Sweetheart Mafia ✔️

Chapter 22

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"You feeling confident?" Kaiser asks, rubbing my shoulders.

"I am." I look down at the house phone number on Kaiser's screen. I take a deep breath. "Can I be alone to speak to them please Kaiser? It's the first time I've heard their voices since I left for Ibiza."

He smiles, "of course." He stands up off the bed and leans forward, kissing my head. "Take all the time you need."

He exits the room, leaving me alone with my thumb hovering over that green button. Kaiser says I can tell them the truth but not that we are going to kill Javier incase they or the police get involved. Knowing my Dad, he would call for every piece of back-up he can get, but his back-up isn't the same as Bates's back-up, it would just be his mates from the pub and some colleagues he's befriended.

I go over the thoughts in my head. I take another deep breath and press the green button. It dials and my breath and hand shakes.

"Hello?" I hear my mother's sweet, lovely and warm posh voice. She sounds tired.

"Mum?" Is all I can free from my dry mouth.

"April?" She gasps. "Where on earth are you?" She says, her voice full of concern. "Are you coming home? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I can't come home yet. In a few weeks, I can. Just not yet."

"Is that boy keeping you captive?" She demands, referring to Javier.

"No, Mum. I'll explain everything to you." I answer before she can say anything else.

"Well get on with it." She bosses me around sternly. I've always hated this tone but I know it's only because she's worried.

"Okay, here we go," I sigh, ready for the questions, judgement and remarks. "On our first night, I met a guy called Javier." I take a deep breath. "He was very good looking and I did fancy him a little bit. He took us out and bought us drinks and stuff and then he invited me back to his hotel. I know I shouldn't have but I said yeah." I stop waiting for her to call me out for my stupidity.

"I don't blame you for that April, you're young. Obviously you're going to experiment and have experiences. I'm not mad with you for that. I was young too." I cringe at her telling me that but at least she isn't mad with me for it.

"Well, I most definitely should not have done it." I interrupt her before she can add to it. "He turned me into a drug mule, Mum." My eyes well up. "I had to go to Portugal and carry cocaine over the border." I sniffle.

She sighs sadly. "Oh April, how on earth did they get you to do that?"

"I don't remember ever arriving at the hotel. I woke up the next morning with stitches in my tummy. They put it inside of me to carry for them."

I hear her gasp and she doesn't say anything for a while. "Are you still carrying it?" She asks.

"No. When I entered Portugal, the dealer guy-" It's difficult when you don't know names - "was waiting for me but he was killed by another man."

"What? Killed?" She repeats back to me angrily. "Jesus Christ, April. Are you at least safe now? Wait, your father is here. Jim, how do I put this on speaker?"

"April?" My Dad's voice plays through the speaker. "Are you okay, Darling?"

"I'm okay, Dad." I answer, relieved to here my father's soothing voice. "I'm safe and I'm still with the man who killed the other guy. He's called Bates, he's lovely and has looked after me really well."

"I'm so relieved, sweetie. Are you coming home soon?" Dad asks.

"Not yet. In ten days, the original guy, Javier - t-the one who kidnapped me - Bates has arranged to meet up with him." I say. I can't tell them the actual truth in case Javier and Angelo have somehow tapped the phone line. "Bates is paying them to leave me alone, and they've agreed on the deal."