Twenty minutes later, I pull into the parking lot of a strip mall and park my car. As I walk into a phone service store, a friendly sales rep greets me.
She asks how she can help me, and I pull my broken phone out, and her eyes widen a little while I laugh lightly, explaining I had dropped it rather than having to explain; it was thrown across my room by someone with anger issues.
I upgraded my phone a little while later, and they transferred my things over to my new phone, including my contacts. I had to change my number, which I was okay with, considering I didn't want to be reached by anyone at the moment.
Scrolling through my contacts, I hit the contact for "Friend."
"Pronto? Who is this? How did you get this number?" His voice sounds cold and threatening.
"It's me, Stella. My old phone broke, so I had to get a new one, and now you have my new number."
"Where are you?"
"Um, I don't know exactly, but I'm at the strip mall near an Applebees and Officemax; it took me about twenty minutes to get here from my Uncle's house."
I look around, trying to see if I can see any street signs from where I am, but I can't find any.
I explain I used the navigation system in the car to find the phone service store, and I'm not familiar with part of town.
"Tell me what else is around you, Stella." I hear him sigh frustratingly into the phone, followed by some rustling, and then the engine of a motorcycle roars to life.
Then I get an idea. "Do you know the cafe, Dolce Vita?"
"Yeah, I know it."
"Can you meet me there, please?" I ask him.
"I'll be there as soon as I can; if you run into trouble, head back to Timo's, and you better call me." He hangs up.
I shake my head at the fact that he's ordering me just like my Uncle and even JP. But I hurry and get in my car and type the quaint cafe's name in the navigation system.
I walk in, and familiar aromas instantly welcome me. I ask for a small table near the back. I text Annalisa while I wait, letting her know I have a new phone and number. She responds with a surprised emoji face and then a thinking face emoji, making me laugh.
I ask if I can stop by her house later, taking a moment to look out the window and watch as cars drive past. My phone chimes to Annalisa's response coming in, and I read her message when I see out of the corner of my eye someone walk by and sit across from me; it's him.
I look up at him and take in his appearance.
He's wearing a hat and dark aviator shades. He's clean-shaven and dressed in black jeans and a black leather jacket.
"Thanks for coming." I give him a small smile.
He smiles in return, "I told you, I'll always come." He looks out the window. "So, where's your usual entourage?"
I look down at my hands. "Um, they're not here. I left and didn't give them a chance to follow." His head snaps back in my direction, and his eyebrows come together behind the glasses.
"It's not safe for you to be alone, Stella."
"I'm not alone; you're here." I smile brightly. A waitress comes by and asks us what we would like to order, and I order tea, and he orders a cup of coffee.
"What happened, then? Why would you leave without your security detail?" He sets his glass of water down, after taking a drink, and leans towards me. I sigh and look at my hands.
"They know I've been talking to you, and they don't trust you...because they know Bobby Cardinale hired you to hurt me or kill me. I didn't get a chance to explain that you've only helped me and been honest with me since you learned who I was.
I was going to tell them about how you warned me not to go to the benefit tomorrow, but they said I'm naive, and they think that you might have been the one that killed my dad."
He reaches for my hand. "Stella, I didn't kill Dominic." He's wearing gloves again, and I look down at his hand over mine.
"I know," I tell him and mean it.
The waitress comes with our beverages, and he pulls his hand back.
I take a sip of the tea. "So, tell me, is there going to be another attempt to kill me tomorrow?"
"You say that like it's a normal thing." He looks amused.
I shrug, "It's starting to feel like it after the last few months."
"There's talk about the benefit and how Timo will be in attendance. I'd prefer if you didn't go, but if you do, try to stay in the crowd, don't go off alone at any point."
He removes his hat then runs a gloved hand through his hair." They're getting impatient. Usually, I don't take this long to finish my assignments, but I've been buying time by saying I'm studying you and Timo more thoroughly."
The sound of tires screeching outside catches my attention as I look up and see two black SUVs stopped in front of the cafe.
"Shit! I figured the tracker put on my old phone would have been affected when it broke."
"But your old phone is off, isn't it?"
"It is." I pull it out of my pocket to show him. "My uncle's IT guy put a tracker inside that works even if the phone is off."
"Smart." He says as we both look out the window. "But I'm sure your car has a tracker on it as well." He says as we watch JP, Tony, Tobias, and Joey get out of the cars. I didn't think about the tracker on my car.
I watch as JP walks towards my car and then back to the others, and they all turn and head towards the entrance of the cafe.
"Well, that's my cue. I'll look for you tomorrow, Stella. Please stay safe." He says and slips money out of his wallet onto the table as he scoots out of the booth, heading towards the back of the cafe quickly.
I sit and drink my tea, trying my best to appear calm. Even though my hands are sweating and my heart is beating rapidly.
"Charmaine." JP's deep voice sends a shiver through me, but I fight against it. Instead, I look up calmly and look at each of them before returning my attention to my new phone.
"Charmaine, you can't just leave on your own like that. You know how dangerous it is right now."
I look at him coldly. "Isn't it always dangerous? But if we are honest, the only danger I've encountered in the last few hours is being around you, John Paul."
JP stares back at me, clenching his jaw causing the muscles in his face to twitch. He looks at the cup of coffee and the hat across from me and narrows his eyes before looking back at me. "He was here, wasn't he?"
"Don't know what you're talking about." I take a long drink of my tea, and at that moment, I hear the loud rumbling of a motorcycle's engine. I look up as I see the man in black drive past the window.
"Son of a bitch!" JP yells, and they all run out of the cafe. I roll my eyes at their dramatics and head out after them.
The man in black is long gone by the time they make it outside, and I casually walk past them towards my car.
"Where the hell do you think you're going now?" JP shouts at me. I get in my car and start the engine, but he gets in the passenger side, and I kill the engine and get back out, leaving the keys in the ignition.
"Tobias, can you take me to Annalisa's, please?" Tobias looks at me, not answering right away.
He looks uncomfortable as he glances over at Tony while I raise my eyebrow at Tony, folding my arms.
JP gets out of my car, cursing as he slams the door shut. Tony nods his head at Tobias, and I get in the front seat of one of the SUVs waiting for Tobias. I pull my phone out to text Annalisa that I'm on my way to her house when the car door is yanked open, and I'm pulled out of roughly.
"Let go of me!" I yell.
I look up and see JP's angry eyes glowering down at me. "You can't run off whenever you're upset, Charmaine." He holds me against the car. I struggle to get out of his tight grip.
"Let. Me. Go. John Paul!" I say through gritted teeth.
He loosens his grip, taking in a deep breath. "How can you run off to him, Char? You don't know what his intentions are."
"I didn't run off to him; I asked him to meet me. And for your information, he wasn't happy that I was out on my own either, and he agrees with you on how it's dangerous! Does that sound like someone who wants to hurt me?" I yell and watch as JP's face flashes from anger to confusion.
"John Paul, we don't have time for this. Tobias will take her to Annalisa's. You and Joey need to get ready for the meeting you are going to with Timo." Tony informs him.
But JP continues to stare at me. I can see he's struggling with wanting to stay and having to go because of his obligation. "I'll call you later," He mutters.
"Yeah? Good luck with that."
I turn and get back in the SUV; Tobias gets in and starts the car. I watch through the side view mirror as JP continues to watch as we drive away.
When we pull into Annalisa's driveway, she steps out of her house. Tobias tells me he'll wait in the car since he was given a time limit from Timo on when to head back. I roll my eyes and turn to Annalisa.
"Hey, girl! This is a surprise. I mean, I know you told me you were coming, but that doesn't happen a lot. Is everything okay?" She brings me in for a tight hug.
"No," I sigh as we continue holding each other around the shoulders, walking into her house.
<><><><>
I feel better after leaving Annalisa's house. She is really the best friend anyone could have. She's great about being level-headed when necessary and being ridiculously loyal to the point where she was coming up with all these ways we can prank JP to lighten him up and "remove the stick up his tight ass," as she put it.
The last thing I expected was to leave laughing, but that's why I love her so much. She knows exactly how to make me feel better.
The drive back to the property with Tobias is quiet, as I reflect over the last week.
A lot has happened, almost too much.
I feel exhausted, emotionally, physically, and for sure mentally. Everything seems so chaotic with my confusion over how I felt about JP before the trip, then after confronting each other, and finally expressing how we feel about each other.
The choice to move forward together was both exciting but terrifying, and then you add in the emotional rollercoaster of being intimate with him but still not going all the way.
But I love being with him; it's more than I thought it would be.
I was on the verge of telling him that I'm in love with him, too, before my Uncle and Tobias knocked on my door. But I desperately want him to know I'm so in love with him more than I thought I ever could be.
However, the dynamics of just being in a relationship alone, are all so new for both of us. I mean, for example, instead of taking a breath, we blew up at each other over my prescription of birth control, and now he questions my trust and judgment with the man in black.
Tobias clears his throat, snapping me out of my thoughts." Charmaine, do you really think you can trust him, Furia?"
I look over at him. "I don't know Tobias, but so far, everything he has said to me has been truthful. And there's something about him, I can't put my finger on it, but I feel like I know him. You know he knows my real name?"
Tobias's eyebrows crease. "He does?"
"Yes. He said he didn't recognize me at the library because I colored my hair, and obviously, I don't go by Stella anymore. But when he found the picture of my mom and me in my wallet, he recognized me. And then at the restaurant, my hair was back to its original color, and it confirmed it for him."
Tobias looks at me before looking back on the road. "From what Dominic had told us when you two came to live with Timo, only a few people knew you before the change..." Tobias says.
And then it clicks as if the missing puzzle piece snaps into place, and a veil is lifted from my eyes.
The golden hazel eyes, the black hair, and I start breathing hard. It can't be him, can it?
"I know who he is," I whisper as I'm transported back to when I was twelve years old.
When my mom was killed, I had lost my best friend the same day, too.
Enzo.
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