The Mafia King's Nicotine

Chapter 77

"Hey, Johanna- Stop!" Vivian shouted as she was pushed into the passenger seat of Dannye's Hyundai, "Jesus- give me a second!"

"Sorry." She mumbled and rushed over to the driver's side, the skirt of her dress hiked up, practically to her knees. Within seconds of her shutting the door, they pulling out of the parking space and were off, speeding down the road.

"Their- their gonna be alright? Right?" Vivian worried, her small hands cradling her swelling belly, "They have to be alright."

Johanna glances over at her and hesitantly nodded, "They're gonna be just fine." She smiled weakly.

"I know you're lying." Vivian pressed her lips together tightly and her brow creased as a wave of pain shot through her skull, "But thank you." She fought against the tears building behind her eyes.

"No, Viv, I ain't lying." Johanna assured her quickly, turning onto a side road, "Trust me, we are much stronger than the Markeelis, but- I- we just can't know for sure."

"I know."

"Hey," she took her eyes from the road for a moment and laid her hand on her friend's shoulder, "Breathe. I promise Erik will do everything he can to keep us safe and come home to you. Okay? Just trust me."

Vivian nodded and let out the burning breath she was holding in her lungs. They would be okay, "What do they want?" She asked, watching trees zip past the car, so blurry she couldn't even tell where they were, then again she wasn't paying much attention.

"Rick." Was Johanna's simple answer, "This was the plan all along, just not right now." Her jaw tensed and she bent her neck to the side cracking it.

"Somehow that makes me feel a bit better," Vivian said quietly.

"How so?"

Looking up at the car roof, she licked her lips in thought, "I supposed because now I know this was expected. This was planned." when she said it out loud it was stupid, but the relief she felt was real and comforting, "Papa, knows what he's doing." She whispered down to her little blob who was kicking her, probably upset she hadn't finished her dinner.

"He does." Johanna nodded, slowing down the car just a bit, "We're almost there."

"Where?" Vivian looked around the dense forest. While she didn't leave the house much and for the most part all vegetation looks the same, this was not the same road they had driven down only 2 hours ago, "This isn't the way home."

"We're not going home. It's not safe." Johanna replies, "I'm taking you to the safe house."

Vivian's head snapped to her left and she studied her friend, puzzled, "you're not staying with me."

She shook her head, "I can't. I'm getting changed and meeting the boys at the warehouse. They're probably there by now."

Speeding up a bit more, if that was even possible, Johanna swerved into a driveway of a simple looking hunting shack. The front porch had a broken light and one of the windows had been boarded up.

"Safehouse?" Vivian questioned. Not that she was opposed to staying here, having grown up spending a lot of time at her own run-down farmhouse, just didn't seem at all like a safe house.

Without an answer, the car stopped and both women stepped out, walking up to the front door, Johanna with keys in hand. Vivian held up her skirt, the gravel underfoot making it very difficult to walk in heels but she managed to make it to the front steps and follow her friend into the dark house.

"I can't see." She said, clutching her stomach as if protecting her child from some unseen evil.

"Hold on." A loud switch was heard and light flooded the room. Once her eyes adjusted, Vivian honestly wasn't surprised at the sight before her. It was a small place, one room to be exact. There was a bed on the left with a sheet of plastic over it and a worn red couch on the right. A kitchen took up the back wall, with only a fridge, oven and sink. A small table sat beside the couch with an old television set, taking up one of the ends.