by Baker, S. L.
I was apprehended by another cop just before I opened the front door. He had me in a bear hold and I was kicking and trying to break free. The front door opened and a plain clothes cop emerged. Aunt Ella saw me being detained by the cop and pointed to me. The detective turned and motioned for him to let me loose.
I turned to the cop and said, “My friends, go get them now,” I ordered.
He turned and left.
I ran to Ella and hugged her. “Are you okay?” I said.
“Yes. But the shed is gone.” Tears filled her eyes.
“The shed is replaceable, you’re not,” I said.
She nodded. “All the pictures and pieces of each of your lives is not. Your uncle Sid loved that shed. It was his solace from the rest of the world.”
“I know,” I said.
“Miss?”
“Ellington,” I said.
“Miss Ellington, I’m detective Hunt, Can I ask you a few questions?” The detective was in his mid-forties with salt and pepper hair. His black slacks and tweed jacket looked like they had seen many crime scenes.
“Yes,” I replied just as Nicole and Hawke walked through the front door. The detective turned and looked at both of them. Nicole headed to Ella to hug her. “This is my best friend Nicole Anderson and her boyfriend. They came so I wouldn’t be alone.”
“Your name is, sir?” he asked but Hawke had disappeared out the back door to assess the damage.
“He had to use the rest room,” I said, deflecting any suspicion of Hawke and to avoid having the cops run his name and god forbid something came up. If Hawke was hauled off in handcuffs, the swat team would have to be called to contain Nicole, because she would lose it.
“Miss Ellington, do you have any idea who would do this?”
“No, I really don’t.”
He scribbled god knows what in his note book.
“Do you?” I asked.
“Not yet. We’re still trying to conduct our interviews. When was the last time you saw your cousin Luke?”
“A month ago. Where is he?”
“That’s what we’re trying to determine. If you hear from him or think of any other useful information please call me,” he said, handing me his card.
I nodded and walked out back to check on the shed. The fireman were spraying the few smoldering embers still left burning. Scarlett was drooling over the fireman. She had her sharpie in one hand and her calendar of Hot Fireman of 2015 in the other. She swore she spotted Mr. March. I rolled my eyes. ‘Not now’, I muttered. I’d had a hard enough time stopping her from setting grease fires when I purchased that calendar. I threw up my hands and walked back to the living room to see Aunt Ella. I wondered where Hawke was and why Victor hadn’t arrived yet. My phone buzzed with a Text.
Gone to get Victor.
Be back soon. Advise when police have dispersed.
H
Will do. I replied.
***
The final fire truck and cop car left two hours after we arrived. Aunt Ella was still a mess.
Victor and Hawke arrived within fifteen minutes of getting my text that the coast was clear. Nicole got up and answered the door. Victor pushed past her, heading directly to me and Aunt Ella sitting on the couch. I was stroking her arm.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Costa,” Victor said, grabbing her hand.
She just nodded. “I don’t understand, I have nothing of value that anyone could ever want. That shed had no significance to anyone but me. Luke is missing.” She sniffled, wiping her nose with a tissue.
“I will do everything I can to help find your son. But I have a suspicion that whoever did this has a connection to your late husband.”
“But Sid’s been dead for over ten years. Why now?”
My eyes fixed on Victor’s, I was holding my breath. I didn’t want her to know the truth. We had to protect her without putting her deeper in harm’s way.
“I can’t answer that. I want you to come back with us and stay at one of my properties until all of this has settled down.”
“I can’t. I have to work. I have college tuition to pay for Curran. He is studying to be an engineer,” she remarked. “He will be here in two days for his break.”
“Don’t worry about his tuition. I will take care of that, your and Curran’s safety is what’s most important.”
“No, I can’t allow you to do that, Mr. Salvatore, That is very generous, but it’s not your responsibility,” she said shaking her head.
“Then let me help out. I can use the money my mom left me. It will help with Curran’s college tuition, until we know you’re safe.”
Her eyes filled with tears and she grabbed my hand.
Victor smiled at me.
“No. Sweetheart, that’s yours.”
“Then it’s my decision what I do with it. Your safety means more to me than any amount of money. Until we know for sure you’re safe, I would feel better if you and Curran stayed at one of Victor’s properties.” My eyes scanned hers for hope that she would agree.
“If you both feel like I’m in so much danger, then we need to let the police know, don’t we?” she said.
Both Victor and I shook our heads “No” in unison.
“Ok. I guess I will agree to go,” she said reluctantly.
I patted her arm. “Go pack what you need.”
“For how long?”
“I can’t answer that. But at least a couple of weeks.”
“I can’t be gone from work that long,” she said, alarmed.
“I will take of care of work. Please, you need to trust us,” I said with urgency.
She nodded and disappeared upstairs.
I had made the decision to give Aunt Ella the money my mother had given me to take the worry of her bills of the table. I knew she would fight me and was too proud to accept it. I sighed. Scarlett was doing back flips off the couch. She knew this meant I had to give in and allow Victor to buy me that SUV. She was still planning to trick out the SUV with bullet proof glass and a rocket launcher mounted on top. Maybe I would take out a loan like normal people who don’t have a millionaire boyfriend. Scarlett slapped me up the side of my head. Are you nuts, this is a perk of having a rich boyfriend. Haven’t I taught you anything?
“I want to go look at the remains of the shed.” Victor grasped my hand and we went out the door in the kitchen to the backyard.
Scarlett was frantically looking for the fireman and was sulking when she discovered they were long gone.
“Your aunt is a strong woman.”
“Yes she is,” I whispered. Fighting back tears from the guilt that flashed over me was debilitating. It took all my strength to stay strong. Scarlett threw a cup of water in my face to snap me out of it. It worked for the moment. “I’m giving her the money I inherited to put toward her bills, instead of toward the SUV.”
“Smart, gorgeous, and so generous. I’m such a lucky man.” Victor smiled.
“Ella just lost that last shred of her husband she had struggled to hold onto all these years. She never had the strength to go inside the shed because it reminded her of Uncle Sid too much. She’s a remarkable woman. Her husband was murdered and she was left to raise the three of us alone. She never re-married. Sid was the only man she had ever been with. They started dating in high school and married six months after graduation, Luke was born a year later. She lost her husband, now the only piece of my uncle she had left is a huge pile of ashes and this is all my fault.”
Victor held my face between his hands. I was looking toward the ground. “Hey look at me.” He ordered. “This is not your fault. You hear me? It’s mine.”
“No, Victor, this is on me. If I hadn’t found that book and told Luke, then we would all be safe.”
“If you never met me. You would be safe, Angelina.”
“No I’d be dead. If we survive this and come out on the side in one piece, then there isn’t anything that we can’t overcome. But that’s the shaky part, if we survive this. I’m not jus
t talking about taking a bullet, I’m talking about the emotional piece. Watching what Aunt Ella is going through. Her life is in turmoil and her son has vanished without a trace.”
“You need to put those feeling aside and just focus on getting them safe.”
“What about finding Luke?”
“I will reach out to some people and see what I can uncover.”
Nicole opened the screen door to the back porch.
“Hey, Ella’s ready to go. Let’s head out before she changes her mind.”
Victor and I walked back in the house and Ella was putting cookies in four separate baggies for each us for the trip.
“Victor, do you like peanut butter?”
“Yes they’re my favorite,” he said winking at me.
“Good they’re Angelina’s too.”
He smiled. “Thanks for the intel. I will remember that,” he said squeezing my hand.
Victor gently took Ella by the arm and escorted her out of the house. Hawke did one final sweep to make sure all was clear, then locked the door.
Chapter 17
Hawke slid into the driver’s seat and Nicole was settled in next to him. I knew her bullshit meter was close to bursting and I would have some questions to answer.
“Wait. Go back. Curran will be home for break in a couple of days and if I’m not there, he will be all alone. What if the police call for information about Luke?” Ella said on the verge of a meltdown.
“It’s all ok. We’re heading to get Curran, and Angelina will call the detective in the morning to get an update about Luke,” Victor said, trying to comfort Ella.
Her eyes met mine and they were begging for any hint of re-assurance that everything would be okay. I faked a smile and grabbed her hand. Scarlett gave two thumbs up, but she knew we were lying, I didn’t know if everything would be okay. If we found Luke alive, if I was successful keeping Victor and I out of jail, or if we’d even survive. It was day by day at this point. The harder I kept trying to convince myself we would be okay, the less I believed it.
“Aunt Ella, I need you to call Curran and let him know we’re coming to get him. Did you tell him about the fire and his brother?”
“No, I didn’t want to worry him. He’s in the midst of finals.” She took her old style flip phone out of her purse and looked for his number. Scar whipped out her magnifying glass. She’d never seen a phone so primitive.
I hadn’t spoken to Curran in months, he was consumed with school and loved college. I was immersed in a whirlwind of violence, death, worry, and everything else that the Mob, the Feds and Nelson could dish out.
“It’s ringing,” she said holding her palm over the phone.
“Hello?” We heard Curran answer.
“Hi sweetheart, it’s Mom.”
“Hey Ma, what’s up?”
“Well, umm. Something happened and we’re coming to get you.”
“What?” he shouted, panic filled his voice.
I held out my hand for her to give me the phone.
“Hold on, honey, I will let you talk to Angelina,” she said handing me the phone.
“Ma, answer me! What is going on?”
“Curran, just listen,” I said, “Your Ma’s house was broken into and the shed outback was torched. Luke is MIA. We’re worried about your safety, so both of you are going to stay at one of my boyfriend’s properties until we figure this out.”
“No way. I’m safe here. Whoever did this, isn’t going to come to my dorm and abduct me. Stop being ridiculous, Angelina.”
“I’m not and I wouldn’t be so cocky. You don’t know these people. I do.”
“How do you know who they are? Just call the cops and let them handle it. I’m in the middle of finals, I can’t just leave!” he snapped.
“You don’t have choice. We’re en-route. Pack what you need. I will text you when we’re ten minutes out.”
“Don’t bother, like I said I’m not going.”
“Did you hear your Ma say that Luke is missing? She is distraught. Please don’t put her through anymore trauma then she’s already suffered.”
Curran paused before he responded. “I can’t! I’ve worked too hard this semester to blow off finals, I can’t just leave. Please, I will come to you when I’m done with exams, you have my word.” He sounded desperate.
“Hold on,” I said, putting my hand over the phone.
“He’s refusing to leave until he’s done with exams. He said it will ruin everything he’s worked for up to this point.”
“When is his last exam? Victor asked.
“Curran, when is your last final?”
“I have two more and will be done on Friday.”
“Ok, hold on.”
“In two days.”
“Tell him I will be sending one of my security detail to keep an eye on him and then he will bring him to my house in Jersey,” Victor said.
I relayed Victor’s response to Curran.
“Okay fine,” Curran said.
“What dorm are you in?” I asked.
“Wilson.”
“Hawke what is our ETA?”
“Twenty minutes.”
“Curran, we’ll be there in twenty. Meet us in the lobby.”
“Okay,” he replied.
“I’m giving the phone back to your ma.” I handed Aunt Ella her phone.
“It’s just a precaution. I trust them. It will be okay. I promise, darling,” she said mustering every ounce of faith she had.
Scarlett whipped out her makeup bag and had hot rollers in her hair as soon as she found out we were going to a college campus. She was just applying her mascara when we pulled into the parking lot of Curran’s dorm.
Nicole, for once, was quiet. I think the reality that Hawke would be the one that had to stay behind and babysit Curran for the next few days had hit her. I could tell by the way her lips pursed together she wasn’t happy. Scarlett on the other hand was in heaven. She catcalled the two buffed runners that just sprang in front of us. I had to hold tight to her arm so she didn’t go and chase them. I could see Curran pacing through the two large glass doors as we approached. Aunt Ella waved frantically, excited to see her baby boy. Curran let us in and Aunt Ella pulled him in for a hug. Breaking free of his mother smothering him nearly to death, he turned to me.
“Hey,” he said giving me a hug, then Nicole.
“Curran, this is my boyfriend Victor, and his personal security guard, Hawke,” I said.
Curran gulped when he saw the sheer size of Hawke.
“And my boyfriend,” Nicole interjected.
“Nice to meet you,” Curran said extending his hand to Hawke.
Hawke nodded.
Curran turned back to me. “So what’s the plan?” he asked not hiding the nerves in his voice.
“Mr. Hawke will be with you at all times until we determine it’s safe,” I said.
“Safe from who?” he asked his eyes darting back and forth between both Victor and me.
“It’s safer for both you and your mother if you don’t know,” Victor replied.
“Umm… Okay, I guess. But how do I explain him to my professors and roommate?”
“You will be going with Hawke to a nearby hotel and he will take you to your exam as needed and then back to the hotel,” Victor said.
Curran looked at me for validation.
“As far as your professors, Victor will talk to the dean explaining there is a safety concern”
“Ok,” he said.
“Please trust us, this is the best way. I promise,” I said, rubbing his arm.
He nodded, grabbed his backpack and left with us. Hawke drove to the airport.
“Angelina, I want to stay with Curran,” Ella pleaded. “I don’t want to leave him.”
“He’s in very capable hands. Mr. Hawke is one of the best in the business. Curran will be safe. He is my bodyguard and I’m in one piece.”
“Please,” she begged, tears welling up in her eyes. “I can’t lose him.”
“You won’t. I promise.”
“I’ll be fine, Ma,” Curran put in.
“I trust him to watch over Angelina every day and I love her more than anything. I wouldn’t trust her safety to anyone else,” Victor said.
Nicole looked stunned at that nugget of intel. Her eyes darting between me and Hawke, we both knew the inquisition was eminent.
Ella wiped her tears away with the back of her hand, nodding ok.
***
Victor and Hawke were in deep discussion as Nicole, Ella, and I boarded Air Salvatore. Curran stayed in the car, after having hugged Ella goodbye.
“So are you going to tell what the fuck is going on?” Nicole said.
Ella wincing at the use of the F word.
“Yes, just not now,” I said, trying to divert a full fledge scene.
“When we get back you’re spilling it, Ellington.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied.
“I’m not fuckin’ around.”
Scarlett covered Aunt Ella’s ears so she didn’t hear the F bomb again.
“I know,” I snapped.
She folded her arms and looked out the window.
Victor walked on the plane and his glance bounced between Nicole and me. He knew there was a shit storming brewing with Nicole. Scarlett tried to cheer her up by showing her the new summer fashions coming out. If that didn’t work she was breaking out the tequila.
“I need a big ass drink,” Nicole seethed.
Scarlett kissed her, looping her arm through Nicole’s, she skipped off to the mini bar.
***
Cooper was waiting for us when Air Salvatore touched down. It was a quiet ride home. Nicole was fuming mad that she had been kept in the dark and Aunt Ella was worried about her boys. I was trying to figure out what I was going to tell Nicole and Ella that would keep them both safe, but satisfy them. Aunt Ella gasped when we pulled through the gates to Salvatore Disneyland.
“This is all yours, Mr. Salvatore? What is it that you do again?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I own several companies,” Victor replied.
She nodded and stared out the window her mouth open. Scarlett grabbed a mic and was acting as a tour guide, point out different highlights of the property.
