Page 90 of Little Dove

I smile down at her. “It’s kind of soothing for me too. A lot of girls at the salon I trained at hated it, but I never did so I took them without complaint.”

“You’re good at it,” she praises drowsily. “If you’re not careful I’ll be coming to you every day to have you wash my hair instead of doing it myself.” I laugh, but honestly, I wouldn’t care if she did. I hum a little to myself as I wash her hair, and look around the room with far more contentment than I’ve felt in a long time. Well, outside of last night with Lazaro, but that’s different. This is work. This is my career and what I’m working hard to build. Who knew I would have this in a giant mansion of a mafia Don? I still can’t get over that.

I take in all the equipment, the shelves, and the products. It’s everything I could dream of. The only thing I don’t know is how I’m ever going to afford to do this again, but that’s a problem for another day. When I finish with Rori’s wash, I realize I forgot a larger towel. “I just need to grab something. Be right back.” Rori gives a lazy wave of her hand, sighing contentedly as I turn away. I grin and rush over to the cabinet. I grab the towel, ready to turn away, when something catches my attention.

I stare at the wall next to the cabinet for a minute, trying to understand what I’m looking at. The wall looks…wrong. Like it’s one giant wave, which doesn’t make any sense considering how straight all the other walls are. I look at where the cabinet sits, and then along the rest of the wall to the back of the room near the wash station. It’s immaculately straight. So why is this one wonky? I can’t see someone like Nico’s parents being happy with a weird wall in a place like this that’s all clean, straight lines.

“What’s wrong, little sister?” Massimo asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Ah, nothing,” I say with a wry smile. “Just thinking about something.” I hurry back to Rori, but I see Massimo staring at the wall curiously before he finally turns away and tunes back into the other women talking. I get Rori wrapped up and back over to my chair, but my mind isn’t fully on what I’m doing. Instead, I can’t stop thinking of the wall. Or why it’s bothering me.

When I finish Rori, I smile at her and ask, “What do you think?”

“I love it,” Rori beams, fluffing at her loosely curled hair that frames her face even better than her last cut. “You’re a genius, Amara.” She turns to give me a quick hug and I grin at her.

“I’m glad you like it.”

“You look stunning, darling,” Sofia agrees.

“I can’t wait for my turn if you’re still up for it, Amara.” Sienna beams.

“Just let me clean up a little bit and then I can start on yours,” I agree with a nod. I put the towels and cape in the laundry bin, before I start to put away the products in the cabinet. Which, of course, puts me right in line with the wall again. Damn it, I can’t figure it out and it’s bothering me. Why would that wall be sunk in? And it’s not like it’s a lot, but to me it’s super noticeable now that I see it.

Unable to help myself, I shut the cabinet door and step to the wall, carefully putting my hand on it. It’s smooth, the paint still smooth even after all this time. “Alright, little sister, what’s going on?” Massimo suddenly asks, making me jump and pull my hand away. “Is there a problem with the wall? Did the men damage it when they were working?”

“No,” I say quickly, shaking my head. “But there’s something wrong with it, and I can’t figure out what.”

Instead of looking at me like I’m crazy, he asks, “How so? Perhaps we can figure it out.”

“I’m sorry, it’s probably nothing,” I sigh in embarrassment. “It’s just that the wall seems almost wavy, when every other wall in here is perfectly straight and even. All of the other walls are perfect. It feels out of place.”

Massimo narrows his eyes and moves to stand on my left, looking at the wall carefully. “I can kind of see it,” he finally says. “Though, it’s slight to me. Does it seem bigger to you?”

“Let me look,” Sofia says, nudging him out of the way. She cranes her head and then nods. “You’re right, it’s a bit slanted. This was a storage room, though, so it could be that the contractors hoped no one would notice if they were getting lazy.”

“Why is the wall being slightly wavy or whatever a big deal?” Sienna asks. “Not saying it’s not annoying, but why did it catch your attention, Amara?”

I flush. “Oh, ah, well, my brain likes to focus on things and figure out a puzzle, even if there isn’t necessarily one there. When we were trapped in the bunker, that’s how I figured out a lot of the hidden doors and hallways.” I stop, my mind going into overdrive. I spin around and look around the room again. Almost every wall in this place has been touched with remodeling, other than this one to put the shelf in place, and the one near the door.

I narrow my eyes as I take it in, feeling like I’m missing something. I walk away from them, and move to stand by the door, looking at the room again. And that’s when I see it. It’s small, barely there, but it’s enough. “That wall isn’t wavy,” I say as I stare at it. “It’s angled, if you look at it from here. Like it’s larger at the front and then shallow at the back. Why would they do that? If you look at it quickly, it looks straight, but if you turn ever so slightly, and look down, you’ll see that it’s not even.”

The women look confused, but I see Massimo’s expression turn calculating. “You think there’s a reason it’s like this?” he asks.

I turn again, and then I see where the two walls meet at the front of the room, and look at the small shelf that’s angled between the two of them. The one supporting a fire extinguisher that wasn’t secured to the wall. Just sitting there on the shelf like it’s always been there with how old it looks. “This was here when they moved everything out to start renovating right?” I ask.

“Yes. We figured we’d leave it there since it’s out of the way and a good place to have the extinguisher,” Sofia answers, and I can hear the confusion in her voice. “What is going on?”

I look at her. “You said before you know every way out of the passageways in this place. Is there one that comes out in here?” I ask her.

She blinks and then shakes her head slowly. “No. The closest one at this end is a couple of doors down. Dante mentioned once that Nico’s father didn’t want his soldiers knowing or coming across one this close to their quarters.”

“You think there’s something behind this wall,” Massimo says.

I move over to the shelf and crouch down. “Why else would this room be so off? I know it doesn’t make sense, and whoever put it in here probably figured no one would notice, or, because it was a storage room, they would just assume they did this because of the room on the other side or the kitchen at the far end.” I’m getting excited now. I just know I’m right.

There’s something here. Now I have to figure out how to open it.

I move my hands carefully around the wall with the shelf, silence thick around me. Massimo steps behind me, ready to step in, I’m sure, if something bad happens, but the others stay where they are and whisper quietly. I probably sound like a nut, but I don’t care.

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