Chapter 13: Chapter 13

Fear drapes over me as I stand behind my shower curtain. The waiting, the silence, I wish it can paralyze me, but the soft murmurs of my own teeth chattering force me to clasp both hands over my mouth. My entire body shakes as the sounds get louder. Thumps, grunts, a struggle, multiple people and things breaking around my apartment.

Hot tears stream down my cheeks. My whimpers and prayers remain muffled behind my hands. When the sound of gunshots ring through the chaos, I jump back, trying to melt into the tiled walls of my shower.

I can’t just sit here and wait. What if someone bursts inside? I’m not wearing anything, letting my mind wander to the most despicable things intruders do to naked women they find hiding in a bathroom. The amount of courage I summon is immeasurable, pushing myself out of the cold tub.

It’s not the best option, but sorting through my clothes hamper lets me throw on a pair of loose sweatpants and a tank top. The fabric is barely over my head when the bathroom door splinters off its hinge. My screams echo around the room as Valentino viciously beats a masked man with his fists.

Valentino’s sweat mixes with smears and specks of blood over his massive tattoo, making me wonder if it’s his or that of the person he’s fighting. The way they’re tossing one another around the bathroom pushes me into the narrow space between the sink and toilet. I don’t wait for any coaxing to take my opportunity to escape.

‘Wait! Don’t!’ Valentino shouts as I step over them and out of the bathroom, right into the arms of another intruder. The black ski mask over his face doesn’t hide his formidable size.

The strength of his hold as he lifts me off my feet is surprising. A hand covers my mouth before I can scream, but I can see the body of one man unconscious on the bedroom floor.

‘Get her out of here,’ the man fighting Valentino snarls between blows. Valentino delivers a final punch, knocking that man out before turning toward me.

Every limb on my body flails and kicks before I drop all of my weight to my feet.

Be a rock. The words barrel into my head. It’s the only thing I remember from my days of play fighting with Frankie. Anchor myself to the ground, make it difficult.

‘Fuck, this bitch is heavy,’ the intruder grunts as he leans over me, trying to lift me like a boulder. Instead of letting myself be taken, I uncurl myself and ram the top of my back into the man’s core.

It’s just enough time for Valentino to wrap his arms around the intruder’s torso, knocking them into the corner post of my bed. My bed doesn’t stand a chance as its corner collapses after the collision.

Where are the police?

Hasn’t anyone called them?

My eyes scan the room, trying to figure out where my phone is. The only light comes from the streetlamps shining a soft orange glow outside the window. Valentino continues to battle the last intruder when I hear the noise of more men storming into my little apartment.

‘Valley!’ someone shouts as the lights in my bedroom flash on. It’s a mess. My bedroom door is leaning against the wall, barely clinging to the bottom hinge. A small rug sits in a pile of folds beside my bed that’s tilting at the corner, obliterated by Valentino and the intruder crashing into it.

Valentino is breathing hard, his chest rising and falling as he stands in his trousers, still shirtless. Evidence of our sexual escapades mar his tattoo, while the results of him defending me against three intruders litter his torso with splotches of reddening skin.

‘In here,’ Valentino replies, as he peers around the room before his gaze lands on me. He rushes over, taking me in his arms. ‘Lia. Are you okay?’

Valentino doesn’t give me time to answer as he moves my body and hands around, checking me for injuries. I have to stop him, taking his face into my hands.

‘I’m fine. Look at your face.’ I gently touch the area beside his eye. There’s a puffiness surrounding it that’s likely to be black by morning. His lip is split and I’m not sure if that’s all me or if the fight helped it swell. It makes me forget the bright red lines scoring his back. Valentino sorts among the chaos to find his shirt, putting it back on just as I hear more people coming into my apartment.

Fear wraps around me, wondering if there are more men coming in to fight. However, it’s five large men, all donning tactical gear. They look like police officers, but there isn’t any identifying information on their clothes.

‘Who are they? What’s happening?’ I ask Valentino, who’s clearly not fearful of them, which allows me to calm down.

‘I’m going to take care of this,’ Valentino says. His demeanor shifts from worried lover to the man in charge. He barks orders. ‘There’s one in the bathroom. I think that little one is the driver.’

Armande steps in a few moments later with his phone to his ear. He surveys the room, looks Val and me up and down, and nods. Armande ends his call with a few hushed words and slips his phone into his pocket. He steps over the bodies that are being taken from my apartment.

‘NYPD is on ice for now. I got the landlord and tenant statements as an investigator. What happened, Valley?’ Armande asks, his gaze shifting between the both of us.

Valentino shrugs. ‘Let’s bring these three to the Icebox to get some answers. I’m going to put her up somewhere safe. I’ll meet you there. Clean up the street. Don’t forget the doorbell cameras, too. Get Lou and his team down here to fix up the place.’

‘You got it, Val,’ Armande says, stepping away from us to take over.

Valentino turns to me. ‘Lia, grab some clothes, whatever’s not trashed, and throw it in a bag. I’m going to take you with me.’

I cut him off. ‘I want to call the police. We need to call the police. Why aren’t we calling the police? I shouldn’t have to leave my house.’

‘Lia, if those men were here to take you, the chances are that they’ll try again since this time was unsuccessful. If you were an ordinary citizen, I would call the police in a heartbeat. But knowing that your family’s entangled with Saul Caputo, I don’t know which cops are going to show up here.’

‘What is that supposed to mean?’ I ask Valentino.

‘Payroll,’ Armande interjects as he walks around the room taking pictures of the damage.

‘What?’ My confusion shifts back to Valentino.

Val elaborates on Armande’s answer, telling me, ‘If some of the police officers that work for Caputo show up, you might end up disappearing. We have to find out why these guys came here tonight. Once I know what’s going on, I’ll do my best to get your life back to normal.’

Back to normal?

When I take a moment to think of my life as normal, all I can come up with is a sad excuse for living. I go to work at a Bonetti Brother’s construction site, slave away for twelve hours a day, and go home alone. The men hit on me, but we all know it’s not going anywhere. I have dinner with my parents every Sunday. Occasionally, I get together with Frankie for a night out, but he parties too hard for me on most nights.

Valentino pulls me into his arms while a group of guys maneuver around my bedroom. They haul the intruders out one by one. While I want to stay, there’s something so invasive taking over. Strangers in my home and I don’t know why.

‘I’m taking you—’ Valentino says, but I cut him off.

‘Take me to Frankie’s place.’

Valentino shakes his head. ‘That’s not a good idea, Lia. I want you at my house, where I have security in place to protect you.’

I can barely stomach the fragments of chaos lingering around my home. The string of sentences forming in my head doesn’t come out as eloquent. ‘I want to be somewhere comfortable. Home. Here. There were people here, to do what? Take me? Where would they take me? I don’t want to be locked away in some strange house. Why is this happening?’

The hardest part about tonight is making sense of it all. I can feel the mixture of adrenaline, shock, and fear crashing over me like a tidal wave. I can’t stop looking over every inch of my bedroom. The voices of Valentino’s men are distant as they move out of my apartment.

‘I’m going to figure that out, Lia. I swear.’ Valentino’s sharp blue eyes burrow into mine with an overwhelming sense of sincerity emanating from them. I want to believe him, and he’s keeping me safe. It’s exactly what I want him to do. But all of this is out of my depth. This isn’t what I imagined protecting me from Saul Caputo looked like. I just didn’t want the creep to steal my virginity or force my parents into an impossible situation.

Valentino waits patiently for me to gather a few of my things before driving me to Frankie’s apartment. It’s not lost on me that it’s nearly three in the morning. I don’t want to call at this hour, but I don’t want to show up unannounced either. The smart decision is to stay wherever Valentino tells me, but everything’s still so new between us. I want to feel safe, but also be in a familiar space. I just want the comfort of being around family; family that hasn’t agreed to leverage my time with mobsters.

When we step into the chilly night, Valentino signals to the men who belong to his business or family like it’s a movie. They rush into position before Valentino’s energy encourages me to walk with him. The way his arm hovers across my lower back as he ushers me toward a hulking black SUV makes me feel like the Secret Service is moving the president. After slipping into the back seat, he shuts the door, but I can still hear him speaking.

‘Take my car home. Bring my kit to the Icebox. Post a two-man team at this address. Make sure no one else goes into her apartment.’ His voice is alert, his head turning side to side to look up and down the street before he walks around to get into the car beside me.

I don’t know the man driving and I have no idea where Armande is. The front door to the house where I lived in a cozy apartment no longer looks like a place I can call home. My heart breaks as we drive into the night, across the Brooklyn Bridge.

The sights of New York City glisten. Lights from thousands of windows show signs of lives being lived. I wonder how many are in the middle of an attempted kidnapping or are having some of the most passionate sex imaginable.

My heart races as my mind floods with images of our moments before intruders interrupted our night. That’s what I’m going to do. I’ll replace the fear with memories of Valentino begging for me to drag my nails across his skin as he digs his thickness in and out of me. When I feel his hand on my thigh, the protection I’ve been yearning for washes over me. However, it’s fleeting.

When the SUV comes to a stop, Valentino gets out to open the door for me. The night is still cold with a breeze blowing off the water. The FDR isn’t far, and I can see the light coming from Frankie’s apartment above the flower shop.

I can’t deny the warmth and security I feel in Valentino’s arms. He looks down at me, kissing me gently on the forehead.

‘I promise, Lia. I’m going to get Saul Caputo out of your life, for good.’

‘I know,’ I tell him, leaning into his broad, muscular chest.

There’s nothing else to say.

Valentino walks me to the door beside the shop’s huge display window just in time for Frankie to open it. Sleep covers his face, yawning as I step inside. He closes the door after Valentino squeezes my hand to say a silent goodbye. I want him to stay but Valentino must head into the night, searching for answers.