CHAPTER SEVEN #2
I hoist the backpack on my shoulders higher, chewing on my bottom lip as I consider my decision. I’ll only be gone for a night or two. I hate having to leave my baby and I hate that I’m leaving without telling my mother but I’m just trying to avoid an inevitable fight or argument.
I’ve been putting this off for months. But it’s time for me to head back to the city. I just need some information and I want to see if it would be possible for Mila and I to move there in a couple of months. Plus, I want to try and find a way to sell my songs.
To do that, I need to meet up with Carlos.
He always used to pester me about having some contacts in the music world that could link me up with a good deal.
I’m hoping that option is still on the table, because in the past year, I’ve not only been raising my daughter, but I’ve also written a lot, while taking an online course at the same time. I’m ready for the next step.
“Bye, Mimi. I’ll see you in a few days, my darling,” I whisper softly. “If you start walking or say your first word while I’m gone, I will never forgive you.”
Her soft breaths are all the reply I get but they’re more than enough.
I press a quick kiss on her forehead before taking light steps backwards and out of my mother’s bedroom.
Once I’m out of the house and in a bus headed to the city, I send her a text informing her that I’ll be back in two days or less.
She’ll undoubtedly be angry but I can deal with her anger once I get back.
As soon as I arrive in the city, I book a cheap motel room and work on some assignments while listening to some recorded classes.
Carlos already replied to my email asking for a meeting.
He had sounded very vague and hesitant but had ultimately agreed to see me in a couple of hours later this evening.
By 5pm, I’m walking out of the motel. Something crawls up my spine as soon as I step outside. The feeling of being watched. I glance around, taking in the cars in the parking lot and the trees farther off but I don’t see anyone suspicious.
I’m probably just being paranoid.
A smile lights up on my face when I get to the park Carlos asked to meet up.
He’s seated on a bench and I hurriedly walk over to him.
He looks more or less the same with his grumpy smile and kind brown eyes.
He’s wearing a long black coat and gloves, looking like he could be an extra in a Christopher Nolan movie.
I didn’t realize how much I missed him until I saw him again. He rises at my approach, a small smile on his face.
“Hey, Carlos,” I greet, giving him a quick hug. “You’ve aged a lot, grandpa.”
“And here you are getting younger. You look beautiful, Lily,” he returns, patting my back.
We take our seats and I notice him glancing around furtively.
“Is something wrong?”
He shakes his head, although it’s impossible to hide the worry in his eyes.
“Why didn’t we meet at the bar?” I ask. “I’ve missed that place. How’s everyone there? Bryan?”
Carlos’s expression turns pained, “Why are you back in the city, Lily?”
My lips turn down. I thought he’d be more happy to see me.
“I told you in the e-mail. I’m thinking of moving back.
Plus, I need your contacts. I want to sell some of my songs,” I state.
“You were right when you told me to push for my dreams back then. I even went back to college. I’m taking online courses.
I finally figured out what I wanted, I want to be a songwriter. ”
He offers me a small smile, “I’m proud that you’ve come to that realization, sport. But you can’t be a songwriter in this city.”
My heart falls, “Why not? What’s going on and what aren’t you telling me?”
Carlos sighs, running his hands over his face.
“You made the right decision to leave back then, Lily. I wish you’d never come back.”
“You’re scaring me,” I murmur.
“The bar’s gone, Liliana. There was a fire shortly after you left. It all burnt down.”
My hand flies to my mouth in shock, “Oh my God, I’m so sorry, Carlos.”
The news about the bar fills me with a wave of sadness. It was my first break, the first place that made me feel like I could be someone.
“It’s fine. I got an early start to retirement is all,” he tells me with a small wave.
I notice him reaching for his left wrist, rubbing it gently, the action subconscious. He’s shifty, more on edge than I’ve ever seen him. I chew on my bottom lip, growing worried.
“Why can’t I stay in the city, Carlos?”
“Because I’m leaving soon,” he replies. “I’m going to head to New York. You should go as well, there’ll be better opportunities for you there than Jersey especially if you want to pursue songwriting.”
I shake my head, “I don’t like New York, Carlos. I want to stay here.”
His expression grows frustrated, “What about him? What if he finds you?”
There’s no need to ask who the him he’s talking about is.
“Oh, I’m sure that’ll be fine,” I say unconcerned.
“It’s been more than a year. There’s no way he’s still looking for me.
I admit, I was scared when I left but thinking back, there was really no need to be.
He made it clear he wanted nothing to do with me and I’m sure by now he’s forgotten all about me. ”
I have no doubt in my mind that Rafaelle Vitale has moved on by now. It’s the only reason I feel confident enough to move back. The city is huge and I doubt we’d even run into each other. I’ll keep my head down and try my best to avoid him.
The only reason I left in the first place was because I was pregnant. And I had no clue what I was going to do about it.
“You’d be a fool to believe he’s not still looking for you,” Carlos rumbles.
My eyebrows rise, “Was he ever looking for me?”
He grunts in frustration before finally lifting his left hand and taking off the gloves. My heart stops at the sight of his fingers. All three of them instead of five. Where his pinky finger and ring finger should be, there are only stubs of skin. Someone cut them clean off.
My stomach rumbles. I suddenly feel sick.
“Wh-who did that to you?” I stutter.
“Rafaelle Vitale,” he says bitterly. “The night after you left, he came looking for you. When he didn’t find you, he grew angry. Especially since I wouldn’t tell him where you went to. Not that I knew anyway, but he didn’t believe me.”
There’s a haunted look in his eyes. The face of a man that’s gone through a lot of trauma. I feel a ringing in my ears as I imagine what he could have experienced.
“He took us hostage. I and Bryan. He wanted to question us, torture us. As for the bar, he’s the one that burned it down. Doused it in kerosene and watched it all turn to ash.”
My throat dries, no words coming out. Carlos continues speaking.
“He’s a madman, Lily. Do you understand me?
He kept us in locked up in some underground basement for days without food or water.
Eventually when he came down, he started torturing us.
Told him men to beat us up while I watched.
It was the worst week of my life and by the end of it, he took two of my fingers.
He called them his memento, said it would ensure I would never forget.
Bryan got off lightly in comparison. He didn’t end up mutilated but he was so traumatized after, he disappeared. I haven’t seen him since.”
“I didn’t want to tell you,” he continues.
“I know you must be feeling guilty right now, but I need you look at me and understand that you cannot live in the same city as that son of a bitch. I thought you were long gone by now, started a new life somewhere far away. Imagine my surprise and horror when I got your e-mail asking to meet up. I didn’t want to but you seemed insistent.
But now, you have to get out, Liliana. If he doesn’t already know you’re in the city, he’ll know soon enough. ”
My vision turns hazy and I can barely hear Carlos over the sound of my pounding heart. I stumble to my feet, tears welling in my eyes as I think about how stupid I’ve been.
My mother was right.
Mila, oh my God, I’ve not only endangered myself, I’ve endangered my daughter by coming here.
“Lily, can you hear me?!” Carlos says insistently. “You need to run. You need to leave this city and you can never look back. He’s an obsessive psychopath and he wanted to find you badly. It doesn’t matter how long it’s been, he’ll be coming for you.”
I clutch my stomach, fighting not to lose my lunch.
I really did come face to face with the devil. And now I’m forever intertwined with him.
If he finds out I gave birth to his daughter, he’ll never stop. I’ll never be able to escape him.
I’ll never be free again.