by Drew D'Amato
“I trust that if you were happy, you would not look for someone else. But you are not happy, and many women look for someone new when they are not happy. It’s not a character flaw. You’re just a young woman looking for love. Now, if you were happy, then it would be a different story.”
“You’re not afraid I would do the same to you?”
“No, because I would keep you happy.”
Jasmine looked into his eyes and felt a warm tingle. She believed him. Without much thought she started to move toward him for the kiss.
She pulled back, she wanted more but guilt started to eat at her like a cold wind, numbing her body.
“I got to go,” she said as she made her way out of the car.
“Jasmine, wait, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not you. I’ll call you.” She fumbled with the door handle and avoided looking at him. She got herself out of the car. “I just can’t go any further.”
As she walked away Vlad felt upset, but then he finished her last sentence in his head. There was one word she didn’t say but he knew she thought it. She almost ended her last sentence with a, yet.
6
Vlad made the long trip home, his nerves eating into his body. Shit, I moved too fast. It had been ages since he made the move for a first kiss on anyone. He had ignored all the delicate intracies that went along with it. He had the power of mind control, and that made everything a lot easier. He wouldn’t use his tricks on her for his first kiss, then it would mean nothing. His nerves, anxiety, and excitement got the best of him. He thought he saw an opening and so he went for it.
But it was too soon. He moved too fast, he knew she had told him she didn’t want to cheat, the time wasn’t right, it wasn’t smooth. Goddamnit. Vlad had observed human beings for centuries even when they might not know they were being watched, whether at a bar, in the park, or just walking down the street. He knew that if a guy blew his chance at the first kiss he probably wouldn’t get a chance for a second.
He had also known another truth about life but that truth did not run through his head during his neurotic ride home. If it did, he might have felt better on his way home.
He had known for years that fate cannot be deterred.
7
Jasmine walked into her house but only to wait for Vlad to leave. She hoped he wouldn’t get out of the car, hoped he wouldn’t try anything more. He didn’t. He left feeling defeated. She wasn’t as upset with him as he had perceived. She did tell him she didn’t cheat—did he think that was a lie, was he looking to just sleep with her? She didn’t think that, she thought his intentions were genuine but still…he came on too strong. She had believed him, but maybe she just wanted to believe him. She wasn’t ready for this, but that didn’t mean she didn’t feel anything with him. It didn’t mean she didn’t want to. But how could she question the integrity of her boyfriend then do something herself behind his back.
Kevin.
The guilt was stinging her body like she had fallen on snow naked. She had to see Kevin, not to tell him what she had done—almost done—but just to see him. She had never cheated before or she might have known this was a natural response of guilty cheaters. On top of starting meaningless fights, and slowing down the sex, they also want to make it up to their partner somehow. Buy them gifts, take them out, something to feel like they were making things right. Jasmine felt this way now.
She grabbed her car keys off the kitchen table and went to her car.
8
Jasmine waited in Kevin’s parking lot. He had his own condo but only had one spot. His car wasn’t there. Out working, just like he said he was. She had to find a visitor spot and that was another row behind. She wasn’t going to text him or call him. She wanted to surprise him. So she waited for two hours, but did not leave. She owed this to him, she screwed up, not him. He was a good guy, and maybe he was distant and didn’t put as much effort in because of the abstinence. Maybe he would change if he got some, some sign that she was worth more effort? Three years had been a long time, and he still did propose without ever sleeping with her.
It was an impulsive decision, under not the clearest of circumstances, but she had decided tonight would be the night. If she was really going to judge this relationship, to evaluate Kevin as a boyfriend, she had to see if he would give her all of him, if she gave him all of her. She felt this was the right decision.
Then he came home, but not alone.
A drunk blonde slithered out of his passenger door. The two giggled as he fumbled with his keys at the door and then they started making out. Right there in front of her. Her guilt fell out, as though floodgates had been opened, and now it was all gone. What replaced it was rage.
Kevin had the door open and a hand on the light switch when he heard, “KEVIN!”
He turned to find his girlfriend storming toward him and his fling for the night. He had figured this would happen at some point. He had planned that when it did, he would turn the tables on her. Use how he had gone three long years without sex, it was too much, it wasn’t normal. These girls meant nothing, but he couldn’t be celibate. Guilt her into feeling it was her fault for not putting out. He thought he would come out righteous, that he had a point, but when he saw the rage in her eyes he knew none of that bullshit would work. She wasn’t like his mother. She would not approve of his infidelity because she would be better off with him than without him.
“Jas, have you been spying on me?”
“No, I trusted you, what a fucking mistake that was.”
“Jas, I…” he turned to the other girl, Kelly, who was trying to hide in her own shadow. She knew Kevin had a girlfriend, but she didn’t care. He was a senator’s son.
“Maybe I should go, I can call for a ride,” she said.
“Shut up bitch, you might as well fuck him now because we’re through,” Jasmine said.
“Jasmine what are you talking about?” Kevin said.
“What do you think would happen? You’re cheating on me! You think I will stay with you, that I would still marry you? You know why I’m here, it wasn’t to spy on you. I came here to surprise you.”
“Surprise me with what?”
“I was going to sleep with you.”
The realization of what he had just lost dawned on him like a punch to the face.
“Jas, why do you think I do this? I need sex.” He tried his planned excuse.
“Don’t give me that shit, you are just like your fucking father. If sex was so important to you then in the beginning when I told you what my feelings were, you should have stopped dating me then. Even if we were sleeping together, I’m sure this slut would still be here now.”
“Hey!” Kelly tried to argue.
“Shut up,” Jasmine and Kevin both said.
“We are over,” Jasmine said. “Through! Find another potentional senator’s wife for you. I will not end up like your mother keeping quiet about her husband’s affairs. We are done.”
She turned, and stormed back to her car. He called for her. She didn’t turn back. She never wanted to see him again, and she never would.
Fate cannot be deterred.
TEN
1
Vlad had come home that night not wanting to be bothered by anyone. He had picked up a carton of Marlboros, didn’t see anyone when he cwame home—he figured they were out hunting—and locked himself in his room. He left notice on the kitchen table to only be disturbed for an emergency. His nerves were running over his body like stinging bugs. His heart felt like a knife had been stabbed through it. There is no worse feeling for a man then the knowledge of breaking your own heart. His actions had ruined this chance for him. He has had a tough time forgiving himself over the years, and this event was one of the hardest.
While his nerves ran and his thoughts raced, time had escaped him. Before he knew it the sun had started to rise. He took a ride to a convience store and bought a copy of the Los Angeles Times. There it was on the cover:
Mob Boss Mario Val
vino and Wife
Found Dead in Car at Tre Scalini
He waited until he was back in his office to read it. He had left the television on. The morning news played as he re-rentered, but he focused on the article. That story trumped the article about the attack on his house, which was now moved to the second page. The attack on his house was already starting to become old news, which was just what he wanted. The article on Valvino dealt mostly with just the details of the crime. The story about the attack on his house did mention how it was “rumored” that the Reynolds were behind screwing over some mobsters, Valvino being one of the marks. Vlad was happy with what he read in the paper. The chaos would ensue. The mob and the cops would be looking for answers. The truth would never be discovered, and Patrick’s life was not at risk.
The Valvino crime family wouldn’t care about some missing porn producers. They knew that connection was bullshit, no one in the family was at all ordered at any house in Santa Barbara two nights ago. They wouldn’t waste their time with the reporter asking where he got his information. It was crap, a dead end. He was just trying to sell papers and draw a connection between the two events that happened so close to each other. They wouldn’t waste their time with him. They were going to waste their time trying to figure out who killed their boss. Which family was it? Was it maybe one of their own? Controlled confusion, just what Vlad wanted.
Vlad looked up from his newspaper and caught the latest news that would soon sweep both these stories under the rug and have all of Southern California buzzing.
“Coming to our news desk this morning, rumors that California Republican Senator Martin Kern has been having extramarital affairs,” the female, brunette anchor said.
The stock images flashed of Senator Martin Kern giving speeches to the public, and him giving speeches on the Senate floor. Over the images of him the story continued.
“None of the information has been validated but specific dates have been given. January 11th 2011 to January 17th 2011, the senator was on a trip to Barbados with a mistress. June 14th 2011, a rendezvous with a younger assistant at a secluded restaurant, and on October 9th of this year a wife of a close friend of his spent the night in his hotel room while he was campaigning in Sacramento. The source of this information wanted to stay anonymous, but we have checked these dates with the Senator’s schedule. He had in fact been in all of these locations on the alleged dates. According to Delta airlines, the senator had purchased two tickets to Barbados in January of 2010. There is no information on who accompanied him on his trip. A spokesperson for the senator has refused to comment at this time. Whether these claims are accurate has yet to be answered, but there is no doubt these rumors will have an affect on the upcoming election for his Senate seat next Tuesday.”
Vlad knew soon enough one of these women would come forward for a chance at some easy cash, and once one did, the rest would follow. Why stay loyal to a losing horse? But who could have exposed this information? Jasmine. Right after the same night she almost cheated herself. The coincidence was too much to ignore. He had a reason to make contact with her now, even if she hated him. He texted her: Did you hear about your boyfriend’s father?
He texted her at 7:05, and got a response almost four hours later: Yes, I leaked the information. Sorry so late to respond, I gave the reading at church this morning.
He called her, this was too surprising. She picked up.
“Did this have something to do with me?” he asked her.
“Yes and no,” she answered. “After you left, I went to see Kevin. The guilt was hitting me hard. I wasn’t going to tell him that I almost cheated, but I needed to see him. When I got there though, he was out. I waited. Then he came home with some slut. He had been cheating on me all these years.”
Vlad was speechless.
“I left him. I don’t care. I can’t be with someone like that. I tried to tell myself he was right for me, but I knew in my heart he wasn’t. I’m so stupid.”
“Don’t hate yourself for trusting someone. That’s what makes you a good person. You did the right thing. Most women in your situation would have forgiven him and stayed.”
“Well I did more than just leave. When I got home and the pain of actually being cheated on became a reality and no longer a suspicion, the rage ran through me. What his poor mother must have put up with all of these years. I know she hated him, but she couldn’t be the one to bring her husband’s affairs to light. It would ruin the family and what mother could ruin her family? So I decided to do it for her. I told the press about each time I knew his father was having an affair. He’ll have to explain where he’d been. He won’t have an alibi for everything.
“I hope it all comes out. I hope she can walk away now and not feel any guilt for ruining him and his name, and still keep her dignity for walking out now that it has all come to light. If she stays then there is just no helping her.”
“I understand.”
“Look, I know this is my issue and not yours, but do you have any free time tonight? I want to talk to someone and everytime I try to tell my girlfriends they seem to think I made a mistake.”
“Why do they think that?”
“They think I threw away a good situation. They also have told me for the longest time that men need sex, and that I have should have given it up to him a while ago. They feel that my abstinence makes me somewhat responsible for what he did.”
“Did they say that?”
“No, but they always felt I was naïve, and if I wasn’t giving it to him, he would be getting it somewhere else. I don’t care, I don’t think anything justifies betrayal.”
“No, nothing does. But maybe to them true love isn’t that important. He just used the abstinence as his excuse, but he would have done it anyway even if you were sleeping with him. Some men are just wired that way.”
“Are you like that?”
“No.”
“It’s going to take more than that for me to believe you.”
“Well, if you give me the time I will prove it to you.”
“I’ll give you some time tonight. Are you free at all?”
“Yeah, how about around nine? Where do you want to go?”
“Your place. I’m sorry, I’m not really in a mood to go out and be social.”
“No that’s fine I live in Malibu though, if you—”
“I thought you lived in Santa Barbara?”
“I have two houses.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right, you’re rich.” Jasmine laughed. “Well I have a GPS, I just need the address.”
Vlad gave it to her and she told him she would be there at nine. Just when he thought everything was ruined, hope springs eternal.
2
Vlad walked downstairs with a big smile on his face. Jericho stood in the living room looking out the window keeping a watch on the house. A machine gun rested in his hands and a cigarette hung from his mouth.
“Good job with Valvino,” Vlad told him.
“Thanks.” Jericho noticed the smile on Vlad’s face. “Did you also have a good night, too?”
“An all right night, but a much better morning. Jasmine broke up with her boyfriend.”
“Is she still here?”
“She never was here, why did you think that?”
“You asked not to be disturbed so I assumed—”
“No, she is not like that. She is a virgin.”
Vlad wore a big grin, Jericho’s face was a stone. Jericho did not join in with his enthusiasm. They were losing the war all around them and all his master cared about was some woman. His house burned down two nights ago. His master disappointed him, and he had no problem letting him know that.
“Master, what does it take for you to sense the seriousness of our situation?”
“I do sense it, but what can we do right now? Did anyone find Radu staying anywhere?”
“No.”
“I assumed that or you would have told me. So what else can we do? We are still waiting for the C
rusaders.”
“We don’t have to wait for the Crusaders anymore. My source called me around four this morning. He assumed I lived on the East Coast and that it was a few hours later. Anyway, I didn’t bother you because you asked not be disturbed.”
“Well, what did he say?”
“The crew with the Bible will be landing at Geneva International Airport a little after 8 Swiss time, on Tuesday night—the night after tomorrow. They are going to meet the group of Crusaders with the blood. Both sets of Crusaders are taking the 9:15 flight out to Rome. The blood and the Bible will both be there. The coffer will be complete. This is our chance.”
“Then we have to move. I will speak to Radu soon.”
“And what will you tell him? What do you think he will say? Why would he just go back home after he has come so close to killing you?”
“Because he has come so close, and that is exactly how I plan to trick him. I will tell him my family is destroyed and that he has won. I will give myself up, but I want to do it at my old castle. I’ll tell him I will be there in a week. He will come back home and stay at his house. Then we will make our move.”
“And what if he doesn’t agree?”
“Then we design a Plan B, either way we still need to have the coffer. Get the men of the house ready, we should leave tomorrow.”
“So why don’t we leave today, as soon as possible?”
“Because I will be spending tonight with Jasmine. If at all possible I would like to have the house to myself. More importantly, please don’t bring home anything I would have a tough time explaining.”