Chapter 30
LORNA
I stand wet and freezing cold on Cass’s doorstep, ringing her bell and ignoring the fact that her car isn’t on the drive. She has to be home, this is the only place I can go, and she is the only person I can speak to about what I’ve learned tonight.
After five more minutes I start to lose hope, and I rush back to Nic’s car so I can rest my soaking wet feet. I make sure the heated seat warmers are on to dry me off as I watch the rain outside pelt against the windshield and sob.
Maybe I should go to my mom’s, but she’s not the best person to get advice from. I’m hoping Cass has just popped out for something and will be back soon because, second to Madalina, she’s a great advice-giver.
I jump out of my skin when I hear a tap against the window and when I look to my right and see Jonah, I clutch my chest and breathe a sigh of relief.
“You scared the shit out of me.” I crack the door open enough for him to hear me but keep the rain out.
“What are you doing here?” he calls out, getting soaked through himself.
“I was hoping to catch Cass” I call over the rain.
“She’s at work, she’ll be home in about half an hour. I’m meeting her here. Come on, I know where her spare key is.”
He slides his jacket off and holds it up over his head, making room for me too, and, deciding that it beats waiting in the car, I open the door and let him help me get out.
I hold the jacket by myself while he crouches down and moves one of the plant pots by the front door. Picking up the key, he opens the door and waits for me to step inside first.
“Thanks.” I hang his jacket on the stand behind the door, while he flicks on a lamp and dries his hands on the sweats he’s wearing.
“Maybe you should sit down?” He clears the couch of all Cass’s magazines, looking at me awkwardly as I slowly make my way over and lower myself to sit.
“You can’t have long left, now.” He stares at my swollen stomach like it scares him and despite all my hurt, I manage to laugh. “About two weeks, he’s running out of room in there, though.” I grab some cushions to pad out my back and make myself more comfortable.
“It looks like it.” Jonah loosens up a little, but when a huge kick to the bladder makes me flinch, he suddenly looks nervous again.
“Relax, it happens all the time. Do you want to feel?” I reach out for his hand, but he shakes his head.
“Cass shouldn’t be long, you want me to make you some tea or something?” He stands up and when his phone starts to vibrate, he takes it out of his pocket, checks who’s calling, and chooses to ignore it. Out of all the gang, Jonah’s the one I know least about, he keeps himself to himself and I’m guessing from the way he’s acting that he can tell I’m upset and doesn’t know how to handle it.
“I’m good. Thanks. You can answer that if you want.” I gesture my head to his pocket as he places his phone back inside it, and then when he sits on the coffee table in front of me, what he says next really surprises me.
“Wanna talk about it? I mean, I’m no Cass but I guess I could listen.” He must have come here straight from the gym because he’s wearing a black hooded top that matches his sweats, and he’s really sweaty.
“It’s guy trouble. Do you really want to hear it?” I smile, because it’s sweet that he’s prepared to try.
“Sure,” he shrugs, gesturing with his hand for me to continue.
“Me and Nic were at this charity thing, and a woman whose fiancé is competing for the same district as Nic said some things that hurt me,” I start to explain.
“What kind of things?” Jonah frowns.
“Well, for a start, he’s only marrying me so he can get his precious district.” Hearing me say that out loud makes me suddenly feel really stupid. I’ve been so on edge, and moody that I reacted far too fast.
“You know what, I need to talk to Nic about this.” I laugh at myself as I hold the armrest and push myself back up. Maybe us being a family will help Nic, but that doesn’t mean all this has been fake. I’ve been there for those moments. I’ve seen the way he looks at me. Nic wants to get that district for our family, and I can’t believe I almost let a manipulative bitch like Bianca ruin that for us.
“I’m sorry, Lorna, but I can’t let you do that.” I hear Jonah’s voice come from behind me when I’m halfway to the door again.
“Jeez, it’s just a little rain. You’re starting to sound like Ni–” I stun myself silent when I turn round and realize that he’s pointing a gun at me.
“Jonah, if this is a joke I should remind you that pulling pranks on someone as pregnant as I am, comes with its risks.” I can tell by the way he shakes his head that this is not a fucking joke.
“Sit back down, Lorna.” He makes space for me to pass him, keeping the gun aimed at me as he takes out his cell, and types something out. I move slowly, trying to remain calm. I don’t know what this is but, right now, Jonah’s looking way more scared than I am.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask as I steady myself back onto the couch. I’ve watched enough episodes of Criminal Minds to know that what I say from here on out is crucial. The last thing I want to do is trigger him, but it’s also important that I keep him talking. If he’s talking, he isn’t shooting.
“I wouldn’t know where to start.” He shakes his head and suddenly looks very vulnerable.
“Just start at the beginning. Let me listen.” I somehow manage to smile at him, if what he told me about Cass was true, she’ll be home soon.
“It started when Mom lost her job last year.” His voice comes out shaky. “She couldn’t pay the rent. She couldn't pay my school fees. I wasn’t gonna let my little brother starve.” He lifts up his hood and slides his hand over his face as if he doesn’t want to be seen.
“I needed money, Lorna. And my wages from the gas station were never going to stretch as far as I needed it to.”
I nod sympathetically and manage not to wince when I feel the pain in my lower back travel to the front.
“A kid I worked with told me to speak to his cousin, he’d been doing some work for Amanté Greco and was earning a decent dollar for it,” he explains, while I try and recall where I’ve heard that name before. “He managed to get me a meet with him and, man, you should have seen his crib. It was just like Madalina’s place, and Amanté, he was way kinder than I was expecting. He even gave me an advance to pay off my first set of student fees.” I’m figuring, from the fact that he’s here pointing a gun at me, that all this went wrong at some point.
“So, what happened?” I ask.
“I worked for him. I ran errands and drugs. Sometimes, I’d just do jobs around his house. It was nothing too heavy, but eventually, he started to trust me with bigger jobs that paid more money. I was even starting to save up enough to put Ethan through college as well as myself.”
“Jonah.” I can tell he’s avoiding getting to the next part.
“I was making a drop off to some fancy complex for Amanté one day and the guy I delivered to offered me a one-off job. $5k for three hours work, all I had to do was make a drop off to a house in Brooklyn and the money would be mine,” he explains, starting to look twitchy.
“So you took it.”
“I took it.” He nods. “But the guy who gave me the job warned me it would be dangerous, said a kid like me working on the street should be carrying, and I don’t know, Lorna, I guess I thought he was right.” Jonah looks so ashamed of himself, I can’t help feeling sorry for him.
“So, that's where you got the gun.” Part of this story is starting to make sense. I’m still not understanding why that gun is pointed at me, though.
He shakes his head and sits down on the coffee table again, tears filling his eyes as the gun in his hand continues to shake.
“The guy from the complex linked me up with some Russian arms dealer, and I bought a gun. I’ll admit, it felt kind of powerful. I was starting to believe that I might belong in that life. I had money, I was partying with some really cool people. Amanté was good to me, too. He knew my situation and he respected me for taking care of my family.” Jonah pauses from trying to convince me of this amazing life and sags his shoulders.
“I missed out on telling you before, that when I was doing that work on Amanté’s house…I met his daughter.” Jonah's eyes sink deep into his head and I suddenly get the feeling that we’re only just getting started.
“I’d been seeing her for about six months. We both knew it couldn't be anything serious, her dad had plans for her to marry into one of the other families, and we both knew he’d have my head if he knew we were fooling around. So we met in secret. Once, sometimes twice a week, at a safe house her dad owned near the Hamptons.” He clutches the gun in his hand, and I realize that it’s no longer pointing at me. Talking seems to be working, and my relief of that fact is short-lived when I feel another painful cramp tighten my stomach.
“You okay?” Jonah must notice the way I grip the couch because he sits forward and rests his hand on my knee. His concern is confusing, considering he’s holding me at gunpoint.
“Just another kick, carry on.” I breathe steadily, I won’t risk telling him that I think I’m having contractions, the last thing I need is for him to panic while he’s still holding that gun.
“So, you and Amanté’s daughter?” I prompt him to keep him talking.
“It was fun, we had clear boundaries, and then one night I headed over to see her, and she dropped the bomb on me that she was pregnant.”
“Wow.” I take in what he’s saying as I check the clock on the wall. I need to see how long it is until another pain comes.
“Lorna, she was crazy, she was talking like she was expecting to keep it. Like she expected me to go to her father and explain that I’d been having sex with his precious daughter and had knocked her up. I tried to reason with her, but what she was expecting of me was too much. I already knew how men like Amanté took care of problems like that, and I couldn’t talk any sense into her. She was crying. Screaming at me, telling me she was gonna speak to her father, anyway, and…it was just an instinct reaction. A kill or be killed moment. I had the gun and I…I pulled it out and I used it.” He breaks down, tears streaming over his cheeks and when he notices that I’m holding my breath and failing to hide the horror from my face, he lifts the gun in his hand back up to me.
It’s much scarier when I realize I’m dealing with someone who’s pulled a trigger.
“I’d never killed anyone before. I didn’t know what to do. So I called the guy, the one from the complex who told me where to get the gun. And he helped me.”
“Helped you get rid of the body?” I check, trying not to sound too scared.
“No, he didn’t have a guy like Nic did, but he told me what to do. He showed me how to clean the gun and get rid of it, how to make the place look like it had been broken into and then he told me to head back to the city and hang out with some friends.”
“Were we the friends?” I cover my mouth with my hand and feel sick when he slowly nods his head.
“Is that why you're thinking about shooting me? Because I swear, I didn’t know. I couldn’t tell you when that night even was. You don’t need to shoot me.” I can feel the panic taking over.
“It’s not why I’ve got to shoot you, Lorna,” Jonah tells me sadly.
“Then why? If you're going to kill me and this baby before it even gets a chance to live, I need you to tell me why.” I scream when he lunges forward and slams his hand over my mouth.
Fear twists in my stomach, along with another contraction and I moan into his hand and brace myself against the couch. The pressure of his body crushing into me, along with the tightening of the contraction is too much for me to bear.
Seven minutes. That's how long it’s been since my last one.
“Lorna, you have to listen to me. I need to explain that I’m not a bad person. I’m sorry for everything, for this… for your dad.”
“My dad?” I manage to regain myself when he backs off, sitting himself back on the table and closing his eyes.
“I swear, I had no idea the guy who sold me the gun was your father. How could I have? He was Russian.”
“No…” I shake my head and sob. “You couldn’t have killed him, Nic said it was long-range, that it was a professional.”
“It was a pro. I never would have made a shot. Gio fixed it up. He told me Doyle was the only thing that tied me to Mia’s murder, and he had to be eliminated. Amanté wanted vengeance, he wanted my name. I had to protect myself.”
“Gio?” I repeat the name he just said. “Gio is the guy who was helping you?” I stroke the side of my stomach and suck in a deep breath.
“Is it all starting to make sense to you, now?” Jonah looks like the same helpless boy I took pity on during our first day of freshman year, only now he’s helpless and very dangerous.
“Hits like that cost money, Lorna, your boyfriend should know that. Gio took care of everything, he paid the killer. We could never have guessed that the gun supplier was your father, or that he would follow you to Miami, he–”
“It was you! My dad was warning me about you .” Suddenly, his last words to me make sense. It wasn’t Nic who he was telling me was dangerous, it was Jonah.
“We knew him as Salvok Alekseevich, and Gio had been trying to track him down ever since he left the Bronx. Gio has some contacts within Russian circles, and it turns out that a month before I purchased that gun, six cases of arms that had been seized from them by the ATF had gone missing from custody. No one ever found them. Gio’s guy tracked Salvok down and when he started heading for the airport and booked a ticket to Malibu, using a fake name and a fake passport, on the same day as our trip, Gio assumed he was coming for me. We assumed that the Russians found out he had their supply and that he was cleaning up his mess, making sure no one talked to them. Gio sent a marksman out straight away, and when he noticed him stalking the house, he positioned himself out on a fishing boat and waited for his opportunity.”
“So, Gio had my father killed?”
“Unknowingly. He thought he was a gun dealer coming to kill me. It wasn’t until I saw your reaction that I knew he was your dad, but I don’t think it would have changed anything, we still needed him dead. Amanté would have got to him, eventually, made him give a name, and then he would have killed me.” Jonah sobs like a pussy.
“Okay, so you had to kill my dad, out of fear. I get that. But why me? I had no idea about any of this.”
“Gio helped me, I’d be dead if it wasn’t for him,” Jonah reminds me and I’m still waiting for him to get to his point.
“I owe him, Lorna, and you're the price.” He shakes his head as if he’s the one who's scared, and instead of screaming, I clutch my stomach and moan when I feel another pain.
“Lorna, what’s happening?” Jonah sounds freaked.
“What do you think’s happening?” I stare up at him and try to breathe the way the woman on the video Nic sent me, did. Why did I tell him those classes were a stupid idea?
“No, you said you had two weeks before that would happen.” He stares at me and shakes his head.
“Well, I guess you pointing that gun at me got things kicking off a little early.” I kneel on the couch, twisting my body so I’m leaning over the armrest.
“How could you know I’d be here?” I have loads more questions and need a distraction from the pain. “And why you? Surely Gio would have had his professional kill me at the same time as my father.”
“This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.” Jonah uses the hand he’s not holding the gun with to grab some cushions and place them under my belly for support.
“According to Gio, his man stopped answering his calls as soon as he heard Dario DeMarco was after the man who killed your father.” Jonah shrugs.“And this isn’t how things were supposed to happen tonight,” he assures me.
“I’ve been parked up in a van outside the Marchetti place for hours. Gio’s girl was going to cause an argument between you and Nic, so you left early and I was going to…I was going to drive by and…”
“You were going to kill us both?” I rest on my elbows and breathe, the pain in my back is splitting, and all I want is for Nic to be here so he can tell me it’s going to be okay.
“I called Gio when I saw you leave by yourself, he told me to follow you, see where you headed, and make this discreet. I guess he’s figuring Nic wouldn't need a district if he doesn’t have you,”
“All this is about getting the fucking district? ” I can feel another pain building and I panic because it’s happening too fast.
“It always is with these people, Lorna. They feed on power,”
I realize that he’s rubbing my back now, but I’m too scared to push him away in case that gun goes off.
“So, you’re going to shoot me, here in your girlfriend's house.”
“She’s not technically my girlfriend, yet, bu–”
“Answer the damn question, Jonah.” I feel something trickle between my legs, something that keeps on coming despite me trying to clench, and as it soaks into the couch, Jonah steps back in horror.
“What the fuck is that ?” he asks.
“That was my waters breaking, which means this baby wants to come. So, unless you intend on using that fucking gun to kill me, would you please get me to a hospital?” I manage to get my words out all while making sure I don’t panic. I can only deal with one crisis at once.
“Boss, we have a situation.” I turn my head and see Jonah has his phone placed against his ear.
“The girl...” I assume that's how Jonah refers to me to his Mafia buddies. “She’s… the kid’s coming out of her, like, right now. And I know what we agreed but I don’t think I can…” He turns away from me. “I’m not killing a fucking kid, Gio,” he whisper-yells into the phone then takes his instruction before he hangs up.
“Just breathe and don’t panic,” Jonah tells me when he turns back around and steps back toward me. I may be in pain but I manage to breathe a sigh of relief.
“I need drugs, Madalina’s done this twice without but even she says she’s having them for sure, next time.” I shift my position, getting ready for him to help me to the car. I left the party without my jacket and my cell’s in the pocket. I don’t know Nic’s number by memory, so I’ll just have to call him when we get to the hospital and hope his baby will hang on for him to get there.
“You don’t need drugs,” Jonah assures me calmly and I smile at his optimism. I'm sure he’d feel differently if he were me right now.
“I’d like to try them all the same.” I laugh, preparing myself to get up, but just as I start to stand he pushes me back down.
“You don’t need them because I’m going to make the pain go away, right now.” He presses the barrel of the gun against my head.