by Rumer Raines
“Bryn!” she yelled as she pulled me into the house. She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me so tightly that I could hardly breathe. When she unlocked her arms, she put her hands on my face to inspect me.
“Honey, I have missed you so much,” she cried.
“I have missed you, too, Mom. Is Dad here?”
She tilted her head and pulled me into the living room, sitting beside me. “We have so much to talk about, Bryn. Where have you been? Why did you stop calling me?”
How could I explain why I stopped calling her? My mother had no idea that my father paid off his debts with me. I never wanted her to know. My father was the love of her life, and I didn’t want to take that from her. She would have hated him; or, at least, I think she would have.
“Mom, where’s Dad?” I repeated. I couldn’t help but notice that she looked away from me when I asked about him both times.
She moved closer to me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. “You have lost weight. Have you been eating?” she whispered.
“Mom…” I stood so I could move out of her grasp.
“He’s probably at the casino, Bryn. You know your father.” She looked away from me again.
“He’s gambling again?” I whispered.
“Again? Bryn, he never stopped. He told me what happened between the two of you.”
“He told you?” I asked.
“Yes, he said the two of you got into a huge fight, and you swore you would never step foot into this house while he had this addiction.”
“He said that?” I whispered, and she gave a small nod.
“Yes, he did, Bryn. I didn’t believe him. That’s when I asked him to move out.”
My mouth dropped. My mother tossed out my father. She didn’t believe the bullshit he tried to feed her, thankfully.
“You said he’s at the casino?”
“He probably is, Bryn. He never stopped gambling. I almost lost this house because, after I kicked him out, he tried to take out a second mortgage. Can you believe that? Luckily, since both our names are listed, he needed me to sign off on it. If it wasn’t for Mr. Columbo, I would have lost it all.”
I think my heart stopped. “Mr. Columbo?”
“Yes, he is the bank president. He is such a nice man. He’s even stopped by once a week to check on me. Of course, he hasn’t come by for the last couple of weeks. I think he has the hots for me.”
The same man that wanted me dead had been visiting my mother. She was still talking about Mr. Columbo, but I stopped listening five minutes ago. I couldn’t let my mother think this man was her friend, but I also didn’t want to tell her he wanted me dead.
“Mom, I need you to do something for me, but you can’t ask me any questions.”
“That doesn’t sound good, Bryn.”
“MOM! I need you to pack a bag and stay with me at a hotel.”
She tilted her head and glanced around the room. “Why don’t you want to stay here?”
“No questions, remember? Please, just pack a bag, Mom. I really need you to trust me.”
She narrowed her eyes at me and sighed. “Well, I’ll need to let someone know where to find me.” She started walking toward the phone.
“NO! You can’t tell anyone that I am here,” I yelled.
She flinched. “Bryn, what the hell is going on?”
“Mom…”
“I know, no questions.” She went to pack a bag, and while she was busy with that, I called Uber.
“Why aren’t we taking my car?” she questioned on the way to the hotel.
I didn’t answer her. The Uber driver thankfully chatted on with small talk. We discussed the weather and his kids. I could feel my mother’s eyes on the side of my head. I had a flashback of sitting in Oliver’s truck when he made the same small talk with Alex. Of course, he didn’t want to talk to me about the kids he’d casually brought up.
I wondered what Oliver was doing at that moment. Was he angry with me for leaving? I also hoped he wasn’t mad that I took his money.
“Mother and daughter, I bet?”
My mother elbowed me and I looked at her. She tilted her head toward the driver.
“Mother and daughter?” he asked again.
“Yes,” I answered.
“I can tell. You look alike,” he said before finally pulling into the hotel parking lot.
My mother glanced between me and the hotel with a look of horror on her face. “You had me leave my house to stay here?” she whined.
I admit it wasn’t a five-star hotel. It was the cheapest place I could find, but it was also the least obvious place for me to stay. To be completely honest, I was glad my mother was staying with me since I would’ve been afraid to stay there alone.
The room was only twenty dollars a night, and it definitely looked like it. There was red paint splattered on the door as I pulled out the key to open it.
“There is blood on the door,” she muttered.
“No, that is just paint, Mom.” I prayed I was right.
“No, Bryn, it’s blood!”
Once I pushed the door open, she rushed inside to avoid touching it. There was one queen-sized bed that had a stain on the bedspread. The carpet was filthy brown, and there was a table in the corner with two mismatched chairs. The dresser was missing two drawers, and a twenty-inch box television sat on it. I was nervous to even look in the bathroom.
I pulled my mother’s bag from her hand and set it next to mine on the floor. Unfortunately, when I bumped it against my bag, a cockroach ran from behind it, and my mother saw it and started screaming. She jumped on the bed and a spring broke through.
She fell to her knees and crawled off, making her way to the door. “Bryn, if you don’t give me a damn good reason to stay in this room, I am leaving. I don’t know what is going on with you, but I know that I don’t like it.”
“Okay, I’ll tell you everything. You better sit down.”
“I will NOT sit down anywhere in this room. Let’s check out and go home to talk.”
“I can’t go home,” I whispered.
“Why not?”
“I can’t go home because your Mr. Columbo wants me dead.”
Her eyes widened as she sat gently on the broken bed.
Oliver
“Room service!”
I opened the door and an unfamiliar face wheeled my dinner into my room.
“You ordered the steak, sir?”
“I did. Do I need to make sure everything is what I requested?” I asked. He nodded. There were two covered plates on the cart. I removed the first and it was my steak. The second held a gun and a cell phone.
He held out his hand, and I looked him over before offering mine. “You are Maurice?” I asked.
“I am. Noah said that you were in town and need my help.”
I’d been in town for two days and hadn’t been able to shake Columbo’s henchmen. The last thing I wanted to do was lead them directly to Bryn, not that I knew where the hell she was. I wouldn’t be able to look for her while they were watching my every move. I did the one thing I never expected to do. I called Noah Hudson, and I admit, it hurt like hell to do it.
Noah Hudson married Deluca’s sister, Alexis. I didn’t like him on sight. He was cocky and had Alexis questioning shit she didn’t need to question. Luckily for him, he passed every test we threw at him. Noah had nothing to do with the Deluca business, but he didn’t need to. He had plenty of money of his own since had his own companies in Boston and now Chicago.
After walking away from the Delucas and finding out that I was being watched like a fucking hawk by the Columbos, I realized I needed help. I didn’t like asking for help; it was painful. I hated needing anything from anyone unless it was a woman, and I only got pleasure out of that need.
I was in Boston on my own, so I called Noah. I told him that I was looking for Bryn and needed help. It couldn’t be anyone with a badge or someone who must follow the law either. I needed help of the possibly illegal kind
.
Now, I was facing his business partner and best friend, Maurice. I’d give him props; he did bring a gun and cell phone. One point for him.
“The cell phone is for?” I lifted my brows and glanced at him.
“I thought your phone could be bugged or have a tracking device,” he replied.
“You’ve watched a lot of Mafia movies, huh?” I asked.
He tilted his head. “Better safe than sorry, don’t you think?”
Sighing, I glanced over at my phone and wondered if he was right.
“I counted at least five suspicious looking guys on my way up. I will assume they are all watching you. I think I can get rid of the two in the lobby, at least long enough to get you out of here.”
“The others are outside?” I asked. He nodded. “How exactly do you plan on doing that?” I walked to the window to peek out.
“I have my ways. I think it would be best if you stayed at my place,” Maurice announced.
I didn’t know about his plan, but what choice did I have? If Noah sent him, I knew I could trust him. “When exactly do you think you can get rid of the two in the lobby?”
“Give me a couple of hours and I’ll call you on that phone.” He nodded toward the phone he’d just delivered.
A few hours later, I received the call. Once I was off the elevator, the hotel fire alarm went off and panic erupted in the lobby. I found it a little odd that the panic was all from women who were dressed in bikinis, but I didn’t stop to look or ask questions.
“Fire department! Please, put on this mask and follow me!” Someone in a mask grabbed me by the arm and pulled me down a hall that led to a side door.
“Excuse me? Where exactly are we…” I started to ask before Maurice yanked off the mask and tilted his head. I could only laugh that this was how he got me the hell away from the Columbos.
Maurice was zipping in and out of traffic as I looked out the rearview mirror. Luckily, I couldn’t see anyone following us. He pulled into a driveway at a house with a white picket fence. It was in a very nice neighborhood, and the first thing I noticed was an old lady peeking out the window next door.
“Do you honestly think this is a good idea?” I nodded toward the window.
Maurice chuckled as he pulled into the garage. “Don’t worry about her. She’s as blind as a bat.”
I followed him inside to the smell of freshly baked cookies. A pretty woman walked from the kitchen wearing an apron and had flour on her face. She glanced at me but walked to Maurice and gave him a big hug and kiss. He introduced me to her, and she gave me a small but suspicious smile.
“Michelle, Oliver will be staying with us for a little while. He’s Noah’s brother in law,” Maurice lied, and the suspicion she had in her eyes toward me shifted to him.
“Well, we are happy to have you here. Any family of Noah’s and Alexis’ is our family, too,” she whispered.
I could tell she didn’t like this shit at all, and I couldn’t blame her. When she left the room, Maurice nodded for me to follow him. We walked into his office and he closed the door.
“Do you have any idea where Bryn could be?” he asked.
“I don’t. I just know I have to find her before they do.”
“You do realize that Boston is a big city, don’t you?” he asked.
I pinched my bottom lip, realizing I didn’t have any time to waste. “I do know that, but I also know who can lead me to her,” I replied.
“Who the fuck would that be?” Maurice questioned.
“The Columbos.”
Bryn
My mother was heartbroken when she found out that Columbo was just using her to find me. We both cried as we stared at the dirty ceiling and thought of ways to get me out of this mess. After hiding so much from her, I finally told her the truth. I didn’t tell her just the bits and pieces that I wanted her to know. I told her the entire tragic story. I explained to her how my father gambled and handed me over to the Mafia when he couldn’t pay them back. I told her how I trusted Steven Columbo and fell in love with him. I explained how I’d believed that he was a good man but slowly started to have my doubts.
She explained how my father was the love of her life, but she fell out of love with him because of his addiction. Even after he gambled me away, he didn’t change. My father changed the course of our lives because of his gambling addiction.
“We are together now, Mom. We’ll get out of this mess.”
“Where have you been, Bryn?”
I had a feeling our conversation was about to get ugly. How could I tell my mother that I’d ended up in Chicago working for a different family in the Mafia?
The first time I was in bed with the Mafia, it wasn’t my decision. This time, I’d seen all the signs and jumped in by choice. I chose Oliver, and I would’ve been with him now if the Columbos hadn’t come to Chicago.
“I was in Chicago, Mom. I got a job working as a bookkeeper at a nightclub.”
“That sounds like a nice job, honey.” She sat up and turned toward me.
“There is more. When I worked at the club, I started to get suspicious. The money they were making just didn’t seem legal to me. Mom, I found out I was working for the Mafia.” My voice came out as barely a whisper and her face dropped.
“Excuse me?”
“I was working for the Mafia, but they are good people! Oliver is so…”
“Wait a minute! Oliver? Please, don’t tell me that you were involved with this man that was in the Mafia!”
“Mom!”
“No! BRYN!” she shouted as she rolled off the broken bed. “You were on the run because one family of criminals was trying to kill you, and you went work for another family that is just as bad?”
“Mom, it wasn’t…”
“Bryn, I don’t want to talk about this anymore. We have to get you out of this mess with the Columbos, and then I don’t want to hear about this Oliver again,” she stated.
I knew she was done with the conversation, so I didn’t bother replying.
Neither one of us got any sleep that night. I am not sure if it was because of the fact the mob was looking for me or if it was from the strange noises in the room.
When I finally got out of bed, I turned on the one working lamp. We both went through our pockets to count the cash we had on us.
I didn’t have much left of the cash I stole from Oliver. My mother only had seventy dollars on her, which meant we were in trouble.
“We can track down your father,” she whispered.
The thought had crossed my mind, but I ignored it. I couldn’t deal with him right now. He was the reason I was in this mess. “I don’t think that is a good idea.”
“Bryn…”
“Mom, no, I already have too much shit to deal with. I just need…” Tears started to roll down my cheeks.
I was so tired that I could barely hold my head up. I had been on the run for too long. I was to the point that I’d considered just giving up. The last thing I needed was my father and his issues.
“Bryn, I have a job that I need to get back to. We can’t hide away in this room forever,” she whispered.
“You’re right. We can’t. Why don’t you take your shower first, and it will give me a few minutes to think about our next move?”
Before she walked into the bathroom, I grabbed her by the arm. I gave her a big hug, reminding her that I loved her. She placed her soft hands on my face, telling me that she loved me, too. When she was in the shower, I picked up the cash, leaving enough for her to catch a cab, and I walked out.
I walked until I found the closest homeless shelter and pushed the door open. I couldn’t believe I was walking into a shelter, but I guess everyone there felt the same way. I was given a cot in the women’s only area. There must have been at least fifty other women there. They all had the same sad face and teary eyes. None of us deserved to be there, but we were. My only hope was that I didn’t have to stay long.
Oliver
“Ar
e you sure about this shit?” Maurice again questioned me.
We’d been sitting outside of the Columbo mansion for at least three hours. The one thing I had learned is that he was one arrogant bastard. He ran his business and had all his men walking in and out of his own house. How fucking stupid could the guy be? He obviously owned Boston if he could do business in his house and the Feds hadn’t knocked on his door.
“Yes, I am sure about it,” I mumbled.
I think Maurice nearly shit his pants when I told him that we’d be watching the Columbos. If I was smart, I would have taken my ass back to Chicago and hired someone to find Bryn. At least, that is what Maurice kept telling me. I was a one-man team in Boston. I didn’t have my normal backups with me. I had no family to watch my back. This was easily the stupidest shit I had ever done. I took pride in my ability to think ahead and not make any stupid moves. Alex Deluca was the hothead of the group, not me. We always worried he would act first and think last. I had no idea I would ever be the one to act first and not think at all. I couldn’t take on the Mafia alone and in a different city. What the hell was I thinking? I had Maurice here, but to be honest, he wasn’t Mafia material. He might have been willing to pull the trigger, but he wouldn’t hide the body. I didn’t even think he’d have known a good place to hide the damn body.
“What’s your game plan?” he asked.
This was the moment I realized I didn’t have a game plan. I had no idea who to follow or who would lead me to Bryn. “I don’t know yet.”
Maurice sighed. “Are you fucking kidding me? We are sitting close enough that they could shoot us for being on the same street, and you don’t have a plan?” he grumbled.
Laughter and a bottle crashing got our attention. I immediately recognized two of the henchmen that Columbo had with him in Chicago. They were talking outside the house and, apparently, were in a good mood. One of them finished off his beer and threw down another bottle, and it shattered. A few minutes later, Columbo strutted out of the house and talked to them. He grabbed one of them by the face, giving him a kiss on both cheeks. He looked in our direction, toward the car, and we quickly ducked. I wasn’t sure if he could see this far, but I wasn’t going to risk it.