Page 8 of The Mafia Assassin's Redemption
I hold out my hand and her trembling one takes it. “Lara Ricco.”
The Ricco name sends a shiver down my spine. But I don’t react. Instead, I motion to a seat and put on the teakettle. Touching my cross, I ask, “Tea or coffee?”
“I…” She puts a hand to her stomach. “Idon’t know.”
“Herbal,” I say it with a smile, the sweet Hazel smile.
The light in here is harsh and I can see the swelling as she turns her head, the slight sheen of extra makeup hiding a black eye. The bruises on her arm that show beneath the long sleeve of her dress.
“Can you help?” she asks. “I tried to ask the priest?—”
“Don’t do that, he doesn’t know.” I select orange blossom and open the packet and drop the bag into the mug. Earl Grey for me.
She nods. “I told him what you said at the bookstore. That I’m your friend.” Her gaze runs over me. “But I thought…”
“It’s safer here, no one to listen to our conversation. I’m the church assistant; I get things ready for service. But Father Luigi doesn’t know a thing about the other work I do. It’s better for me to operate in the dark. Better for everyone.”
She bites her lip, and I pour the water into a mug and hand it to her.
It takes a little while for her to warm up to our circumstances. She slowly tells me more about her brutal husband, how she caught his eye, and how her father pushed for the union. But the moment the ring was on her finger, he became violent and cruel and now she’s scared he’ll kill her.
I’m scared he won’t.
Her story is familiar, and men like her husband thrive on keeping their punching bag around. Some loan them out, others just abuse them and grow more and more sadistic, especially the smaller players in powerful mafia families.
They don’t kill. That would be too easy.
And it creates a hellscape the woman can’t escape from.
“You need to leave this week. The sooner the better. I can arrange a safe place to meet you.” I write something down on a piece of paper and show her. “Memorize that address. The time.” I wait, sip my tea, and then I look at her. “Got it?”
“Yes, but… what if…?” She swallows and clenches her hands together. “What if Salvatore finds out? His brother, Bernardo, is almost as bad… The Ricci family are old school and?—”
“You can’t think like that.” I put my hand over hers. “What’s the address?”
She recites it back, including the time.
“Two days. If you don’t show, I’ll assume you changed your mind.” I make sure my voice is soft for this next part. “And that’s okay. We’ll have to meet up a few more times, as friends. The bookstore story is nice and generic and it works. You were looking at the religious books, and so was I. We meet a few more times and we drift apart. If you change your mind.”
“I…”
“It happens, Lara.”
“Why are you helping me?”
I shrug, trying to keep the violent, haunting images burned into my mind at bay. “Because I was helped as a kid by a priest and a group of nuns. I broke free from bad people, from gangs.” I shift the truth a little. “I want to pay that help forward.”
Father Luigi appears. “I need to get started.”
I get up. “My friend is leaving. I’ll walk her out.”
Shit, Luigi’s words mean someone’s coming here to look for her. We slip out of the back of the church, through the walled gardens and past the rectory to another street. All the while I keep up a calming stream of conversation.
I’ve been in worse situations. I might look inconsequential, but I can fight. I’ve trained. Now I even know how to handle a gun.
“We’ll walk around toward the front of the church. We met on your way here. I invited you. We’re discussingJesus for the Modern Age. I’m recommending the bookto you. It’s about using the peaceful teachings of Jesus in this world, that’s all. Nothing to worry about.”
We walk, slowing down as I lead her toward the front of the church. My voice gets louder.
