Maybe Sergio had an evil twin brother or something. Sergio had always been good to her. Protective. Sweet in his own twisted way. The human monster inside that room looked like he was enjoying his work. She pictured the two of them hanging out in that alleyway last night. Sergio stealing her cigarette stick. He basically told her she couldn’t handle a man like him. She finally understood why he told her that.
“Don’t be stupid, Jessie. You didn’t make a mistake. It really was Sergio,” she whispered.
Sergio had toldBaldoto let her go, but why? Maybe he did give a damn about her. Perhaps Sergio wanted to clear a misunderstanding up. Jessie was probably being ridiculous. He probably just wanted to finish her off himself.
What was going to happen to her now? She saw something she shouldn’t, and the Rossi Family wasn’t exactly known for being merciful or forgiving. If Jessie had the power to turn back time, she would’ve made sure to read Tony’s text earlier that morning. She wouldn’t have bothered coming to the restaurant so early. Damn wanting that cappuccino.
She pulled out her phone and opened her banking app to check her bank account. Seeing the single digit dampened her spirits. Jessie couldn’t even afford a bus ticket out of this awful city. She’d grown up in these streets. Back when she’d been younger and optimistic, she’d dreamed of leaving this hellhole.
Jessie had grown up and realized she’d be stuck here her entire life. She worked her ass off only to pay her food, rent, and bills. There wasn’t much left afterward. If she had friends, she’d reach out to them, ask them for their help. Too bad she had none. She’d never been much of a social butterfly in high school. After her mother’s suicide, Jessie withdrew further into herself. Forming meaningful bonds with other people took too much work. Time was a luxury she no longer had.
There was a pretty high chance she wouldn’t live long. She wiped her sweaty palms against her jeans. Would Sergio be the one to hunt her down or would they send someone else to kill her?
Tears dribbled down her cheeks. She hastily wiped them away. Tears were for the weak, her mother always said. Jessie hadn’t cried since she found her mother’s body. Back then, she felt pressed against the wall, like a cornered animal with nowhere else to go. The feeling wasn’t dissimilar to what she was feeling now.
“I’m not going down without a fight,” she whispered to herself.
Jessie dragged herself upright. It didn’t matter that she’d worked for Mr. Rossi for six months or the fact she’d never missed a day at work. Hell, she even took extra shifts when she could. Mr. Rossi didn’t even remember her name, didn’t give a damn about what happened to her.
She walked to the kitchen and began pulling out all her knives. Jessie lay them all out on the counter. Then she grabbed her gun from the dresser in the bedroom. She hid the weapon under a pile of underwear. Well, technically she lived in a studio space, so there were no individual rooms. She had used a curtain to divide her bedroom from the rest of the apartment.
When she first moved in here, someone had broken into her apartment and stole her TV and petty cash that amounted to two thousand dollars. At that time, it was all she had. Jessie had taken some shooting lessons, bought the gun soon after.
She checked the chamber with shaking fingers. In the back of her mind, she wondered what the hell she was doing. Sergio and the guys who worked for Mr. Rossi must’ve had plenty of experience compared to her. She wouldn’t stand a chance against them at all, but she refused to give up and die.
Her mother did that. Simply stopped trying because reality was too hard to swallow.
“I’m not my mother,” Jessie said in a furious whisper.
Taking the gun with her, she hunkered down in the living room. Making a run for it wasn’t an option. She had a feeling the mobsters would easily catch up to her. They had numerous connections inOakheartCity. Fine. She’d stay here. They wouldn’t be expecting her to be armed and ready. Her resistance might be futile, but at the very least, Jessie would go out with a bang.