by Clare Morgan
I don’t know if that makes me a bad person, but I wasn’t thinking about Victoria at all. I knew that I was still serving her and I shouldn’t be with Ila. But there are a few bonds that are beyond any rule. I gave her a towel so that she would be able to soak herself properly.
“What happened? Tell the details!” I said as I made her sit in front of me.
“Anthony is dead, Larry. He got murdered. Someone murdered him, but they all think that it is me. I have been framed!” she said and started crying. I realized that she was certainly not taking that situation wisely. The moment I realized that Anthony has been murdered, I understood the gravity of the situation. He had been one of the most dangerous men in the country and someone who murdered him won’t certainly be safe. The entire mafia would be coming after her and I had to do something to protect her.
It was really strange knowing how protective I felt of her. She came to me, crying and asking for help. Even before she could ask for it, I realized that I had to help her. But what about Victoria? What was I supposed to with her?
“What happened? Tell me everything you know right from the start,” I asked her.
“It was just like any other ordinary day for us in the mansion today. I completed my work and Rick was in the lab working on some new drug that Anthony had asked him to prepare. I don’t remember much after that, Larry. It is like all my memory is gone. All I could remember is that Anthony asked me for a glass of whiskey. I went to the bar to fetch it from him and the next thing I know was that he was dead. Everyone started to say that it was because of the whiskey. That I poisoned him, Larry. But I don’t have any memory of how and when I fetched him the glass of whiskey. I didn’t do anything.
He used to do really bad things with me, Larry. I can still feel pain and irritation on all the places where he had touched me and fucked me badly. I can still feel his presence inside of me for all the bad reasons. I don’t know why, but every night I used to pray to God for his death. But I never thought that it would be like this. I thought that he would die in a car crash or would be murdered by his enemies. I never thought that he would be poisoned and that too by me.
Maybe, I did poison him, Larry. I just can’t seem to remember a thing about it. I didn’t know what to do. They didn’t want to include the police and Anthony was a member of the mafia and his entire mansion had a lot of stuff that would break the code. The entire mafia is there and they all are looking for me. I knew that I couldn’t go to the police, but I know they will come to know of it too. I couldn’t go back to Mexico as well. You were the first person whom I could think of, Larry. So I came here in order to seek your help. Tell me what to do, Larry? What should I do? Is everything going to be alright?” she finally wiped her tears away and narrated me the entire incident.
As I listened to her, I realized that maybe it was the glass of whiskey that poisoned Anthony. Ila had no memory of it and I was pretty sure that it must be given to her by Anthony’s enemies. He didn’t have a very good reputation in the mafia and have gained quite a few enemies along the way. Maybe, she was simply hypnotized or drugged and that’s why she was not able to remember anything at all.
“Yes. Don’t worry! Everything is going to be alright,” I said and held her in my arms. It was still a few minutes to midnight and I knew that I had to act fast if we truly wanted to outrun the mafia.
“We can’t stay here for long. Everyone knows about us. When they can’t find you, they will definitely come here, Ila. We have to leave right now!” I said and gave her a hand. We both started to run towards the car and I called Victoria in order to make sure that she is safe.
“Where are you?” I asked her over the phone.
“I have just reached home. What the hell is Natasha doing here? She is drunk and passed out in the guest room!” she said, as she had no idea what just happened.
“Something has happened, Victoria. I am coming in five and will let you know everything about it!” I said as I kept driving my car to reach her mansion as soon as we could. I knew that we were running against time and had only a few moments to make it. I knew that the instant I had promised Ila to save her, I broke another promise at the same time. I won’t be there to save Victoria anymore. It was a choice and I didn’t know if I had made the right decision or not.
“You will be safe here. Trust me!” I said as I parked the car inside the mansion and told Ila to wait for me for a few minutes.
“I will be back in five. Don’t step out of the car. Wait for me here. If anything happens, just call me!” I said as I stepped out of the car and rushed to see Victoria.
“What is happening? Where were you, Larry?” she was certainly confused and I didn’t know where I was supposed to start.
“It is a long story, Victoria. I don’t know from where I should start!” I said as I entered her room. I was covered in my own sweat as I was simply running for the last few minutes.
“Calm down, Larry. Have some water and tell me what is wrong?” she handed me a glass of water. I told her everything about it in detail. I told her about Ila and I and how we have been involved in the entire Mexico episode. I have already told her everything about it, but I knew that it was a long time back and I had to fresh her memory.
“There is one more thing I wanted to tell you, Victoria. It is about Natasha. She is the one who was trying to kill you,” I said and realized that it would be tough news for her.
“What? What are you saying, Larry? She is one of the most trustworthy people in my team! Are you sure that she is the one who is after all of this?” she asked me, still not able to believe what she just heard.
I opened my phone and let her listen to our entire conversation. For a moment, she couldn’t believe it at all. The mistakes that she made years ago were still able to haunt her in the form of Natasha.
“I had no idea that she was Henry’s sister. Henry’s death was not my fault, Larry. I told him that night that he was overdoing it. I warned him, but he didn’t listen to me. He simply slapped me and kept consuming more. I tried my best to stop him, Larry. When I found him dead, even I started to think that it was my fault. I was thinking that I was the one who took his life, but it was not me. It was the drug. That day, I realized that I had to clean my mess.
It was the last day of my life when I consumed any kind of drug, Larry. I became sober and cleaned myself. It has been years now since I have taken anything. It took me a really long time to realize that I didn’t kill Henry. He killed himself, and if Natasha thinks this then I can’t help her either,” she said and hugged me. I realized that she had her past too that was haunting her, the same way my past my haunting me.
“I trust you, Victoria. I have emailed you this voice note so that you can go to the police and tell them about Natasha’s intentions. I am really sorry, but you have to do this on your own. I can’t stay by your side anymore. There is an urgent matter that I need to take care of. Ila needs me, Victoria. I really need to help her otherwise, she won’t be able to survive,” I said as I let her go and emailed her the file the very moment.
“Are you leaving? Are you really leaving me, Larry? What am I supposed to do without you? How will I survive?” she asked me and started to cry. I realized that it was a hard choice – Ila or Victoria.
Victoria loved me, I knew that. There was a very strong part of me who loved her too, but I also knew that Ila needed me, more than ever. If I won’t help her, then she might die. It was probably the toughest choice that I was asked to make in my life.
“I have to go, Victoria. You know how hard this is for me. I really need to go. I am sorry, but I can’t stay,” I said and locked our lips together. In every possible way, it felt like a goodbye kiss. There was no passion, no spark in that kiss – it was utter sadness and remorse.
“This is farewell,” I said and we parted our lips.
“I should have known that this was not true. You were too good to be real, Larry. For a moment, when I got you, I started to believe that I got my ha
ppy ending. Now I know how wrong I was. Villains don’t get their happy ending. All they get is a dream, a figment of their own imagination to hold on to for the rest of their lives. You were just a dream to me, Larry that never came true,” she said and let go of my hand.
I knew that it was the last time when I would be seeing Victoria and the thought of it was breaking my heart.
“I am really sorry, Victoria. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” that was all I could say as I left the room and walked away. There was a very strong part of me that wanted to turn and look back at her. I wanted to run towards her and kiss her face one more time. I wanted to taste her presence on the tip of my tongue, but it was all gone. I knew that I have let go of one of the most precious things in my life and that there was no going back.
I ran back toward my car, knowing that I had closed the most beautiful chapter of my life. I put an end to my own story so that I could give Ila her happy ending. I knew that after giving Victoria Natasha’s recording, she would be safe. It was not any competitor who was after her life, but her own assistant. The one whom she considered a friend was planning to kill her and the mere thought of it was so devastating. I knew that Victoria would take care of her after that.
I had no hard feelings towards her. In fact, all I had was love and respect for her. She came to my life when I needed someone’s help the most. I was just too proud to ask for it. It was like as if I was drowning and she saved me. Yes, she saved me in every possible way a person can be saved. But just because she was my savior didn’t mean that she had to be my lover as well.
If it was any one thing that I learned the most from the entire event was that we can’t trust anyone. Even our best friend can betray us at times and we can’t do a thing about it. I was pretty sure that never in her wildest dreams did Victoria think that Natasha would be the one who wanted to kill her. It was an utter shock to her. That night, she lost not only me but Natasha as well. She lost her lover and her friend, and I was finding it hard to imagine what she must he going through.
All I knew was that things were getting tough for her, but she was tougher than the world. She has been through a really bad phase in her life and came out as a winner. She was able to come out of the worst phase of her life, and she would come out of tonight as well with flying colors. She was a fighter and fighters never lose.
“Where are we going?” Ila asked me and broke my train of thoughts. I finally bid goodbye to Victoria and stopped thinking about it as well. I looked at Ila and I realized that I had to be at the top of my game if I really wanted to save her. There was no chance of any mistake there.
“We are going to the Vecchio mansion,” I answered her.
“What? What are you doing, Larry? I can’t go back there! They will kill me,” she said as she heard my reply.
“Don’t worry. We will not go inside. I will simply have a look from the outside,” I said as we reached the mansion.
I kept circling around it with my car and realized the place was entirely sealed by the mafia. I was pretty sure that it would be like that. I couldn’t find even a single person inside. There were no guards, no relatives, or even any family members. But I knew that the place would be having a lot of people inside. That was a trick that is often played by the mafia.
They let the world know that everything is perfectly fine from the outside, even when they are crumbling inside. I knew that it was certainly not safe there and decided to hit the road.
“Where do you stay? We need to go back to your place so that you can get your things. We need to leave the city right now. We can’t wait anymore!” I asked her, knowing that we had to act fast.
She guided me the direction to her place as we drove to her apartment. It was a shabby locality and didn’t feel safe at all. I had no idea that Ila would be losing it after all. She was certainly spoiling her life by working for Anthony and then living in a locality that was the center of crime in the city. I knew that the place was full of mobsters and thieves, who could give the mafia a few leads about Ila’s whereabouts. She couldn’t be seen with me, else it would create a problem for everyone else whom I know.
I followed her to her apartment and when I saw Rick opened the door, I was certainly not that surprised.
“I was worried about you. Where did you go?” Rick said the moment he saw Ila.
“Oh! Larry! I am glad she found you. We are in deep shit once again!” he said as he welcomed me. I had a look at the same apartment and figured out that both, Ila and Rick were living together. It was not surprising for me to see, considering that they both were into each other. Yes, that was heartbreaking for sure.
I knew that Rick wasn’t a great guy and that Ila was making a mistake by being with her. But I also knew that she was in love with him and it didn’t matter what I say, she would always choose him – the same way I chose her over Victoria.
“Pack your bags, kids. We are up for a very long night!” I said and guided them to pack their essentials as soon as they could. I knew that it was just the starting of a new adventure. It was just like the old times, except that we weren’t in Mexico anymore. We were in Chicago and instead of coming to the city; we were running away this time. The cards were turned and the game didn’t seem that easy after all.
Chapter 13:
“Where are we heading to?” Rick asked me as I kept driving away from the city. We were already driving on the highway and I simply wanted to take them away from the city. I knew that the entire mafia was looking after them and it was certainly not safe for them to stay in Chicago.
“We are going to check-in in one of the abandoned hotels here,” I replied as I tried to find an ideal place for her to stay for a few days.
“Then what?” Ila asked me.
“Then we will figure out something. Our first motive is to keep you guys safe and that is exactly what I am doing. Once we are far from the mafia’s reach, then we can simply start investigating about the murder in order to figure out who killed Anthony,” I answered.
“You are going to investigate the murder?” Rick asked me.
“Was that a question?”
“Of course! I didn’t know that murder investigation is also one of your specialties.”
“Oh! You have no idea about my specialties, Rick!” I said and pulled over. I was able to find a perfect hotel that looked almost abandoned. I parked my car behind the building so that we won’t be able to be spotted by anyone too easily.
“There is only one room available. If you want then we can add an extra bed,” the receptionist said.
“What’s your name, pretty face?” Rick asked him and I realized that he was about to flirt with her.
“Rose.”
“Well, Rose, we would really appreciate if you could arrange two separate rooms for us. You see, we don’t want to have an orgy in our room,” the moment Rick said, I realized that he was crossing a line. The idea of an orgy wasn’t bad at all, but not with him – not with Rick.
“Well, if you have an orgy, then count me in!” She said while looking at me. The way she stared at me, I realized that it was me that she wanted. Rose had pink lips and long blonde hair. She had a really attractive body and it would certainly be a great idea to fuck her that night.
“As of now, can you just give me our keys,” I said as I took the keys to our room and left.
“What the fuck are you doing, Rick?” I asked him, as I didn’t like what he just did.
“He was just being him – a complete asshole!” Ila replied as she didn’t like him flirting with someone else, which made me jealous. Ila’s concern for Rick was driving me mad. I had no idea what she saw in Rick. Certainly, he was not the same fat boy anymore. I could see his physique and realized that he had certainly spent some time in the gym. He had a sculptured physique, but he was still the same drug addicted asshole who could never change.
We unlocked the door of our room and tried to settle in. The place wasn’t the best, but it was not that bad either. The room lo
oked pretty neat and we realized that we could certainly stay there for a few more days before going someplace else.
“Are you all ready to blow your mind out?” Rick announced as he took out a small bag out from his suitcase.
“What the fuck, Rick? Are you out of your mind?” I said the moment I realized that he was carrying drugs. I could recognize that drug even in my wildest of dreams – it was The Green Ruin, the disastrous drug that started it all.
“Come on, Larry! We all need to take an edge off. We have had a tough night and we certainly need to relax. When was the last time you slept in peace, Larry? This is the time when we can all celebrate and make the best out of this mess!” he announced and started grinding the crystals in order to consume.
“He is right. Let’s make the best out of this night, Larry!” Ila said and held my hand. I realized that maybe they weren’t that wrong after all. It has been years now since I have slept peacefully and was certainly looking forward to having a great time. I was just like those good old days and I wanted to escape back to my imagination.
“What the hell! Let’s do it!” I said and joined the club.
As we were about to consume it, we heard a knock on the door.
“It’s me – Rose. I can smell that you guys are cooking something in here!” she said and made us realize that it wasn’t that safe for us to consume our favorite drug after all.
“Hurry! Hide it and I will take care of it,” I said in order to handle the situation.
“Relax, old man! Let me figure it out!” Rick said as he opened the door without even a trace of fear.
“Do you want some?” he said the moment he opened the door and made Rose smile.