by Sam Crescent
“What do you mean?”
“One of the kids. He liked to tell me how much of a freak I was. One day as he was yelling it at me, I decided to get my own revenge, so I punched his face and started to cut him using my knife. If it makes you feel any better, he was the one responsible for killing the cat. He’d fed it anti-freeze, sick fuck. I tried to stop him, but he’d already done it so I was going to hurt him. That cat was the only thing that came near me that wasn’t afraid of me. I loved it when he purred.”
“Have you ever thought about getting a cat?” she asked.
“No.”
“One day I’d like to have a cat and a puppy, and maybe a bunny as well.”
“We’ll have to pick them out.”
She looked back at the diner. “Do you want a family one day?”
“I don’t know, Arika. I really don’t know.”
He left it at that as their food arrived.
****
“You know you’ve been in a really good mood lately,” Rachel said, making Arika pause.
“I have? I thought I was always in a chipper mood.”
“Nah, this is something else. You know. You’re a lot happier. You normally looked miserable, or at least bored with life. You’re smiling a lot more now than ever before. It’s good. It’s a good look on you.” Rachel winked at her.
She couldn’t say anything else as they had a full diner tonight. The food was flowing, and there was laughter everywhere. It was a good night, a fun one. After collecting food, she walked between the tables, filling up their drinks, taking plates away, cleaning up tables so new families could come and eat.
At around eight in the evening the entire diner went silent, and she turned toward the door seeing three men she didn’t recognize entering the diner.
“That’s the Vitale family.”
“I thought they were all dead.”
“The Galizas wiped them out.”
“A war. A bloodbath.”
At the mention of Galiza, she felt nervous.
They, of course, sat in her section, which was just great. Putting the coffeepot back in place, she glanced over her shoulder. They were looking at the menu.
“This is fucking scary,” Rachel said.
“What is?”
“The Vitales being here.”
“Who are they?”
“They’re part of the mafia.”
“How is it you guys know all about this?”
“When you live on the streets you learn who to steer clear of. Believe me, they’re one of them. People talk, Arika. If you went out more, you’d hear and know more. Them being here is really bad. Those two guys a few months ago, they’re part of another family. This is bad, real bad.”
Instead of letting nerves get the better of her, Arika grabbed her order pad and approached them.
She hadn’t been worried or scared to serve Vincenzo and his friend. It didn’t matter that she didn’t know who they were at the time and it was only during the night that she heard the whispers and rumors. Of course, she had a nice scar in her abdomen from Daniel’s handiwork.
“Hi, I’m Arika. I’ll be your waitress this evening. What can I get you?” she asked, pen poised ready to write.
They ignored her and kept looking at the menu.
“What is good here, Arika?”
“Tonight’s specials are the fish soup, the house burgers, and the meat pies. Also, the strawberry cream pie for dessert.”
They sighed, and she waited.
She hoped Vincenzo didn’t choose this night to show up. He didn’t visit her at her place of work, but, seeing as she was struggling to learn to drive, he sometimes picked her up, or at least sent a cab her way.
After taking their orders, she immediately left and placed them at the kitchen.
“Be careful,” Frank, the owner, said.
“I will.”
“No, Arika. I’ve not said anything about that man who came to see me about you, but I know he and the Vitales are not a good mix,” Frank said.
“What do you want me to do?” she whispered to her boss.
“You need to tell him in some way that they’re here. I don’t like it.”
She glanced around the diner and saw several families had already gotten up to leave. The mere presence of the Vitales had sent people scurrying. She didn’t like this. “I’ll call him.”
Leaving the kitchen, she made her way to the staffroom, being careful to not look in their direction. She didn’t want to alert them to what she’d been asked to do. She didn’t even want to think about why her boss was asking her to do this.
She went to her bag, grabbed her cell phone, and started to dial Vincenzo’s number. Her hands were shaking.
He’d given her all the numbers she could contact him on along with the best ways of getting a hold of him. She had Daniel’s contact information as well. She didn’t want to call Daniel. Since she and Vince had been going together, she’d not seen anything of Daniel. Vincenzo did say he would do everything he could to make sure his life didn’t touch her. She gathered that also meant killing people.
“Arika, what’s wrong?” Vincenzo asked after a couple of rings.
“My boss asked me to call. Some Vitale men are here. I don’t know what any of that means.”
“Vitale men?”
“Yes, my boss recognized them, I think. He wants you to come.”
She heard him curse over the line.
“Listen to me very carefully, Arika. I want you to grab your bag and leave. Don’t make a scene. Just leave and get as far away from there as possible.”
“I can’t do that. I’ve got friends here. We’ve got families here. What does this mean?”
“Damn it! Don’t argue with me over this.”
“I’m not going to leave Rachel here on her own. No, I won’t do that. I’m staying here. I just thought you should know.”
“I can’t fucking protect you. I’m across town.”
“Then let’s hope they’re only here to eat.” With that, she hung up and left the staffroom, going back into the kitchen where her boss was waiting. “I called him.”
“And?”
“We wait.” She wasn’t going to tell him that Vincenzo couldn’t be there. “We’re just going to have to serve them and live with it.”
“They’re driving my customers away.”
“Then serve them pronto so we can move them along.” She’d never spoken to her boss like that, but right now she wasn’t in the mood to be ordered around. She got that Vincenzo wanted to protect her, but she wasn’t going to leave her friends or innocent people. Heading back into the main diner, she saw more people had left.
Fortunately, no more mafia men had turned up, and as she grabbed the coffeepot, she began to make the rounds. Putting a smile on her face, she stopped at a couple of tables, asking them how they were enjoying their meal, if they wanted dessert, and just being friendly, trying to put them at ease.
Frank rang up their order, and Rachel was in the furthest corner of the diner.
Grabbing the Vitales’ food, Arika kept a smile on her face and served them. “If there’s anything else, let me know.”
“Actually, we were curious about something.”
She stopped, waiting. “What about?”
“We were wondering if a couple of men stopped by here a few weeks ago. Both tall, one of them blond, the other had black hair.”
“We get a lot of customers through that door with blond or black hair.” Daniel had blond hair. Vincenzo had black. “I’m sorry. Are you missing them or something?”
“They would have been wearing expensive, Italian-made suits.”
“Again, you’re asking the wrong girl.”
“What about the other one working tonight?”
“I don’t know. You’d have to ask her. This is my section though. Please enjoy your meal and let me know if you need anything else.”
Stepping away, she kept on doing her job, not exactly sure how
she could keep her composure. Everything seemed to be crashing down around her. She had noticed the pieces they were carrying.
Why bring a gun to a damn diner?
Time ticked by and people left. The Vitales didn’t ask for extra, and after an hour they were finished and packing up. She watched them stand, ready to leave. She breathed out a sigh of relief, and that was quickly gone when the door opened.
Turning to see who it was, she saw Vincenzo, Daniel, and a couple of other men, all of them with deadly expressions on their face.
Before she could say or do anything, she heard the sound of guns being cocked. Looking toward the men, they were already drawn and ready.
Everything happened so fast. Shots rang out, and Vincenzo was on her, shoving her to the ground as glasses smashed around her. “Stay the fuck down.”
She nodded and curled in a ball as she heard the screams and shouts.
Rolling over onto her stomach, she shuffled from around the counter where she’d been when all the mess was starting. She saw Rachel on the ground, her body still.
“Rachel!”
Her friend wasn’t moving.
Crawling across shattered glass, Arika saw there was a gunshot near Rachel’s throat. She was bleeding out.
“No! No! No! Someone, call an ambulance. Come on, Rachel. You’re fine. You’re fine.” She pressed her hand to the spot, but there wasn’t even a flinch or a gasp for breath.
Rachel was dead.
Tears sprang to her eyes, and she pressed her face against Rachel’s chest, feeling immense pain.
The diner no longer looked like her place of work. It looked like a bloodbath. The few remaining families that had been there were cowering under the tables, and a few bodies were on the floor.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
She shouldn’t have called Vincenzo.
“Babe,” Vincenzo said. “She’s gone. You need to let her go.”
“She needs a doctor.”
“Arika, she’s dead.”
“No. Get an ambulance.”
“Dude, you’re going to have to knock her the fuck out so we can deal with this.”
“Shut up, Daniel.”
“You know what needs to happen. She’s fucking panicking.”
“Babe, look at me.”
“She needs an ambulance. Get her one.”
“I’m so sorry about this.”
Suddenly she was grabbed, a hand covering her mouth. She tried to fight it, but everything went dark.
Chapter Thirteen
“You did what you had to do, Vince. Don’t look so worried.”
Vincenzo ignored Daniel as he stared at the woman in his lap. Arika had been panicking, not thinking about what she was doing. Her friend had died, a gunshot wound to her throat in the crossfire.
Vitale had been on their turf.
Getting the call from Arika, he’d dropped everything he was doing, the meeting he had with Galiza, to come to her aid. Fear for her safety had been his only concern, so much so that he told Galiza he had to go to her. Before he could leave, his boss had asked him what was so important about this woman, and he’d told him straight that he loved her.
There was going to be a conversation between them very soon, but until then, Galiza had said for him to take backup. Vitales had been growing in recent weeks, and it was time they learned their place once again.
“I promised her this life wouldn’t touch her.”
“Then you shouldn’t have made that promise, man. None of us can guarantee shit like that. It’s impossible to do. We can only hope that we keep our families safe.” Daniel looked at him in the rearview mirror. “Boss knows now. At least you don’t have to keep going around sneaking past shit.”
“She can’t go back to the diner.”
“There’s not much of a fucking diner left.”
“Frank will be compensated. So will Rachel’s family,” he said.
When he’d seen the guns, he’d acted on instinct, drawing his weapon and firing as he pushed Arika to the ground. He couldn’t allow anything to happen to her. She was his entire world.
Daniel pulled up outside of his suburban home. He figured it would be best to bring her to a place that she liked. His home was that place.
“Do you want some help?” Daniel asked.
“No.”
Opening the door, he picked her up in his arms, carrying her into his home. Closing the door, he quickly flicked the lock into place and took her upstairs. Resting her on the bed, he saw there was blood on her hands and knees. She’d crawled through broken glass to get to her friend.
She was still out for the count and would be for a while.
Knocking his opponent unconscious in a neck hold had been a skill he practiced as not everyone carried chloroform on their person, and no one knew when they’d need it.
Carrying her through to the bath, he lowered her into the tub. “I never wanted any of this to happen to you, babe.” He removed her uniform and was careful as he filled the tub. He grabbed his first aid kit and started to clean out the glass. Some shards were in her knees, and he didn’t like that she could be in any kind of pain.
Piece by piece, he cleaned her up, scrubbing off the day until she was as good as new, at least in body.
Lifting her up again, he carried her through to the bedroom. He put one of his shirts on her, to help before putting a few bandages to cover the worst of the cuts.
Once that was done, he put her into bed.
Taking a seat on the chair, he stared over at her.
Never in all of his life had he ever been more terrified than thinking about her alone and vulnerable at the Vitale men’s mercy.
He’d been talking with Galiza, making him see sense about who was responsible for the raids, missing shipments, and also the attacks on the clubs.
He understood that his boss didn’t want to think that his own son would betray him. Vincenzo wasn’t lying though. The pictures didn’t lie, and neither had the reporter. He’d been given the information by none other than Galiza’s youngest son, Rafe. As far as Vincenzo was concerned, Rafe had always been a loose cannon. He was a spoiled bastard who thought the world owed him everything and that he was the one who should be leading. It just didn’t work that way. Being the youngest son, he was at the bottom of the fucking food chain.
His jealousy of his father but also of his older brothers knew no bounds. During Vincenzo’s search, he had uncovered Rafe’s attempt to kill his oldest brother, Antonio, as well. There had been three attempts on Antonio’s life, and he’d even lost his girlfriend in the process as well.
Rubbing at his eyes, Vincenzo felt so fucking tired.
Not only did they have Rafe’s betrayal, there was also the alliance he’d started with the Vitales. His meeting with Gabe had been eye-opening.
The Vitale family was divided. Those that followed the father didn’t follow the son. According to Gabe, the son, Benjamin Vitale, wanted peace. He wanted an alliance with Galiza, to bring their families together and to make them great once again. The father, however, Benjamin Vitale, senior—they liked to keep all the names within the family, which was why Vincenzo struggled to fucking remember them all—wanted war. He wanted to tear down the Galiza family, to become a leader all on his own. To have the streets run red with blood and for the power to be back in his shitty hands.
Vincenzo now had to create a meeting between Galiza and Benjamin Vitale to come to an understanding with regards to Rafe and the senior Benjamin.
To add all of that pressure, he was also worried about his woman. She had lost her friend tonight, and there was no way in hell that wasn’t going to bite him in the ass. He didn’t want this for her. Far from it.
Getting to his feet, he brushed a curl behind her ear.
“You will never know how sorry I am that I failed you tonight.”
He left the room, needing a stiff drink.
Grabbing his whiskey, he poured himself a glass just as there was a knock
on his door. Instantly, he had his gun by his side, ready.
No one came to his suburban house.
No one fucking knew him.
He moved slowly toward the door, being careful not to make a sound. Checking through the peephole, he saw it was Antonio Galiza, the oldest son.
He opened the door and glared at the man. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“I came to see you, obviously.”
“How did you know where I lived?”
“It’s not that hard to know what you do and who you do, Barbato. We may not be close, but I think it’s important to know where all my father’s minions live and breathe. May I come in, or would you like to do this on your doorstep when anyone could be watching?”
Seeing no other choice, Vincenzo pulled back the door to let him in. The moment he closed the door, he pressed the barrel of the gun against the man’s temple. “If you try anything, I will fucking end you.”“You kill me and my dad will hunt you down like a dirty fucking dog. I’m not here to hurt you, Vincenzo. Not even close. You can put the gun away.”
“Then why are you here? This is my home.”
“I know. It’s rather … homey.”
“Why don’t you tell me what you want?”
“My father told me what happened with Rafe. The accusations and also the evidence you have on him. He’s the one that made us aware of the reporter.”
“Your father doesn’t like the truth.”
“My father doesn’t like to know that he raised a weak son, and in Rafe that is what has happened. He was a premature baby, so my mother babied him for a long time. He would scream the fucking house down even as a child. A pain in the ass. I wanted to smother him when he was sleeping. A couple of times I even held the pillow in my hand, prepared to deal with him. I should have done it.”
“You didn’t.”
“I believe you, and I know that Rafe is not going to let this go. Even if Father punishes him.”
“What do you want me to do?” Vincenzo asked.
“When the time comes, I’m going to need you to pull the trigger.”
“This is not going to be handled the Galiza way?”