Chapter 8
Elli
Tia is talking a mile-a-minute and I can’t stop myself from smiling.
If I had to choose a sister, I would have chosen one like Tia.
She is sensitive, caring, brave and a little reckless, which I have to admit, the last is one of my own personality traits.
I scan our surroundings as we walk because I’m sure someone is watching and even following me.
“Tia, don’t look around, but I think I’m being followed.”
I tell her about the incident with the three men, and can see her grit her teeth and fist her hands.
“Stay calm.
But I need you to pack a backpack if you want to run when I do.
It may not come to it, but if it does, I’ll need you to be ready.”
“I’ll get it done tonight, Elli.
I don’t want you running on your own.
I’ve got a meeting with Spinner after your hair appointment.
Then we’ll have a weapon in case we need to protect ourselves.
I may not have the training you have, Elli, but I can do some damage if needed.”
Tia gives me a look that shows how determined she is to stick with me, and to protect us both if it comes down to the line.
My phone rings and seeing it's Alex calling, I frown.
I only spoke to him recently.
Stopping walking, I step between two shops and nod at Tia to wait.
“Alex, what’s wrong?”
“The Don had a meeting with his Underboss, Consigliere, Capos, various soldiers and associates.
Father had a plan to take down the Don along with other Capos, but the plot came to light and when Father made his move he was taken out, and rightly so.”
Alex doesn’t hold back; he tells me the truth as he always has.
I take a deep breath before responding, “Alex, I’m okay with him being taken down.
He was a disgusting man, father, and made man.
I’m only surprised it took so long for his sins to catch up with him.”
Alex chuckles, “You replied just as I thought you would.
As long as you are okay with it because the Don is still wanting to take you as his bride, and you know you’d make one hell of a fantastic Don’s wife.”
“I’m not ready to be anyone’s wife yet, so if that’s what he wants, he’ll have to wait a long time.
So, changing the subject, how is Mother?”
“No idea.
I have not been to the house.
I’m not interested.
She is as bad as Father in my opinion.
She stood by and watched him beat me, and control you when he felt you didn’t conform.
But she did nothing to help either of us, and that’s part of what is wrong with the Famiglia at this time.
The Don, however, is making changes, and has made changes, but he needs a wife that can see and oversee issues he cannot.”
Sighing, Alex drops his voice.
“Be watchful for Mother appearing.
She may blame us for Father's death.
She’ll be dangerous now, as she’ll want revenge.
You are in a more vulnerable position than I am, and Elli, I’ve been made Capo.
I have to attend a meeting with the Don, but he has promoted me.”
“Oh, Alex, you’ll make a fantastic Capo.
I am so happy for you, and maybe we can persuade the Don to let me come live with you instead of being his wife?”
Alex laughs.
“Sorry, you have no chance.
He’s going to come for you when he has this mess sorted out.
When he eventually catches you, give him hell.”
Now, I can’t help but giggle at Alex’s playfulness.
It reminds me of when we were children and he encouraged me to play pranks on the staff.
“Okay, I have to go, but you be watchful, take care and know I love you.”
I hear someone speak in the background as Alex cuts the call, and I sigh because I’d like nothing more than to hug my brother.
“Everything okay, Elli?”
Tia asks, bringing me back to the moment.
“Yeah, that was my brother, well, our brother.
He was informing me that my father is dead.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Elli.”
“Well, I’m not.
He was a total bastard, and the world is much better off without him in it.”
Tia looks shocked for a moment, then smirks when she sees how fierce my look is, right before I smirk along with her.
“Can you imagine it, Tia? The shock when my father meets the Devil? I hope it’s as hot as we are told in the Devil’s underworld, and my father has to stoke the fire.”
We giggle and throw ideas of how my father could suffer alongside the devil as we head to the hairdressers.
She was supposed to come to me, but had something happen so we have to go to the salon instead.
I’m not sure I’m all that happy with the change, but I want it done, and quickly so this is the option I have open to me.
Four hours later and with a lot less hair, I stand in front of the mirror in the salon, looking from right to left at my profile.
The best that I can, anyway.
My hair reaches my shoulder blades instead of my waist.
The color has gone from a mediocre brown to a golden brown with highlights that shimmer throughout.
It has natural waves, so we did not need to do any treatments.
I turn to look at Amanda and give her a huge smile.
“I love it, love it, love it.”
Tia and Amanda giggle at my enthusiasm.
Tia then launches forward to hug me, “You look amazing.”
“Thank you so much.
I love it and it’s so much lighter, although it’s still long.”
I look out the window as a movement catches my eye.
Across the street from the salon is a man all in black, leaning against the shop wall, watching the salon.
“Tia, see across there? Someone again watching.
Do you have a back exit, Amanda?”
Running back to my apartment after leaving the salon by the back entrance door, we laugh at leaving the man behind.
I had tucked my hair under my hoodie, trying to disguise myself to attract as little attention as possible.
Sitting with a cold drink, I smile at Tia.
“Well, hair done.
That’s one thing ticked off the list.
What about the weapons?”
“I’ll go see Spinner after I’ve had this drink.
Then I’m going to work.
I’m about ready to kick this job, to be honest.
The asshole in charge is a creep and if he tries to touch my ass one more time, I’ll slap him like he’s the dirty sleaze he is.”
Tia scrunches her nose up, and I can’t stop the giggle.
“You could run that place on your own, Tia.”
“I know, but I don’t want to work in a shoe shop forever.
It’s a decent job with being clean, and regular hours.
But with that asshole, there is no chance of promotion.
Which of course would mean staying on minimum wage forever.”
Tia finishes her drink and rinses her cup, along with mine.
“If we run, you’ll be leaving him in the shit.
Now, wouldn’t that be something?”
I ask, and I can see the moment the lightbulb comes on and she giggles.
My phone rings and picking it up when I see Orsen’s number.
What the heck does my boss want?
“Hello…”
Before I can say more Orsen speaks, and he sounds like he’s in a mess.
“Elli, you can’t come to work tonight.
One of the fucking appliances blew up and caused a small fire behind it.
We have to get it cleaned up, freshened up, and a new appliance.
No staff can come into work until it’s done and approved.
The restaurant, of course, is closed until it’s done too.”
“What appliance was it?”
“The deep fryer.
I’m just relieved the oil wasn’t hot enough to catch fire too.
But the damn back of the fryer is a mess.
Anyway, I’ll call you when I want you back at work, but I think we’ll have this done in 48 hours.
The owner won’t want it closed longer than that.”
Orsen closes the call before I can say another word and I blink a few times before placing my phone down and considering what I can do this evening.
Looking around my small apartment, I decide to clean and check my backpack.
It’s no good me warning Tia to be ready and then not be ready myself.
Later, I’m serving meatballs and spaghetti onto plates for myself and Tia and wait for her to finish her outrage about her handsy boss.
“Oh, I’m going to look for another job.
I don’t even want to go back tomorrow.”
Tia slaps her palm on the table, and I can see she’s very worked up at this point.
“Okay, I’m going to put this in the trash if you don’t stop and eat.”
I try to sound firm, but I’m fairly amused at some of the ways she’d like to make her boss suffer.
“Sorry, Elli.
I’m just at the end of my rope with him.
He’s an utter pig.”
“Yeah, I get that from what you’ve said.
I wonder if my place has any vacancies?”
I tap my fingers on the table while I think.
But if I’m being honest, I don’t think the kitchen needs any more staff.
Once we’ve eaten and cleaned away the dishes, Tia grins and then holds her pointer finger at me.
“One minute, I’m going to run to my place and be right back.”
Oh, she doesn’t take long before she’s back, locks the door, and slides the bolt across as she rushes to the kitchen table and takes out four knives and three guns.
“I saw Spinner, and I paid him with my savings after I did him one stinking deal.
I had to talk some fancy shit to get the cost down, Elli, but I got us two pocket knives.
Now, they are going to be great, as Spinner said, in a purse or pocket.
The other two knives are sheath knives and are going to do more damage but I am not sure how we hide them.”
Tia is frowning in concentration, and I’m not going to tell her that I know how to handle them, or hide them, as she’s putting in so much effort that I’ll let her have the win on this.
“So, I also got us two Glocks and a Sig Sauer.
I know nothing about guns Elli, so that’s up to you to teach me.
But I can stab anyone that gets near enough so that is not a problem.”
Leading Tia to a seat, I take out my phone and Google for a picture of the human anatomy.
For the next hour, I teach Tia where to stab and how deep to cause a fatal wound.
I’m not sure Tia is going to be good at killing anyone, as she is looking a little green.
I’m not happy about having to do it myself, but if it’s me or them, then I have no issue with saving myself, Tia, or my brother.
I hand Tia a glass of cheap box wine I had in the fridge and wait for her to chill down a little.
Then start the run through of how to dismantle the weapons.
Once she has that I teach her to assemble them.
I have her do this over and over until she can nearly do it with her eyes closed.
Looking at the time, I sigh.
It’s nearly midnight and I’m exhausted and I can see from Tia’s face she is too.
“You want to stay here tonight? We can just throw ourselves onto the bed and sleep.”
“No, I’ll go home.
I need a shower and I’m up for work in the morning.
But I’ll be over tomorrow and we’ll do this all over again.”
Tia grimaces before she hugs me and heads out the front door, leaving me to lock up and head to the shower myself.