Better The Devil You Know

Item: Doubt

The next few weeks were chaos. Normally, the weeks before Christmas are filled with decorating, buying presents and shopping as Aurora is a die-hard Christmas gal. But not this year.

The beginning of December was spent on business meetings, shootouts, and takeovers. Having discussed agreements with other Mafia and gang leaders, contracts had to be drawn up and plans made.

By the 23rd of December, the Romano Mob had the support of over 10,000 men, all willing to go to war. Reports were flying in from all over the country with break-ins and citizen shootings, all branded with 'Cosa Nostra'. Everyone was on high-alert, every Italian name checked, every different accent double checked, and every pocket loaded with guns.

The house became more of a hostel, with at least five guest rooms occupied at any given time. Aurora became a full-blown housewife as well as a mobster, mopping floors whilst on the phone to Nathan discussing whether hitmen or grenades would be more practical.

The plus side to all of this was she made many friends. It surprised her how many people were in her position, thankful to find people who understood her situation. She hadn't seen Lucy or Samantha in weeks for their safety and FaceTime is only temporarily enough.

She saw the Morettis lots, and was grateful for the reconnection. Most of them had not seen Nathan yet either, after he stormed off with his toddler tantrum.

Life was so busy. Aurora was running on two hours sleep, three litres of coffee and energy drinks and honestly looked high most of the time.

At this moment in time, Aurora was curled up on the big sofa in Nathan's office, currently checking on the weapon order whilst he was sat behind his desk, deep in conversation on the phone.

Running her hands through her greasy hair, she yawned. Staring at the words infront of her, she could see the words but couldn't read them. Having reread the same sentence about twenty times she gave up and moved onto planning the next conference.

Ending the call, Nathan turned to Aurora, 'two or three men have been spotted by one of the warehouses. They've been tracked back to Colombo territory.'

'I'll call Patrick, let them know. How we gonna catch them?'

'I don't know. We need some to come back alive. I was thinking baiting but I've sent everyone down south to catch those stupid bastards.' Nathan rubbed his hand against his head.

'I could do it.'

'No.'

'Think about it. I could do...'

'Aurora you are not doing it. End of.'

'Why not? Your pride? In extreme circumstances, you take extreme measures!'

'No. It's not that extreme. You are not ever, ever, going to be a baiter. And that's final.'

'I'm trying to help! What's the big deal? Why do...'

'Aurora! You will NEVER do that again, you got it?! That's the end of this discussion, ok? So go home.'

'Really? You're going to send me home?'

'Yes. You need to sleep. You annoy me more than usual when you're tired.'

Grabbing her handbag, Aurora huffed, 'I hate you.'

'Hate you too.' Nathan snarled.

🖤

Stepping out of the lift, Aurora groaned in frustration. Her car was at home as she had got a lift with Nathan back when they were actually talking to each other.