by T M Kelly
I was done.
My career was over.
“Mom,” I said, crawling off the bed, trying to get some distance. “Why do you have a gun? Maybe you could lose it, and we can talk about this like adults.”
“Where’s that fucking scrambler? And don’t try to tell me you don’t have one either.” She pointed the gun at Julian’s head. “Lily, I didn’t want it to come to this.”
“Come to what?” I was freaking out and rightfully so. My mom had a fucking gun pointed at my boyfriend who was struggling to fight off Cujo. “You’re the one with the gun. I’m over here trying to figure out if this is really my family or is someone going to jump out and yell ‘punk’d’ soon?”
“Little help,” Julian breathed.
“Can you at least call off your crazy monster?”
“Freddy, off,” Mom demanded.
Julian sat up and looked at his arms. He had several puncture wounds. “Really, Mom, was it really necessary to have Freddy attack Julian?”
“Well, if you would just stop using that damn scrambler, we would be fine.”
“We,” I scowled and grabbed a T-shirt to rip up and place on Julian’s forearm. “Guess we were right, eh?” I said, glancing at Julian.
In all fairness, I hate being right sometimes. Like, ninety-nine percent of the time it’s fun being right. Then just that little one percent is where I’m totally okay with being wrong.
“Where’s Otto,” I said, trying to look past her down the hallway.
“Don’t worry about him.” She held out her free hand. “Device.”
I looked over at Julian for approval. He nodded, so I reached under the pillow and tossed it her way. The moment she threw out her hand to grab the small device, she stopped paying attention to how she was holding the gun. Instinct kicked in, and I did one of my winning high kicks and knocked the gun from her grasp. Julian jumped forward and wrapped his arms around her body to keep her from running away.
“Let me go,” she screamed but couldn’t move. “You will regret this.”
“I’m really starting to regret a lot of things.” I shoved Freddy into my closet and closed the door. Turning in a slow circle, I searched for something that we could use to restrain my mom. There were two scarves hanging on a hook. “Will these work?” I held them up for Julian.
“Yeah,” he said, shaking his head. “Why are we here in this house tying up your mom?”
“I was thinking the same thing. Or is it really my mom?” I shrugged my shoulders.
Everything in my life seemed too perfect now that I thought back. Too well thought out. Dad had me start fighting the moment I started walking. I was encouraged to fight in competitions as early as ten years old. After mom left the picture, he amped up our fighting schedule. The moment I turned eighteen, he drove me to the social security office to change my name.
Why?
Why had he done all of this? I knew the answer to that–to protect me. But more importantly, who was he protecting me from?
It couldn’t be my own mother.
“Renee,” I said, pulling a chair up and sitting in front of her.
“Not Mom?” She smiled, rolling her eyes.
“A mom would never hurt her child.” Julian was sitting on the edge of the bed, his knee touching mine. “Which makes me wonder.”
“I loved you,” she said a little too quickly.
“Loved. Did you wake up one day and say, oh I’m so bored of Lily?”
“No, I didn’t mean it that way.”
I closed my eyes and silently counted to ten. Opening them, I tried to look past the person staring at me. Instead, I let my mind see the good that had to be somewhere in her tiny body. “What did you mean?”
“Listen, there is a lot you don’t know. A lot I can’t talk about.”
“Wishing you had that scrambler?” I teased. She didn’t say anything, so I continued. “Was Dad the one that crossed off the names on the hit list?” She still stayed silent. “How about this? Did you hide that binder in Dad’s file cabinet so you could frame him?”
Julian let out a huff. “This is useless. She has no plans to talk.”
“Or she can’t.” I raised my eyebrows and gave an exasperated sigh. Pointing to the pad and pen on the nightstand, I silently asked Julian to hand them to me. I wrote on the pad, If I untie one hand can I trust you?
She nodded.
Julian stood behind her to ensure she wouldn’t do anything silly, like say, punch me in the face. I set the pad and pen on her lap. What she wrote down should have taken me by surprise. Unfortunately at this point, nothing was shocking me.
She handed the pad to me. My father worked for Giano Nesta in Toronto.
We started to write to each other.
Worked?
It’s a long story.
I have a lot of time on my hands.
Lily, if I tell you more, it could put you in danger.
Right as I was about to ask if her dad moved to California for a reason, there was a loud crash that came from down the hall.
“Lily, go. Just leave and don’t come back,” my mom said, pleading with me. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “I did care. I just had rules I had to follow, or my dad would intervene.”
Julian opened the window and motioned for me to jump. Right before I disappeared, I turned to my mom. “You were the one that crossed the names off? Not Dad.” She only nodded.
Dad was a good man. My body slowed, and Julian had to help me the rest of the way out the window. How could I ever have thought my dad was bad?
He did care.
24
“Lily,” Julian whispered. “Come on, we have to move.”
I was struggling to process everything that had just transpired. There were so many questions left unanswered.
Why did she get Dad involved?
Why did she wait for fourteen years to leave?
Julian reached for my hand. I looked down and then up at his face. “I thought I had my mom back. It feels unfair to feel the emotion of loss again.” He pulled me close to his chest. “For a moment, I thought I could enjoy chicken noodle soup again. Now all I want is to pretend none of this ever happened.”
“I’m so sorry, Lily.”
“Why didn’t you pull me from the car? Prevent me from leaving Las Vegas.”
He softly chuckled. “Do you really think I could stop you?”
“No.” I stifled a laugh. “Not with my hot head and fighter ways.”
“Exactly,” he said, pulling me away from his chest. “Maybe what happened was a good thing.”
“We need to make sure Otto is okay,” I said, suddenly remembering there was another person in the damn house.
He placed his hands on my shoulders. “Stay put.” I nodded because I didn’t want to move at the moment. “I’ll be right back, Lily.”
“Promise?”
“You can’t get rid of me that easy.”
I watched him run toward the small house. It was dark out still, so I lost sight of him quickly. Leaning against a tree, I wrapped my arms around my body as a chill ran up my spine. I wasn’t ready to lose Julian. Yet, I had stood silently as he ran back into the belly of the beast.
Minutes later, Julian’s figure ran toward me, but he wasn’t alone. As he approached, I could see Otto’s frame coming into focus.
“Is he okay?”
“His bell was rung.” Julian had to practically carry him.
“What the—” I said, reaching out to help place Otto on the ground. “Do you remember what happened?”
“Your mom is crazy,” Otto murmured.
“Got anything I don’t already know?”
He actually smiled. “My phone is in my jacket pocket. Call my men.”
Julian did as he advised. Within minutes, we were surrounded by ten men all with guns at the ready.
Otto sat up carefully. “They didn’t do this.” He pointed to the house. “She did.”
It felt like we were in the m
iddle of the octagon during a fight for the next several minutes. Otto was barking off commands. Then his boss pulled up and was barking the demands even louder. Suddenly Julian and I were whisked into an unmarked car. I was waiting for someone to hold my arm up and yell winner.
“We need you both to stay in San Francisco for a few more days,” Otto said, sitting down on a chair opposite me.
“That’s fine.” I scowled. “What happens to my mom?”
“She’ll be going away for a very long time.”
“But she’ll get a fair trial, right?”
“She’s already confessed, Lily.”
I stood and started to pace. “The list.” I turned to face him. “She was the one that killed all those people?”
“That’s what she claims,” he said, leaning back in the chair. “Your father is not here to defend her, so we have to use that confession.”
“Because the evidence clearly points in my parents’ direction?”
“Exactly.” He stood and lightly touched my arm. “You’re not in danger.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
It was hard to switch my brain. I was raised to believe one thing. Now I had to see everything from a different lens. What if I wasn’t ready for the change?
“Come over and sit back down for a moment.” When I sat down in front of him, he said, “Here’s what we found out. Your mom’s father did work for the mob but not directly for Giano. He was considered an associate.”
Again, I was confused. Was that news supposed to make me feel better? “And that means what?”
“Her father was marking off people that were obviously not in favor of Giano.” I probably had my what the fuck face still perfectly in place. “We did a lot of research on the Nesta mob. Giano hated people that thought differently from him or talked bad about him in public.” Otto paused for a moment, probably to let me interject. I didn’t say anything, so he continued. “So anyone under the mob fell in line with his orders and more than likely started to believe everything he demanded.”
“If my dad was still here, this wouldn’t be happening right now.”
Otto shrugged his shoulders. “Hard to say. If I had to venture a guess, I would say your mom was plotting to get the list. She probably started devising a plan the moment she left.”
I rubbed my eyes and dropped my head in my hands.
This was too much to process.
“I love you, Lily Bug,” my mom yelled as two federal agents tugged her down a long hall.
Julian had his arms wrapped tightly around my body. I was struggling to fight back the tears. For two days, I let myself stay on autopilot. Now it felt like a dam cracking and every emotion permeating the wall so perfectly placed.
“Julian,” I said through my tears.
“What, baby?”
“I need Charlie, please.”
My best friend was not blood, but she was the only family I could fully trust now. She was the one person in the world I knew who would understand what I was feeling.
He let go long enough to shake Otto’s hand. Then he pulled me close and guided me down to the taxi waiting outside the station that would take us to the airport.
25
Three months later…
“Congratulations on your second win, Lily.” Chuck Anders, owner of the AFC, held his hand out for me to take.
I was rubbing a towel over my face when he approached, so he took me by surprise. I’m sure my eyes were the size of saucers. “Mr. Anders,” I said, wrapping the towel around my neck.
“Please, call me, Chuck.”
“Okay, Chuck. You decided to see how the other team plays?” Of course, I was referring to him being at a Spartacus fight. “Wasn’t there an AFC fight in St. Louis this weekend?”
“A little birdie told me you were on the main card. I had to see what all the fuss was about.”
His words made me laugh. I liked his sense of humor. “And?”
“And I want to talk with you soon.”
“I’m sure Julian told you the last time I stepped foot into the AFC business office, it didn’t go as planned?”
He nodded. “He did. That’s been taken care of.”
I couldn’t tell him to choose his words wisely. After all I experienced over the last several months with my parents and the supposed ties with organized crime, taken care of seemed a bit harsh. “I hope she’s okay,” I teased.
“What? Oh yeah, she’s just looking for another job now.”
“That’s good,” I said, pulling the towel from my neck and sitting down on a chair. We were in the back area of the arena. I was on the way to my locker room when Chuck stopped me. “Since you know Julian personally, should he call you directly to set up a time?”
“Lily,” he said, touching my shoulder. “I’m not here because of Julian. It’s an outlying factor, but it’s all you. That fight tonight was amazing.”
“Sure, I get it. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”
“Sometimes it helps.” Right as Chuck was about to say something else, a man walked up and stood next to my chair. “Listen.” He smiled. “Just have Julian call me and we will talk soon.”
“Sounds good.” I waited until Chuck was out of sight. Then I stood to face the mystery guy. “Can I help you?”
“I have a message,” the guy said in a deep baritone voice.
It took me a moment to register, and then I realized I knew him. The guy had a baseball cap on, but I could tell he was bald. It was the man from the storage unit. The one walking out of the main office with a briefcase. I felt a little worried and glanced around. Julian, Charlie, and Brooks were standing about ten feet away, laughing about something. At least I wasn’t alone.
“Message?”
“From your mother.”
“You do realize my mother is in jail, right?”
“Well, things may be different now.” His eyes darted side to side like he was checking to see who was around before continuing. “She’s safe.”
My lawyer had called after my mom was sentenced to life in prison and no chance of parole. That was two months and ten days ago to be exact. Since Mom confessed, the sentencing took place quicker than expected. Once a week, I was given a report on my mom and how she was doing in jail. The last report I received was six days ago.
Wait, if it was six days ago, that means I was due to receive a phone call tomorrow. My body went ridged, and I glanced back over toward Julian. He had a smile on his face as he looked over. We devised a signal so we knew when the other was in trouble or needed help. I gave the signal.
The guy cleared his throat. “She said the list is complete.”
“What? Um—”
“Hey, babe.” Julian wrapped his arms about my waist. “Is this a fan of yours?”
The guy looked at Julian and then back at me. “Great fight.” He held out his hand.
I hesitated but decided to take it. “Thank you.” I watched the mystery guy walk away. He didn’t have on a tailored suit this time. Instead, to fit in at the event, he wore khaki slacks, a dark blue polo shirt, and brown loafers. His baseball cap didn’t fit into the equation at all.
“Did you know him?” Julian pulled my body closer.
“No, he just wanted to randomly chat about the fight.”
I felt bad lying to Julian. Yet, I needed to find out if what the guy was telling me was true. Did my mom really escape from prison?
And what the fuck, the list was complete. So that meant there were five bodies somewhere. Why would my mom feel the need to finish the list? It just didn’t make sense.
My hope was I could stay far away from the fray.
All I wanted to do was fight, and she knew that.
My phone connected and I heard my lawyers voice on the other end. “I was going to check in with you tomorrow?” Matt said, lightly chuckling. “Everything okay?”
“Well, I should be asking that question?” I said, leaning against the brick wall outside Julian
’s house. “How is Mom doing this week?”
“The report hasn’t arrived yet from the warden.”
“Wait, do you go weekly and see her or not?”
He paused for a beat. “Lily, did someone talk to you.”
“Should they?”
“Listen, I go see your mom once a month and then get a report the rest of the month from the warden.”
I pushed off the side of the house. “What is the date of your last visit?”
“What is this about?”
“Just give me a fucking date?”
“The twentieth.”
It had been three weeks since he last talked to my mom. I needed to find out when she escaped. Either way, she had more than enough time to escape and kill five people. I was so stupid to entrust my lawyer with weekly check-ins. Running my hand through my hair, I let my body fall to the ground. “You’re fired, Matt.” I hit end on my phone and threw it toward the rose garden.
“Not a fan of roses anymore?” Charlie teased stepping around the side of the house.
“What? Oh. Right now, I’m not a fan of much.”
She sat down beside me. “Yeah, want to talk about it?”
“Can you keep a secret?”
Charlie rolled her eyes. “Really?”
She was known as the best secret keeper on the planet. “That was a dumb question.”
“Clearly,” she said, nudging my shoulder.
I let out a deep sigh. “Mom’s free.”
She jumped up. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“Shhhhh,” I said, grabbing her wrist to pull her back down. “Way to keep a secret, C.”
“Sorry,” she whispered. “What happened?”
“I don’t know.” I proceeded to share all that transpired all the way up to firing Matt. “If she is smart, she’s long gone by now.” A part of me worried she would show up and try to be a part of my life still. Then I realized that was crazy since she was wanted by the law.
“Jesus,” she breathed. “Could this story get anymore crazy?” I gave her a look, and we both started to laugh. We weren’t laughing because we thought this was all funny. We were laughing because we both truly thought it was completely ridiculous. “So what now?”
