Page 36 of The Devil Can Be Kind

ADALYN

The next morning, I woke up with a killer headache and puffy eyes that no amount of makeup was going to fix, but despite that, I was feeling better. The sadness I felt about my family was now carefully caged away to deal with on a later date…or never. I hadn’t decided yet, but I was done crying about it either way. It wouldn’t change anything.

I threw myself out of bed and took a quick shower, plastered on a thick layer of foundation and grabbed a cute one piece from my dressing room. I pulled my badly grown-out blonde hair into a high ponytail.

“You seem chirpy.” Jesse commented as I skipped into the garden room that morning. He was in his usual place at the round table, dressed in his ever-present black suit and shirt which looked almost identical to the ones Marco wore.

“I’ve decided to make the most of my situation.” I drawled around a mouthful of food. “Besides, if I don’t have a home anymore how can I miss it?”

I could see Jesse’s eyes cloud over as he looked at me and I waved it away.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. I’m fine.” I said as convincingly as I could. “Anyway, I know what I am going to do today.”

“Hmm and what is that exactly?” He asked intrigued.

“I’m going to get my hair done!” I did a small clap in excitement. “So…could you arrange that for me? Pleeasseeeee.” I exaggerated, trying to coerce him into helping.

I flashed him my best innocent smile.

“Fine.” He huffed. “Alonso will take you. When do you want to go?”

“Sometime this morning.” I suggested.

He quickly dove a hand into his blazer pocket and left the room while bringing the phone to his ear. I poured us both a coffee in his absence.

He resumed his seat a few minutes later, “It’s sorted. Alonso will be out front in thirty minutes.”

Jesse then proceeded to shove a rasher of bacon in his mouth like a pig.

“Thank you. And be careful—you’re going to get grease all over your suit.” I threw him a paper towel.

“Greasy is how I like it.” His grin was met with my chorus of ‘eww’.

“So, what exactly areyoudoing today?”

“Oh, you know…this and that.” He said, clearly dodging.

“Are you choosing not to tell me or have you been told not to?” I scowled at him over my steaming mug.

“That is the million-dollar question isn’t it, my dear old Bandit.”

I can’t be trusted by this family either,I thought angrily.Though, I couldn’t exactly blame them for it.

“Are you sure I can’t get you to come with me to the salon? I’ll treat you to a fancy pamper day!” I teased.

“Umm no. I’m not sure I could fulfill my role as big scary Mafia guy if I had a French manicure, so thank you but no thank you.”

“Very well then,” I said, getting to my feet. “Thank you for helping me, Jess. You know with…e-everything.” I finished awkwardly.

Jesse was fast becoming my only friend in this ‘new life’ of mine and I wanted him to know that I appreciated it. At times, he was the only thing keeping me sane.

“You are…welcome.” He coughed into his fist, equally as awkward.

Not twenty minutes later,I met Alonso and Tom on the drive out front. My shiny black credit card and brand-new phone were carefully tucked away in my handbag, and I was feeling more normal than I had in weeks.

As we drove into town, it seemed like Marco’s mansion was in one of the more exclusive suburbs of Chicago as opposed to the city center itself. It took a little over ten minutes for us to reach what I assumed to be a local high street, with a clustering of various up-market shops and restaurants.

We pulled up outside a sophisticated salon, which looked somewhat out of place against the plainness of the other stores. Alonso and Tom traipsed behind me as I stepped inside, and I wasn’t sure whether they were debating following me or not. It wasn’t exactly theirscene.

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