I couldn’t sleep when I finally got home, the weight of the situation that I had accidently signed up for weighed heavily on my chest and I had several breakdowns through the course of the night. Each time I blinked my eyes, the image of the pale corpses which were drained of life flashed across my mind and I couldn’t deal with the trauma. I couldn’t help but keep reliving the moment that Mr Mancini drove the shard of glass into Mr Romano’s throat and how hours later, I was looking at two men cut into Mr Romano’s body and pull out his internal organs before they stitched him back up.
I don’t know how many times the thought of running to the police with all of this information crossed my mind. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to be a part of any of this, but the thick briefcase containing $70,000 which was my payment for the night, said that I wouldn’t get out of this, not at all. I remember when my driver and my guard- who Paisley informed me were actually called soldiers who were dedicated to the mafia and would kill for their boss- drove me home after midnight and pulled into the underground garage. Two soldiers walked me all the way to my door, carrying a briefcase which they handed over to me when I had one foot into my parents penthouse.
I rushed to hide the briefcase, walking past my dad and mum who were fast asleep on the couch, no doubt having waited for me to come home. I hid the briefcase in my closet in the back of all of my clothes and slid down to the floor, crying uncontrollably. I couldn’t forget what Paisley had said to me and her words echoed in my memory, telling me that this was my life now and there was no going back.
At some point of the early morning, because it wasn’t even night anymore, I sat up in my bed and starting looking for a new place to stay because there was no way that I was going to continue staying here, holding such ludicrous amounts of cash hidden in my closet. I was going to be paid in cash every night after my “night shift”, so I knew that I could get an expensive place. I solemnly browsed through the penthouses and houses that were selling upwards of $60 million. It almost seemed insane and mindboggling how I had been looking at $3 million homes for a first house purchase, and suddenly overnight, I can afford anything over $60 million.
Any individual would be celebrating a moment like this, but I was doing it with a heavy heart. I always thought that if a moment like this would ever come to be, I would be popping the most expensive bottle of champagne, dressed in expensive clothing and being proud of how hard I had worked to get to this level of success. But all that came to be, was me being dressed in a pair of my favourite pyjamas because they brought me comfort and I needed anything at this point to make me feel better, my eyes were swollen and puffy from all of my crying, and I was feeling paranoid that someone knew about what happened and I was going to get arrested or get killed.
I stayed up until it was 5 AM and got dressed for work. I knew that if I didn’t pretend to be okay, my father would know and he would get suspicious and I’ll end up telling him about what happened. If I ever opened my mouth, everyone I know and love will have to pay the price and I’m not willing to take the risk. So I feigned a smile and put on some makeup, covering my dark, red and puffy eyes as best as I could before I put on a peach coloured pencil dress that reached just before my knees.
I expected my father to still be asleep since he always wakes up in the afternoon but I was surprised to find him and my mum sitting down for breakfast. They turned to look at me with excited faces as I entered the room, “good morning, Abby,” my father beamed at me with a proud smile as the chef entered the dining area, placing our breakfast on the table.
I was always a morning person and that was because I slept on time and managed to always be awake to witness the sunrise. My father on the other hand was not and was always moody and grumpy in the morning except for today. “Jess and I realised that we were going to keep missing you if we waited to see you after work, so we’ve decided to wake up a little bit earlier so that we can have breakfast together.”
