Gold Dust

chapter five: different sides of the same coin

They say you never really know someone until you live with them and I guess that’s true. After being rough handled by Antonio the other night, I realized just how possessive, manipulative and abusive he could be. Trust me, I would have left him if I thought I was in any physical danger from him, but Antonio would never hurt me. He cared way too much to ever hit me. But my opinion of him had definitely changed since his outburst over Neil and to think, that wasn’t even him at his worst.

Thankfully I wasn’t at the receiving end, when Antonio was at his worst. I had been sitting on my laptop working on a novel that I had been wanting to finish since college, when I heard Antonio shouting. Now I had gotten used to Antonio berating his employee’s for quite some time now, but I knew this time was different.

“So you just happened to lose fifty thousand dollars?” Antonio’s voice echoed throughout the corridor. “You better hope for your sake that my men find the money.”

I chewed on my lower lip as I heard the whining sounds of a guy. I closed my laptop shut, creeping down the hallway. I peered around the corner to see a man on his hands and knees, begging at Antonio’s feet. I don’t know what sort of punishment came with losing fifty thousand dollars, but by the looks of it, I was thinking it wasn’t going to be pretty.

A part of me wanted to stop Antonio from doing whatever he was about to do, but I didn’t dare interfere. I was too afraid of the consequences. Antonio had warned me about making him look weak. So, I stood by and watched, as tears dripped down the man’s cheek.

“Please Antonio,” he choked out in between his sobbing. “I’ll do anything to make it up to you. Just don’t kill me.”

Kill? Would Antonio go that far? A lump formed in my throat, as Antonio kicked him off of his legs, giving a nod to Ricardo. I bit down on my lip as Ricardo grabbed the man, holding him down to the ground.

“You’ve done enough,” Antonio replied coldly, before Ricardo took him. I watched as the guy screamed begging for mercy. He wrestled to get out of Ricardo’s arms but it was useless. Antonio didn’t even flinch, sliding the door open to the deck. How could he be so cold? How could he just do that without a care in the world? I froze, just staring at Antonio’s uncaring attitude, and not before long his eyes caught mine in the doorway. As soon as our eyes met, I felt a sudden burst of confidence.

“Are you going to kill him?” I asked marching right into his office.

“Robert, “Antonio chuckled, clutching his chest jokingly. “Were you spying again?”

“Are you going to kill him?” I repeated again with more urgency in my voice this time. I walked towards the sliding door, glancing out onto the deck. But it was too late, Ricardo had already disappeared from the property.  My eyes flickered back onto Antonio, as he poured himself a drink, sipping quickly.

“Robert, it’s none of your concern,” Antonio continued tracing his fingertips along the edge of the glass. “Weren’t you the one who said you didn’t want to be any part of the business? Well . . . this is business.”

“It is my business when you’re doing it in our place, Antonio,” I retorted.

“Our place? Sweetheart, this is my place,” Antonio emphasized, walking towards me with his glass in hand. “This is my business. These are my men and I make the rules.”

“Well things have changed,” I retorted. “I’m not going to just sit around like the good little househusband and pretend like my boyfriend isn’t purchasing and distributing cocaine here. And now, you’re killing people!”

“You agreed to this! I told you what I was into and you chose to stay,” Antonio said raising his voice at me. “And if you don’t like it Robert, then you can leave. The door is that way.”