Page 46 of Unbroken (Russo Mafia)

Now if only Vincent would fucking call us back, we can explain everything, so he doesn’t go after Charlie. I don’t need him killing her for a mistake. That isn’t her problem. He needs to make a statement to the paper calling it all bullshit. For the life of me, I don’t know why he won’t answer my phone calls, he always does. I’ll have to make a house call once this dies down. The other thing is Charlie’s boss never called bitching her out. Do they not care that one of their own caused a massive scandal.

It’s been a week since this shit has gone down. I’ve been on pins and needles every day this week. Peeking through the blinds I spy on the SUV parked across the street. Lucca was adamant to hire a bodyguard for me. I was stubborn and made him park his ass outside. I don’t need someone hanging around following my every move inside my apartment. It’s small enough that I would notice another human inside. Besides, I’m on the third floor, you’d have to be spiderman to climb this building. The fire exit isn’t what I would call safe. I’m certain any amount of weight and that thing is crashing down to the ground.

Being confined is making me go crazy. Now I know what people mean by cabin fever. The only human interaction I get is when Oscar comes by and delivers more files. I’ve been having all my meetings with clients over Zoom, which blows balls if you ask me. I hate being behind a camera. It feels so impersonal and cold. It’s hard to get a read on each client. I’m glad I haven’t had a meeting with Colin. I was hoping he would schedule one. This cat-and-mouse game would end quick.

Scarlett advised me to keep my mouth shut, letting her handle everything. She’s trying to reach my fucking boss who still won’t return my phone call. The more and more I think about it, I should quit. Either they don’t care about their employee’s, or they don’t even exist. You would be calling bitching someone out for leaking any information out the press, not a single peep from them. Even Oscar finds it suspicious. It’s driving me crazy. I don’t want to ask too many questions. The less attention I draw to myself the better right now.

Allowing one more peek out my window, I notice the SUV has moved. Interesting. Finally, something that’s piquing my interest in this boring day. I wonder where they went too. Probably around back, too bad I don’t have a window that faces the alley way. Damn, I feel like I need popcorn for my live-action movie that’s playing out. God, I need a life.

Grabbing my phone, I call Dad; he’ll entertain me for a little while.

“Hey, pumpkin what’s up?”

“Nothing, checking up on my old man, that’s all.”

“Girl, I’m not old. How many times do I have to tell ya that?”

“At least ten more times during this conversation, I’m sure. What are you doing?”

He grunts. “The same old, trying to catch the bad guys. What about you? Shouldn’t you be at work?”

There’s that. I decided not to tell Dad about what happened. He would only lose his mind, then he would dive nose deep into it. I need him resting and fighting other things at the moment. I’ll never forgive myself if I was the reason Dad ended up hurt, or dead.

“Oh, I came down with a small cold, so I’m staying home.”

“Hells, pumpkin. You should’ve told me sooner; I can come over and bring you some soup.”

I smack my forehead. Should’ve gone with a different lie. No matter what I say he’ll be over here in an hour with soup. “No, Dad seriously, I don’t want you to get sick. You only had a treatment last week. I don’t want you to catch something. Stay away please.” I beg.

“Fine, you win this round. If you start feeling worse, go to the docs, okay?”

“You bet. Don’t worry about me—” My buzzer for the front door suddenly goes off. “Hey Dad I gotta call you back. I have company.” I ring them up. It’s probably Oscar.

“All right, call me later. Love you kiddo.”

“Love you too.” Hanging up I answer the door when Oscar knocks.

I barely have it unlocked when it’s pushed opened. I tumble to the floor when two masked men enter. Both are well built, wearing black t-shirts, cargo pants, combat boots. I fumble with my phone, trying to pull up Lucca’s name.

“Ah, ah, ah sugar tits, no need to be doing that.” The first masked man plucks the phone from my hand and throws it across my kitchen. It crashes on the floor.

“We only want to talk,” Masked man number two added, disinterested.

Drawing air in and out of my lungs, I try to stay calm. The last thing I need to do is to be pissing these two assholes off. I’m not the best fighter. I always left that up to Scarlett. She was raised around boys all her life.

“What do you want to talk about?”

A sharp laughter that lacked humour came from masked man number one. “Oh, I’m sure you can figure it out sweet tits.” His fingers gripping my chin until I winced in pain. “We were sent here to deliver a message from our boss, and we’re not leaving until we do.”

His other hand tightens around my arm, hauling me off the floor, grinding my teeth in pain I notice his buddy is trashing my apartment. Throwing all my things around.

“Please. I swear I don’t know what you want from me. Who sent you?” I beg him. While trying to break free of his hold.

He forces his fist into my stomach; the impact leaves me choking for air my as my knees buckle, I’m still gasping for air when he hauls me upright, slapping me across the face. I taste blood pool around my tongue.

“S-Stop.” My head feels dizzy. Blinking slowly, I try to gain focus. Instead, he pulls my hair back sending my head snapping so I’m looking him in the eyes. His eyes look like dark lumps of coal. I’ve never seen such dark eyes before. It’s the only thing I can see on him. Everything else is covered. I’ll never know who he is out in the public. That’s what will haunt me the most.

“Tell your cunt of a boyfriend that he owes my boss for what he did to him. If he hasn’t figured it out by now, I’ll be back for another message.” He whistles for his buddy then throws me across the room. Landing with my head bouncing on the floor. I let out a small cry. I don’t bother watching them leave. All I hear is the door slam behind them. Leaving me alone in silence.

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