Passion.

Chapter Thirty

The Next Day...
"Hi." David says, kissing my forehead. "Hi." I force a smile. "Do you want anything?" He asks, kindly. "I could use water. My throat hurts from crying so much." He smiles. "Okay." He leaves the room and walks downstairs just as Roan enters the room. "Hi baby." He kisses my forehead and sits on the bed beside me. "I don't know if I want to go to her funeral." I say, honestly. "You don't have to. But if you do, just know I will be by your side through the entire thing." I thank him. My throat is killing me and I'm starting to think it's not from the tears. Now is not the time to get sick. But I ignore it and accept the water from David. I get a call from Demetria and she's in tears. "CLAIRE." She yells. "What?! What's wrong?" "It's Cody. I came home, and he's... Claire he's dead." "Oh my god." David whispers, "What?" As Roan looks concerned. I put my hand over my phone and whisper "Her boyfriend Cody died." I ask her the most valuable question. "Does he look like he was murdered?" "Yes. There's a bullet in his head and he didn't shoot himself." I gasp. I shake my head towards Roan and let him know he was murdered. Of course this was the Mafia's doing. But I know my mothers suicide and Cody's murder were just coincidental at the same time, yet I can't help but wonder if this murder was targeted towards me. But after a while, I stop wondering. Of course I was the target here. "I'll be right over. Call 911." I say and hang up. I get out of bed and ask Roan for a gun. He hands one to me and I tuck it into the back of my jeans. "Where are you going?" David asks. "I'm going to help my sister. As for you two, please come up with an idea as to who did this." They nod and I kiss both of them goodbye. I don't have the energy to deal with a Mafia lead murder, but for my sister and for our safety, I have to. Demetria. I haven't even taken a minute to think about if she's okay mentally. Of course she's not. Cody was the love of her life and now he's gone. I drive there as fast as I can and once I show up there are cops everywhere. I try to go in, but they won't let me. Demetria storms out of her apartment and I hug her, as she falls to the ground. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." Is all I can manage to say. We sit on the cold cemented ground for a while before they take his body out in a bag. I turn Demetria's face to mine and say "Just focus on me. Don't look over there. Focus on my eyes." No person should ever see the man they love be taken away in such a vile way. "Come on, I'm going to take you to my apartment. You stay there and don't leave. Remember when I told you about what David and Roan do, well they're targeting you. So you have to protect yourself." She gasps and I feel bad for her and for Cody. Neither one of them asked for this. I should've just stayed away, but now that I know The Mafia knows about my sister, I won't stop protecting her. "Okay." She nods and I see how broken she is.
Once we arrive at my apartment, I tell her where my gun is and make sure she's okay before leaving.
Walking in to The Smiths house I'm concerned. I don't have time to grieve my mother, or even Cody. I don't have time to be bitter or upset. I have to protect the people I love. "We have an idea as to who murdered Cody, but Reggie just got a hint off of one of his men that they're targeting you. It's no longer about David, Me, Or Reggie. They're going to kill you and everyone you love if you don't get to a safe space Claire." Roan greets me with his frightening words. "Well, the hotel is a safe space, right?" I assume. "No. There's to many open doors, to many ways they can find you there. Which is why Reggie is taking you and Demetria out of town. Far out of town, right over seas. Somewhere no one could find you, except for us. I'm sorry, but you can't attend your mothers funeral, or Cody's. If anyone could protect you as good as David and I can, it's Reggie." Reggie huffs and a small smirk comes up on his lips. Ugh, what an asshole. But, I do trust him. I have to. "You have an hour to get to your apartment, pack up all of your shit, get to Demetrias apartment, take all of her shit, and get back here to leave." Reggie explains. "Alright. I get it. See you all later." I leave. I get back into my car and call James, explaining that I can't come in for the next month due to my mothers death. He takes it up as a good excuse, and tells me to take the next two months off. As much as I prioritize my work, and love my apartment, this is much more important. At least through all of this, I have three gangsters who are willing to go psychotic to protect me. It breaks my heart that I have to tell Demi she can't even go to her boyfriends funeral. Taking me out of my disturbing thought, I hear a siren roll up behind me and I pull over for the police car. I have officially fifty minutes to do everything Reggie instructed. "Do you know why you're being pulled over?" He asks. It's the same police officer who hit on me a few weeks ago. "No." I say; truthfully. "Because you're extremely attractive. And I want to cop a feel." He opens my door and forces himself on me, touching my breasts. "What the fuck? No! Get off of me." I say, pushing him out of my car. "Come on baby. Don't forget I have a gun." He waves it at me. "Oh, Yeah? Well I do to." I take the gun from my pocket and point it at him. "Darling, put it down. You won't actually shoot me." "I really don't have the time for this." He makes a brave move by getting back into my car. "Okay." I shoot him in the shoulder. He'll be fine if he gets to a hospital, so it's not like I'm killing anyone. He goes to call me in on his radio, but I stop him. "You might not want to do that. Ever here of Roan and David Smith? Well, if you call me in they'll be sure to kill you and everyone you know in a heart beat. So get back in your car, and drive away and we could never speak about this again. I'm sure you wouldn't want to lose your life or your career, right darling?" I smile. He shakes his head and runs back to his car. I mumble a "very good." As I get back on the road.
Showing up to my apartment, I have thirty minutes to get my shit together. I storm into my apartment and pack my entire life into my suitcase, as fast as I can. "Where are you going?!" Demetria asks. "We have to leave town, or else we'll be dead soon. I'm going to pack enough clothes and toiletries for both of us, there's no time to go back to your apartment. Also, you can't go to Cody's funeral. It's not safe. None of it is safe. My only priority is keeping us alive." She nods, extremely understanding the situation. "But where we're going we'll be safe. And no more people will die as long as we're together." I'm finally done packing when I blurt out, "Also, I may have shot a cop in the shoulder because he forced himself onto me." She laughs. She's actually laughing. I look at the time and see there's five minutes before I have to get back. "Okay, grab whatever you want from the fridge and let's go." I say. With two minutes remaining we go into my car and I hit the gas and go as fast as possible, driving through every red light because it won't matter. After going a hundred miles per hour for ten minutes, we finally get there. But somethings off. Reggie, Roan, and David are nowhere to be found. All I see is a note. "Something came up. Drive to Sal's, he'll lead you to the helicopter. He knows how to fly, and he'll take you to the location. David, myself and Reggie will meet you there in a week. I'm sorry you have to go through all of this. There's a suitcase in your bedroom filled with enough ammunition and guns to last you a year. I love you. We'll get through this- Roan." He's lying.
We won't get through this. No one involved in The Mafia will ever be safe. So it's time to channel my inner Reggie Richardson.