Page 53 of Labria

Chapter Seventeen

LABRIA

Aman???

No. It couldn’t be.

I knew for a fact Lord was in New York. I checked his location right before I called my sister. There was something there, the frame of a person, in my bedroom.

My body moved before my brain could and I sat up in bed so quickly I didn’t feel the movement. Why I leaned to my right and reached for the bedside lamp was a mystery. I could be dreaming and pulling the lamp chord could be a part of that dream. Nevertheless, I did it anyway. A beacon of light brightened the room.

My neck twitched in the direction of the shadowy figure. I gasped inside of my chest and I instantly recognized him. I blinked twice because I wanted to make sure this was reality. I had absolutely no reason to dream about I man I didn’t know.

I couldn’t scream. My personality wasn’t built on such theatrics. The me, inside of me— glared. The me— couldn’t speak. Until now…

“What are you doing here?” I blurted, hoping this was actually a nightmare.

“Surprise.” Gianni made the one word sound dirty and twisted. I wouldn’t have remembered his name if Lord hadn’t had a full-blown argument with him over the phone about a week ago.

“Lord isn’t here!” I belted out, trying to sound commanding without yelling.

“I’m not here to see him.” Gianni took one step toward the bed. “I’m here to see you.” His devilish eyes gradually scanned my covered body. I felt my flesh crawl. “Do you know who I am?”

There were so many ways to answer that question. I had to dig deep for the appropriate words.

“You are the father of Maurizio Bregoli. He’s one of my clients.” I tried to share with this creepy bastard. Maybe hearing his son’s name would make him leave my house expeditiously and peacefully.

“You know my boy?”

“Yes, he’s one of my clients and out of respect for him, you need to leave this house at this ungodly hour and pretend that this never, ever happened.” I drew my legs up close to my body. I was very aware of my level of undress. I was only wearing a white wife-beater and some tiny boy short panties under the covers.

“Respect?” He snickered while taking another deliberate step toward me.

“Gianni. It’s very late. You made your point.” I didn’t know the point, but I had to say something. “It’s time for you to go.” I scanned the nightstand for my cell phone. I needed the chance to call Five-0. In this neighborhood, they would be here right away. I really didn’t want to call them, but he was doing too damn much. If he was trying to scare me, it worked. Now he could go on his way.

“If you have business you’d like to discuss, you can see me tomorrow at my office.”

“Your office?” He seemed shocked.

“Yes, I work at Stern, Foster, and Pellegrino.”

The greasy gargoyle chuckled in the air like I’d said something funny. “The darkie hooker has a job already.”

“I’m not a hooker. I’m a lawyer.” I bellowed, giving him a small dose of my insolence.

He laughed at me again. From the get-go, I believed he had sinister intentions. Now I knew my intuition was right. He omitted a creepy vibe, but lots of men were weirdos. Gianni was different. There was something Ted Bundy like in his dark eyes. I sensed he was more than the average prick.

I stared him down to the ground because one good leap in my direction and he would be on top of me. I wished I were standing instead of sitting. I wished I had a weapon. I wasn’t in the right place to fight a grown ass man, if that place ever existed. I was in my bare feet, a wife-beater and boy shorts. I was braless and too exposed.

I wish I had drug Lord back to Chicago right after that dreaded funeral. Staying here in this corrupt town of killer zombies was the worse thing we could’ve done.

“Lord has fucked with me and now I’m here to fuck you.”

I rose to my knees and grabbed the bedsheet up to cover myself. I felt like I was naked.

“Listen, you’re going to have to get out of here. You can leave now and I will forget this ever happened.” I forcefully added. I didn’t want to appear afraid.

“Bitch, I’m not going anywhere.”

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