Mafia Heir

Chapter 57

Charlotte

Until today, leaving Luca's house that night was the hardest thing I had ever done. Seeing him hurt like that and knowing I caused it was shattering, and I knew I would think about it every day for the rest of my life. I wanted to go back so badly, and there were so many times over the last two days that I almost did.

But after my conversation with Antonio, I knew what I had to do.

He arranged everything. Tonight, Jenni and I would be leaving everything here in New York behind and starting over. We put the gallery on the market, packed up our apartments, and would be on our way to an entirely new place where we knew no one and had absolutely no idea what we were going to do. If I wasn't feeling so awful, I might actually be excited. I used to love this kind of thing-- the spontaneity and the thrill. Now, though, all it brought on was more anxiety.

When I told her I was leaving, she flat out refused to let me go alone, and at first, I fought her. This was nobody's battle but my own, and I didn't want her to uproot her life because of it. Selfishly though, I wanted her with me. I wasn't sure what Antonio would say about that, but at this point it didn't matter.

Going to Antonio for help made my skin crawl. I didn't want to admit I needed him, but if I wanted to make this stick, I didn't have a choice. He had the resources to make sure Luca didn't find me, and keep me safe from Silvano in the process.

"Are you sure this was where he wanted to meet?" Jenni asked as we pulled into the dimly lit parking lot of the pier. A disgusted look blanketed her face as she looked around the littered cement. It was definitely a sketchy place.

I sighed, glancing around the emptiness and not seeing any sign of him. "He said the pier. We're a little early I guess."

Faint voices came from down by the water, and Jenni and I both craned our necks in the direction of the noise.

"That's him." I whispered, as if he could hear me.

Jenni and I both watched as three men spoke back and forth. I had no idea who he brought with him, but it gave me an uneasy feeling. We didn't talk about how all of this was going to happen but I guess I just assumed he would keep it to himself. Did he rat me out to Luca?

"Should we go down there?" Jenni asked cautiously, not taking her eyes off of the men. She knew the gist of the Mafia, but she could sense the danger we were in.

I shook my head back and forth, trying to back out for only the third time tonight. "This was a bad idea; maybe we should just go home."

Almost immediately, one of the men pointed towards us and I knew we'd been seen. There was no turning back now. Antonio started walking towards us.

Jenni and I stood frozen as he closed the distance between us, sauntering casually as if he was out for a stroll through the park.

"Good evening, Charlotte." He said once he was within a few feet of us.

"Hello." I said, hoping my words didn't come out as shaky as I imagined them.

"And you must be Jenni." He stuck his hand out to greet her.

"You know who I am?" She asked eyeing him up and down as if she was sizing him up. Her confidence always surprised me and tonight, I was more thankful for there than ever.

"I know everything to do with Charlotte." He gave a small smile. "Now, let's get down to business, shall we?"

I nodded, ready for this interaction to be over with as soon as possible.

"Follow me." He ordered and began back down the hill towards the water where two other men stood waiting.

Just breathe Charlotte, I tried to coach myself. Just get through this and then you and Jenni will be on the road leaving all of this behind you. No more mafia, no more danger. I wasn't sure how much I believed those words, but I was desperate for anything to get me through these next few minutes.