Page 58 of The Mafia's Property

“It could be fake. Let’s wait for the jeweler, shall we?” A knock came on the door followed by Derreck’s voice.

“Come on in,” Volkov said.

Derreck entered the room and didn’t seem the least bit surprised when he saw the situation. “Things got a little out of hand and I couldn’t go with plan a. So plan b.” Volkov said. Derreck stood there as if he didn’t know who I was. He had a gun in his hand, ready to shoot. The person I was working with to get my friend’s revenge acted like he’s never seen me before. “There’s the jewel. Check to see if it’s real,” he said to Derreck.

Derreck went over to Rico and grabbed the case. With one hand, he grabbed the jewel and threw the case on top of Luo’s lap. Luo flinched, and I felt sorry for him. I was afraid, but the once confident man was cowering. Derreck turned over the piece of diamond encrusted rock in his hand. It was so big, it fit the palm of his hand and left over some parts. He raised it to the light in the room and squinted at it. “Looks legit,” he said.

“Does this mean you’ll release me?” Luo said, surprising the room. He had become a forgotten entity as soon as Derreck came in. ”You found the jewel,” he added in a trembling voice.

“God, you’re so annoying,” Volkov said and shot Luo in the head. I jumped but managed to hold off a scream. Luo’s head bent backwards in the chair and blood dripped onto a white and baby blue rug.

“Sorry about the mess,” Derreck said non-nonchalantly. “It’s going to be hell to clean that out,” Derreck said without remorse or shame at having witnessed someone die. There’s nothing of substance in the man they had used and terrorized into pretending to be someone else anymore. Once they were done with him, they discarded him. Something about that was familiar to me and my current situation. Why I never saw this side of Derreck baffled me, and maybe I didn’t want to see it. Hadn’t Zoe called him a little violent?

“Can you let her go now?” Nico said.

“I don’t care about her.” Volkov threw me in the arms of Derreck. “She works for him.”

“Not anymore,” I said to Derreck. The contempt in my voice was more than enough for him to understand where my loyalties lay. He smirked. “Of course, a whore like you ended up with them.”

“The only whore here is you,” Nico said. “Your allegiance can be bought with something as simple as diamonds? If I had known, I would have given them to you, Derreck. You could have just asked. I could have treated you like family.”

Derreck chuckled. “Like you did after I came asking for protection. After I told you, that whore’s death was an accident.”

My body froze. There was only one whore he was referring to. “You killed Zoe,” I said.

He didn’t even try to deny it. “It was an accident. She was into auto asphyxiation thinks went wrong—” I was too mad to think. Too mad at his poor excuse at absolving himself of murder. Too mad to not punch him in the ribs and knock the wind out of him. “You bastard!” I screamed as he doubled over onto the floor, gun sliding out of his grip and landing on the floor. I caught everyone off-guard. Time seemed to slow down as Nico was the first to realize what was happening and pull out his gun. Volkov was too engrossed with his jewel to register what was going on. When he did, he fumbled with his gun a little too late. Nico blasted two shots. I heard a body crumbling to the floor as I went for Derreck’s gun.

“You bitch!” he said, groaning. Derreck was the last to reckon with his change in fortune. When he did, he stumbled backwards, looking around him and searching for his gun. He froze when he saw me with it. “I don’t know how to use this, but I’ll learn on you if play with me,” I said. Derreck raised his hands. Rico rushed over to me. He slid his hands around my waist and said, “Are you okay?” I nodded, my eyes still on Derreck. He could do anything. The man could not be trusted.

Gently, Rico dragged me away from Derreck and towards the far end of the wall. My hands were shaking, and it took a while for me to calm myself down. Rico took me in for a hug. It was sudden and surprising, but I let him do so anyway. It felt good and all the tension piling up inside me melted away. I closed my eyes listening to Nico barking some orders to his men on the phone. A blood bath was about to ensue and I could not care less because I was in Rico’s embrace.

“You fucking bitch!” I opened my eyes in time to see Derreck pick up one Rico’s gun on the desk and point it at him. Nico shouted Rico’s name. The gun in my hand felt light. It took me mere milliseconds to lift it and shoot. My aim was poor, but it hit the target. He seemed shocked when the bullet entered his stomach. His knees were the first to give way, then the rest of his body toppled over right on that white and blue rug. I watched as his blood pooled, mixing his and Luo’s.

“I killed a man,” I said as the reality of what had just done dawned on me.

Rico gently took the gun out of my hand. “You saved a man. If you didn’t pull the trigger, I would have died.” He threw the gun on the table and went back to holding me in his arms. Tears fell, but they were not for Derreck. They were for Zoe. I’ve avenged her death. I’ve killed the man who killed her.

Freya

I WOKE UP in bed alone, feeling like I had slept for a thousand years. It has been eight days since the events on the island and throughout that time they have let me rest. We left the island immediately after that and went to their place in Chicago. We’ve been sleeping in the same bed, but neither of us has touched each other. It’s like they’re letting me recover, which was nice of them. Not being on that island anymore didn’t mean I didn’t get nightmares of that fateful day, but each time I woke in terror, either Nico or Rico or sometimes both would wake up and comfort me. I saw Derreck in my dreams each night, coming for me, followed by a shot coming from a gun in my hand. The entire sequence would feel discombobulated, as if I wasn’t the one doing the shooting but someone else wearing my skin. I wanted to tear my skin out, and that’s when I would wake up cold sweat running down my back.

I shook off the memory. I didn’t experience one tonight and maybe that’s why I slept better than I’ve ever felt before. My limbs felt limp but strong and I got out of bed with a spring in my step. Their brownstone in Chicago was more like them than the crass and ostentatious place in Vegas. The design had more understated elegance that was muted as well as masculine. Less Liberace and more George Clooney. I padded to the bathroom, took a shower, threw on some clothes Nico had taken out for me, and went downstairs. They were huddled on the counter drinking coffee, talking in low voiced and went quiet when I entered. Nico was the first to notice me.

“Hi,” his voice sounded soft, as though he were speaking to a child.

“I’m well if you’re worried. I didn’t get a nightmare tonight,” I said.

“It gets easier as time passes,” Rico said.

“He got what he deserved,” Nico added. “Plus, you did something I should have done ages ago.” He stood up and went over to the other side of the counter where a pink and white box lay unopened. “Hungry?” The bagel sandwiches from the shop across the street were my new favorite thing. I was gorging on them every morning ever since I came here. I nodded and gingerly he placed on in a plate and gestured to a seat next to Rico.

Nico was practically back to his old self. Fussing over my food and clothes, but Rico was a different person entirely. He wasn’t mistreating me or anything. The opposite, actually. Instead of acting cold and standoffish, he was kind, caring, and sometimes downright loving. Gone were the mocking retorts and in their place kind of consideration and constantly asking if I was okay with anything he was doing or if there was something more I wanted. And continuing with the new Rico, he drew the stool for me like a gentleman. Something he would never do before.

I thanked him and sat down, wondering how long this new Rico would last. Surely he was doing it because I saved his life earlier and was not out of some need to be kind to me. He was doing it because he felt he owed me and that soured any good natured interaction we had.

Nico passed over a toasted bagel with bacon, avocado, egg, and tomato. My favorite combination. I took a huge bite and closed my eyes as I savored the delicious food. “Do you like it?” he asked. I nodded and took another bite.

“You like it so much that you wouldn’t mind living here forever?” I didn’t fully consider the gravity of his statement. I was too engrossed in the delicious food that I simply nodded again.

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