Matteo's Eyes

Chapter 4

I turn around as quickly as I can but I fall down. My head spins and my legs fail to support me. With everything a blur around me I vaguely see Shay or is that just me imagining things? I feel myself get moved into the cell but I'm not sure by who.

***

I wake up with a pounding headache. I groan and roll over on my pillow. The pillow they gave me is extremely comfortable and I wonder why they gave me such a good pillow. I pick my head up to readjust, I lift myself up on one arm and grab the pillow.

"What are you doing?" My heart stops and I scramble to my feet.

"Who are you? What do you want?" As soon as I'm on my feet, I am quickly back off of them. I begin to fall but two strong arms catch me. "L-let go, I-I'm fine..." I trail off unable to finish my sentence.

"No, you're not fine. It's okay Ivy, I've got you." Shay?

***

This time when I wake up Shay is right beside me brushing the hair out of my face. 

"Shay? Are you really here?" I put my hand out and poke his cheek to make sure he is real.

He places his hand on top of mine, "Yes, I'm here Ivy. Are you okay? It looks like you took quite a beating."

"I'm fine. Why are you here?"

"Just following your plan Ivy. We needed an inside man though so I volunteered."

For just a second I let myself believe that he cared enough about me that he tried to save me himself. Of course not, he's just doing what Dad told him to. Matteo and Angelina are too valuable, Gia is too fragile, Mom will never leave Dad's side, and Alina is too young. I don't blame them for sending him. He's strong and not heir to a mafia. It only makes sense.

I sigh but try not to show my disappointment "How long until they come?"

"Only a couple days, a week at most."

"Anyway to tell them to come sooner? I can't make it through another beating." I hate admitting to weakness but I don't think I would make it out alive if they do that to me again anytime soon.

"They are observing outside through the windows. Watching when the doors open to the room, when they close. They are looking for patterns or a weak moment to come in. I'm here to make sure you stay alive until then. Can't have little miss perfect over here getting killed."

"You sound jealous Shay."

"What's to be jealous about? Not like you get straight A's without trying, have a great relationship with both of your parents, have multiple good guys willing to date you, and have a perfect family. No not jealous at all." The jealousy drips with every word.

It's no secret that Shay's relationship with his parents is...difficult. His father has ridiculously high expectations for Shay. He wants him to marry Angelina so he can be second in command to the Russian Mafia and the Italian Mafia and wants him to train every day. And to top it off his father wants him to get straight A's.

"It's not all rainbows and sunshine for me either you know?" I say as I think about the cracks in my 'perfect' life.

"What's wrong with little miss perfect?"

"More than you know." I sigh and I feel Shay brush more hair away from my face. My head is placed in his lap and I look up at him.

"Care to tell me?"

"Did you know that I'm not going to be the second in command for either of my siblings? Matteo is going to choose you and Angelina will choose Gia before me.  Speaking of, Angelina barely talks to me. She thinks of Gia as more of a sister than me. And for the guys, they only want me for my body. None of them care about anything else." I feel tears well up in my eyes. "And-" I stop myself. I don't want to tell him everything. "Never mind."

We both go silent and I finally sit up.

"You know you can always talk to me. I may be your brother's friend but I also care about you."

Yup, you care about me like a younger sister. I sigh, "Same for you." I manage to smile at him.

***

A day or two goes by. Marcello hasn't come back for us. The only people that come by to bring us meals. The meals mostly consist of mashed potatoes that have no flavor and sloppy joe. Those two don't even go well together.

Today's meal comes and we have a little bit more mashed potatoes than normal. I slowly begin to eat the flavorless mashed potatoes. When I get to my final bites I notice something shiny at the bottom.

I pick up the shiny object and see that it is a pocket knife. We have infiltrated their system. I show Shay and without a word, we get up and prepare for when the time comes to attack.

We wait and wait and wait.

Finally, I hear a gunshot ring out. Then the sound of bullets being fired back and forth doesn't stop.

"See if the door is unlocked."

I shake the doorknob but it doesn't budge.

"Search through the sloppy joe! Maybe a key is in there." I practically shout at Shay.

Sure enough, we find a key. I scramble to unlock the door. When outside of the room I look to my left to see Mom and Dad walking side by side, both of them have their guns raised. They look like they came straight out of a movie.

"There they are. Ivory!" Mom runs over to me and hugs me. Dad comes over quickly after making sure the last of the kidnappers have run away.

"Are you okay? Can you walk?" Dad asks me worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm good! Nothing I can't handle." I smile at them. "So Matteo gave you my message?"

"Huh? What message?" Dad looks at me confused.

"Well, when they first brought me here I called Matteo and had a conversation with Marcello. I made sure to say Marcello's name and give him any information I could. I said 'abandoned building' and any other details I could get Marcello to give away. If Matteo didn't tell you how did you find me?"

"Matteo said he followed you and that's how he knew. That lying little-" Mom starts.

"Eve, not in front of the kids."

"Right. Well, I'll talk to him. You're a genius Ivory. And thank you, Shay. It means a lot to know we can trust you to do things like this." Mom says still hugging me.

"Yes, thank you for giving the idea to send yourself in here to help Ivory."

Wait. It was Shay's idea to send himself in here? I stand there in shock. No no, he was probably just doing what's right. He doesn't like me like that.