Page 61 of My Mafia King

“Your room,” he says, inviting me in.

I stroll in without the slightest hesitation.

“A man will guard the elevator at all times. He’s there for your protection. No one can access your room without walking past him. For all your needs, you use this phone,” he says, pointing to the landline phone on the nightstand. “You have all the phone numbers you need next to it.”

He picks up a small card and shows it to me before dropping it back in place.

“That’s it,” he says. “Questions?”

“No questions. Thank you.”

“Good,” he says.

He doesn’t waste much time before spinning around and heading to the exit.

And then he stops and turns around.

“Everything you need is in there,” he says, gesturing at the bathroom. “I’ll send someone to take care of your knees. A woman.”

Under any other circumstances, his words might’ve been tinged with humor, but not tonight, not here, and for sure not coming from him.

The man doesn’t smile and only looks at me like I’m someone he needs to take care of.

“Thank you,” I say.

He nods and walks away.

Moments later, he vanishes out the door, and I set myself in motion, go there, and lock it––out of reflex, if nothing else––before turning around and finally inspecting the room.

My first trip is to the wall of windows.

Oh, how beautiful this is. I have a balcony. A balcony? I can’t believe it. I open the door and walk outside.

My heels echo against the concrete, highlighting the quiet evening. Despite the chaos swirling in the city not far from me, the night is silent up here.

The view showcases the mountains' outline, the glowing lights of the city, and the stars looking like dust across the sky.

It’s not like I’ve never seen a starry sky before, but not from the balcony of a hotel.

The lights adorning the balustrade are so pretty.

I’ve always liked the strings of lights bringing out the magic of a place in the evenings.

I liked them even when I worked at the restaurant.

And then I remember Tina loves them too, like so many other insignificant things.

I wish I could hear her voice.

I wish I could have her here right now.

All the precautions taken don’t mean that much right now.

All my efforts were for nothing.

I was so paranoid about this trip that I didn’t want Tina to use my phone. My old phone. The one I’d used for everyday business.

I canceled my phone service and disposed of my phone before I bought the burner.

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