Praised by the City

Chapter Four

It had been two weeks since I started at Rizzo Law Firm and I am finally in a comfortable routine. Every day, I woke up, threw on a suit, tied my hair up and grabbed two cups of black coffee from the local cafe before arriving at work exactly three minutes before Mr Rizzo arrived, his coffee placed on his desk along with a schedule of his meetings and appointments.

No one had pulled a gun on me since Mr Tavani, which I was very happy about. I don't want to die yet, I'm too damn young.

It was Monday and over the weekend I had decided to get a haircut, cutting a few minutes out of my daily routine wasted on putting my hair up. The only problem was I looked like a teenager. I hardly took myself seriously in a full blow suit, so I decided to just wear a white button up and a pair of black slacks.

The rest of my morning was the same, arriving at work exactly three minutes before 8 am, placing Mr Rizzo's coffee and schedule on his desk.

"Where is Sydney?" I heard the second the elevator doors opened. I looked up to see a very confused Mr Rizzo, looking directly at me. Smiling, I greeted him the same way I did every morning, "Good morning Mr Rizzo, your coffee and schedule are on your desk ready to go. I am Sydney." Mr Rizzo came closer to me with squinted eyes before he smiled. "The haircut suits you," Mr Rizzo nodded before going into his office, leaving me to blush a deep red.

At exactly 2 pm sharp, I was told by Mr Rizzo to get lunch and join him in his office for our daily chat. I had decided to get us both something from the bakery down the street and entered Mr Rizzo's office with a smile. When I told Danna about these little lunch breaks she almost fainted. Apparently, Mr Rizzo barely talked to his employees.

"So Sydney, what made you decide to cut your hair?" Mr Rizzo asked, immediately digging into his home-made Italian pie. Smiling, I ran my fingers through my short, shaggy, blonde hair. It sat just at my jawline and was impossible to tame. "It was taking up too much time trying to maintain such long hair. Plus, it related to home too much for me," I said, realising how thick my accent was compared to Mr Rizzo's strong Italian tongue. "It makes you look so young," Mr Rizzo said in thought, "but it suits you so well." Again, I blushed at the compliment and mumbled a quiet 'thank you' under my breath. Of course, Mr Rizzo heard and smiled before cleaning the crumbs off his desk.

There were two things I had learnt about Mr Rizzo. He had amazing hearing and a weirdly specific sense of smell. He could hear me whisper into the phone and smell food before I even left the elevator. It was odd but kept me entertained. Another odd thing Mr Rizzo did was kiss my cheek every time he left to go home. I just thought it was his way of saying thank you.

"Listen, Sydney, I have nothing happening after work today, and I was wondering if you'd like to join me for dinner as a way of thanking you for your hard work over these past two weeks?" Mr Rizzo suddenly asked, as I packed up the rubbish and got ready to leave. Surprised, I looked up at Mr Rizzo to see the man smiling. It was odd yet charming to see such a strong man smiling. "Of course, I'd love to join you for dinner," I said, returning the smile before grabbing the rubbish and returning to my job.

That day, Mr Rizzo and I finished at 6:30 pm and left for dinner together. Mr Rizzo showed me to his beautiful sports car and we arrived at a very fancy restaurant in a matter of minutes. The restaurant had to be at least four-star and made me feel incredibly underdressed. We got comfortable at a reserved table as a waiter took our order.

"How did you get a reservation so late Mr Rizzo?" I asked as I sipped on the peach iced tea I had ordered. "I am friends with the owner and please call me Theodore," Mr Rizzo replied. With a nod, we continued our conversation until our meals arrived. Our conversation was pleasant throughout the rest of the night until we both decided to go home.

As we headed for the door Theodore turned to me and grabbed my hand. "Sydney, I actually asked you to dinner to ask you a very important question," Theodore paused and my heart skipped a beat. I've known this man for half a month and yet I felt so attracted to him. It seemed I had developed a crush on the older man. "I wanted to ask if you'd go ou-" suddenly a loud bang interrupted Theodore and our attention was directed towards the entrance.

5 or 6 men in black suits were standing there with very large guns, looking around for someone. The second their eyes landed on Theodore they rushed towards us, their guns locked and loaded, ready to shot.

"Ti ucciderò Rizzo," one of the men yelled, making my eyes widen. The only thing I understood of the Italian was 'kill' and 'Rizzo'. Suddenly, Theodore grabbed my hand and sprinted away, leading me to a back entrance as he pulled a handgun from the inside of his suit jacket. I gasped in terror only for Theodore to cover my mouth with his large hand.

"Okay, I know this is crazy right now Sydney, but I need you to do what I say and stay quiet. I'm going to get you out safely," Theodore whispered, looking around the hallway we had stumbled into. I nodded my head slowly and Theodore removed his hand from my mouth.

We crept slowly down the hall to a fire exit door. Theodore slowly opened the, immediately igniting a round of shots from unknown people outside. I watched silently as Theodore picked off every last one of the shooters with expertise before rushing me out and towards a black car. Once we were safely away from the restaurant I turned my attention to Theodore.

"What the fuck was that?!"

(Picture of Sydney after he cut his hair // source: https://weheartit.com/entry/236143082 )