Travis: To accompany the Fallen Angel Series - A Mafia Romance

by Tracie Podger

  The following day I called on Robert, he was sitting on the sofa reading a paper with music playing in the background. He looked content and happy. I opened his fridge and took out two beers, popping off the caps as I joined him.

  “There’s a game on,” I said, as I handed him a beer.

  “So go watch it then,” he replied with a smile.

  “I’m bored, it’s too quiet.”

  “Trav, if you really hate it then move in here.”

  “No, I’ll get used to it. It’s just strange at the moment,” I replied.

  “I know it is and I mean it, if you don’t like the apartment move your things in. But the TV is in the other room and staying there.”

  I laughed; I did like the apartment, I figured it would just take a couple of days to adjust. I finished my beer and left the empty bottle on the coffee table, knowing it would piss Robert off. He tutted.

  “You got old too quick,” I said as I stood. I flipped him the finger when he laughed.

  “No bro, I grew up, big difference,” he called out to my retreating back.

  I went to visit Evelyn; she was always a lot more fun and I was hungry. I was hoping she might feed me.

  Chapter Eleven

  It was autumn when my past caught up with me. I hadn’t thought about my family for a long time. Robert and I had travelled to New York many times over the years to check on developments, and although I made an effort to avoid Hell’s Kitchen, as time went on that fear of meeting up had changed into something else. I was a different person to the one back then, and deep inside there was often a little disappointment when we boarded the jet to return home. I would love to meet my brothers, especially in a dark alley late at night.

  We were in Manhattan checking out a site that was to become our largest development to date. A complex of apartments and stores, restaurants and coffee shops framed a courtyard that was to house an elaborate water feature. The architects had done well with this project. It was high-end and expensive. We were a long way off from the start of the build; planning applications had to be submitted first.

  It was as Robert and I exited the car to make our way into a restaurant for dinner that I saw her. She was leaving the restaurant on the arm of a suited man; he held the door open for her and she was laughing. She wore what looked like expensive clothes, her face expertly made up; even I knew her shoes and bag were designer. I stopped short and took a sharp breath in; I felt the colour drain from my face. Robert stopped beside me.

  “You okay, bro?” he asked, concern laced his voice.

  Robert’s voice caused her to look up and she gasped too. Her companion stopped and looked at us. Her red hair was still beautiful, and under the lights of the entrance canopy, it shone. Her blue eyes immediately filled with tears, tears that ran down her cheeks, and she raised a hand to her mouth as a sob escaped.

  For a moment there was silence. She reached out for me and I took a step back, away from her.

  “Travis?” she croaked.

  “Aileen, are you okay? Do you know this man?” her companion asked.

  She nodded. “He’s my brother,” she said.

  “Was,” I said. “I was your brother, not anymore,” I added quietly.

  “I tried to find you, as God is my witness, Travis. I went to DC, I tried to find you,” Aileen said between her sobs.

  She reached out and took a step towards me. That time I let her touch my chest and her hand fisted in my shirt.

  “Honey, why don’t we all go back inside, we don’t want to make a scene here,” her companion said.

  At that, Robert stepped forward. “You and I will step to one side, they can make whatever scene they wish. Shall we?” he said as he gestured with his arm.

  And then I was alone with her. I didn’t know what to say, and I was totally confused. My brain was awash with emotions, endorphins, adrenalin, every high and low flooding through me simultaneously. I could smell her perfume; it reminded me of home and a pang of hurt hit me in the chest.

  “I went to DC, to the address Dan gave, and you weren’t there. I asked the neighbours, I walked the streets for two days, Travis, and I couldn’t find you. I couldn’t find Dan, either. There were people in that house, no one knew what I was talking about when I mentioned your name,” she said, rambling.

  “I was there, Aileen. I lived on the streets for years. I begged, I was hungry, dirty and sick sometimes. I wasn’t that far away, all you had to do was look down the nearest alley and you would have seen me. I was the kid lying on the ground in the piss and dirt. I was the kid that cried because my mother and my sister had abandoned me.” My voice had started to rise in anger and pain.

  “Please, Travis, I spent two days…”

  “Two fucking days,” I hissed. “I spent years, Aileen, fucking years on those streets. You spent only two days looking for me. DC isn’t that big, maybe if you had stayed one more day you would have found me.”

  “I came back, time and time again. I just couldn’t find you,” her voice had grown to a whisper.

  I didn’t care about the tears that ran down her cheeks; I didn’t care about the tears that ran down mine. After all this time, my sister was standing in front of me. I had hated her for so long, but I loved her so much. I pulled her to me; I cradled her head in my chest as she sobbed. I looked over at Robert and her friend; both were standing and watching us in silence. I nodded to Robert; he understood what I wanted and he made his way back to the car. I placed my hands on Aileen’s arms and took a step away from her. She looked up at me and smiled, it was a sad smile. She reached up with one hand and placed in on my cheek.

  “Look at you, all grown up, a man now.” We stood in silence for a minute or two.

  “Goodbye, Aileen,” I said, the words stuck in my throat. I very nearly choked on them but I walked away.

  “Wait, Travis, please. Give me your address, please. I can’t lose you again,” she begged.

  I climbed in the car and she grabbed at the door handle, trying to open it. I closed my eyes and let more tears fall as we drove to the airport. Robert made a call to move up our flight time. I couldn’t look behind me, and I sat in silence until the car pulled alongside the jet. It was only after takeoff that I finally spoke.

  “Well, that was pretty fucked up, wasn’t it?” I said as I took a sip of my beer.

  “Yep,” Robert replied with a sigh. “Do you think you should have…?”

  I cut off his question; I knew what he was going to say. Robert found it hard to accept that I refused to acknowledge my family, as he had none. But I’d never really told him the extent of the pain my family had caused me, especially my brother, Padriac.

  “No, bro. I’ve spent years getting my family out of my system, I can’t go back there. If I kept in touch with her, she would tell my mother, and my mother would tell the rest because she’s too fucking weak to keep it a secret.”

  “I think you’d find that she already knows where you are, who you are,” he said.

  “Why do you say that?” I asked.

  “Her companion? He’s on the city’s planning board, he knew who we were, the company name, everything. He may tell her.”

  “Then I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, I guess. I don’t think I can have a relationship with her, Rob. Too much time has passed.”

  “She did say she had come to find you, though,” he said gently.

  “She spent two fucking days, Rob. For the first few days I stayed local, she didn’t look that hard.”

  There was no way I was going to be convinced my sister had come looking for me, she may have made it to DC, but she could have found me if she really had tried. She clearly wasn’t that concerned about getting away from the family herself. There she’d been, in all her fine clothes, leaving a restaurant no more than a few blocks from the slum where we had lived.

  It was less than a week later that a letter from Aileen arrived at the office; her companion had indeed told her where I was. I wasn’t sure whet
her to be furious or not, I wasn’t sure whether to even read the letter. It had been left on my desk unopened, as it was marked private. I unlocked my top drawer and dropped it in. That letter stayed unopened for over a month.

  ****

  I still dated, or had fuck buddies, I suppose would be the more precise term. Sometimes I would take one out for dinner, and only on very rare occasions Robert and I double dated. It was unusual for him to spend more than a couple of months with the same woman; he got bored of them very easily. Miranda seemed to be the longest for a while.

  I was sat in my office with the door propped open when I saw him exit the lift. Behind, and standing as far away from him as possible, was Miranda.

  “What are you laughing at?” I said as he strode towards me.

  “Just had a session with Miranda,” he replied.

  “What did she call you this time?”

  Miranda had a habit of using nasty words; my guess was she wanted to rile some sort of emotion from Robert. Trying to be seductive and nice hadn’t worked, so now she was trying the ‘I don’t want you’ route. If she thought she would have him running to her, she really wasn’t as intelligent as she made out to be. Robert could take or leave women; he had no feelings towards them and only wanted them for one reason.

  “A mean bastard. Pretty tame for her,” he said, answering my question.

  “I really don’t know why you go there,” I said shaking my head.

  “Neither do I. It was a cock ruling the brain moment.”

  Robert left and made his way to his own office. I decided to move her file from the current drawer to the past one. As sad as it sounded, everyone we came into contact with had a file. They were all checked out; even the woman I was currently dating, Shelly, was about to get a file. I had wanted them colour coded - red for hot, blue for not. Should I ever want to revisit one, it would certainly make it easier to pick one out.

  Shelly was a manager at a local restaurant, so she told me. I never took anyone at face value, but she was fun and the more time I spent with her, the more I liked her. She could be a bit trashy sometimes, especially after a glass or two of the cheap wine she insisted on drinking by the bottle, but I laughed with her. And maybe having some fun was what I needed right then.

  I struggled as the business got more successful. I wasn’t as educated as the other guys although my talent lay elsewhere. If there was a problem to solve, it was usually passed to me and not Mack anymore. The guys were getting older, and weren’t able to deal with a threat as well as they needed to be. In fact, Jonathan was priming his son to eventually take over from him. He was the oldest of the guys, well into his sixties, and I wondered how long he would stay on board before he finally decided to retire. Patricia, his wife, had nagged him to slow down a little over the past year.

  “Lunch?” I said as I walked into Robert’s office. My stomach had been grumbling for hours.

  “Thanks. I just had an interesting conversation with Luca Gioletti. He wants to meet to discuss our new development,” Robert replied.

  “Discuss what?” I asked.

  “He wants in, can’t afford to pay though, I’ve seen his accounts. He wants to trade, his team for apartments.”

  “Do you trust him?” I asked.

  “About as far as I can throw him,” Robert replied with a laugh.

  My phone beeped in my pocket and looking at the text I saw it was from Shelly.

  “You need me for anything? That was Shelly, she wants to meet for lunch,” I said.

  “No, you go. I’ll have Gina get me a sandwich or something. Mark can run me home.”

  I headed to the apartment to freshen up a little and grab a change of shirt before making my way to the parking lot. It was as I’d pushed through the lot door that I saw Shelly enter the foyer. She stopped at the reception desk and spoke to one of the girls before making her way to the elevators. She wore heels much too high, stilettos that made her look like she was tottering on her tip toes. Her makeup was garish and her shirt tight across her chest. It was the skirt that I noticed more, far shorter than she normally wore. I frowned. She had sent me a text with a place to meet, so why was she at the office? I waited until the elevator doors closed and watched the illuminated numbers climb, coming to a stop at the eleventh floor.

  I took the next elevator, but exited at floor ten; something was amiss, something didn’t feel right. I then took the stairs up to the last floor. The door to the stairwell was in the corner of reception. Had I chosen the elevator I would have been seen as soon as I exited. As quietly as I could, I made my way to where I could hear her voice, ducking under the window in the door of my office. I shook my head at the sight that greeted me.

  Shelly was perched on the edge of Robert’s desk and he was not pleased. Just the look on his face was evidence of that. His scowl was deep, and even from where I was I could see his eyes darken. She was coming on to my brother. It wasn’t the first time that had happened, and I trusted Robert with my life. I knew he had no interest in her, but it stung a little.

  “Isn’t Travis on his way to meet you?” I heard Robert say.

  “Yes, I just wanted five minutes to meet the elusive Robert Stone,” she replied, trying to sound as seductive as she could.

  “Well now you have, perhaps you should get going,” he replied.

  I heard a noise from my office. I guessed Mack and one of the security guys, Mark, were recording this event. A chair scraped and I held my breath, half expecting one of them to leave the room.

  “You coming on to me?” I heard Robert say. His voice was low, a sure sign he was angry.

  “If you want me to,” she replied.

  “Get the fuck off my desk. You are dating my best friend and you walk in here looking like a cheap whore to come on to me?” he said.

  At that point I walked back to the stairwell. I’d heard all I needed to. I took my time walking down the stairs and went straight to the gym. I changed and opted to run a mile, trying to clear my head. Robert would never take her up on her offer, and I would never do the same to him. I was pissed though; I had liked her far more than I should have, really. She wasn’t my type and she certainly wasn’t long-term material, but after all that had happened with Alison, I guess my emotions were still in turmoil.

  After my run I hit the heavy bag, a satisfying dent appeared as I punched as hard as I could. I wouldn’t tell Robert what I had seen; I would wait and see what happened. It would be hard for him to tell me straight, he knew that I’d liked her. Something would be arranged, a way for me to see the kind of woman she really was, and I was grateful for that. I didn’t want to hear that my girlfriend had come on to my best friend.

  Showered and changed, I decided to take a drive. As I crossed the lot to the Range Rover I noticed something on the windshield, a piece of paper. I read it and when I did I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or scream out loud. Yet another piece of my past was back, and this time it was serious.

  Chapter Twelve

  I read the note over and over before folding it and placing it in my top pocket. All thoughts of Shelly immediately fell by the wayside. I sat in the Range Rover for a little while, deciding what to do. I needed to find out if it the note was genuine or not before bringing anyone else into this.

  I planted a fake smile on my face as I made my way back to the office, passing Robert’s on the way. His door was open and he looked up.

  “Hey bro, how was lunch?” he said.

  “Shelly had to cancel, there was a problem with one of the chef’s at the restaurant,” I said, it was the first thing that came into my head.

  “Where did you go then?” he asked.

  “Gym, thought I’d have a quick workout.”

  He nodded and picked up the ringing telephone from his desk. I made my way to my office.

  “Mark, take a break will you.”

  I took a key from my pocket and unlocked the drawer to my desk; nestled near the top was an envelope, the letter I had received from m
y sister. I held it in my hand awhile, debating whether to open it or not. I needed to know if the note I’d found on my car was genuine, and the only way to know for sure was to call her. I slid my finger under the flap and pulled out the page.

  Dear Travis,

  I understand why you ran off, and I hope you will read this letter and let me explain. I didn’t come for you immediately, I couldn’t. As soon as dad knew you had gone he went mental. He beat mum to a pulp and put her in the hospital. I had to stay; I thought you would be okay with Dan for a few more days, a week at most. It took two weeks before the hospital would release her, before the police would stop harassing us to find out what had happened.

  Padriac was arrested, he never went to jail, but we didn’t see him again. No one knows what happened to him. Carrig left shortly after, although he got in touch a few years later. I had to stay, I had to protect her, and I honestly thought you were fine. I tried to call, to speak to you or Dan, I was desperate for news.

  As soon as I could, I got a lift to DC, I went to the address I was given and you weren’t there. A family lived in the house and when I asked, they had no idea who I was talking about. They gave me the landlord’s details and I called him. He was Dan’s father. He had no idea about you but I managed to get a number for Dan.

  I called Dan and he explained. He had been arrested, it was a mistake. His brother was dealing drugs and when the police raided, Dan was caught up in it all. He was held by the police for a few days and then released. He tried to find you too. I met with him; we walked the street, Travis, solidly for two days. We thought we had covered every alley, every block, everywhere we could think of. We checked the hospitals and with the police. I couldn’t find you and it broke my heart to have to return to NY. And why did I have to return? I can’t hate her, Trav, like you can. I would love to, I would love to not feel anything towards our mother, I would love to walk away and never think of her but the guilt was crushing and I was torn. I was so bitterly torn I couldn’t think straight. You were tough, I made myself believe you would survive and you would be okay. I even made up stories in my head - a family had taken you in, a loving family that cared for you.