The Code To A Don's Heart

s e v e n

"If I call him now, at least a week."

"A week?" I asked incredulously.

"He's a very busy man and he has to find other people to go with you. He doesn't only take one person you know. It's a business."

I rubbed my forehead, trying to dispel that headache that was coming on. "I don't think a week's going to cut it."

"Why?" Kat asked with a scoff. "You think you can just rush this kind of thing? Coyotes in this area are run by the Castellano Cartel. You do not want to get on their bad side little girl."

"I know but I'm being chased by someone worse," I said my mind flashing back to Viktor's form. Strong, dominating... deadly. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

"No one will find you here," Kat said and I thought her voice had softened somehow. "If they do come, I have a shotgun."

I smiled. I still had Viktor's gun. I'd kept it in my bag. It should be enough security. I knew Viktor didn't want to kill me yet. He needed to know who I knew so he could figure out who else was on his hit list. I pulled the locket around my neck out from under my shirt, running my fingers absently over the lock.

"A gift?" Kat asked. I looked at her and the way she watched how delicately I held onto the locket.

"It was my mother's," I told her. "It is one of the only things left of hers. My dad threw the rest out."

Kat nodded. "Is it useful or something? Why you're being chased?"

"In a way," I said not elaborating. The locket had more than sentimental meaning to me. It held something I'd kept close to my heart for a long time.

"Miss Kay told me you went to prison. What was that about?"

Kat laughed. "Pinewood Medium Security Prison. Worst years of my life."

My heart raced at the mention of the hell hole she'd been in. "That's pretty far from here," I pointed out.

"Yeah. Once I got released I wanted nothing to do with that place so I went as far as I could go," she answered and then pointed her cigarette at me. "What's your relationship with Kay?"

"Oh um... my dad used to work for her. I stuck around her mansion a lot and made friends I guess."

"Must be nice to have pals in high places."

"Not high enough," I said and then Kat burst into laughter.

"Don't you have high standards," she chuckled after getting over her fit.

"I'd be dead or working as a striper somewhere if I didn't," I stated.

"Ain't that the truth," Kat said and shook her head, taking a drag from her cigarette.

"You haven't asked who's after me," I mused a loud after a while.

Kat sighed and a dense smoke escaped her lips. The smell of tobacco wasn't new to me. It brought back memories of old. "And I don't want to know. The best way to get through this life is by keeping ignorant about certain facts."

I snorted. "Ignorance never sat well with me. I'd rather know what I'd up against that stumble in the dark."

"You don't have to know everything kid," Kat replayed words that had been said to me before. "Ignorance is bliss."

"It is also the root of misfortune," I told her. "It might be dangerous to have knowledge but at least I'd know what I'm up against."

Kat looked at me for a while, the only sound between us were her breaths as she smoked and then she smiled. "You have it."