I grabbed an old duffel bag that I had in my closet and I collected a few things around my bedroom. I just needed the basics. Some deodorant and perfume that I had gotten as a Christmas present from a friend, a picture from my 21st birthday, and then finally, my locket. I held the silver chain in my hands as I admired the engraving. I had seen it so many times before, but every time it felt new to me. I put the chain around my neck, clasped it, and let the delicate heart sit just above my own. It had been my mother's. I had taken it off of her lifeless body before the paramedics removed her. It was the only thing I had left of her. And I thought for the longest time that it would be the only thing I would have that would remind me of that past life, but apparently I was wrong. Now I had Luka too.
I fought back tears as I looked in the decrepit mirror that hung across from my bed. A kitchenette sat right next to it, but there was nothing there that I needed to take with me. I'd only put a curtain up around the toilet in the sink and shower; there weren’t even walls in this place. As I looked around and chewed my lower lip, I realized that this would only buy me so much time. Luka would come looking for me, and I needed to figure out how to protect my heart before then. If I was going to complete this job for Roberto, I couldn’t love Luka. Those two things just didn’t work together.
But there was a battle raging in my heart, and Luka was still winning.
10
Luka
My mother went back upstairs to clean up the dishes. Our family moment was over. A part of me hated to see it end. My father drummed his fingers on the wooden table, assessing me, and I could tell he was getting impatient with our family bonding. He hated getting emotional with me. Sometimes, I felt he only treated me like a son to appease my mother.
“You know, we appreciate the time you spent serving the family.”
I nodded at him, still wiping my face off with a cloth napkin. “I know. There was a job to do, and I did it. It's as simple as that. Pops, no need to thank me.”
“You're right, I don't. But I should. I couldn't let them take her, you know that. She knew too much. She was a part of this family. I don't know why all of a sudden they took an interest in her.”
“I didn’t get it either. It all seemed so immediate, so messy.”
“It just didn't make any sense. After all that time? Why would he want her? Why would he want either of them? I mean, she didn't even know her father. And Maria? She left that drunken bastard years before.”
“I thought he left her.”
“Well, that's the way she told the story. Your mother and I knew her back then, and she left him. But it was because she needed to get out. She feared for her baby’s safety.”
My fists balled at my sides. I attempted not to rip the napkin right in half, but I settled down and placed my hands back down in my lap. I wouldn't let anyone hurt her.
“I bet Vienna wouldn't even remember him, not that she should. Poor child. Sometimes I think your mother worries about her. Wondering where she is. We never did find out what happened to her back then.”
I held my breath for a moment. I was lying to my father, and I didn’t like it. “It's a shame, really. She was like family.”
My father nodded knowingly. “To all of us. We would've done anything for the girl. But now? Good riddance!”
I squinted at him. A slight fear gripped my stomach. Did he figure out where Vienna was? “Why? What changed about the way you feel about Vienna?”
“No one told you?”
“Told me what?”
“She's with the Agnelli family now. They got her a job and everything, out-of-state somewhere. But you know them, they've got family in every major city on the East Coast. I'm sure she's lying on a beach somewhere.”
Agnelli family? How was that even possible? I knew exactly where she was, right here in Baltimore, at my apartment. Pops obviously had his communication wrong. He didn't have the facts.
“You sure about that, Pops? I mean, turning her back on us like that, going to the Agnellis? Why would she do that?”
“Money. Besides, she probably knows about what you did. I don't know how she couldn't.”
Blood rushed out of my face and a large knot formed inside my stomach. She couldn’t know, could she?
“We were just kids back then, and she didn't even know her father. There's no way she could know that I was the one who killed him.”
My father stood up, beginning to walk away, but he put his hand on my shoulder right before he did. “I wish I could tell you that you’re right, son, but people in this business talk. There's no way that Vienna doesn't know what you did. And whether you like it or not, one day she will come to you, for revenge.”