Warning: there are mentions of slight violence in this chapter. If you have any triggers, you can skip the section where the '***' is located.
Leah POV
I fidgeted nervously as we waited in the dining room. It had been about 30 minutes since Vlado and Romero finished the tour and told us to wait here. I sat next to Mary, who was just looking around the room, face blank. There were a couple of other people in here, talking to each other. I kept fiddling with my hair-tie as I waited. It always calmed me down when I was nervous or stressed, or just bored, especially right now. Considering I am feeling all of those things right now.
"How do you think they afford this place?" I looked at Mary. Now that I think about it, how did they? I mean, this house is basically a freaking mansion.
"Maybe a family business or something," I suggested. Mary shrugged in response and continued looking around. It was at that moment that the doors opened. All the heads in the room turned to the doors. Vlado came striding in the room, followed by three others, one being Romero. I looked at Vlado as he made his way to the front of the room. He stood still as he faced everybody. His eyes scanned the room before they caught mine. His eyes observed me, before he looked behind me with a stern look, then clearing his throat.
"Thank you all for waiting. It took some time, but we have all come to a decision." Vlado spoke with confidence and authority. "We have decided that the three who will be employed are..." The room was so silent, that you could hear a pin drop. Everyone seemed to be sitting on the edge of their seats as they waited for Vlado to say who got the job. He had the smallest of smirks as he spoke.
"Amelia, Mary and Leah."
* * * * *
We packed our bags quickly in our old hotel room. After Vlado told us we got the job, he and the others escorted the unlucky, unemployed people out of the house. Then they told us to get all of our stuff because we were going to have our own room in the house.
I was folding and packing my clothes as Mary got our things from the bathroom.
"Hurry up, Mary!" I shouted. "Vlado told us to get back at 7, and it's already 6:30!" Mary rushed out of the bathroom and tossed me my toothbrush and other toiletries in a clear bag. I shoved the bag into my suitcase and zipped it shut. With my case packed, I rushed over to help Mary finish packing. Her suitcase was overflowing, and by the time she had everything in there, I had to sit on it so she could zip it shut. Once I hopped off her case, we made our way out of the room and to the ground floor. I told the receptionist we were off and thanked her for the room as Mary rolled our suitcases outside. I left the hotel and caught up with Mary, taking my suitcase from her. We walked side-by-side to our new house.
* * * * *
I knocked on the front door and waited. Mary and I finally made it to Vlado's house, which took longer thanks to Mary's suitcase opening multiple times, forcing us to stop and pick everything up. The door opened, and there was a girl on the other side. I recognised the girl from the dining room. She came in through the doors with Vlado and Romero. The girl was a little taller than me and had a thin but curvy figure. She was tanned and had long, jet black hair that cascaded over her shoulders and reached her stomach. She had bright blue eyes and had small bits of make-up on her lips and eyes. She was wearing a white crop top and skin-tight, black leggings.
"Hello!" The girl smiled. "My name is Clarke. You're Leah and Mary, right?" We nodded.
"Well, are you guys gonna come in?" I heard Mary chuckle softly as we dragged our suitcases along the floor. It was then that Mary's suitcase decided to open again. Clothes left Mary's suitcase like a waterfall. I looked at Mary, who was blushing a deep red. I dipped down to grab clothes and noticed Clarke handing Mary some of her clothes. Mary's cheeks somehow grew redder, and I heard Clarke chuckle.
Once all of the clothes were back in the case, Clarke offered a hand to Mary as I stood. Their hands held onto each other as Mary stood. The two stood there for a moment longer than needed, before Clarke broke off their eye contact.
"I'll show you your room now."
* * * * *
"Here it is." Clarke led us through a variety of somewhat familiar hallways, and finally to our room. Mary stood next to me as Clarke turned around with a smile.
"I'll let you guys get settled. Breakfast will be at 7:30 tomorrow, and you'll have the whole day to settle in before you start work." Clarke said. "Get some sleep, and I'll see you both tomorrow. Bye!" We say 'bye' and head into our room. Only to find another person already in there.
There was a short girl with frizzy, red hair with her back to us as she shuffled around the room. I cleared my throat. The girl yelped and whipped around. She had freckles scattered over her face and hazel eyes that looked surprised. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw Mary and me.
"Oh, you scared me." She breathed. I felt my cheeks heat up in embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, that wasn't my intention. I was just letting you know we were here." I rambled.
"It's ok. I should have known that you were going to be here. After all, we are all sharing this room." She reassured, gesturing to the room. I cast my eyes around the room, only now noticing that there were three beds in the room.
"Oh, so you're Amelia?" Mary asked, but it sounded more like a fact. Amelia nodded her head vigorously.
"And you're Leah and Mary, right?" We answered with a nod and moved to the two spare beds. The three of us talked and got to know each other as we unpacked, and eventually went to sleep.
***
It was a bright, sunny day and we were walking in the park. There were children running around the playground chasing each other. Their laughter seemed to echo around the park. There were couples, families and joggers on the path, either talking and laughing with one another or having what I assumed was a comfortable silence.
Why couldn't I have that?
I peered up at the man who held my hand when in public. The man who hid all of his dark secrets behind a smile, forcing me to do the same. The man whose 'cheerful' smile could turn into a deadly one at the slightest wrong move.
Lucas was looking straight ahead with a smile, holding my hand in a solid grip. It felt like my hand was going to break. He felt my gaze and looked down at me. His tall figure towered over mine, making him seem even more threatening if that were possible.
"What's wrong, my love?" My body involuntary shivered at that nickname. The Lucas I use to love called me that. I made sure to keep my voice soft so only Lucas could hear me.
"You're hurting my hand." The look that Lucas made me wish I hadn't said anything.
"Oh, am I?" He questioned as he squeezed my hand tighter than before. I could hear a snap within my hand and looked at Lucas' eyes with terror. Before I could react, he subtly placed his foot in front of mine and I fell over, landing on my hands. I let out a yelp of pain. I rolled onto my back and cradled my left hand in pain, squeezing my eyes shut.
"Oh my god, baby! Are you ok?" Lucas gasped in 'worry', kneeling down in front of me. He raised me onto my legs and examined my hand. I looked around and noticed a small crowd had formed. That explained Lucas' weird, caring behaviour.
"Oh, baby. I think it's broken. We need to get you to a hospital." Lucas plucked me off of the ground and carried me bridal style to the exit of the park. Once we made it out of the park, I felt Lucas lower his head so his mouth was level with my ear.
"You're lucky that's all I did, my love."
***
I woke up with a start, breathing heavily. I felt something slide down my face, and I didn't need to guess they were tears. I let out a quiet sob and placed my hand over my mouth. My vision started to blur, and I lifted myself so my back was resting against the bedframe. I brought my legs to my chest and hugged them. I let the tears fall down my face freely, and cried. I cried and I cried and I cried.
Why me?
What did I do to deserve this?
* * * * *
The beeping of my alarm woke me up. I lifted my head off my knees and looked at the curtains covering the window. Sure enough, there were small beams of light shining through the cracks. I pushed the alarm clock, the annoying beeping coming to a stop. I looked at the bed closest to mine and saw Mary twisted in her blankets. One leg was sticking out, hanging over her bed, and an arm was draped over her head, on the space next to her head. I felt a small smile creep across my face. I looked at Amelia and saw her delicately placed under her blanket. She looked much more peaceful than Mary, kind of like how they sleep in movies.
I heard a groan come from her bed. I stifled a laugh as I realised my alarm woke her up. Amelia lifted half of her body up and gave me a 'you gotta be kidding me' stare.
"Why," she groaned as if the words hurt her to say, "just why?"
"It's only 6."
"6?! You are crazy!" I let out a laugh as she flopped back onto her bed, pulling her blanket over her head.
"Since you're up, can you make me a coffee? With one sugar and milk, please and thank you!" I chuckled softly as I got out of bed.
"Sure thing." I heard a 'thank you' before I closed the door to our room.
* * * * *
I walked into the kitchen, careful not to make any noise. Everybody seemed to be asleep at this time. Weirdos. I searched the cupboards until I found coffee filters and crushed coffee beans. I took them out and placed them on the kitchen counter. I prepared the coffee machine and started making some coffee.
I put two cups on the counter and some sugar. I opened the fridge, searching for the milk. My eyes widened when I failed to find any. I closed the fridge, opening it immediately after, hoping to see milk magically appear. I sighed disappointedly, closing my eyes as my forehead made contact with the closed fridge door.
"Are you looking for some milk?" I whipped my head up to the door. Vlado walked in with a bag, still looking at me as he placed it on the table.
"Yeah." I sighed, closing my eyes once more against the fridge door. I heard crinkling, and I opened one eye to look at Vlado. He pulled out something from the bag. The same something I was looking for.
Milk.
A large grin stretched across my face when I saw the milk. I looked at Vlado and saw a slight smirk on his face as he put the bag away. I brought my lips to a straight line as I felt the heat rush to my cheeks. I walked over to the counter, holding my head up high in an attempt to hide my embarrassment. While keeping a safe distance from Vlado, I grabbed the milk and strode back over to the coffee machine.
"Is there enough for me?" I heard from close behind me. I looked at the measurements on the coffee glass.
"Yeah, there should be." I heard a cup clink on the table next to me and peered up to see Vlado already looking down at me. He gave me a smile. I returned the gesture awkwardly, before filling up my and Amelia's cup with coffee. There was a sliding noise on the table in front of me, and I noticed Vlado wanted me to fill up his cup. I filled his cup, keeping my full attention on the cup in front of me so I didn't embarrass myself any further. I placed the coffee glass back in the coffee machine and added some milk and sugar to Amelia's coffee, then to mine.
"Thanks." Vlado thanked me before taking a sip of his coffee.
"Mmhmm." I blew on my drink gently, then took a sip. I sighed with content when I felt the warm coffee go down my throat. "So..."
"So..?" I struggled to fill the silence without having a feeling I was going to say something awkward. I turned around and leaned against the counter.
"Why are you up so early?" There was a moment of silence, causing me to look up at Vlado. He seemed to be in thought as he looked back at me. I felt my cheeks flush for the second time that morning, and I looked back down at my coffee.
"I just had some work to do that I didn't finish yesterday." He said, taking another drink of his coffee. "What about you?"
"Just a habit I can't break," I remembered that Amelia was still waiting for her coffee, and quickly grabbed hers off the table.
"It was nice talking to you, but I have to get back to the others," I said as I walked through the kitchen doors.
"I'll come with you. I'm heading in your direction anyway." Vlado suggested, and I heard his rushed footsteps behind me. I paused in my tracks to wait for him to catch up with me as I thought about his offer.
"Yeah, sure." I agreed as he stopped on my left. I flashed him a smile before I continued heading to my room. We walked in silence for a little while.
"So, 21 questions?" I turned to look at Vlado, still keeping my pace joined with his.
"21 questions?" I repeated.
"Yeah, you know, the game where you ask each other 20 questions."
"Sure. You go first."
"Alright. What's your..." He paused, "favourite colour?" I chuckled softly.
"That's your first question? My favourite colour?" I teased, staring up at Vlado.
"Just answer the question." He smiled.
"Alright, alright. My favourite colour is blue. Admiral blue to be specific. What about yours?"
"Well, if we're going to use specifics, emerald green. Like my eyes, see?" He stopped walking, turning to face me. I stopped and looked up at his eyes.
"I can't really see them from down here. Not all of us are as tall as you." He laughed as he bent down. Vlado was now eye level with me, our faces closer than necessary to look at his eyes. I gazed at his eyes. It was the first time I was actually realising that his eyes were emerald green. Not forest green. Now that I could actually see his eyes up close, they were a stunning emerald green. The longer I looked at them, the harder it was to look away. It took me a moment to figure out that Vlado wasn't looking directly at my eyes anymore but scanning my face. And I didn't like that. It made me feel self-conscious. I pulled myself out of my daze and put some space between us.
"Yeah, I see," I said, walking down the hallway once more. I saw Vlado catch up to me beside me rather quickly on my left. I walked a little faster, the cups in my hands almost spilling. Before I knew it, Vlado plucked my coffee out of my hand, leaving me with Amelia's as he walked with mine and his own.
"Next question; if you could have dinner with any person in the world, dead or alive, who would it be?" He kept walking without looking at me when he asked.
"If I could have dinner with anybody in the world, it would probably be my mum. Maybe my dad if he actually put in the effort to have a conversation." I laughed awkwardly at the second half of my answer and tried to ignore the look that Vlado gave me when I spoke. We reached my room.
"What happened with your dad?" I mentally groaned when he asked that. Why did I even say anything?
Vlado POV
What happened with her parents? As soon as I asked that question, I could tell that she hesitated, even though it was only for a moment.
"Is that one of your questions?" She joked, well, tried to at least. It was obvious that she didn't want to answer that. I respect that. She can tell me whenever she wants to. I just hope she ends up telling me, instead of me having to get Romero to do a much more thorough background check. Sure, I knew that she moved here from Chicago. I knew that she has been friends with Mary for a long time. I knew that she. But I only know those things because she told me, and I want Leah to trust me enough to tell me all about herself. So she can keep her secrets for now, but I will find out. Eventually.
"I guess not." I played along. "Anyway, I gotta get back to work. See you at breakfast." I began to walk away from her back to my office before she called for me.
"Vlado!" I felt my heart flutter when she said my name. What is wrong with me? I turned around to face her. She stood there for a moment, just looking at me.
"My coffee?" I looked down at my hands, and there it was Leah's coffee.
"Oh, right." I made my way back to her, handing her the coffee. She grabbed it with both of her hands, hers grazing over mine and she pulled it towards her.
"Thanks." She gave me a smile. Oh my god. I need to get out of here before I do something else embarrassing.
"No worries. Bye." I walked off and turned the corner, only to come face-to-face with Romero. He had a stupid grin on his face.
"What?" I demanded. His grin only grew, and it was then that I realised that he heard our whole interaction at her door. I rolled my eyes at his childishness and strode past him.
"That was cute!" He teased, and I felt my cheeks heat up ever so slightly at his comment.
"So, when are you going to tell her?" I raised an eyebrow, confused.
"Tell her what?"
"Hmm, I don't know, maybe that you are a Mafia boss?" I felt my body freeze for a split second before I continued walking. I hadn't thought about that. I don't want to tell her. But if I want her to trust me, I will have to tell her eventually. But how could she trust me after I tell her that I work for the mafia? That I am in charge of a mafia group? I can't tell her.
"I'm not going to tell her." I finished my thoughts out loud. Apparently, Romero was not happy with my answer.
"Whoa whoa whoa, what?" He stopped me with a hand to my chest.
"You have to tell her eventually." He protested. I knew that he had a point, but I wouldn't be able to tell her. I wouldn't-I can't see her fear me. I want her to trust me. I pushed past Romero.
"What are you going to do about it?"