Vari’s drugs to make it seem like he was responsible.”
“Why are you doing this?” I ask again. “I thought you just wanted to direct wonderful plays. Why are you killing and kidnapping people? Are you part of the mafia too?”
“Oh,Jesusno,” he laughs. “I’d rather kill myself than be a part of those bunch of self-entitled mongrels. I’m so sick and tired of the mafia getting in my way—bunch of arrogant Italian pricks. Thosecaposjust like your loverboy are all the same. I’d see them all buried six feet under if I had my way.”
I try to think back on what my mother always said regarding enemies of the mafia. She told me all sorts of stories, and at the time I always just thought she told them so she could half-scare me to death, which had never worked up until now.
“Your part of the Irish Mob, then?” I ask, remembering it’s one of the mafia’s greatest rivals.
“Nah, the Irish Mob isn’t any better than the mafia. I left them when I became disgruntled with their rather closed-mindedness about my relationship with my boyfriend.”
“So, you’re not affiliated with anyone then?” I ask as I try to understand his motives. “You’re just killing people for fun? Or you had some sort of personal vendetta out against the actor? Did he sleep with your boyfriend or something?”
Hector bursts out laughing, and I’m unnerved by his manic behavior. His monologuing isn’t giving any solid answers and I still don’t know why he’s had me brought here. Maybe he wants to kill me too. “Murdering that actor was just a convenient way to set Vari up. Ever since he decided to involve himself so deeply in this production, it became easier to say that he supplied the star of the show with his deathly designer drugs. You see … I’m starting a new outfit!” he cackles, gesturing to the men around him. “I’m not the only one tired of the mob’s close-minded old-fashioned beliefs! I’ve been building a network of men ready to defect and claim allegiance to a more progressive group under my leadership.We’ll eventually run over both the Italian mafia and the Irish Mob to control the streets of New York ourselves. This play is simply step one in my larger plans. If I can bring the crimes of these groups to public light in such a big way that they can’t be ignored anymore, the RICO investigations will keep them so busy that I’ll be able to swoop right in and take over their drug territories. And once the money flow changes from them to me, everything else will be easy.”
“I don’t understand what I’m doing here, then,” I say as I try not to sound frightened.
“It’s unfortunate you’ve gotten caught up in all of this, Dahlia,” he says. “Please know it wasn’t my intention to involve you initially. But you’ve become somewhat aligned as Vari’s pet, and that makes you both an asset and a liability.”
“I’m no one’s pet,” I say defiantly.
Hector sighs. “Regardless, you’ve seen too much of everything now, and you know much more than you should. Sadly, that means you need to be disposed of.”
“What? You can’t be serious. I haven’t even done anything wrong!” I scream. “And Vari hasn’t even told me anything at all!”
“Perhaps not, but I just did,” Hector says as he pulls a gun out of his pocket.
“No, please, please,” I start to beg as I think about my mom and how disappointed she would be in me for having found myself in this mess. “I promise I won’t say anything to anyone. You have my word!”
“Don’t take it personally,” Hector sneers. “You really were quite a good actress. It’s a shame you have to go out this way. But I need to send a message to your boyfriend and that makes you more worthwhile dead than alive to me.”
I close my eyes when he raises the gun to my head, out of nothing but sheer terror alone. At least I’ll die knowing that someone thinks Vari is my boyfriend, for whatever small consolation that’s worth. I only wish I’d heard that same sentiment from Vari’s lips himself. Now I’ll never know how he truly feels about me.
But the loud noise that comes next isn’t a gunshot, it’s the sound of the door being thrown open against its hinge. I open my eyes and am overjoyed to see Vari bursting into the room. He looks like a wild bear, rabid and furious, ready to take back what’s his. But the momentum and adrenaline of his initial entry fades quickly when I see that he’s alone, outnumbered and overpowered.
Hector’s initial surprise fades when he and his other men call for backup and the room is suddenly swarmed with Hector’s henchmen. Vari, though, doesn’t look at all surprised by the trap he’s just walked into. In fact, it looks as if he had expected things to go down just as they have. And my heart sinks when a look of defeat crosses Vari’s eyes. “I offer myself in exchange for her,” he says as he stands in the center of the room unarmed and surrounded.
“What?” I ask in dismay. “No!”
Vari ignores me and speaks directly to Hector. “Let Dahlia go, and you can have me instead.”
Hector laughs and it sends a chill up my spine.
“What makes you think that I need to let either of you go?” he snarls. “You walked into my building and are outnumbered by my men. I’ll simply kill you both and be done with all the things standing in my way and causing me a headache.”
“That wouldn’t be wise,” Vari hisses at him. “Do you honestly think I’d come here all alone? My entireborgatais surrounding this building and ready to launch a full-scale attack if Dahlia isn’t sent out within the hour.” He has a great poker face. So great that no one else can tell he’s lying but me.
Hector walks over to the window and looks outside at the ground. “I don’t see anyone out there.”
Vari taunts with a smirk. “Maybe my men are a lot better at keeping to the shadows than your motley crew.”
