As it turns out, it really helps when you have a pool table in your house growing up. I did not have a pool table in my house growing up. But do you want to know who did?
Dino. And Antonio. And Xavier. And Théo. And Valerie. Luciano didn't, but he doesn't count.
Guess who got their ass handed to them?
Me.
But when we have our shooting competition next week, who's gonna win that?
Me.
Hey, we all have our weaknesses. Apparantly mine is trying to get a ball in a hole by hitting another ball with a long stick.
But look on the bright side! Théo smiled at me. Well, I think it was more of a smirk but I think he's warming up to me.
When I left the game room that night, I was laughing my butt off. That laughter immediately disappeared when I remembered what I had waiting for me on my bed when I got back to my room. I had tried for as long as possible to keep the letter in the back of my mind.
Normally, I'm a great procrastinator but evidently it's hard to leave things off til the last minute when you're dealing with creepy letters from someone that probably wants to kill you.
Or worse.
I shuddered and tried to get my mind off of the nightmare that was waiting in my room. But it was 11:00 at night. And I had to go to school in the morning and deal with all of the work that I had missed while I was "sick."
I got up to my room and got ready for bed, making sure to lock my door before I opened the letter. I sat down at the foot of my bed with the letter in hand.
I opened the envelope and gently lifted out the message inside. This time there wasn't any pictures. Just a singular message on a piece of notebook paper with only two words scribbled on it messily, but those two words chilled me to my bones.
Miss Me?
I put the letter back in the envelope and hid it with the other message. I turned off my light and laid down in my bed, staring up at my ceiling.
This one wasn't as creepy as the other one, but it still sent the same message.
Whoever is trying to hurt me and my family can get to us easily and they want us to know that.
I thought back to what Raphael said in the dungeon.
"You have no idea of what is to come."
I knew what the Spanish had planned. Sebastián had told me his scheme. He was going to kill the Italian consigliere, Alessandro Marini, and then he was going to work his way up the chain of command.
What if that plan is happening as we speak? Why did Alessio need that information urgently? What happened?
I pulled out my laptop and looked up the current events in Houstin, hoping to see something big that Sebastián might have something to do with. I hate the man, but he's smart.
No big headlines popped out, but as I began scrolling down to the smaller articles I started seeing red flags.
Headines that were saying that there seemed to be less drugs on the street.
The majority of drugs in Houstin came from the Spanish. Most of the gangs get their cocaine from the mafia uncut and then they distribute it to the suppliers. The suppliers cut it and add different ingredients, making their own mixes. Then they divvy it out to the dealers, who get it to the customers.
Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you what I like to call, "The Narcotics Triangle"
If the gangs are running low enough on product that they can't get it out to the supplier, then this issue must have been going on for a while. Meaning that the Spanish haven't been based in Houstin for a decent amount of time. At least the drug part of it. They moved their narcotics to a different location. But I haven't been gone that long. The gangs buy the drugs in bulk. We're talking hundreds of kilos. That takes a while to go through. If they are running out, that means their supply was cut off. The Spanish has been slowly moving out of Houstin, and they probably started months before I left.
But why?
As I laid in bed, I was taken back to something else Raphael said. Specifically, someone that he had mentioned.
Eric.
Burner phones aren't the only things that Eric deals out. He dabbled in drugs, too.
So, he had a tie with the mafia. A very small tie, but all it would have taken was a couple of officers to go the gangs and ask around and they would have found him with a snap of their fingers.
And that soldier left him alone awful quick. And looking back, that bug was on the inside of the door frame. The soldier never would have had access to the inside of Eric's house unless it was there before hand. And Eric didn't look too happy when I crushed a piece of expensive spyware. Also, if some random girl from your school tells you that she's trying to escape the don of the Spanish mafia, you would think that she's crazy. Eric didn't. He didn't seem surprised at all.
That son of a bitch.
This has all been planned from the start.
It had been a thought in the back of my mind that my escape was too easy. Too many things had gone right. My luck isn't that good. What if that fight that had broken out was planned? And why was a folder full of information on the Russian mafia just sitting in plain view on a table in a room devoted to the Italian mafia? What if it had all been part of Sebastián's scheme? Someone had clearly been following me. What if they let me leave so that I could lead them right to the Italians? To their rival's home. The very mafia that they had a whole wall of information about people that would be easy targets.
Raphael was right.
We have no idea of what's to come.
-
I woke up with a killer headache. But I knew that I would be forced to go to school. And it would probably be a good idea to go. I need to talk to Haidyn about Théo and see what her opinion about him is. He doesn't go to our school so her take on him will be based soley on what I tell her.
I climbed out of bed and proceeded with my usual morning routine.
I walked down to the kitchen and grabbed breakfast.
I was waiting for Antonio to come downstairs, but he never did. I sighed, knowing that he probably didn't end up going to bed last night. I walked back up the steps back to the hallway that our bedrooms are in. I knocked on his door and realized that I had never been in his room.
I waited for him to either open the door for me or call for me to come in, wanting to both respect his privacy and avoid a situation that would leave me scarred for life.
I eventually heard a scrambling and the door swung open.
"What are you doing up so early?" He asked me.
I stared at him with wide eyes.
Does he not know?
"Dude. It's Monday. We have school. We have to leave. Like soon." I deadpanned.
I watched as he had a heart attack.
"Oh shit!" He slammed the door in my face, which I found rather rude. I chuckled and went to Dino's room and knocked on his door. I heard a raspy voice call for me to come in.
I opened the door and saw Dino lying on his bed with blankets thrown everywhere. His fitted bed sheet was half off and his comforter was on the ground. The only thing he was covered up with was a tiny thin blanket.
What does this guy do during his sleep?
Actually, no. I don't want to know.
Dino groaned and slightly lifted up his head to look at me. "What's up, Marls?"
"We have school in like twenty minutes." I informed him.
"Fucking hell!" Dino cursed and shot up out of bed.
I screamed when I realized that the only thing my brother had on was a pair of boxers.
I slammed my hand over my eyes and quickly backed out of the room. I kept walking backwords until I hit the wall. I heard a deep chuckle coming from my left. I slowly lowered my hand and opened my eyes. Standing in the hallway, laughing at me were Vincenzo and Orlando.
Those motherfuckers.
"What's wrong, topolino?" Vincenzo asked me, still laughing. "See something you didn't want to?"
I glared at him.
He continued laughing. "You still have that vein on your forehead that pops out when you try to glare at people."
How dare he?
Orlando checked his watch. "Why haven't you guys left for school yet?"
"Because Ant and Dino-saur were still asleep until like five minutes ago." I explained.
"Go downstairs to wait for them, so then as soon as they are ready you can leave." Orlando commanded.
I groaned and turned around, only to bump into someone else.
I looked up and saw Antonio standing there with a smirk on his face.
"Why were you screaming bloody murder?" He asked me. "Did you see a spider or something? Isn't that what girls are supposed to do? Feminism goes out the window as soon as spiders come into play."
I stared at him. "I am going ignore the blatant sexism in that comment. I'll be downstairs waiting."
I walked past Antonio and went down the stairs.
I do not want to go to school today.
-
We got to the school only thirty minutes late.
People that say girls take a long time getting ready have obviously never had to wait for two eighteen year old fuckboys to get ready for school.
I walked into my first class with a pass from the office stating what time I got in so they knew that I wasn't just roaming around the halls.
I handed it to my teacher and took my spot beside Sarah.
And so the day begins.
Everything went smoothly until lunch. I sat down next to Haidyn.
"Bitch, I swear. You like died for four days. Where did you go on Thursday?" She pounded me for information.
I explained to her what happened. I skipped over the part that happened in the warehouse. I told her that I woke up the next day sick and then over the weekend had an allergic reaction.
She, like my brothers, didn't need to know about the threatening letters in my bedroom.
When I finished, her mouth was agape. "Hot damn, girl. You were busy."
Yeah that's for sure.
I nodded. I was about to say something else when my phone started ringing.
Unknown
"Hey, Haidyn, I'm going to run to the bathroom real quick." I told her in case it was from the person that was behind the letters in my room.
I speed walked to the bathroom, past my brothers and their friends who were giving me weird looks. I walked into the bathroom and locked myself in one of the empty stalls. I hit the green button, accepting the incoming call.
I held the phone up to my ear.
"Hello?" I said in a strong voice.
Pro tip: Even if you aren't confident, make sure that you sound like it.
Fake it til you make it.
"Oh my little Marlowe. I thought that I would hear you again." A deep voice rang out on the other side of the line.
"Who is this?" I asked a little stronger.
"Oh, well this is sad. I'm not surprised that you don't remember me, seeing that you were a baby the last time we met. Of course, I remember you. How could I forget my own daughter."
Daughter.
"How did you get my number?" I questioned him as if he wasn't the former don of the Italian mafia.
"Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to, darling." He responded.
I scoffed. "I wanted the answer. Why do you think I asked the question?" The only response was a chuckle. "Fucking asshole." I mumbled.
That elicited a response right away.
"Don't swear young lady." He scolded me.
I laughed sarcastically. "You aren't my father."
I hung up and blocked the number.
I put my phone back in my pocket and opened the door, only to see Haidyn standing there with a weird look on her face.
"What are you hiding, Marlie?" She asked me softly.
I couldn't answer her honestly. But I couldn't keep anything from her either. The last time I kept something from her, her dad died. But she can't know. Knowing will only put her in more danger.
I shook my head, letting her know that I didn't want to talk about it. I started back towards the door to finish my day. I heard her sigh in disappointment. I feel horrible knowing that I am keeping something this big from her, but it's for her safety. And partially mine.
I can't lose my lifeline.
-
and there's another chapter.
alrght. question of the chapter: Would you rather be the funniest or the smartest person in the room?
I would personally rather be the funniest because people normally tend the like the funny people over the smart people.