State of Mind

Chapter 2

I woke up to the sound of loud knocking at my door. "Ugh." I drag myself out of bed wondering who's here this early in the morning. As I put my eye to the peephole in the door, I see that it's Dante. "It's too early for this." I keep thinking. I unlock the latch and open the door to Dante standing in the hallway. He stays quiet before he shoves past me and makes his way into my apartment.

"Good morning to you too," I say sarcastically.

"Yeah, good morning."

"What's wrong with you?"

"Where were you this morning, you had a meeting scheduled." He responded, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Oh yeah, I'm really sorry about that. I was sleeping... I, um, kind of had a late night."

"Nightmare? Again?" He asked, sounding more concerned rather than annoyed now.

"Um... yes."

He makes his way to the living room and sits down. He looks ahead pondering something. I make my way to the kitchen and grab two mugs from the cupboard.

"You want coffee?" I ask him.

"No that's alright, I had already"

I place the other mug back into the cupboard and place mine underneath the coffee machine and press the start button. As the coffee starts brewing, I go into the living room and sit on the couch directly across Dante. I look at him and notice that he looks more anxious than usual. His leg is slightly shaking. His hands are folded and he's fidgeting his thumbs.

"What are you so nervous for?" I ask.

"For tonight Ava, that's why I came over here. I don't think this meeting will go the way you think."

"For the love of god Dante, I'll be fine. You're worrying a lot over nothing."

"This isn't little Ava, this is serious. You're meeting with Martinez."

"I have absolutely nothing to be afraid of."

Sebastion Martinez is one of the most infamous mob bosses in the city. He is notorious for being ruthless and brutal when it comes to his business, and completely unforgiving. Martinez and I don't get along, nor do we really do business together, but we pretend as much as we need to when we do. We have different beliefs, however, I have only one reason why I absolutely despise the man. You see, I have reason to believe that he was the one who murdered my family. I have yet to prove it, but all the leads I have in my own personal investigation point to him. There are a lot more details in this, but before any of that, he was my father's biggest enemy.

"Look, Dante, I've met with him before, everything will be fine." At this point, I am trying my best to assure him.

"Okay, as you say Ava. Now come on, we need to go down to the warehouse and then the office."

"Yeah, I know. You go ahead I'll meet you there." I tell him.

After Dante leaves, I get up and grab my now full mug back from the coffee machine, then head back over to my couch and turn on the TV.

*Breaking News: 200 Bricks Seized, Fourteen Arrested in NYPD Raid*

"Ugh, how sloppy." I reread the title in disbelief, realizing how little people are covering their tracks now.

I shut the TV off and put my coffee mug down, getting back up and heading to the bathroom. I turn the shower on and close the bathroom door as I go to grab some clothes. After my shower, I get dressed, grab my keys, my phone and make my way downstairs to drive to the warehouse.