It took what felt like an eternity to get the door unlocked, but when I finally opened it, and saw who was on the other end, I felt myself sag in relief. It wasn’t the Russian men. It wasn’t the cops.
It was Marco, who I now knew was Marco Blanchi, the suspected Mafia enforcer—I’d googled him after getting a last name—and he looked irritated.
“What are you doing here?” My voice was breathier than I would have liked considering that I thought Marco was the devil incarnate.
Marco walked into the house not bothering to ask my permission. “You didn’t answer your phone,” he said.
I glanced over at my mother and brother, both of whom were looking at Marco with wide eyes. “I’m eating dinner with my family.”
Marco looked around and became aware of the audience we had. “I texted you to meet me at the door.” The tone of his voice was lower as he tried not to be overheard by my mother and brother. But our house was small, and sound carried.
“Let’s go and talk about this outside,” I said. I walked to go and grab my coat.
Marco nodded stiffly.
“Who are you?” Mikey asked. I cringed at the question. Marco was a young, attractive man. He was also obviously rich. Though he was dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt that was covered by a black wool peacoat, I was sure that his entire outfit cost more than I made at the club.
“Mikey,” my mother scolded. “Don’t be rude.”
Marco laughed. It was the first time that I heard the sound where it wasn’t mocking and cruel, and I hated how much I liked it. “It’s fine.” He was smiling at my brother, and it was genuine. “I’m a friend of your sisters.”
“A boyfriend?” Mikey asked. He abandoned his soup and was focused intently on Marco. His green eyes narrowed as he tried to suss out what Marco was about.
His question made me groan. “He’s not my boyfriend,” I said.
“I’m not?” Marco asked. He placed a hand on his chest pretending to be wounded by my words. I wanted to punch him in the face. I couldn’t believe that he would joke about something like us being a couple. “I think your sister is shy.”
Mikey laughed. “She looks like she wants to strangle you. She only looks like that with me when I don’t do my homework.”
Marco laughed once more. I hated how much I liked the sound of it. Partly because it made him more human and less scary. “Does the look make you do your homework?” he asked.
Mike shrugged. “Depends on how I’m feeling.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, now that we’ve established that I’m apparently not scary at all, let’s take this outside.” I pressed the flats of my hands against Marco’s chest and pushed him towards the doorway. I wanted him out of my house as soon as possible.
“Nice meeting you,” Mikey yelled out.
Marco waved slightly and allowed me to push him out of the door and into the hallway. “What are you doing here?” I sneered. “Why would you come to my house?” I was angry. In the span of three days, Marco had completely taken over my life.
“I tried to text you,” he said, with a shrug of his shoulders. “Not my fault that you didn’t check your phone.”
I looked down at my phone. I had nearly ten texts from the original unknown number. “How did you even get my phone number?”
Marco raised a brow at my question. “Seriously?” he asked.
I shook my head. He was right. It was a stupid question considering that I knew he had a file about my entire life. I breathed out a sigh of exhaustion and leaned against the hallway bannister. It felt good to close my eyes, even if it were just for a few minutes.
“I heard you had a visitor today?”
My eyes flew open. “What?” I asked. There was no way that Marco could just know about the Russians. The only people who had been in the house were Nikki and Mikey, both of whom I knew wouldn’t have been able to say anything to him. “Are you having me followed?”
“Of course I am.” Marco spoke to me as though I were the dumbest person alive. “You didn’t think that I was just going to let you come back home without keeping tabs on you?”
I did, and now, I realized how stupid that was. “What do you want?” I asked. “I didn’t say anything.”
“I know,” Marco said. “If I thought you had, you wouldn’t be standing here.”
Marco’s threats were starting to get more and more exhausting. “Yea, yea,” I muttered. “You still haven’t answered the question about why you are here? I don’t want you near my family.”