The Monster In Us

25- sleeping wiTh tHe enemy

"I need to talk to my father right fucking now," I demand over the phone to Sergei on Monday morning. I had my perfect weekend with Dante at the lake house but now, that's over and I have to deal with what I saw in that basement.

"He's busy," He tells me. "What's going on?"

"I need answers," I say. "If he doesn't call me by the end of the day, I'm coming over there tomorrow, I swear to god."

"What answers?" Sergei asks again for more information but I won't give it to him. I need to speak directly to my father about this because it seems like it's serious business, something that Giovanni doesn't even tell Dante. But if my father knows more about my mother's death than he has told me, I don't know what I'll do. If he knows that she was pregnant, if he knows that she was writing love letters to Giovanni, and he didn't tell me about any of this.

"Just tell him to call me," I snap at Sergei and then hang up the phone before I park my car in the Berardi parking lot in the back where the employees park. I don't get out of the car though, I just sit in my car and dial Coleman's number. I can tell him anything, he'll know what to do.

I dial his number and wait impatiently for him to answer the phone. "I need your help," I tell him.

"I'm on it," He agrees right away.

"It's really serious," I warn him.

"More serious than being undercover in a war zone?" He wonders curiously.

"Even more serious than sleeping with the enemy," I add. "I really need your help here, I'm about to freak out."

"Well, don't do that."

"I'm trying my best," I mutter. "Can you come to my apartment tonight? I don't want to talk about this over the phone."

"Whoa," Coleman seems to realize that it really is just that serious. "Sure. Um, yeah, when do you get off at the Berardi?"

"Around 4:30 tonight. Don't tell anybody," I instruct him. "Be here at six, wear a disguise, this is 100% top secret, just you and me."

"Is it dangerous?"

"I don't know," I admit. "I don't think so but be careful."

"It kind of sounds like you're talking about mutiny here," Coleman realizes slowly. "Vera, you know that that's really dangerous."

"I know. Cole, I need to know something. If it really came down to it, would you choose me over Pantera? You can say no, I'll understand, they're your family too. I just don't want to get you involved in this if it'll put you in a difficult position."

"There's no difficult decision," Coleman assures me. "It'll always be you, in a heartbeat. Come on, Vera, we're partners in crime and I'd do anything for you. So just take a few deep breaths, alright? Breathe, and get through the day. I've got your back and we'll figure this out together."

"Okay," I take a few deep breaths because I am starting to panic about this whole thing. I keep staring at the picture I have on my phone of that board that I found at the lake house and I can't stop thinking about it, or jumping to terrible conclusions that are starting to make me freak out now that I have time to actually think about it. "I have to go or I'll be late for work."

"Sure. I'll see you tonight," Coleman says before I hang up the phone to go into the building.

Denise is already at her desk, doing her marketing and whatnot, as most people in our office complex are mostly already at work doing their jobs because this is around when everybody gets here. I try to just put myself into my work for Berardi to keep my mind off of the board of my mother and this completely unheard of history that needs to be explained.