In the End

10│The Meeting

Alexei had eventually ended up turning on a movie, food arriving at my door almost every house with something new that he had requested.

It was some Italian movie, so I barely understood a word of it. Even though he had turned on the subtitles, I still decided to focus my attention elsewhere. I started with basic things at first, reading through the first book on my pile in its entirety before going back and really starting. Today, I would focus on the easy things, the basic conversation starters. I was repeating the words under my breath, Alexei jumping in every now and again to correct me.

"Alexei," I said finally, "Can you promise me something?"

He pressed down on the remote to turn down the volume, "Sure, what's up."

"Don't tell anyone I'm doing this. I mean, I wouldn't want to lose steam and interest and then everyone keeps asking me about it when I've given it up."

Alexei shrugged. "Sure. I mean, unless I have to tell anyone, I'll keep it under wraps, no biggie."

"And not a word about what I've said to you as well," I said sharply, narrowing my eyes. "It's none of their business, and I don't want them to know."

A raised eyebrow, "Who, Sol and Luce?"

"Solomon and Luciano, yes." I pursed my lips. "I don't trust them. I mean, not that I trust you of course, but at least you're nice."

He gave a short laugh, moving to pause the movie completely. "I get it. That's Solomon, he's a tough dude, no reason, just how he is. Luciano... I get it, he's seen and done some shit, he's a little fucked up and for good reason. But you'll be here for a while Ida, for the rest of your life if Luciano has his way. Learning to trust them is probably the smartest thing you could do."

I saw my opportunity to start to argue. "But why? What do you get out of having me here? I'm taking up a bedroom, based on the amount of shit that turned up in my room this morning, you've already spent a good couple of thousand dollars on me for what? Not speaking to the police?"

"Ida, you know who we are, what we do. We put you back out into the world, and you'll be begging us to take you back. I'm sorry that you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, that you were curious to look down the alleyway and you saw the business but there is nothing that can be done about it now. Those thousands of dollars that we spent on you barely even made a dent in Lucianos' bank account and there are so many rooms in this fucking house that having another filled is more a good thing than a bad."

"You should let me go,"

"Oh I know," He replied sarcastically, "We all know it. But we won't, so the sooner you shut up about it, the sooner that you can reap the benefits."

I stood up, "What benefits? I certainly don't see anything."

A stare off, "Just as you said, the clothes, the phone, the food. Even more, things will come on as the days go by. You've been here what, three days and you've already decided that this is the worst thing in the world-"

"You're the fucking mafia-"

"Organised crime, I'm telling you now Ida, pull your shit together before your bedroom becomes the cells we have in the basement. You say you can't trust me then at least trust what I have to say, stop complaining and suck it up. That's the only way you will get any benefits from this." Alexei finished his voice stern, completely silencing the words in my throat.

I kept forgetting where I was.

"I don't even know why I keep bring this subject up." I sighed, "It feels like an endless loop."