Chapter 2 - The Rolls-Royce at Sunrise
Lena didn't sleep.
At 8:40 the next morning, she opened the curtains of her tiny apartment above a laundromat.
Then froze.
A vintage black Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow sat outside.
Nobody on her block owned anything remotely like it.
A tattooed man in a dark suit leaned against the hood.
Lena closed the curtain.
“Nope.”
Someone knocked.
Three slow knocks.
Lena grabbed the heaviest object within reach.
Unfortunately, it was a ceramic lamp.
“Miss Marquez?”
“Who is it?”
“Gabriel. Mr. DeLuca sent me.”
“I don't know Gabriel.”
“That's understandable.”
“What do you want?”
“To take you to breakfast.”
Lena stared at the door.
“With the mafia?”
A pause.
“We prefer not to use that word in hallways.”
Lena nearly dropped the lamp.
Twenty minutes later, she was sitting inside the Rolls-Royce.
Gabriel drove her to an old Italian restaurant overlooking the marina.
The restaurant was closed.
Matteo sat alone at a corner table.
No tuxedo now.
Black trousers.
White shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows.
Dark tattoos covered much of his forearms.
Lena stopped.
Matteo gestured toward the chair opposite him.
“Sit.”
“Your people kidnapped me politely.”
“You entered the car voluntarily.”
“There was a refrigerator-sized man outside my apartment.”
“Gabriel is sensitive about his size.”
From somewhere near the kitchen:
“I am.”
Lena looked toward the voice.
Matteo almost smiled.
Then his expression hardened.
“The watch contained a tracking transmitter.”
Lena's amusement vanished.
“That doesn't sound terrible.”
“It transmitted my location to three men waiting near my home.”
Her stomach dropped.
“What were they going to do?”
“You don't want the answer.”
“Probably not.”
Matteo pushed a photograph across the table.
Victor.
“You've known him long?”
“Twenty-one years.”
“And he tried to betray you?”
Matteo looked through the window.
“We grew up together.”
Lena suddenly regretted asking.
Matteo slid another photograph across the table.
Security footage.
Victor standing beside the coat-check counter.
Lena's face was visible in the reflection.
Her heart stopped.
“He can see me.”
“Yes.”
“So he knows.”
“Yes.”
Lena stood.
“I need to leave.”
“Sit down.”
“I have work tonight.”
“You no longer work at the Aurelia.”
Her head snapped toward him.
“Excuse me?”
“Victor has people there.”
“You got me fired?”
“I got you removed from a place where someone might kill you.”
“That's still unemployed!”
Matteo stared at her.
“You're concerned about your paycheck?”
“My landlord doesn't accept protection from organized crime as rent.”
That finally made him smile.
It lasted barely a second.
But Lena saw it.
Matteo reached beneath the table and placed an envelope in front of her.
She opened it.
Cash.
A lot.
She pushed it back.
“No.”
“You saved my life.”
“I warned you about a watch.”
“You saved my life.”
“I don't want your money.”
“Why?”
“Because then I owe you something.”
His expression changed.
For the first time, Matteo DeLuca looked genuinely surprised.
Lena stood.
“I helped because somebody was doing something wrong. That's it.”
She headed toward the door.
Matteo spoke behind her.
“Lena.”
She stopped.
“Victor knows where you live.”
Her fingers tightened around her bag.
Matteo continued quietly.
“And now he's afraid of what you can tell me.”
She slowly turned around.
“What am I supposed to do?”
Matteo's tattooed hands rested on the table.
“Until I find him?”
He pulled out the chair beside him.
“You stay where nobody is stupid enough to touch you.”
“Where?”
His answer came without hesitation.
May you like
“With me.”
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