Unpredictable

Chapter Four

Amelia

I've learnt the names of twelve women who need extreme counselling, ten men whose egos are too large to fit in the same space together and sixteen couples who really need a divorce. At least I can say that I've met enough people who talk about their marriages to know what I'm in for. The only successful couple I've seen in this entire room has to be Alexander and Elinor, they have been inseparable the entire time and you can feel the love they have for each other radiates of them both. It makes me jealous in a strange way as I have yet to meet the elusive Hunter Abruzzo but I know enough about him to perform a seminar, and one thing I've gathered on him is that he's the biggest man whore around and I'm sad to say I will be wedded to this prick in two days. I'm not the type of woman who's planned her whole life with a doting husband ranking high on it, I'm the type of woman who couldn't care less for marriage, kids or commitment. All I want is to live free with no one on my back and live my life as I always have, killing. But seeing the Abruzzo's and the way they act with each other it makes me crave for a better choice in partners. Maybe if I had have accepted the marriage plans between me and Cappia when we were younger I wouldn't be in this position now, but I can't do that to myself everyone knows I've never wanted this but they are forcing me anyways. I've been here for 4 hours now and all I want to do is go home, to see my best friend and have our weekly movie evenings; gangster and gory films galore and it makes me emotional to think I will no longer have these evening with Cap, I will no longer laugh with him in our private world, they will no longer be my family and the house I grew up in will never be my home again. When I think of all the things I'm losing for this stupid alliance against the Deserta I hate them even more, for taking away my freedom and taking away the life I love. I'm being idiotic but it's the alcohol talking not me, I've drank almost the entire bottle and I'm starting to waver on my feet. The rooms spinning a little but luckily Aurora has her arm around me keeping me standing but in a secret way, when she starts to see the effects in my face she excuses us from the conversation I wasn't even aware was going on and escorts me to the bathroom. Once inside she closes and locks the room so no one can come in. she drags me over to the sink so I can hold onto something and she rears her hand back and slaps me hard across the face. "Jesus" I shout "what the fuck are you doing?" she just stands there looking at me as I rub my face and begin to sober up. "you need to get your shit together my brother has just called saying he will be downstairs in a minute and if you're gonna deal with him you need to be sober!" she yells back at me and I sink to the floor and control my breathing as I think of the disaster I'm about to be led into and my father's trotted off home with his nightly bang so I've also got to be aware on my way home. I can't be caught off guard, this isn't me I don't need looking after and little lamb certainly shouldn't see my weakness or her brother. After I take a few deep breaths I stand and turn towards the mirror to inspect my appearance and she's right I need to sort myself out I look like a hot mess, so I run my finger through my hair and redo the braid that pulls the hair from my face. Once my hair is fixed I move to my makeup wiping the smudged lipstick away and applying a new coat. Removing the black from under my eyes I add a new layer of mascara to my eyelashes. I look up at Aurora who's watching me intently, "better?" I ask as I turn and walk towards her. She looks me up and down and nods at me in confirmation. I walk towards the door and extend my arm for her to loop hers through and we unlock the door and walk out arm in arm back to the party. I look around and I notice that as we walk out all attention is on us as a man stands in the middle of the room talking to Alexander. When Alexander sees me he smiles widely and I know this is it, this is Hunter the man with his back to me and I know that from now my fate is truly sealed. I continue to walk towards the Abruzzo men but stop in my tracks as Hunter turns towards me. "Amelia what are you doing." The truth is I didn't know why I stopped all I knew is that I couldn't move if I wanted to, this man staring at me is nothing like I imagined in any way. When he looks towards me I see nothing else but those big peculiar coloured eyes, they suck me in and capture me in their depth. They are a deep blue with flecks of white upon brown, like crashing waves upon rocks. I've never seen anything like it and I've stared into a lot of eyes as I watched their lives slip from them but these eyes don't look at all like any I've seen before. I rip my eyes away from his and I inspect the rest of his body as I walk towards him with my hand curled into a fist as I tightly squeeze to comfort myself. Pain has always been my most preferred emotion as I find the others to be too complicated to deal with, and as I look upon this man's God like body I know I'll need to keep tight hold of my fist to make it through the rest of this evening. He's wearing a tight fitting suit; navy trousers which are held up by a black belt which compliments his matching jacket and white shirt. His shirt hugs his front nicely and I can see he's a built man even through the thick material. He's about 6'4 tall from what I can tell and as we come in front of both of the men I notice just how much he dwarfs me even with my shoes on. He looks down and smirks at me before he turns towards his father and says the most memorable words I'll ever hear. "New escort you've hired father? I already have enough so who's this little piece for?" his father immediately looks angry and sorrowful at the same time, I can tell that he expected more of his son and is not pleased with his rudeness. He turns towards me and when he sees my blank expression he seems slightly confused as he goes to apologise and I shake my head at him, keeping his mouth closed he waits for my reply. I've forgotten the body that is attached to mine and I feel Aurora stiffen and I turn my head and smile at her before I turn back to Hunter and reply. "I'm your new ball and chain my friend, and I'm pretty sure it's against some stupid oath to share me so looks like I'm gonna be your only escort from now on. When I come to think of it I could really use the extra money." He scowls at me and I know he was only trying to make me run off crying or some girly shit like that, well it looks like he doesn't have a clue who he's marrying. "Now let's play nice young ones." Alexander says as he grasps both mine and Hunters' shoulders and gives a pointed look at his daughter who's still clinging to my arm, "we have some people to talk to so come now Aurora." He says as he takes her by the arm and begins to drag her off but just before she leaves she whispers a good luck in my ear and next thing I know I'm alone with my life partner to be. I'm standing here like a fucking melon and I sip my water and play board as I feel his intense gaze fall upon me. His eyes are boring holes in my body but I continue to stare ahead as if he I'm not effected by him at all, but it's all a lie as I feel this strange pull towards him which I can't nor care to explain. He hasn't spoken at all since his father left and I'm getting bored off standing here waiting for him to grow a pair so I turn towards him and push my glass to his chest until he grips it firmly in his hand and when he has it in his grip I look him dead in the eye and say "pussy" as I turn and walk away from him not looking back. When I reach the door I see Aurora, Elinor and Alexander standing saying their goodbyes to the parting guests and I head straight for them. I walk up to the family my back stiff as an ironing board, "I have to go, it was lovely meeting you and thank you for such a lovely evening." I say as I kiss them each on the cheek. Elinor grabs my arm before I leave and asks "did he do something to offend you?" I shake my head in reply and Aurora come to stand beside her mother in front of me "please don't leave yet," she begs as she grips my hand in hers. I look sideways at such a gesture, no one's ever begged me for anything other than their life before, and it warms me a little but then I remember how daunting the feeling of standing beside Hunter was. He had no interest in talking to me and he will be soon enough the only person I'm really supposed to confide in, and he could barely speak a word to me when we were alone. I turn my head and look over my shoulder to see him talking to a young woman and I quickly realise it was one of the women who was talking to Esme earlier and I don't want to be the victim of the embarrassment of my husband to be hitting on another woman in front of both our regions who know of our engagement. So to save myself the social humiliation I decide it really is time to leave, "he's a busy man, no need for me to be here whilst he makes me the butt end of his jokes. I really should leave. It was lovely to meet you all." I say as I walk out of the door and walk down towards the waiting car. I almost reach the door of the getaway car when a voice calls out to me from behind, "excuse me young lady" I turn to see a much older man standing on the steps I'd just walked down, "do I know you" I ask impatiently as all I want to do right now is leave this place. "No I don't believe I've had the pleasure of introducing myself yet. I'm hunters' grandfather," he pauses and walks closer to me reaching forward placing his hand on my face "you may not know me but I know you, the most feared person in the city and you're running from a little boy? I never thought I'd see this day." He frowns and I push away his hand "I'm not running I want to go home. I can't run from your grandson thanks to my father." I huff out knowing he's right but I can't stand there and be humiliated in front of all these people, as he said I have a reputation to uphold. "But you are running you're letting a stupid man get the better of you." He says with a sad tone to his voice and I stare at the man for a while, he's old but stands stiff as if he holds the entire world on his shoulders. His face is wrinkled and scarred but his eyes are wise and loving as if he knows me somehow and I've never been more confused. "Do I know you old man?" I ask him quietly and his only reply is to smile and say "you will my dear." As he turns and starts to walk away. He looks back at me before he disappears and looks me dead in the eyes before saying "you were never a quitter not even as a little girl, don't start now." And then he's gone. I look around and notice I'm alone, I've never been a quitter he's right about that but there is little I can do right now the night is over so I guess I'll just go home and prepare myself for the next two days. I continue walking back to the car and climb in leaning against the soft leather of the seat I think about the old man's words. "Even as a little girl," he spoke as if he knew me all my life and it makes me wonder who he is. Yes, he is Hunter's grandfather but how did he know me personally, nobody here knows me personally. I run through all the people from my childhood in my head as I watch the world blur past out the window of the moving car, I have no recollection of the man. But I can't help feeling a sense of dread as I return to my own district, there is no one who can tell me about my life before mum died as everyone is forbidden to talk about it. And I realise as we reach my house I have no real home, inside this house my father is fucking the brains out of some stupid slut or two and after earlier I can't go see Cappia. I stare at the house and I know I can't go back there right now so as I exit the car I walk around the back to my pride and joy; my Bullitt 1968 v8 ford mustang sitting in the unused stables in the back. I run my hand down the side of the car as I walk towards the boot. Inside is a bag with a spare change of clothes fit for what I plan to do with the rest of my evening, and I pull it out and place it on the top of the car as I strip out of my dress and shoes and change into the black leather suit which has grey material creating a softening edge to the black. I pull the boots from the bag and pull them on and zip the calf high material up. I shove the stupid dress into the bag along with the shoes and chuck them in the boot and walk around to the door and jump in, feeling the way the seat cradles me is the most happiness I've felt in a long time. I don't get to use my baby a lot with the abnormality of her people would quickly connect the vehicle to me, and being the person I am I can't have any connections to the things I do. But this once I'm making an excuse as I don't really care if they know it was me in fact I want them to know, I have to start cutting down my list and show my new fiancé who he's fucking with at the same time. I pull the keys from the glove compartment and the list of names, this list is what's kept me going through everything. It's the list of the known members of the Deserta, the names of the people who have been taken women from us and selling them. To our type of people human trafficking isn't the worst thing that could be running but the fact that it's women from both leading regions it's a whole new story. They took a lot of people from my region and people are worried and considering we are the family who are supposed to fix these types of things people began to question us. But dad made a speech, killed some traitors and think that every thing's fixed but it's not, so I created a list of the know Deserta members and when I have time I go out and hunt them. I look at the next name on my list and see what I thought I would, Lucius Dante son of a past friend of the Abruzzo, a simple errand boy. He's been collecting Intel on the Abruzzo's for months using the women who Hunter sleeps with to gain his information. I've been tracking this guy for weeks and he's finally back in town, and the girl who Hunter was hitting on earlier is Lucius' lover who has been staying with him during his travels and returned yesterday evening. He's been waiting to send her in this whole time so he will be waiting in the wings watching but what he doesn't know is that he's not the only stalker that will be present. I start my engine and make my second trip this evening to the Abruzzo residence, this time I'm not dreading anything a blanket of calm encompasses me and excitement leaks through my pour as I draw closer to the Fortitudo region. I come to the long driveway and drive half way down before pulling my car over and getting out quietly, I put the list along with my keys in my pocket and reach into the back and put the weapons sack I keep under my seat in front of me. I unzip it and pull out three knives and tuck them in various holders I have on my body and pull out my polished desert eagle and place it in the gun holder on my hip. I never really enjoy using guns but they are always worth keeping on you in case you encounter more people than you expect at a job. I close the car door and walk towards to the building, down the long drive until I reach the grounds of the house. I scope my surroundings, searching for the man I've been tracking but see nothing. I walk to the edge of the building and see many parked cars by the garage, I squat down and stare into the windows of all the cars looking for any movement but again nothing. I'm starting to think I've made a mistake somewhere as the boy couldn't be inside as he was not part of the function held this evening and is supposed to be on a drug check. As I'm thinking of the other possibilities of where he could be I notice something out the corner of my eye, a man walking in the shadows towards a big oak tree at the opposite side of the house to where I am. I squint my eyes and wait for any light to hit his face to see if he's my target, the door flies open as men and women with linked arms make their way to their cars and as the door closes a glimpse of light shines on the man's face and I see him. It's Lucius in all his traitorous glory, standing and smirking as he thinks he's going to get away with another scam. But not tonight, he's not getting a sliver of information.