Hunted by the mafia, memories and secrets in Rome/Tom Kaulitz story

Chapter 55

Taylor’s POV

I was holding onto Gustav’s arm harder than I thought when the elevator doors slid open with a soft ding. I instantly started regretting my choice of attending and wanted to throw myself at the close button and push the button to our floor. My thoughts were crashing and tumbling in a small state of adrenaline but before I had any time to reenact my impulse Gustav had led me out and the doors were closing behind me.

I gulped.

Gustav was quiet as usual but he seemed to be more open socially, greeting people with smiles and nods as they passed by. We walked through the lobby, which was getting emptier the further we walked. I wasn’t surprised that this fantastic hotel had probably the longest and most lavishly decorated hallway I’ve ever seen. We rounded a corner and straight ahead were two huge glass doors with two guards in black suits standing as security.

I inhaled a sharp breath and stopped for a second.

-It’s okay Taylor, Gustav quickly commented and I looked at him, giving me a reassuring smile.

My heels clicked against the stone floor as Gustav walked slower, giving me a steady hand so I wouldn’t trip over my dress. I really appreciated it as we went up to the two guards. They looked like they’d seen more than I hoped to know. Their faces looked decent, if you count out their hollow eyes, but their hands were scarred, bruised and damaged beyond repair. I could just see all the jaws and bones those hands had broken.

One of them looked us over, eyeing our faces slowly as he put his finger to his ear like a FBI-agent as he nodded and opened the glass doors with the other man.

Gustav gave me a reassuring squeeze before we walked out on the balcony that was lying before a broad, white stair that led down to all the people. An embellished stone courtyard was spreading out over the ground with a huge lit fountain in the middle. It was probably 5 meters tall, softly pouring water down in switching colors of blue, green, red, pink and violet.

There were tables, sofa’s and chairs scattered around it along with a bar on each side and on a small stage were an orchestra, playing background music so people could keep a conversation. It was needless to say that the hotel was living up to their expectation of a grand finale.

A number of 150 people, dressed to their teeth, were mingling and laughing, acting like this was a great party and not a mafia pit. It took every little nerve in my body not to scoff and turn right back to go back to my room. 

Gustav motioned me to follow him down the stairs and I obliged, carefully taking every step slowly so I wouldn’t trip and fall on these damn heels. A few but very long seconds I managed to step down onto the final step and with a successful smile on my face I turned my head up.

It might have been my nerves but to me the entire crowd was glancing at me, whispering or scolding my presence.

I bit the inside of my cheek, feeling like an unwanted guest as I clenched myself to Gustav who pushed me forward.

-Ignore them, they are just gossiping rich people, he whispered and I really tried my best to keep my composure and my grace as I inhaled a deep breath.

The whispers and the looking increased as Gustav and I made our way towards the bar.

-Great idea, I mumbled to him and he smiled knowingly that I needed to calm my damn nerves a bit. 

As we swept past the crowd I was expecting to see some familiar faces from the mafia bosses but all I could see were their wives or their lower ranked family members. But that was not all, I saw politicians from every part of the world, a few musicians, athletes and famous people along with some hit men I had learned from Georg to watch out for. The crowd wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be, however their looks and the way they seemed to talk about me was sending shivers down my spine.