Playing the Field

by Lark Maren

  I pressed my lips to hers, showing her I was here for her the best way I knew how, even if I didn’t have the best words in my arsenal. She nodded and reached for the gear stick, and I watched as she drove out of the parking lot, leaving me with more questions than answers. Maybe this was what I signed up for when I decided to hop in bed with her. Watching her drive off without a word was painful. Seeing her cry made me want to punch whoever did that to her in the face, and I didn’t even know what she was upset about.

  The raucous laughter of my teammates drifted through the air, and I wanted to be able to go back and join them, to celebrate this milestone, but instead, I stood there paralyzed, wondering why I let her drive off.

  She’s just being a brat, I tried to tell myself. She’s just throwing a tantrum.

  My gut was telling me it was much worse than that. My heart was telling me to chase her. This whole listening to my heart thing was getting exhausting, but I got into the white BMW and drove down the road, straight to her house.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Ella:

  “Honey, we’re moving,” my father said on the phone. “That’s all that’s going on. I’m sorry we didn’t tell you sooner.”

  “Okay,” I stammered. It still didn’t explain the weird encounter I had earlier that day in his office. It still didn’t explain why his staff was acting like they were in the middle of a fire drill this afternoon. As happy as I was about how things were going today, I couldn’t get it out of my head. “Where are we moving to? Bradford Woods? Upper Saint Clair?” It really didn’t matter much to me which high-class suburb they moved to. I was hoping sooner than later I’d get my own place. It was time to stop pretending I was a child. I needed some privacy. Some space for Tonya and I to do our thing.

  He sighed and paused long enough to let me know this was serious business. “I can’t get into that on this phone.”

  “What? What’s that supposed to mean?” The only experience I had with wiretaps and burner phones was from watching mafia movies and reading thriller novels, but that wasn’t my life. I was Ella Morgan. My dad was perfect. Legit. Straight as an arrow. Well respected by the community. “You’re kidding, right? You’re a shitty liar, Dad.”

  “You’re going to hear some stuff over the next few days. All you need to know is everything I did was for you and your mother. I’m still your dad.”

  “Dad!” I shouted. “What things? You can tell me. I’m not a kid anymore. I need to know.”

  “Are you home?”

  “I’m not,” I said. I was standing in the end zone of the football field, and before this phone call, my life was going pretty good. Everything seemed to be on the right trajectory. Hell, even Tonya was acting like she wasn’t appalled to be seen with me in public. She was acting like she didn’t care who knew about what we had going on.

  “Go to the house. Everything you need is in the safe next to the wine cellar. You remember the code?”

  My blood ran cold. What was in that safe? I was waiting for him to start laughing, waiting for someone to jump out of the bleachers and tell me I was on some prank show.

  “I love you. I’ll see you soon,” he said before hanging up the phone.

  I don’t know how long I stood there holding the phone to my ear. I started feeling woozy once I realized I’d locked my knees out. I was gasping for air like a fish out of water. Dizzy. Confused. Disoriented. I hoped nobody noticed me. I hoped I could sneak off before Tonya realized I was gone. She seemed like she was so wrapped up in all the excitement, and I was sure I could come up with some sort of excuse as to why I left without telling her by the time she finished talking to the rest of the team.

  I took off into a sprint and headed to the SUV, my high heel boots doing very little to keep me steady. Eating gravel right now would only add injury to whatever the hell I was feeling right now. As I hit the button and pressed on the brakes, there was a knock at the window that nearly made me fly out the sunroof. Was whoever my parents were running from watching me already?

  I was relieved it was Tonya. Also, not relieved it was Tonya. I needed to buy some time. I didn’t want her to see how rattled I was. The sun was already setting and I slipped my sunglasses on like a fool, kept my words short, and tried not to blurt out everything going on as she leaned in for one of those kisses that lit me on fire and made me lose my mind. I had to drive off before she caught on to me. I knew she was pissed, I hated not being truthful with her, but I had a feeling whatever was going on was something she didn’t need dragged into.

  I tried to ignore the text messages flooding my phone as I drove down the highway and back to the house. It seemed like I all of a sudden had become the most popular girl on the planet, and just the names popping up on the screen, “friends” I hadn’t talked to in ages, letting me know something was way way wrong.

  “Are u ok?” with sad face emojis. “Thoughts n prayers.”

  WHAT THE FUCK?

  I had just spoken with my dad moments ago.

  I pulled into the garage and walked into the kitchen, nearly falling to the ground when I spotted Alfonso standing over the island with every computer in the house lined up in a row.

  “How did you get in here?” I stammered. I hadn’t noticed his car parked outside.

  “Your father told me to come. I’m sure you have questions.” He was plugging some sort of device into the laptop. “Give me your phone.”

  “What? No,” I said. “What are you even doing?”

  I could see the seriousness in his eyes. Alfonso was the kind of man who was going to get my cellphone whether I handed it over willingly or not. My dad’s muscle. I never understood why he needed him around all the time. I never saw that side of my father’s business. Apparently there were a lot of things I didn’t understand. Like what the hell he needed my phone for.

  “What did he tell you?” His voice was deep and stoic, more like he was giving a command than asking me a question.

  I shook my head and shrugged. “Something about the safe next to the wine cellar. Everything I need is in there? Why should I trust you, Alfonso? What are you doing in our house?”

  “You don’t have to trust me,” he said, holding his hand out. “You do have to listen to me, though. If you ever want to see your parents again.”

  I handed him my phone, my hands trembling and my mind racing a million miles a minute. “What did you do to them? Where are they?”

  “I’m only doing what I was hired by your father to do. Your parents are fine.”

  “I’m so confused. Why won’t you tell me anything?”

  “There’s nothing you need to know, Ella. Situations like this happen all the time to people as powerful as your father. Fortunately we have an airtight plan in place. Go to the safe. You’ll see.”

  “Give me your gun,” I said.

  “How do you know I have a gun?”

  “Because I feel like I’m in a mafia movie right now!” I wanted to shout. Who has hired muscle that doesn’t carry? Why was I just realizing this stuff now? What was my family tangled up in?

  Instead, I rolled my eyes at him and held out my hand. He pulled a pistol out of his waistband and set it in my sweaty palm. I’d never held one of these before. I didn’t even know if it was loaded.

  “Is my dad a mobster?” I asked. “Am I a mafia princess?”

  His expression cracked and he began to laugh. It wasn’t much reassurance. There was definitely nothing funny going on here.

  “I know you’ve been told all your life that you’re a princess, Ella, but no, you’re just a rich girl with a dad who got a little too comfortable with insider trading.”

  My entire world was unraveling. No wonder my phone was blowing up. Other rich kids salivated over this sort of gossip. Everyone I grew up with was probably waiting for the day they could laugh in my face about something my dad did. We were all kind of like that. Always looking for dirt.

  “Is it really bad?” I asked.

  “Go look in the s
afe,” he said, as he took my phone apart with a tiny screwdriver, strewing parts all over the countertop. I kept the gun pointing away from me the entire time as I took the steps down into the basement two by two. The safe was tucked behind a giant wine rack, which covered up a false wall. I’d only seen my dad get into it a handful of times. I struggled to move the wine rack as my mind spun out of control, but I wanted answers. I pulled out bottle after bottle, initially setting them down with care, but soon I grew anxious and tired and began rolling them across the floor, watching them crash like well-aged Bordeaux-filled bowling pins.

  “You’re probably gonna need those later,” I reminded myself as I dragged the wrought iron stand off to the side, its legs screeching like nails down a chalkboard. It took me three tries to punch in the code, E11A89, my hands were shaking so hard. The pressure-locked safe hissed open, and I reached for the cigar box inside.

  Chapter Twenty

  Tonya:

  “Where’s Ella?” I asked the man standing in the kitchen looking like he was performing surgery on every electronic device in the house at once. Wires and screwdrivers were strewn everywhere. I had no idea what was going on; I just assumed this guy in the expensive Italian suit was a rich person’s version of the Geek Squad.

  “Who are you? How’d you get in here?” he stammered.

  “Who are you?” I asked. His face turned from perturbed to friendly in a matter of a seconds, and it immediately made me feel uneasy.

  “I’m Ella’s godfather. And I know exactly who you are. You’re her girlfriend, right? Have a seat. I was just getting ready to order a pizza.” He pulled out a barstool for me.

  “Doesn’t look like it,” I said. How’d he know who I was? I was a legit nobody. Ella and I hadn’t been hanging out long, and I knew I’d never seen this man before. Her dismantled phone on the countertop gave me the chills. I felt gross thinking about the fact he might have gone through her texts. Still, I sat down, drumming my fingers on the countertop. “She here? Her car’s here.”

  “Alfonso!” she screamed from the stairwell off the kitchen. Her footsteps pounded up the stairs, and she screamed the entire way up. “What the fuck is this supposed to be?”

  “Ella,” he said in a stern but calm tone, walking for the stairway, “we have company. Perhaps you should maybe grab two bottles of wine from the cellar?”

  Even though I strained as hard as I could, all I could hear was murmurs. Rich people tended to be good at talking like that, under their breaths, without moving their lips. What did I just walk into? I felt overwhelmingly out of place as Alfonso returned to the kitchen, that big fake warm smile showing off each and every one of his big fake white teeth.

  “She’ll be up in a minute. Make yourself comfortable. Unless you want to go. By all means, feel free.” Every part of me wanted to run out that door and never look back, while simultaneously I felt this intense desire to figure out what the hell was going on. This was weird, even for Ella. Was she in trouble? Was he holding her hostage? Was this their version of family fun night?

  She emerged from the basement with two bottles of wine in her hands and a gun very noticeably tucked in the waistband of her jeans. Her smile was as fake as his. She walked over to me and kissed me on the forehead and then made her way to the drawer, pulling out a corkscrew.

  “Ella tells me you’re a cornerback,” Alfonso said, grabbing some glasses from the cupboards. “I played defensive tackle back in my day. You guys take anybody on that team of yours? I think I still got the moves.” Ella rolled her eyes at him, pouring herself a glass of wine and slamming it down in one shot. She refilled her glass again nearly to the brim.

  “Did you guys want some too?” she asked.

  “That’s funny,” I said to Alfonso, watching the way he was hovering over her. “I never heard anything about you before. Then again, I also didn’t know my woman packed heat. I’m learning a lot today.”

  “Oh this old thing?” she asked with a giggle, grabbing the pistol in her hand. I held my hands up in front of me, as if that would stop me from getting shot, but Alfonso grabbed it from her and tucked it in his holster before she could say another word. I wasn’t sure if I felt better with her holding it or him.

  “Does anyone want to tell me what the hell is going on here?” I asked. “Why are you acting so weird, Ella? Why did you drive off like that? Was it something I did?” I didn’t have time for games. I stood up from the stool and took the wineglass from her hand, dumping it down the sink.

  “Eighty dollars down the drain,” Ella said, laughing maniacally.

  “I think it’s time for you to go to bed,” Alfonso said.

  “My dad might’ve hired you to look after him, but I’m my own woman,” she said. “Besides, you suck at your job. If you were any good at your job, I wouldn’t need a box full of fake documents and a one-way ticket to Bangkok.”

  “It’s not forever, Ella,” Alfonso said. “Just for a little bit. While we let things blow over. Can you excuse us, Tonya?”

  “No,” Ella said, grabbing my hand.

  Oh shit, I thought. This crazy bitch is going to get both of us killed.

  “She needs to hear. She needs to know exactly what’s going on. Tonya, you were right all along. My father is not the man I thought he was. He’s a criminal. Now he and my mother are hiding to try and avoid the consequences of his actions.”

  “Don’t speak of your father like that. He only wanted the best for you, Ella,” he shouted. “He’s still doing the best for you. You and your mother, you’ll live like queens for the rest of your lives. He’s got so much money hidden, you’ll never have to worry about anything. It’s just how things go sometimes. When you’re as successful as he is, everyone’s always looking for a way to tear you down.”

  “If you have nothing to hide, then no one will ever find a way to tear you down,” she said. I squeezed her hand tight, pulling her into my arms as she began to sob into my shoulder. “I’m not going. I’m not running. Everything I need is right here.”

  “Don’t be stupid, Ella. The FBI is going to be up your ass for a long time. They’re going to take everything: the house, the cars, your clothes, your jewelry. Your father’s name is ruined in this town. You’ll have nothing but your deadbeat girlfriend and your silly little passion project football team. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

  She gulped and looked up at him, a serene smile in her eyes. “You’re telling me I’m finally free.”

  “It’s your decision, Ella. Your father is going to be very disappointed in you. You’re going to break your mother’s heart.”

  “How do you think I feel right now?” she asked. “The ball is in their court. I’m not going anywhere. If they want to find me, they can.”

  “I still need to get some stuff out of the house,” Alfonso said.

  “Take it all,” she said with a shrug. “Take whatever you need. I don’t want any of it.”

  She stormed down the basement steps and reappeared with a cigar box. She popped open the lid to show me, and sure enough, inside was a passport, a Florida ID with her likeness, a birth certificate, a social security card, everything someone would need to disappear and never return again. “I won’t hate you if you decide to go,” I said. It’s not like my family was a shining example of lawfulness, but I still stood beside them. It’s all I knew. If Alfonso was telling the truth, and she could really go on and live a life of wealth somewhere exotic and not have to turn her back on her family, I wouldn’t blame her for doing so. The road ahead was not going to be easy for her.

  “Will you hate me if I stay?” she asked, taking my face in her hands. “If I invade your personal space?”

  No, the road ahead was not going to be easy for her at all, especially with me as her guide to how to function day-to-day if you’re not a millionaire. I was happy to take her on as my protege though. The thought of the two of us against the world made my heart flutter. Ella was the full package: brilliant, beautiful, generous, and
stronger than I ever imagined. She could’ve had it so easy.

  “I could never hate you,” I said.

  “Even if my father is a criminal?”

  “This was never about your father. It’s always been about you, Ella. I never wanted you for what you had or who you were. None of that matters to me.”

  “This is really cute and all, but you still have time to change your mind, Ella,” Alfonso said. “Flight doesn’t leave until tomorrow.” He snapped her cellphone back together and handed it to her. “A driver will be waiting at the barbecue shack at eight am. If I don’t see you there, I’ll probably never see you again.”

  “Tell my parents I love them,” she said. “Tell them I won’t get them in trouble. When do you think they’re going to take the house away?”

  “I have no idea,” Alfonso said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. If you don’t come with us, I can’t keep you safe.”

  “I can,” I said, nodding. “Everything is going to be alright.”

  He shook his head at us. He was disappointed, but he went back to whatever it was he was doing, pulling security cameras out of the ceiling and packing them into a briefcase. He was a whole different kind of loyal. I wondered how much a job like that paid. Had to be a lot if he was willing to move all the way across the world just to protect his boss.

  “What do you want to do?” I asked Ella, as she stood there with her hands slapped over her face, not making a sound. “Do you want me to make you some dinner? Do you want some more wine? Do you want to go to bed?”

  “I don’t want to be here anymore,” she said. “Not tonight. I need a little distance. I need to think about some things.”

  “Understood,” I said. “You really want to go to my place?”

  She nodded and took me by the hand. Her phone was buzzing out of control ever since Alfonso gave it back to her, and every time it rang, she went rigid, like an electric shock was being sent through her body.