Fade

by Haley Ladawn

  “I’m thinking about food, specifically linguine.” I stared at the older man who sat a few tables away from me, eating linguine with shrimp and white wine. My mouth was watering between all the food I could smell, and the gorgeous man who sat across from me. “I’m also thinking about whether your criminal enterprise is small or large. The Italian Mafia is predominant in Chicago and New York, but there are hundreds of other organizations in between here and there. Many of the most infamous mobsters have hidden behind mundane titles. Police officers, celebrities, businessmen.”

  “You think my brother and I are involved with a Mafia family?” He took a drink of the scotch Margo brought over moments earlier. She kept checking up on us every five minutes or so, and it was getting somewhat annoying. Elliot didn’t mind getting the special attention though.

  “No, I don’t think you’re involved with a Mafia family.” I crossed my arms, turning to face him. I’d been staring at the man eating the linguine for too long. Staring was impolite. “I think you are the Mafia family. I think your brother is the boss, and you’re the underboss.”

  “Why do people always assume that I’m the underboss?” He furrowed his eyebrows, biting down on his bottom lip in frustration.

  “Ha! You just admitted that your family is involved in the Mafia,” I whispered, narrowing my eyes at him. “I knew it! I was right.”

  “I wouldn’t be happy about that, no?” He leaned in closer to me and I did the same, thinking that he was about to tell me a life changing secret. “I could kill you for even talking about this in public. You have a big mouth. Do you think the end of my gun could fit in it, or perhaps my cock?”

  “Both probably,” I answered with sharp eyes, challenging him. “Since they’re both pocket-sized and super small.”

  “Just like your tits.” He breathed through his nose, raising his hand in the air to get someone’s attention. Sure enough, Margo came running from the opposite side of the restaurant.

  I was hoping she would trip and fall onto a table with a tray of food, ruining that perfect, little dress of hers. However, she was better in heels than Elisa was. They accentuated her petite body, and she didn’t even twist her ankle once.

  I crossed my arms over my chest, not bothering to hide my displeasure.

  “Are you regretting it already?” Margo rounded the corner with a frown on her cherry red lips. She looked genuinely upset, which caused me to be suspicious.

  “Regretting what?” I raised my eyebrows, cocking my head to the side to see her full silhouette. The dress looked even better up close.

  “Meeting this son of a bitch.” Her lips lifted a little, as she stifled an annoying laugh. “Or have you already slept with him, and fallen madly in love? That’s how his company works. You have to fuck your way to the top. You were supposed to be an intern, right? I bet you’ve already secured a highly coveted position.”

  “Shut the fuck up.” I didn’t bother lowering my voice. Everyone in the restaurant gave me a once over, even the man eating the linguine put his fork down to stare at me. “You don’t know me, or what I’ve been through.”

  The chattering that had this restaurant bustling only seconds ago had come to an abrupt stop. My face turned beet red when I noticed an entire family in the corner gawking at me. They looked like they were about to choke on their food. Their hands were over their hearts, and some of them had their head down in prayer.

  “This is interesting.” Elliot folded his arms on the table, leaning into the two of us. “I’ve never seen a cat fight up close before. It’s like I have a front row seat.”

  When I wasn’t looking, he whispered to the man in the table next to ours, “My bet’s on the red head.”

  “Be quiet before I hit you with a ketchup bottle.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “It’s not as good as a towel rack, but it will work just fine.”

  “You’re supposed to be assaulting her.” He frowned, letting his lips fall into a pout. “Not me.”

  Another waitress approached Margo and whispered something inside her ear that I couldn’t hear. It must have been a dismissal, because she trotted off in the opposite direction. The other waiter, visibly older, stayed by our table.

  “Sorry about that.” The woman mustered a smile. “Margo is new to this environment. Some rich asshole fired her from her last job, and she isn’t used to waiting on people.”

  I burst out laughing, shaking my head back and forth. Elliot’s features hardened underneath my scrutiny. The table was shaking from me laughing so hard, but I couldn’t stop.

  “Can I take your order?” The woman asked impatiently, while I was trying to catch my breath.

  “Sí.” Elliot was the first to speak. His voice had deepened with his irritation, causing my smile to fade. “My puttana would like some linguine and meatballs. Make sure the meatballs are large, round, and hard to swallow. If they’re not, you’ll be the one choking on them. Got it?”

  The waitress gave a curt nod and ran in the opposite direction, much like Margo had. Elliot and I were alone again, aside from having the entire restaurant’s attention. All eyes were still on us.

  “Pezzi di merda! Cazzo!” Elliot growled, giving everyone in the restaurant the death stare. He looked like a vicious dog who was ready to attack anyone who crossed him. Everyone turned their heads back to their plates, as if nothing happened. “Mind your own business, before I shut all of your businesses down. Sciocco!”

  He cleared his throat, wiping his brow in frustration. His eyes were cast down on the floor, as he muttered something in Italian underneath his breath. I had seen him upset before, but he looked truly infuriated now.

  He grabbed a phone out of his pocket and dialed a number. As usual, the person answered on the first ring.

  He only said three words into the line, before hanging up. “Inviare aiuto ora.”

  That was one of the moments I really wished that I could speak Italian. The rigidness to his voice sent a chill up my spine. Whatever that was, it was serious business. Maybe he was ordering someone to take care of me or something. It made me stiffen against the back of my chair, feeling goosebumps scatter across my skin.

  “Why did you order me meatballs?” I asked once the phone was back in his pocket. I was trying my best not to freak out, but I couldn’t control myself. “What if I’m a vegetarian?”

  “You’re not.” He rolled his azure eyes, as he rubbed his temples. He seemed exasperated, defeated. It made me flinch. “And consider it practice for the real thing.”

  “I hope I choke on these meatballs, so I never have to taste yours.”

  Elliot moved to my side of the table quickly, wrapping his arm around my shoulder, pulling me to his warm chest. I couldn’t tell if it was his anger that had made him hot to the touch, or if it was something else. I decided to ignore it.

  “What is this?” I tried to shimmy out of his grip, but he wasn’t having it. He held me as if I was a child’s teddy bear. His grip was so tight that it hurt. “A first date?”

  “Depends.” He seemed to think about it for a moment. His blue eyes hadn’t lost their intensity, but they seemed to lighten just a little bit. “Do you usually fuck on the first date?”

  I shook my head, as my hand fell on his stomach. I could feel his chest rise and fall, as he breathed air into his lungs. “Abstinence is key…”

  “Denying yourself the simplest pleasures in life seems like more of a crime than what I’m about to do.” He breathed in deeply, sighing. “Rammaricato, Rose.”

  I tensed in his hold, feeling my heart beat speed up. For the first time since I had met him, there was a genuineness to his voice that wasn’t masked by a harsh attitude, or a devilish smile. I didn’t know what he was saying, but I knew that it was sincere.

  I didn’t know what to say, so I decided on a simple, “Okay.”

  “I’m letting you go.” His breathing was uneven, as he ran his fingertips along my jaw softly. My head had already jerked back to meet his waiting gaze. I was expe
cting a sarcastic smirk, but his lips were pursed into a thin line. “You should run as fast and as far as those long legs of yours will take you, yes?”

  “What?” I raised my eyebrows, as his hands unraveled at my waist. He had let go of me physically, but there was a hint to his voice that said he meant much more.

  “Do I need to repeat myself, fiorella?” His face-hardened, as he pushed me away from the table aggressively. “I’m letting you go, like a butterfly. You’re free to fly into the city’s polluted skies.”

  “I don’t understand.” I glowered at him, feeling more than suspicious. He was probably just toying with me again. Trying to mess with my emotions.

  “You will never understand.” He stood up, towering over me. I was average height, but he made me feel like an ant. “Get the fuck out of here before I change my mind.”

  He turned me toward the exit, dropping his hands at his side. He wasn’t tugging me by the arm anymore. For some odd reason, I felt stripped and bare. I had gotten so used to his shadow on the side of me, blocking the sun, that I had forgotten what the light felt like. It was nice and warm, but not as warm as the warmth that radiated off his olive skin.

  I took one step forward and then another and then another, all the while expecting to be jerked back, but he never once touched me. By the time I reached the exit, I was walking slower than a turtle, and he was still standing at our table.

  “Aren’t you at least going to chase after me?” I looked back at him, frowning. “For the dramatic effect?”

  “I chase money, not whores.” He glared at me, sitting back down at our table. He took another drink from his glass of scotch. “Now, get the hell out of here. Correre, cara mia.”

  His Italian words were enough to send my feet moving. I took the last few steps that I needed to, only looking back at him once. He reached down for something, but I never got the chance to see what it was.

  A group of businessmen wearing all black went inside the restaurant just as I was leaving. One of the men brushed against my arm, sending me a corrupted smirk. Their eyes were hidden behind shades, so I couldn’t really see them.

  As I walked out, I felt their hand squeeze my ass on my way out. If I hadn’t been focused on escaping, I would’ve went on an angry rant.

  “Pig,” I muttered underneath my breath.

  “Baby girl,” the man said, shutting the door behind him.

  Just like that, I was out and he was in.

  It took me less than a minute to realize that it was Connor’s voice, but when I went to reach for the door, it was locked. They locked me out. I felt ostracized.

  Blame it on curiosity, but I was confused and I wanted answers. I wanted to go back inside the restaurant. I thought about taking a rock and busting the glass, but I didn’t have to. There was a loud boom and suddenly one of the front windows shattered. Just like that.

  I knew it was a gunshot by the way the glass shattered. Within a matter of seconds, people were screaming at the top of their lungs. Then, another bullet shot through the window. It almost got me, which sent me running.

  Chapter 19: Two-faced

  Snow and ice were collecting on the asphalt quickly. I was just about to round the corner, when someone pulled me into a thin alleyway. Their grip wasn’t the strongest, but they moved fast, catching me off guard.

  One hand remained covering my mouth, while the other held a sharp blade to my throat. Whoever it was wore a black ski mask.

  “Don’t scream! It’s just me.” The woman covered my mouth to suppress my wailing screams, but it didn’t really do much. With her hand over my mouth, I clenched my teeth down hard, like a vicious dog. “Ow! Did you just bite me? What the fuck?”

  I took a heavy breath as the assailant took her hand away from my mouth, shaking it vigorously to numb the pain.

  “Why did you do that?” The person lifted the ski mask away from their face slowly. They were being dramatic on purpose. “I told you it was just me. You had nothing to worry about.”

  “Nothing to worry about? You betrayed me!” I replied harshly, narrowing eyes at a bewildered Elisa. “I have everything to worry about between you, Mario, and Luigi.”

  “Mario and Luigi, huh?” She nodded her head, thinking about it. She had a dazed look on her face, as if she’d never heard anyone call them that. Maybe no one called them out of their names.

  “Speaking of your boyfriend.” I cleared my throat. “Where is he?”

  “Inside of that restaurant, duh.” She held her hands loosely behind her back, swaying from side-to-side. “Didn’t you see all those men strut in there? They were kind of hard to miss.”

  “Connor distracted me. I didn’t get a good look at anyone else.” My mouth slackened, as I shook my head. “What are they doing back there? Elliot let me go, and then I heard gunshots.”

  “There are several Italian and Sicilian families here. No one’s playing on the same team, so it’s hard to know for sure.” Elisa shrugged, giving me an apologetic smile. “Everet doesn’t tell me anything, but I’m sure it has to do with extortion. Everything else is handled differently.”

  “The Mafia thing is real, then?” I furrowed my brow, taking a deep breath. It was going to take a while for all of this to settle in. “Is that what’s going on here?”

  “Something like that.” She tossed the knife in my direction. It landed in my palms, which was a million times better than where it could’ve landed. I tightened my hold on it, feeling surprised. “Consider that as an apology. Believe it or not, I really am sorry for dragging you into this mess. ”

  “Do you really trust me with a knife when I have every reason to slice your throat from ear to ear?” I let a half smile form on my lips.

  “You would never kill me. You don’t have the balls to do it.” Her faint grin mimicked my own. It somehow seemed genuine, despite all the dishonesty she had shown me. “If you killed me, you couldn’t live with yourself. The guilt would eat at you until you ended up taking the knife on yourself. We’re not like them, Lily. If we do bad things, we find it hard to sleep at night. Them, they can kill someone, and then sleep like a baby afterwards.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that, so I was thankful that she continued the conversation herself.

  “You probably have a lot of questions.” She draped her arm around my shoulder, and I was made aware of the knife in my hand. It would only take one sharp movement, and I could get revenge and run away. “But we should get out of here, before it’s too late. Luciano is at one of the estates, and we have a car waiting on us. The man inside is not patient. Trust me.”

  “Who’s Luciano?” I questioned, while she pulled me down the dark alley.

  She lowered her voice. “Luciano is, well, you’ll have to find that out for yourself. There isn’t any one word that can describe him. He’s an experience all on his own, and he wants to meet you. He always gets what he wants and right now he wants you.”

  That was enough to send me running in the opposite direction, but I saw the gun in her free hand. She had given me the knife, but not before taking her own gun out.

  ***

  A silver BMW was waiting for us at the end of a hidden side street. Elisa held the back door open for me impatiently, but I shook my head to say no thanks.

  “I want to ride shotgun.” I smiled sweetly. I opened the front passenger seat and slid in gracefully. I even waved at her, before shutting the door in her face. She was grimacing, as she got in the backseat.

  I glanced over to greet our mysterious driver who turned out not to be so mysterious after all.

  Elliot was kicked back in the driver’s seat with a cherry cigar in his mouth. Clouds of smoke filled the vehicle, casting us in a heavy haze.

  His head was leaned back against the headrest, his eyes lazily closed. He was wearing a white t-shirt that slowly rid up his toned stomach. Black jeans clung to his hips, unbuttoned. I wanted to pull the zipper the rest of the way down, but figured it wasn’t the time or place to do that. Be
sides, I was too surprised that he changed his entire outfit in the span of five minutes. I guess that’s what you do when you’re a criminal. You wear disguises and make speedy getaways.

  He smirked at me when he realized I was looking below the belt and I quickly turned my head.

  “Nice to see you again,” I murmured sarcastically, shaking my head in frustration. I was anything but happy to see him again. He lied about letting me go, and he knew that Elisa would catch me. I should’ve known that it was too good to be true.

  “Am I supposed to know who you are?” He twirled a piece of my red hair around one of his fingers, seeming entertained.

  “Go ahead and pretend that you don’t know me.” I reached for the seat belt, bringing it across my chest and buckling it. I swatted his hand away from my face. “I’ll try to do the same.”

  “I’m not pretending.” His creased his eyebrows, muttering something under his breath.

  Before I could say anything, he turned to Elisa and said, “What the fuck took you so long, idiota? What the hell were you doing? Having girl talk in dirty, abandoned alleyway?”

  “As a matter of fact, we did, and I gave her a knife.” Elisa scooted up to meet him head on. “You might want to watch out or she’ll cut your testicles off and play tennis with them. We have paddles back at the estate.”

  “You scare me sometimes, Elisa.” He frowned a little, but it succumbed to a wry smirk.

  “Not to break up this lovely reunion,” I unbuckled my seat belt, turning to face Elliot. “But I have some questions, and I need some answers. Which one of you want to talk?”

  “Lily, now is not the time.” Elisa furrowed her brows, scowling at me. “Trust me, okay?”

  “No, I don’t trust you and I never will.” I flipped her off and focused my attention on Elliot who was watching me intently. “It’s your turn, Elliot.”

  His lips pulled up, revealing a crooked but white smile.

  “Out, Elisa,” I ordered, unlocking the back door for her. She didn’t look pleased and she wasn’t moving. “I need to talk to him alone for a minute.”