by Prince, DD
“I need to talk to you. I need to hear your voice.”
“I cant talk 2 u. Need u 2 tell me were u r so I cna meet u. its urgent.”
My gut told me it wasn’t him.
“What’s OUR favorite ice cream flavor?” I wrote.
“Strawbery. Were r u honey pls”
The answer came after a long time. Strawberry? Honey? All those typos? Not Tommy.
I called Dario back and told him someone was texting me from Tommy’s phone or that Tommy’s phone was cloned and he told me to just hurry to meet him. I ignored the next three texts that came from whoever was pretending to be Tommy.
I pulled up to 15 Sweet Ave and it was a small run-down looking house on a small and quiet street and all the lights were off. I parked the jeep and put the gun into my waistband under my shirt at the back. I knocked on the front door. I saw a figure move behind the curtains on the window adjacent to the door.
Finally the door opened a little and Dario pulled me in by the wrist, “We gotta move!” He walked me through the house, holding my elbow. It was a sparse run down place with no furniture and everything was in rough shape. He went down the stairs to the basement and now I knew it was Dario’s safe house. The basement apartment was totally redone, high tech, every modern convenience. No one appeared to be there but him. I used his washroom and then he grabbed a duffle bag and we went back upstairs, “Stay here!” He said and I waited by the top of the stairs and he headed toward the front of the house. He was gone only about 30 seconds, then he rushed me through the back door and there was an alley with a separate garage. Inside was a black SUV. He ushered me into it. This looked like the same SUV I’d been picked up from my grad in.
“Where’s Tommy?” I asked.
He shook his head, “I don’t know.”
“I remembered that he said someone faked a text from Eddy so I was wary.”
“Good.” He drove crazy fast.
“Where are we going?” I had no idea what that place even was.
“Bianca’s ma’s house, where I’ve got the girls and the kids.”
“Luciana?”
“She’s there, too.”
“How’s your Dad?”
“Pop’s hanging in, last I heard.”
“When did you last see Tommy?”
“I haven’t seen him. He was supposed to meet me this morning. He never showed.”
I felt sick to my stomach.
My phone rang. It said Tommy on it.
“Tommy!” I breathed at the phone and looked to Dario.
He jerked his chin at the phone. I answered it, “Tommy?”
“Not Tommy,” said a male voice, “But we have him. Get to where Tommy’s brother is and call this number back.”
“What do you want?” I looked at Dario with panic. He took the phone from me and pulled over to the side of the road.
“Who is this? This is him; what do you want?” Dario held the phone for a minute. Then after a minute of listening, he said, “Put him on the phone.” A minute later he said, “Hey. You alright? Yeah, man. Yep, she’s with me. Right. Right.” Then he hung up.
“What do they want?”
“Money,” Dario said, pulling back onto the road.
“Money?”
“Yeah; they want a million cash. That’s it. These guys are small time, guys hired by Castillo’s nephew. They were hired to take out a hit on Tommy but decided to sell him back. They want you delivering the money. Pop has enough money in his vault. I’ll get it and we’ll make the drop.”
I was speechless. Dario pulled around in a U-turn and drove in the opposite direction. Ten minutes later we were at their Pop’s place and Dario pulled in and made me follow him inside.
“Why do they want me delivering the money?” We were in Tom’s office and Dario was opening a safe in the wall behind a family photo of Tom and the four grandkids.
“They probably figure you won’t shoot them; you’ll give them the money and they can get outta there clean. They’ll figure if I’m in there it’s a big chance that I’ll be carrying and it’ll go south.”
Dario pulled out 10 stacks of bills and then put them into a duffle bag that he’d fetched from a closet.”
“But what if they just take the money and shoot me? What if Tommy’s already... already...” I was panicking, big time.
“I’ll have you covered. We’ll have the place crawling with men. Let’s go. They’re calling in fifteen minutes with the drop location.
“You sure they’ve got Tommy?”
“They put him on the phone.”
The idea of Tommy being taken seemed all but impossible to me. He was so strong, had such a presence, it was hard to imagine him being overpowered. The idea that they’d found his safe house and could’ve shot him…
Dario interrupted my thoughts, “This crew is small time. We give them the money, get Tommy, Tommy and I eliminate the bigger threat, and we send some of our guys to get our money back and take these guys out. It’ll all work out. Don’t stress.”
Don’t stress? Easy for him to say! There was so much going on here. Tom Ferrano in a hospital bed, my father in jail and a sitting duck (or maybe by now a dead duck), Tommy kidnapped for ransom and not from the bigger threat but some other new threat, the rest of the family in hiding. Tessa’s husband dead. And me: expected to do a money drop to get Tommy back?
All while wondering if my Dad was alive or dead.
Dario pulled into a coffee shop drive thru and ordered a coffee and looked to me. “Just water,” I muttered and he ordered for us and then parked in front and stared at the phone.
Tommy
They’d tracked me somehow to the farm and waited. They ran my bike off the road just a down the road and I’d gotten knocked out cold. When I came to, they had disarmed me and had me cuffed in the back of their covered pickup. Now we were in a motel room. I knew this motel. It was 2 minutes from my condo, where my brother now lived. I knew the décor because I’d fucked a girl here a few months ago and then one of the guys had come in from outside and I recognized the neon diner sign across the road.
These guys were trying to be up and comers, subbing work for Jesse Romero, Juan Carlos Castillo’s nephew. They were stupid. They were careless. And I didn’t like that I’d heard them demand my girl make the drop for the money. I was relieved that by brother had Tia with him but Dare had better find another way. There was no way he’d send Tia in here, would he?
I didn’t know how she’d wound up with him but that was a relief. I didn’t wanna think about what they’d have done to her if they’d caught her back at the farm and the minute I woke and knew they’d found my safe house I’d been sick with worry about her being there, vulnerable. There were two of them, one had junkie written all over him. The other guy, a jock type, started chirping at me, asking me what my girl looked like, why there were no pics of her on my phone, talking about how maybe he’d get a taste before they let me go. I sat, not giving them anything, no words, no looks, just dead eyes.
All that was wrong right now with me was a bit of road rash, a kick to the ribs, and I’d been hit in the face when they asked me her ice cream question and asked what my pet name was for her. When she stopped answering their texts after my face made them think they knew what the right answer was based on the answers they were running through, they knew they were skunked. I was proud of my girl for suspecting it wasn’t me texting her.
These guys weren’t smart enough to win at this game. They had no idea how connected my family was but would soon find out. Dare would deal with this shit and get me outta here so we could finish dealing with Romero.
There was a digital alarm clock on the nightstand beside me. I was sitting on the floor against the wall. I watched time tick by and about an hour passed and then my burner phone rang. The junkie answered it,
“You got the money? Have the bitch bring it. Room 302, Knight’s Inn on Lakeshore. She comes alone or we put a bullet in your brother and then in her.”
After the door swung open, I saw a female figure step into the room carrying a knapsack. I was fucking fuming. How could they send her in here? Then I realized something wasn’t right. She was way taller than Tia. The light caught her face and I saw that it wasn’t Tia. Who was it? It was Bianca. Good thinkin’, Dare. I hid my smile.
Bianca grew up with us. Her Pop was as bad a bad ass as they come. Bee was badass herself. We used to practice together on the gun range. Her, me, and Earl. She could shoot better than most men I knew. If she’d been a boy, she would’ve been right in there with Dare and I running things. If her Pop hadn’t been taken out by my Pop, and she’d been a boy she’d be running the show; we’d all be working for her. Knowing her like I did, she could run the show, female or not. She was happy to be a mother and run her salon but the chick was smart, cunning, and she was good with not just a gun but her fists, and her feet. She’d taken martial arts as a kid and she once beat the snot out of Dario for dumping her best friend’s little sister for another girl. Gave him two black eyes and then cracked a rib with one of her roundhouse kicks.
“Here’s the money. Please let him go.” She said softly.
Junkie took the bag and opened it. Jock started circling her.
“Damn, girl. You got a fine ass on you,” he said. Bee rolled her eyes at me. He leaned over and touched her face, “Maybe you need to pay just a little bit more, a bit of a tax, to get your boyfriend outta here.” She gave me a scared look, a fake scared look; I could see the devil in a twinkle in her eye. I held my gaze steady and said, “Don’t you fucking dare,” to the guy. These were the first words I’d uttered since they’d gotten me.
He snickered, looking over his shoulder at me and the second he did, Bee’s high heeled boot came up and kicked him square in the mouth. As she did this, she also pulled a gun and pointed it at the junkie. Atta girl, Bee; always loved Charlie’s Angels. The junkie dropped the bag of money and his gun and put his hands up.
His eyes were crazy fucked up and I knew the guy’d been dreamin’ of his fix as he’d eyeballed all the money in the bag so he’d be extra dangerous.
“Take him out, sweetheart.” I told her and she immediately shot him in the leg and then kept the gun pointed at him. The guy screamed his head off, “You fucking cunt!”
“Uncuff him,” she said to the jock, who was rousing, pointing the gun back and forth between the two of them. Jock groggily got to his knees and pulled a key from the junkie’s jacket pocket and undid my cuffs. The second he did, my elbow came up backwards and hit him square under the jaw hard enough that he was on the floor on his back and out again.
I cold clocked the junkie and kicked the jock in the head and then grabbed the bag of money and Bianca passed me an extra gun from under her jacket at her back. I put two bullets in one and then two in the other. She and I got outta there. Outside in a waiting car where Nino and Dex waited. Nino was looking at Bee with pride as we got in. I heard him call JC, head of our clean-up crew, and give a few key but cryptic details. We hopped into the back and we were off.
Tia
I was sitting in the back office of a coffee shop; one that Tommy’s family owned. Dario was out front talking to a few burly-looking guys that had to be enforcements for the family. I was freaking right out, wondering if everything was okay. Bianca had insisted on doing this and they’d pulled me out at the last second. She hugged me hard before going in, “We’re family. I’m here for ya, Babes! And your man is familia, too, so there’s no way I’m not helping. I can do this.”
Dario had assured me that Bianca would be fine. Said she could double as a paid assassin if she wanted to, she was that tough. I prayed she’d be okay. She had a son to think of. And she might be or could soon be my only living relative, unless I counted Aunt Carol --- which I did not.
The door swung open and there was Tommy. I jumped to my feet and threw myself at him. He looked fine, totally fine, except for a bruise on his cheekbone.
“Hey, baby,” he breathed into my hair.
“You okay? Thank God,” I wrapped my arms around his neck and he lifted me and held me tight. I wrapped my legs around his waist and he sat on the desk and kissed me roughly, deeply, possessively.
I heard a throat clearing noise and looked over my shoulder and Dario was in the doorway. He jerked his chin up at Tommy. Tommy returned the chin jerk, then turned and set me down on the desk, “Okay, baby. Gotta go end this. Bee’s driving you to where the girls are. Be back soon.”
I winced, “I so want this over.”
“It ends tonight.” He said firmly and kissed me quickly on the mouth and then turned on his heel and he was gone.
I started to shiver. Bianca popped her head into the office, “Ready?” I nodded and followed her out.
That night was like an eternity. The night that wouldn’t end. When I got to Bianca’s mother’s house it was about 10:00 and it was like a locked down fortress. It was a gated place just at the outskirts of town and there were half a dozen men guarding the place. Inside the big, warm, welcoming house was Lisa, Tess, Luciana, the kids, Bianca’s mother Marie and Bianca’s Aunt Joanne. The 5 kids (Luc’s, Tessa’s, and Bianca’s) were in their pjs, getting put to bed by Bianca’s mom who waved at me as I came in but ascended the stairs with the four tots and one older child. Luciana looked tired and ready to pop any second. Tessa’s eyes were red and puffy. Lisa looked pale and sickly. I hugged each of them and when I got to Tessa I whispered in her ear, “I’m so so sorry.”
She nodded, her chin trembled, and she put her arms around herself and just curled into a ball on the sofa and closed her eyes.
Bianca’s mom had come back from putting the kids all in her bed with a Disney movie on, and then pulled me into an embrace and told me it was nice to meet me and that she had thought very highly of my mother. Then Bianca’s aunt put a big plate of pasta in front of me and told me to eat. Food was the last thing on my brain at that moment.
“How’s Tom?” I asked Lisa, who’d sat beside me a breakfast bar in the big open kitchen that had a big island surrounded by stools and the room also had a sitting area, where Luc and Tessa were curled up on opposite ends of a big sectional sofa.
She shrugged, “It’s breath by breath. Tommy okay?”
I nodded, “Just a bit banged up. He’s okay.” She nodded and sipped from a big glass of wine.
“I’m going to bed,” Luc announced and left the room. I tried to eat a few bites but really wasn’t hungry. I didn’t want to insult them so I sat at the plate for a long time, moving food around with my fork, while Bianca talked with her mother and her aunt in Italian.
Bianca sat beside Tessa and put her arms around her. Tessa cried softly into Bianca’s shoulder and I felt her sorrow, the whole room would’ve felt it.
“Athena, you wanna get a bath or something? I’ll get you some towels.” I nodded at Marie. She took me upstairs and showed me to a guest room and pointed out the bathroom next to it and said she’d get my bag, that Nino had brought the bag with mine and Tommy’s clothes from the barn as well as my make-up case.
I took a long shower and then got dressed in yoga pants and a hoodie and tied my hair into a braid and went downstairs. Tessa had gone to bed. Bianca, Lisa, Bianca’s Mom, and Aunt Joanne were watching TV. Sarah was sitting there, too. She pulled me into a hug and then she told me that Tom was hanging in there and then in hushed whispers they all sat and talked about the fact that the boys were ending things tonight and that everyone would be back here afterwards. They told me to go to bed and sleep in the room she’d put my stuff in whenever I was ready, that Tommy would find me when he arrived. I didn’t think I could sleep and being there in that group felt comforting so I curled up on the sofa with them and we watched the rerun channel with all the old comedy shows on it until well past 4: am when I’d noticed that Lisa had fallen asleep
, Bianca’s mom and aunt were sitting at the table talking softly over mugs of tea, and Sarah had fallen asleep sitting up beside me.
I just kept staring at the TV, not really paying attention, just mulling everything over. All of it. It was nice to be part of this group, to have these other women to lean on. And Bianca was family. Her mother was my aunt by marriage. And now Lisa, Tessa, Luciana…they were family too because they were Tommy’s family. It felt good to belong. Amid the stress, the worry, the tragedy, it really felt like I belonged here with these people, despite what I knew of Tommy’s father.
As I pondered the group around me I heard noise and then Nino, Eddy, Dario, and Tommy were there. I’d been holding my breath watching the guys enter in single file and when I finally saw him, I bolted to my feet and ran to him. He gripped me tight.
“Is it over?” I asked into his ear.
“Yeah,” he answered.
Dario spoke to the others and then Tommy looked to Bianca’s mother and spoke to her in Italian. She motioned toward the fridge and was talking with her hands. He shook his head and said some more in Italian. And then she motioned toward the stairs. Tommy took me by the hand.
“Goodnight everyone,” I said, “Thank you so much for everything.” I looked to Bianca, her Mom, and her aunt and they all smiled at me.
In the bedroom Tommy shed his clothes and took off mine and then just held me tight, my naked body against his. I could see in the dimness of the room that his lower back and thigh were badly scraped.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Road rash,” he said, “it’s fine.”
“I should put some ointment on it, bandage it.”
“Leave it. It’s fine.”
“What about the other stuff.”
“Can we just go to sleep? Talk later.” he asked softly into my throat as he nuzzled closer, “I just needed to feel you against me. So fucking tired.”
“Kay.” I answered and closed my eyes.