Chapter 23 #2
“Maybe they’ll stop when he does cross. Maybe we just need to lie low here and wait it out.” Nadia shrugged, thinking this might be the third option she’d brought up with Thomas super early that morning. They didn’t have to disappear. They wouldn’t die. They just had to wait.
“Again, speculation.”
“Don’t fool yourself,” Thomas told Nadia, his eyes flashing. “He won’t stop. He will never stop until we’re all dead. That’s how they operate. Any threat to their organization receives top priority for elimination.”
A chasm opened within her, swallowing all that remained of her warmth. Goose flesh pimpled her arms. Was this really it? They had no choice. They had to disappear. It was their only option if they wanted to remain alive.
Leaving was braver than staying.
As Thomas and Cammy continued to speculate and argue, their voices growing heated, Nadia felt the walls of her future closing in. Without a word, and numb with fear, she slipped from the living room, the burner phone clutched in her hand.
Worn wooden porch boards creaked beneath her feet as she stepped outside into the crisp morning air. The sky was lightening over the horizon. The harsh, high-altitude landscape painted in brightening purples and greens stretched around her as the sun began its ascent.
She tapped in her mom’s number from memory.
Lisa would be rising for her morning yoga session in downtown Los Gatos before her job at The Garden Alchemist, a quaint nursery with eclectic garden art.
She had always been more passionate about gardening than the corporate world, and working there had been a good change for her in her semi-retirement when she quit Donato Enterprises after Edgar was forced to retire for health reasons.
The phone rang four times and Nadia wondered if her mom was already in class before Lisa answered with a cautious hello.
“Hi, Mom.” She struggled to keep her greeting steady.
“Nadia? It’s early. Is everything all right? This isn’t your number.”
“Yeah, everything’s fine. My phone’s in for repair. This is a loaner.” The lie tasted more bitter than the coffee Thomas had brewed that morning. “Just wanted to hear your voice.”
“I’d love to chat but I’m just about to go into yoga. Zara’s hired a new acharya, you know, teacher, for our morning kundalini session. Dashiell is a real hotty. We call him Dash. He really draws a crowd, if you know what I mean. Our session is packed, unfortunately.”
Normally, Nadia would have giggled at her mom’s flirtatious annoyance. This conversation was so normal, so her mom. Exactly the type of conversation she most likely wouldn’t ever have with her again.
She felt a pinch in her chest. “Mom,” she said with a slight warble. “I love you. I don’t say it enough, but I do.”
There was a brief pause.
“I love you too, darling. Are you sure everything is okay? There’s been mention of the Donatos in the news. I know you, Aimee, and Kristen aren’t in touch with the boys anymore, but it made me think of you girls and all those summers you kids spent swimming at the Garners’ pool.”
The pang in her chest sharpened. “Everything’s fine. I just… I wanted you to know.”
“That poor family. They’ve had a tough go at it. Goes to show money doesn’t guarantee happiness or safety. Oh! I have to go. Class is starting and I want a good spot. Chat tonight?”
Nadia closed her eyes and felt the sting of tears. “Goodbye, Mom,” she whispered.
“Love you, dear.” Lisa hung up.
Nadia pressed the phone to her forehead and gave herself a moment to mourn. When she felt steadier, she made another difficult call.
“Sorry it’s early,” she said when Aimee answered. “I’ve been up since two.”
“Did you seriously forget I own a coffee shop?”
“I didn’t think you opened anymore.”
“I usually don’t, but Grace has to take her kid in for a doctor appointment this morning. I’m filling in for her. How are you, given everything? Are you still safe? I haven’t read the news yet, so I don’t know if anything else has happened.”
Nadia leaned against the porch rail. She picked at the peeling paint. “I’m fine for now.”
In the background on Aimee’s end of the line, she heard the usual noise that came with getting a café ready to open at 7:00 a.m.—the clatter of chairs being arranged on the floor. The beeping of equipment being turned on.
“I tried reaching James,” Aimee said as she worked.
“I left a message and he hasn’t called back.
I’m not surprised. From what Nick told me, James can barely stand being in the same room as Thomas.
He hates his brother. More than I hate him, which is saying something.
But for you—and only you because I’m worried sick about you—I’ll keep trying.
If something happens to you because of him—”
“I like him,” Nadia interjected, needing Aimee to understand her depth of feelings for this man. “Thomas. I like him a lot. Like, I seriously care about him.”
Aimee’s end of the line went quiet and Nadia could easily picture her announcement had her friend frozen in place.
“We’re talking about the same Thomas here?”