Daring Hearts: Fearless Fourteen Boxed Set

by Box Set

  “You sure you have no food service experience?” Lunetta asked.

  Kate scowled. “Yep.”

  Despite the fact that Lunetta seemed incredibly nice, she had to remind herself that Lunetta was a part of a crime family and most likely was not what she seemed. She couldn’t be trusted.

  Kate consolidated the remaining rows of bagels as a large group of teenagers came for a cheap before-dinner snack. The bagels were discounted fifty percent the last half-hour of the night. Kate acted as back up for this wave of customers, letting Lunetta take the lead.

  When Kate got the opportunity, she scanned the area outside for ideas on escaping. Lunetta showed Kate the checklist for closing the bagel shop and walked her through each chore, never leaving her alone. This would be the obstacle she’d have to overcome. She’d have to either create a diversion so Lunetta had to leave her, or she’d have to take advantage when by chance Lunetta put her guard down.

  Vinny showed up as they finished, and he escorted Kate back to her room. Lunetta left out the back door. One set of bunks had been removed and a table and a chair replaced it. He set a bag with take out on the table and turned to leave. “Why don’t you stick around and eat with me? You could explain how everything works,” Kate asked taking a seat on the bed. Maybe if she understood that, she’d have a better chance of escape.

  He stopped, turned his head around to her and said, “I can’t. I hope you like lasagna.” He pointed to a yellow button near the light switch. “If there’s an emergency or you need help, push that button. Someone will come.”

  “I don’t want to be here alone.”

  “You’re going to have to learn to thrive when you’re alone. Most of what you do as an earner will be solo.” He had been looking past her and not at her. “I’m sorry this happened to you, but you should have listened to me and stayed away. See you in the morning.” He left.

  She bit back tears and screamed, “But you’re my father.” She would not let them take over her life. She would escape. In her mind she mapped out possible escape routes, but she knew if she couldn’t get out of this room or distract her co-worker sufficiently, she would not get the chance to escape. She stewed about a way to contact her friends the rest of the night until she fell asleep.

  The best idea she could dredge up involved “borrowing” someone’s cell phone or finding a way to use the shop’s phone to get a message out. Both seemed like long shots, but she had to try.

  Someone opened her cell door and artificial light flooded in. Lunetta. She didn’t look like her chipper self. Kate still felt tired and a bit weak and asked. “What time is it?”

  “2:30”

  “I slept that long? Unbelievable. I need windows to wake me earlier I guess.”

  “2:30 in the morning.”

  “Oh.” No wonder Lunetta didn’t look happy.

  “Time to teach you how to make the bagels.”

  To her surprise, Duran passed by the preparation room while she and Lunetta were cleaning it, to the front of the store. He was still working here. A piece of her soul soared in that moment. He hadn’t even looked her way, but she’d seen the bright blue, purple, and black all over his face. That was her fault. She would have to beg for forgiveness and explain that she never meant to hurt him. He’d have to believe her.

  Vinny put her in her cage as soon as the bagels were cooked and ready for sale. With hope of escape burning in her heart, she fell asleep without any trouble. She woke when Vinny brought her lunch. She was ready for a fight.

  “My friends are going to come looking for me.” She put her hands on her hips as she stood.

  “They already have.” His voice was even, dark.

  Her eyes rounded, and she couldn’t speak.

  “Why do you think you worked in the back today?” One eyebrow rose.

  “What? When? I never saw them.”

  “Well, they didn’t come here exactly. They went to the police.”

  “No!” She grimaced. The Bellinis and Marconis owned the cops. Nothing would be done.

  “Yes.” He shook his head. “They will be given the run around and then the bad news that you simply can’t be found. And even if the cops show up here, no one will have heard of you.”

  He squeezed his hands together. He’d brought hoagies and chips.

  Heaviness crept over her body. “Are you going to keep me here forever?” she whispered.

  “This is your home for at least six months.”

  “No. It can’t be true.” The distant hope that the Lamberts would somehow find a way to save her had been crushed. She had to find a way out on her own. In order to do that, she needed to get stuff from the outside world. She needed to know what was going on in the outside world.

  “It is.”

  “Could I at least get a TV? A radio? Books? An Ipod?” She asked without any hope of getting anything.

  “You’ve been very cooperative and hard working so far. I’ll consider it.”

  So her comfort in this place was tied to her compliance. She could fake that, for now. She would pretend to give up on getting saved and then take the first opportunity given her.

  Her life got into a rhythm for the next two nights. Around ten she heard people enter through the back of the store. She assumed they went into the gambling room. Lunetta woke her at 2:30 every morning. She made bagels until 6:30. At that point she was hustled back into her room. Vincenzo brought her meals, dropping them off and heading out as quickly as he could. Each meal, Kate would ask him to stay. Each meal he’d refuse. Finally, on the fourth day, he walked all the way into her room and set two bags on the table. “I got you a few books and a simple iPod that has a couple hundred dollars loaded on it so you can order the music and videos you want.”

  He glanced at her and turned to go. Sensing he wanted something more, she blurted, “I understand.”

  He turned around again, and Kate could see the longing in his eyes, even behind his stony expression. She let out all the thoughts that had been rolling around in her brain ever since her capture. “Listen. I totally get that for some reason, you can’t claim me. I guess I was on some hit list or something. At least it looks that way from the notes in that file. That my birth mom did something to put us all in danger. All I really want is for you to acknowledge me.”

  He didn’t respond, but he didn’t argue, so Kate took that as encouragement and continued, “At least when we’re alone. When we’re around other people, I get it. You know, to say I’m not your daughter, but to pretend when it’s you and me, that’s ridiculous. I saw the picture in that file of you helping me walk. Treat me however. Be as surly and mean as you have to be, but not when we’re alone together, where no one can see. I lost you and now I found you.” Her heart raged against its cage.

  “Why. Why did you do that?” His posture slumped and his hands carved through his hair, holding it back and then releasing it. “This is not what I wanted for you. I tried to save you from this.” His expression blanched as he shook his head.

  “Please… Dad, sit.” Kate motioned to the chair. “There was nothing you could have done that would have kept me from seeking you out.”

  He sat and waited for her to explain. She felt a flash of happiness. Her birth father was willing to talk. “I wasn’t just curious about finding you. I thought that by finding you, I’d know better who I was.”

  “But why? Did he not find you a good family?”

  “I have a great family. They did everything a parent should—but I need to know who I really am. Where I came from.”

  He didn’t seem to register the longing in her voice. He focused on what she’d said about her adoptive family. “That’s good. I wanted you to have a good family. I wish I could take you back to them, but it’s impossible now.”

  She shook her head. “We can leave together.”

  “No!” He spat and slammed his hand on the table. “No. There is no way out for you, and there is no way out for me. Too many people will get hurt.”

/>   “Duran? We can take him—”

  “You don’t know what you’re saying. They own me as much as they own you.”

  “Who? Marconi?”

  He shook his head. “No. The Bellini family.”

  “But you are the Bellini family.” She knew what she was saying was ridiculous. She’d seen the videos. She knew once you were in the mafia, you were in for life.

  “I’m not the boss. They would find us and kill us and kill everyone who is important to us. Your adoptive family included. No. We have to find a way to keep you here and keep you safe. They can never know who you really are. Never.”

  “Because they believe me dead?” She didn’t want to believe that the family, her family truly wanted her dead.

  “Yes.”

  “But, why?”

  “I’m not going to go into that with you now. What skills do you have?”

  “Skills?”

  “What are you good at? We’ve got to find something for you to do to become an earner as quickly as possible.”

  “I get great grades. I’m the president of the honor society. I—”

  He cut her off. “This isn’t a scholarship application. What skills do you have?”

  She thought of the mini series on the mafia and knew he was looking for skills like stealing cars, tricking people, and picking locks. She had nothing. “I’m not a mafia girl, I’m a regular girl. I play the piano.”

  His head shot up. “Still?”

  “You knew I could play?”

  “You started mimicking your mother when you weren’t even two yet. Every time we had company over, you would climb up on that bench and play. Your mom was teaching you, and it was incredible to see your little hands move so deftly across the keys.”

  Something flashed in her mind. Her birth mom smiled down at her as she played. “That’s right, Zie, you’ve got it.” The memory faded.

  “She called me Zie?”

  His mouth slackened. “We all did. It seemed to fit better than your full name. You were so full of life. . . But you were so small. How can you remember?”

  “How old was I when you sent me away?”

  “Almost three. . . We loved you so much.” His voice caught and he stared at Kate like it was the first time he’d seen her. “How are we going to keep you safe and get you earning as soon as possible? As long as you’re a gopher, you’re totally vulnerable. We need to get you to associate as fast as we can.”

  “What do I need to do?” Kate felt a strange sense of belonging and a great desire to please this man all of a sudden. “Are you saying I can become a legitimate family member? I thought I was a slave?”

  “We are all slaves except for the boss, but there are varying degrees of freedom within the ranks. You have zero when a gopher, a little when you’re an earner, and a whole heck of a lot when you’re an associate like I am.”

  “Aren’t you a Bellini?” She ran a finger along her bottom lip.

  “Of course I am, but even Bellinis have to rise in the ranks. And you’re very lucky that Salvatorio didn’t claim you. If so, you’d be at his beck and call twenty-four hours a day, doing whatever he asked.”

  “I didn’t realize that.” Now she felt a shot of fear. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be an associate. They had to do terrible things. “So, I’m lucky to be with you, I guess.”

  He frowned. “I have to go. Think about what talents you have. I’ll start looking into opportunities you could tap into to earn.”

  “Don’t go.”

  He looked as if he might give in, but then he shook his head, his face going hard. “It can’t be helped. See you at dinner. And if you see Duran, don’t tell him about our relationship.” He left, and it felt strange that he left without hugging her.

  Did her dad think she couldn’t trust Duran? After what she’d witnessed when she stole his keycard, she certainly did. He hadn’t ratted her out before she’d shown up and he’d been beaten. He was most likely going to be disposed of and he still hadn’t said anything. Or was it more than that? The knowledge that she was Vinny’s daughter, who should have been dead would definitely put Duran in danger. Knowledge was everything in the mafia. The wrong knowledge got you killed.

  She tried to stop thinking of Duran, but couldn’t. The one thing that kept coming back to her about Duran was his path into the family. Was he still a gopher or was he an earner? She couldn’t work it out. He called them his family. Perhaps gophers were a part of the family. Her mind wandered to escaping and several ideas flowed into her mind. It surprised her when a heavy dose of guilt filled her for thinking of escaping. Vinny was her father. She’d found him. Perhaps she should stay with him. She shook her head. She couldn’t think that way. She had to get out of there. She needed to leave with the Lamberts on Monday. The thought of them having to explain her disappearance to her parents made her cringe. She was their first child. They would be heartbroken. And her brothers and sisters wouldn’t understand. Dread at never being able to see them again coursed through her. She would do almost anything to get back to them. She had four days to figure it all out. Four short days to escape.

  25

  It seemed like a long time had passed before Vinny returned. When the door opened, she stood up fast as if Vinny could somehow see that she’d been vainly thinking about escaping.

  “Sorry,” he said, hauling some bags into the room. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “It’s okay, I didn’t know when to expect you. What time is it anyway?”

  He looked at his watch. “Nine. I was at a meeting with the other associates. They are all curious about you.” He set the bags next to the table and then started emptying one with food in it. He set the boxes of Chinese food on the table.

  “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “It isn’t. It got Salvatorio even more curious. He’s coming tonight some time to check on you. We need a plan. Now.” He sat in the only chair and started dishing food onto it while he talked. “What did you come up with?” He paused then, with chopsticks in hand, he looked at her. She stared back. She had nothing. “Aren’t you hungry?” Kate nodded. “Dig in then.”

  “Most of the girls in the family work as receptionists, servers, do hair and nails, or work as informers. You don’t want to be an informer.”

  None of those ideas sounded good; then she remembered Duran. “Duran told me you were helping him get to college. He said he enjoyed being a gopher, but didn’t like being an earner, so you were sending him to college to work in the markets.”

  “He told you that?”

  “Well, not in those words, but I know enough now to read between the lines.”

  Vinny nodded while eating a bite of lo mein. Kate had yet to serve herself any food. “Yeah. He’s a smart kid, and I think he’ll be good at the stock market.”

  “What about me. I’m smart. Why not send me to college, too? I could get my GED and start earning money really fast.”

  He chuckled. “Earners have to make a ton of money, not like what you’d make at a regular job. Duran won’t be getting clients like a regular broker. He’ll find ways to scam people.”

  Kate grimaced.

  “I told you it wasn’t going to be easy. Well it’s not going to be pretty, either. You have all As?” He pointed the chopsticks at me.

  “Yes. In hard classes, college and AP.”

  “I can’t have both of you doing the same thing. I need to find you some business opportunity.”

  “You mean something like that gas tax scam?”

  “You have done your homework.”

  “Well, I had an idea that my birth dad and birth mom were part of the mafia.”

  He nodded. “You are smart. What do smart people do?”

  “I wanted to be an architect.”

  “That’s not something that would help us. No. Hmm. Let me think. . . Ah. Smart people are lawyers, judges.” He peered at her. “Eat. You’re making me nervous.”

  She obeyed, putting small amounts of the
boxed food on her plate.

  “Ever thought of being a lawyer? Now, that would be useful to the family. You good at debating?” He didn’t take another bite, but waited for Kate to respond first.

  “I guess. Maybe.”

  “Yes. I like this. Will Salvatorio?”

  Kate shrugged.

  “We could groom you exactly how we want you. You’re so young. Dad’ll think you can be molded.”

  “Salvatorio is your dad?”

  “Of course. Who did you think he was?”

  “I didn’t know. So you guys aren’t under Marconi?”

  Vinny laughed out loud. “No. It’s not like that. They’re separate from us, but we also work in tandem. We have an agreement on conduct, and they enforce our conduct and we enforce theirs.”

  “But from what I’ve seen, they’re terrible people.” She wanted to tell him about Cremashci and see if he knew about him.

  “It’s not like that. They can be as bad as they want to anyone outside the two families, but inside the families, there are rules.”

  His phone buzzed and he picked it up. “We’ll be right there.”

  “He’s here.” Vinny’s face contorted. He must’ve been trying to hide his discomfort.

  “Already?” Kate stood up, her nerves firing. This Salvatorio—her grandfather—would determine her fate and she didn’t want just any fate. She said, “God, please help me.”

  “Already. It’s okay. We’ve got a great plan. And I hope God is on our side.”

  They crossed the hall and met Salvatorio in the gaming room. They sat across from each other at a poker table.

  “What shall we do with this one?” He tilted his head to the side like he was analyzing her. She didn’t like it one bit, but held her cool.

  “We have ourselves a real smart one,” Vinny said. “She takes college classes while in high school.”

  “But does she have any real world skills?” He pushed out his lips and put his thumbs over his mouth.