Nightly Confusion

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Joey had left us there stranded with no car so the first thing I had to do was get some wheels. I couldn’t call Zack because he’s involved with the whole police squad trying to save my mother and get Giovanni. Alissa was out of town, of course she had such bad timing. Grandma Loupe couldn’t drive so well anymore and she was already scared for her daughter. Nikki was running the paper, I couldn’t call her and then something go wrong and Alissa kills me.

“God forgive me.” I said dialing. “Erin, its Sam. I need your help.”  She was the last person I wanted to involve but I knew I could count on her. She was a flake most of the time and most of the time she irked me but I knew she’d come through when it really mattered.

But she didn’t know about mom missing, after she screamed and cried she finally listened to what I needed from her. I gave her directions to the safe house and told her to hurry.

“Are you sure this is wise?” Elena asked as I closed my phone.

“I don’t want to involved my baby pregnant sister so she’s gonna stay here and we’re gonna take her car.” I said.

“We?”

“Yes we, you have to show me the place and you’re my ticket inside.” I stood from the chair. I was getting this surge of energy that came from fear. On top of being scared out of my mind I was beginning to believe I could do this; I could find my mother and keep my own life in the end. “You were willing to risk mom’s life because you loved them. Let’s hope they love you enough for this to work.”

I walked over to the window to watch for Erin to arrive. I tried calling Joey again and again but still no answer. His phone must be out of reach or he just wasn’t answering it for reasons I couldn’t think of.

I had a strong urge to call Zack because I just wanted him near so bad to lean on. But I kept reminding myself why that was a bad idea and resisted the urge. I just hoped once this was all over we could sit and sort this out. I wasn’t keeping him out of the loop because I didn’t love him. I needed him to understand that.

The car door slamming shut pulled my focus off my personal problems. I opened the door and let Erin in, we hugged each other hello and stood there an extra minute, so much was happening that we both could use the comfort. “Give me the keys.”

“What are you going to do?” Erin asked handing me over her keys. “The last time you left and tried to save the day on your own you nearly ended up dead. Mom was worried and prayed to everything she could think of.”

“This is different, I’ve thought this plan out and it’s to save mom so she shouldn’t be too pissed.” The last time my life was in grave danger I walked into a trap and talked my way out of it, this time I knew what was going on. “I want you to stay here and don’t move until you see me or Joey. If he shows up looking for me and Elena tell him to call my cell.” I hugged her again and gave her the address to where we were headed then left with Elena who looked scared shitless but she didn’t try and talk me out of it.

Elena gave me the directions to Giovanni’s house in Miami Beach; it couldn’t take more than half hour to get there even with traffic. As we got closer I felt my heart start to race, I was nervous and scared but still pretty pissed off and that helped give me the drive to keep going. “How many people do you think will be there?” I asked.

“If Nick and Benny are there, there will be two guards inside that always go everywhere with them. Outside there’s a guard in the back and front but never more than that.”

“When you see them play it cool, they don’t know you know about Art and mom so we can use that. Just play it cool and don’t let on we’re snooping around.” I was hoping we could find mom and get this over without having to face any of her previous family members.

I tried calling Joey again, I wanted his help more than ever before and just my luck he wasn’t around. “Why don’t you answer your phone? Giovanni has a place in Miami Beach that he keeps hidden so there’s a good chance he has mom there, call me back.” I gave the phone to Elena and told her to keep trying him as I drove.

It’s funny the things you think about when you’re scared, there was a part of me that knew mom might not be coming back home alive. I thought of Erin’s wedding, it was such a mess but during the vows it was silent and we were teary eyed and smiling, it was a big moment. Mom, Alissa, Grandma, and I stood together and watched the ceremony, I never felt closer to my family.

I wanted to go back to that day where the biggest problem was keeping Zack’s grandfather and Grandma Loupe away from each other.

We drove down a lone rode now, it was made out of dirt and surrounded by trees. At the end of the rode stood a beautiful large house with nice trim cut grass, shiny windows. We parked and headed up the walk away. We both tried our best to seem carefree and there for a visit. “Marco,” Elena began, it was her ballgame now. “I need to see Uncle Nick or Bernard.”

“Neither of them are in.”

“Can I go in and wait?”

“They always said if you stopped by to always let you in, you know that. Go right ahead.”

That was easier than I thought but there was still a ways to go before I could call any of this easy. Once inside I let out a big sigh. “Where would they hide someone?” I looked around, the place was huge but very fancy and I doubted they held any prisoners anywhere around the pricy stuff.

“The basement. They never let anyone down there, when I was a kid I asked them why and they said because that’s where they handled business. I thought it was an office or something but they have offices set up in the main house in Fort Lauderdale.” Elena explained as we walked through the kitchen then down a long hallway that led to a door which was locked.

Elena began to look for something to open it as I looked at the lock. “Do you have a pin?”

“What?” I looked at her hair she had a messy bun held up with pins, I pulled one from her hair. “Oww.”

“Sorry.” I bent down and began to pick the lock.

“How did you learn how to do that?”

“There’s no one on my street that can’t pick a lock, some of us are just better than others. Lucky for us I’m one of the better ones.” I pushed the door open and we were met with pitch darkness. I felt around the wall and found the light switch. It took a minute to get use to the brightness.

The basement looked more like a mini apartment, much better than mine and bigger. We looked around the large space and Elena had been right, there sat our mother on the bed. “Mom!” I ran to her. She looked fine just like the last time I saw her, which was a relief.

“What are you girls doing here?”

Elena untied the rope that was around mom’s hands that looped around the headboard. “Saving you.” she said pulling the rope free.

“You shouldn’t be here either of you.” Mom spoke fast. “It’s not safe.”

“That doesn’t matter.” I helped her off the bed. “We have to get out of here.”

“I’m sorry I can’t let you do that.”

I turned around and looked at the man I guessed was Nick Giovanni. I knew it couldn’t have stayed so easy.