Sensing something went down in the garden, Laura’s hand tenses up in mine.
At the hotel, we all walk in together, looking tired but not morose. It’s important to look normal for the cameras, cameras that will probably all have a malfunction before dawn.
Laura and I slink to our suite. I head to the bathroom and unzip the dress, struggling to get out of it. Laura comes in to help and when we finally get it over my butt meant for twerking, it falls to the tiled floor in a wet heap.
Laura starts the shower and puts her index finger up to her lips to signal me to be silent. While I wait for the shower to warm, Laura leaves only to return with my dress on a hanger and she hangs it on the bathroom door where it drips.
I’ve already stepped into the hot water and welcomed it’s warmth. Taking advantage of the background noise created by the shower, Laura undresses and steps in behind me. She closes the glass door before finally asking the important questions.
“What the fuck happened? I turned around after getting my flirt on with the hot dude and you were gone. I thought you went to the bathroom. I checked, then your father and his guards appeared from that hallway. Something was going on tonight. There had to be some kind of meeting. They looked all businesslike, and your father waspissed,” she says.
“I know, I felt the tension in the air on the jet. I don’t remember these things happening before.”
“Well, now is not the time to fuck around with the guards or your father,” she says, stating the obvious.
“I know but it felt so great to make a decision, to get some air without sharing it with one of my rotating guards.”
“Why wasn’t Ridolfo here tonight?” she asks.
“Dad’s crew, I guess. It’s not a big deal. I messed up.”
“What happened, exactly?”
“A man wearing gloves grabbed me and wanted me to go with him. But my gut instinct said if I did, I’d be dead. Then a man in a coat with a tattoo on the top of his hand saved me and disappeared faster than an apparition.”
“No fucking way.” Her eyes are wide with shock and horror.
“Yeah.” I shiver even though the shower is warm. I make the water hotter, hoping it will erase the memory of the night.
“Laura, he killed the guy, like slit his throat and killed him. It was horrible.”
“Fuck.” She hugs me. It’s just us, sharing the sordid details of our lives when shit goes sideways, just like when we were younger. Only then, issues didn’t seem to be so life threatening.
“I never imagined anyone would want to hurt me, let alone kill me,” I sob into her shoulder.
“I know, we never do. But we’re easier targets when we’re outside Sicily.”
I sob more; my freedom will never come back. It’s over. I had a few minutes outside my cage, and it was disastrous. Realizing nothing is ever going to change makes me cry even more because there is no hope that my life will ever change.
“Pull yourself together,” Laura encourages me. “It will be okay. Your father is the Don, the Don of fucking Sicily. Powerful men create powerful enemies, but he will keep you safe.”
“Sure.” I agree just to agree and to avoid thinking about it. After tonight, I’m thinking anyone can get to me if they’re motivated enough. Maybe all the guards are just to make us feel safer.
I’ll have to find a way to live within his walls of safety, and that someone out there means to harm me. Laura being here is helpful and she turns off the water and grabs the thick towels for us to dry off.
We methodically go through our routine for bed. We remove our makeup and put our pajamas on in silence, not knowing what to say, or afraid the room is bugged. It’s all the same tonight.
We have two queen beds but when I get in mine and pull the covers back, Laura crawls in with me. Tonight, I need her close.
I sit with the covers over my legs as I pull the bobby pins out of my hair, letting it cascade around my shoulders. It will dry overnight.
“What do you think will happen with the dead man and my shoes that I left in the garden?”
She shrugs. “No idea. With luck, they will both disappear before the sun is up.”
“Right.” We are the mafia, where our slogan should be,“We make problems disappear.”
“Shit! My phone.” I get up and find it in my purse and pull the charger out of my luggage to plug it into the outlet by the bed.