by M. D. Melai
“Sorry,” he said as he reached for my cheek, before dropping it abruptly. “I know you will be fine. You’re tougher than you look.”
I nodded.
“Be careful, okay?” he said as he began to hug me. “Come back to us.”
Us? Who us? Us, us? Or Lucas and you, us?
“And you have all the information for the new bank account?” Adela asked, making me pull my attention from Emilio.
Benito nodded as I gave Emilio and Lucas one last look and Violet one last hug as we exited the house. Everyone stood outside and watched while we got into the SUV— Benito and I upfront, Nikolas and Faith in the back.
The dashboard had a small camera set up that looked similar to a GPS. Everyone would be able to see us on our way there, and hopefully, on our way back.
Benito drove oddly fast into the city. I wasn’t sure if his adrenaline was already racing, or he was just in a hurry. I know I wasn’t.
Nikolas and Faith didn’t talk the entire ride. I could tell that they were nervous also. Nikolas was already on a thin string with his father. I wasn’t sure about Faith’s status, but after this, it wasn’t going to be good. I just hoped that their father would know nothing about this.
Benito slowed the SUV down as we reached the headquarters. There was a subway entrance we would be taking, which was right across the street. I had never been here before, but I had seen the inside, thanks to Emilio’s control room.
One by one, we exited the SUV and made our way inside the building. Benito led us up a few flights of stairs and into a small room. He pulled out several guns from a few hiding places and gave Nikolas one, as well as a few extra clips. My small handheld was already in the purse I was carrying.
“Nikolas and I will be standing guard outside the bank while you two go inside. Okay?” Benito instructed.
Faith and I nodded. We had gone over the plan all morning while Benito and I were given makeovers by Chelsea. Faith had a friend that we used as a model for my look. Chelsea gave me the crystal blue eyes from the Masquerade party, and I was getting to be a red head for the day.
Nikolas also gave instructions for one of his closest friends too. Benito looked like a different person with hazel brown eyes and jet black-hair. Chelsea even lightened his skin a little to make the tones more natural.
“You ready?” Benito asked one last time before we all nodded and made our way out of the building.
***
The subway had taken almost forty minutes to get to our drop off. I hadn’t realized how many stops it actually made, and I was more thankful than ever that I normally took taxis or used my own car.
Nikolas and Benito walked next to each other as Faith and I trailed behind him. We put on the best façade we could as we exited the tunnel.
With each step closer to the bank, my heart picked up its pace. And, as each person passed by us, my nerves continued to shoot, hoping that we weren’t noticeable.
The bank came into view within minutes. I was instructed to act as if I really needed to stop by there so it didn’t look like we were purposely heading straight there.
I did my best as I pointed to the bank. I said that I would need some cash if we were going to the movies later that afternoon.
When we made our way across the street, I told the guys to wait out here and that Faith and I would be back soon.
Faith and I entered the bank, and it looked a lot more compressed than I thought it would. The tellers were only a few steps away from the entrance and there wasn’t much of a waiting area. As we approached the desk, I tried to remember the trustee’s name that Adela had told us.
“What can I do for you today?” the teller asked as she finished helping the person in front of us.
“Is Wyatt in today?” Faith asked before I could. I was thankful that she remembered his name, because I didn’t.
“I believe so, hold on,” she said right before she picked up the phone and hit a button. “Mr. Wilson, Faith Heinrich and a friend of hers are here to see you. Okay, I’ll let them know.”
All I could think about was how I hoped that he was available to see us. If he couldn’t, then this would have all been for nothing.
“He will be right with—” she said, before a loud voice flooded the room.
“Faith! Elizabeth!” a man said as he made his way from the back to where we were at.
“Wyatt!” Faith said as she gave him a hug.
I smiled as realistically as I could before I gave him a hug.
“It’s good to see you!” I said, nonchalantly.
“You too,” he said. “Why don’t you two come back here and I’ll help you out. And Robin, please hold all my calls,” he said to the teller that had just helped us.
Wyatt led us to the back of the bank and into a huge office. It was bigger than the entire waiting room, and he had everything ranging from bookshelves to a mini-golf putting green. The name plate on his desk said, ‘Wyatt Wilson, President.’
“So, you’re Adela’s girl,” he said straight to me as he saw my bewildered look. “Don’t worry, Adela called about thirty minutes ago and said that you were on your way. I already have the paperwork drawn up. If it’s okay with you, then we will do everything the old fashion way.”
“Yes, I’m Liliana, and that’s fine with me,” I responded.
“Okay,” he said. “She said that you had all of the information for the account you would like to transfer the money to.”
“Yes,” I said as I pulled it out of my purse. “But before we get started, I would like to know why you’re helping with this, or more so, why you helped in the first place? Aren’t you afraid of Viktor?”
“Hell no,” he said with a chuckle. “Being his close friend, I don’t have much to worry about.”
My nerves and heart stopped in one second. Wyatt was a good friend of Viktor’s? What had I gotten myself in to?
“With being his good friend, wouldn’t that make you not want to help us?” I asked.
He paused for a second, which made me nervous. But just as quickly, he replied.
“It never set well with me what he was going to do to Adela when he found out she inherited millions.”
Millions!
“So,” he continued. “I helped her get her affairs in order before she left. I knew it would only be a matter of time before you showed up.”
“So you’ve known this entire time that Adela was alive?” Faith exclaimed.
“I have,” he said, a little ashamed of himself. “I’m sorry. She told me not to say anything. The only reason she even told me was because she needed my help in reporting what Viktor was up to. Over the past two years, though, we’ve lost touch due to some of Viktor’s suspicions.”
So this must have been the Wyatt Adela had mentioned.
“Well, thanks a lot Uncle Wyatt,” she said as she rolled her eyes and slumped back into her chair.
“So, how can I trust that this won’t get back to Viktor and that we will get out of here safely?” I responded.
While Adela may trust this man, I wasn’t sure I did. And I didn’t know Adela well enough to trust him through her.
“Am I still not alive?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said confused.
“Do you think if Viktor knew I helped Adela secure her money that I would still be here?”
He did have a point.
He chuckled for a second before he turned in his chair and flipped a switch on. Three sets of screens popped on. It was a video feed from the cameras set up around the bank. It also showed the cameras set up outside, and I didn’t see Benito or Nikolas anywhere in sight.
“Since I knew you were coming, these cameras will be running the same feed over and over again until you leave. So, Viktor won’t even know that you came into the bank.”
I was satisfied with that answer, but he still wasn’t going to get my full trust. And he wouldn’t, until I was safely on my own territory again.
“Okay,” I replied. “Shall we
get this started?”
Over the next thirty minutes, I signed countless pieces of paper and Wyatt made a copy of each one. He didn’t want to do things electronically, because it could be easily traced. He also gave me a copy of the request to withdraw from the trust fund as well. I knew that Adela had submitted that to him too.
I could hear the clicking of the clock with each passing second, and I feared for Benito and Nikolas being outside. Even though Wyatt had set the cameras up on a feed, that didn’t mean Benito and Nikolas couldn’t be spotted outside of the building. Like Faith said, her father had men spread throughout the territory.
Wyatt gave me the last of the paperwork, and I put it in a manila folder. Luckily, I had brought a big enough purse that I could put the folder in there and no one would be able to see it. He also put the copies that he had in a manila folder and put it in his briefcase. He assured me that the paperwork would be taken care of on his end—all I had to do was take care of mine.
He wished us well as we left his office. I breathed a sigh of relief as we exited the bank.
Benito and Nikolas were across the street when we walked out of the bank. They were shaded under an umbrella at a coffee shop. As soon as they spotted us, they tossed some money on the table and made their way over to us.
“Everything go okay?” Benito asked.
“Perfect. Couldn’t have gone any better,” I said.
***
The next day Adela and I took the documents to the bank where she had set up my new account. The banker mentioned how unusual it was to handle the transaction the ‘old fashion way,’ but he didn’t pry with questions. We were there for over an hour trying to make sure everything was in order for the transfer. It didn’t surprise me since it was millions. I had put some of the money into the account, and I used the rest to set up my own fund.
Adela and I were relieved when we got the confirmation that the money was successfully transferred. Wyatt even texted Adela and told her that everything on his end was taking care of with no trace of the transaction ever taking place. He did remind us to guard those documents with our lives and to not lose them.
I still couldn’t believe that we had done it. Not only had I faced Viktor himself this year, but I was able to sneak onto his territory and make it back alive.
It was all so surreal, and by a week later, without any indication that Viktor knew, everyone became just a little more relaxed.
Benito was especially in a good mood. He was pretty excited, because not only had we secured my trust, but he had also been able to get a good look at some of Viktor’s territory. He was surprised to say the least, and excited about the fact that if we ever got a piece of his property, then we could do so much more than what we were already doing.
Just from the glimpse of Viktor’s property, Benito could tell that he ran things much differently than we did. For instance, there were a lot more homeless people on his blocks than on ours. While it was New York City and the homeless rate was an ungodly amount, our territory seemed to have a better grasp on it than his did. It was probably due to the fact that we try our best to give everyone a home and to also employ them.
“Can you imagine everything we could do if we get our hands on his territory?” Benito said as he was still looking over the map.
“And you only saw a piece of it,” Lucas said. “Too bad you didn’t get a chance to make your way down here.” He pointed to an area that was a few blocks away from where we had been. “This area is what you want. It’s really the only place Viktor still has a strong hold on, because almost every business there is profitable.”
“You know that will only happen over my father’s dead body, right?” Adela chimed in. “So just keep dreaming.”
“Isn’t that the reason we’re doing all this?” Lucas said with a smile.
The sound of the gate alarm told us that someone was waiting there.
“It’s Faith and Nikolas,” Lorenzo called out as he hit the button to allow them through.
A frantic knock came at the door just seconds later. Before I could even make my way to it, Nikolas and Faith busted through it. Sweat was beaded on their forehead, and they looked panicked.
“He…,” Nikolas tried to say. “He knows.”
My eyes grew wide as the realization of Nikolas’s words finally broke through.
“Our father knows the money is gone,” Faith finished for him.
Chapter 23
The last couple of weeks that had passed had been good, even though we were still on high alert.
Viktor knew the money was missing, yet had been extra quiet. Nikolas and Faith kept us as informed as possible, but even that wasn’t much. Viktor had become increasingly paranoid, and trusting less and less people. Faith said he just kept asking, “How could this have happened?”
My and Violet’s Thanksgiving plans were overridden by my mother. Instead of everyone coming to our house, we all met over at Benito’s. I was nervous at first, since Adela and Benito were still on rocky terms, but my mother insisted that Adela be in attendance.
Gabriella was handling everything like a pro. Benito had her and Adela meet a few of days before Thanksgiving so they wouldn’t be meeting for the first time at a family gathering. I thought it was a good idea. Gabby was polite and sweet when they met, but let Adela know she, under no circumstances, could have her man.
Other than that statement, it went surprising well—much better than it had the night he had to tell Gabby about Adela and me. That night she had been upset, surprised, and wondered why he had never told her. After his explanation, they agreed not to say anything to their children until I was ready—if I ever was.
Today was my first outing with Adela—by ourselves.
She had been in town for over a month now, and I had been purposely avoiding her when she wasn’t helping us out. I think my mother gave her a hint, because yesterday, Adela called and asked me a question I couldn’t refuse: “Would you like do go shopping with me?”
Anyone who knew me would have known there was no way I could say no. Turning down a shopping trip was almost a sin in my book.
Traitors.
As I pulled up to my mother’s condo, I took a deep breath—I could do this. She was my…well honestly, I didn’t even know how to describe her anymore. I was just hoping we had something in common, somewhere, hopefully.
“Hello,” my mother greeted me before I even had a chance to knock on the door. “She said it will be another minute.”
“Okay,” I said as enthusiastically as I could, even though my nerves were shooting throughout my body.
“Try and have a good day. Talk to her and get to know her, okay? For me?”
“I’ll try, but this is really weird,” I confessed. “I swear I’m going to need therapy one day.”
“Just treat her like a best friend—nothing more, nothing less. Adela just wants the chance to get to know you. So let her in, take her to all your favorite places, and just talk, okay?”
“Okay,” I said about the time Adela cleared her throat and walked into the living room.
“Ready?” was all I asked as I glanced at her.
“Yes,” she said smiling.
***
We had been driving in silence for a few minutes before I finally spoke up.
“So I thought we would do some Christmas shopping, eat lunch, and get our nails done. Is that okay?” I asked.
“Sounds great,” Adela replied. “Are you looking for anything in particular while we’re shopping? Who are you buying for?”
“Nothing in particular—whatever catches my eye. I’m looking for my nieces and nephews Christmas presents, which can be challenging,” I said with laugh. “There are so many of them, and well, they don’t really ask for much, so almost every Christmas I have to guess what I think they’d like. The older ones are getting harder to buy for, though.”
“Do you equally spend money among everyone?”
“I try to. I think I might try to buy
all the girls Taylor Swift concert tickets and fly us all to the concert…,” I said unsure.
“That would be really nice of you. An aunt getaway?”
“Yeah, Violet and me, and then the eight girls.”
“I think they would love that,” Adela said.
The more I thought about it, the more I loved the idea of taking all the girls away for a girls’ getaway weekend. I decided that was exactly what I was going to do with them. Now, I just had to do something just as awesome for the boys.
The rest of the morning was uneventful. We mostly just talked about the items we were looking at or if we thought certain outfits would look good together. I did find out that Adela was a fashionista. She not only loved clothes, but shoes, purses, and accessories as well. We had one thing in common so far.
For lunch, Adela wanted a hot dog from one of the street vendors. I had never seen anyone eat one so fast in my life. I wasn’t even sure she had time to taste it. Afterwards, on our way to the nail salon, she told me about how much she had missed eating them.
“Hot dogs?” I asked.
“Yes! There’s nothing in this world like a hot dog from a vendor in the middle of New York. It screams ‘I'm home’ to me.”
“I guess I can understand that,” I laughed.
By the time we finally settled in our chairs at the nail salon and I dipped my feet into the warm water, I was ready for a little relaxation.
“So, what’s your favorite color?” Adela asked a few minutes later.
“My favorite color?” I asked with a slight laugh.
“Yes,” she said with a look of curiosity. “Isn’t that one of the first questions people ask when they’re trying to get to know someone?”
“Yes,” I laughed. “And it’s purple,” I replied back.
“Any particular color of purple?”
“No, I just like purple. I’m not picky on which shade it is,” I said with a smile. “Yours?”
“Blue,” she replied, almost sounding depressed. “Blue like the ocean—like Benny’s eyes.”
“I’m sorry,” I said softly.
“For what?”
“For the life you left behind and are regretting at this moment,” I said sincere.