Today was D-day, and I was more than ready. Technically, it was day zero but that was beside the point.
Massimo was the only one that hated my plan. The rest of the Mancini’s thought it was a great idea.
Personally, I believed it to be a great plan. Risky? Yes. Flawed? Possibly. Were there many different chances of things going wrong? Definitely yes.
Was I scared? Not as much as I expected myself to be. Perhaps it was because I knew that either way, if I did something or not, I was as good as dead. So, if I was going to go down, I might as well go down kicking. If fighting back gave me a higher chance of making it out alive, then that was great.
If I somehow messed it up and ended up dead anyway, then at least I wouldn’t die a coward.
But according to Massimo, he would have to be buried a hundred feet under the ground and that still wouldn’t be enough to stop him from stopping anyone touching even a single hair on my head. Many girls would find it overly possessive, and it would irk them, but I found his protectiveness of me endearing, and I made sure to let him know just how endearing I found it last night.
Regardless of how many times I, Benedetta and even his brothers tried to assure Massimo that everything would be alright, that this was a good plan, and nothing would happen to me as long as we stuck to it, Massimo still wasn’t convinced.
Even this morning when we woke up, he was all serious and pouty, and even tried to get me to stay in bed for longer by distracting me with that glorious cock of his. Well, the joke was on him because I got the big O and how, here I was, working the night shift as I often did early morning on a Sunday.
The police had abandoned my apartment yesterday, so I was able to move back there yesterday. Massimo snuck up in the middle of the night and joined me in bed and let me tell you, leaving his arms this morning, especially when he kept asking me to stay, was one of the most difficult things I had ever had to do.
Other than Massimo Mancini keeping my bed warm while I got ready for work, I acted as if this was just another normal day to me. I got dressed for work, made myself a quick snack of a jammy toast on the go, and got on the subway to head to work. Of course, it wouldn’t be me if I turned up on time, so I made sure to be at least fifteen minutes late for appearances sake.
Tia had stuck with me until three am, very respectful of my boundaries as we talked about everything under the sun except the reason why I had returned to my parents’ residence for another week. After she left, I made myself an extra strong Frappuccino to keep me awake and trifled through some textbooks. At a time like this, I couldn’t focus on the words or make sense of anything which I read, but at least I kept up the pretence. Or at least, I hoped so.
The clock struck five am and I had only had one customer. It was somewhat of a regular – if you could count people who got coffee from an airport Starbucks a regular. She was one of the cleaners who appeared to work just as many night shifts as I did, and we made light conversation while I brewed her coffee.
After she left, I was plunged back into boredom. I was starting to think no one was going to turn up today.
There was another hour of my shift left and nothing had happened. No one had shown up, and there certainly wasn’t a note with a number on it.
“Don’t say anything, Cara. Just listen to my voice,” Massimo murmured into my earbud which I had been wearing all shift now, casually hidden behind my curtain of hair which I had left down as I often did.
Just as Massimo had instructed, I didn’t say anything. Nor did I react as I continued reading the jumble of words on my Journalism textbook.
“We’ve spotted a few Romano’s in the airport,” Massimo murmured into my ear. “There a few cars of them outside the airport, and another handful of them which are waiting at airport security to get in. But there’s one leading the pack.”
This was the part where I usually would have asked what Massimo meant by this, but I couldn’t. Not when there was a Romano free at the airport and most likely heading straight to me.
“It looks like he’s heading your way,” Massimo only voiced aloud what I was thinking. “Remember the plan, Cara. Just act normal and serve him the drink if he orders one. Take your time and don’t worry. We’ll take care of the rest,” he murmured before pausing. “And Cara, nod for me if you remember what to do if he pulls out a weapon.”
I nodded subtly.
“That’s my good girl,” he mumbled in a low baritone, and the sound went straight down to my pussy. Unfortunately, now was a completely inappropriate time for such feelings, but my body continued to betray me as it usually did when Massimo was in the equation.
“I’d rather die than let anything happen to you, Cara. And I plan to be the mafia boss of the Mancini Mafia for a very long time.”
I wanted to tell Massimo to stop speaking so negatively. I wanted to tell him to shut up and not talk about his death for a moment longer, but I couldn’t. Not just because I was supposed to be acting normal and appearing as if I was talking to myself was far from normal, but because a customer had just walked into the store.
“Good morning and welcome to Starbucks. What can I get for you today?” I smiled brightly at the man behind the counter, subtly dropping my hand to graze the handle of the dagger Massimo had slipped into my pocket before I left the apartment this morning.
“What’s so good about it?” the man snorted.
I knew for him to be a Romano straight away. And it wasn’t just down to the terrible attitude. No, it was because of the way he was dressed. So smart and formal, looking as if he always belonged in a business meeting. That, and the hint of a tattoo on his wrist that Massimo had told me to look out for.
The letter ‘R’.
“Seems like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” I chuckled teasingly. “What drink can I get you to get rid of the sour attitude?”
“I’ll go for a large Cappuccino,” the man all but demanded from me in a gruff, unpleasant sort of voice.
“What size can I make that for you?”
“Large.”
“Large, got it,” I murmured as I grabbed the right size cup. “And what name should I put on the drink?”
“Romano.”
I maintained the cool, easy expression on my face even though I felt anything but. I had suspected that this man was from the Romano family, but having him confirm it was a whole another thing.
“A large Cappuccino coming right up,” I smiled as I scribbled down his name, accepted his card for payment before moving behind the counter to get started on his drink request.
“We’ve got all eyes on you, Cara,” Massimo murmured quietly in my ear. “Remember what we planned. Make his drink slowly. We’ve already intercepted the Romano’s outside of the airport, and they’ve fled like the cowards that they are. However, there’s quite a few that have snuck through the airport and they’re making it rather difficult to track them down.”
I listened attentive to Massimo muse aloud as I made the drink, my face stoic as I made it look like I was focusing. Just like he said, I worked slowly and didn’t rush like I usually did.
I probably looked like a new barista who was still learning her way around the machines, but it would be worth it if it aided me in staying alive.
“Here’s one large cappuccino for a Mr Romano,” I smiled sweetly as I placed the cup down on the collection counter. “Enjoy your drink and have a good day.”
The man didn’t say anything, though his eyes remained glued on mine as he reached for the drink and raised it to his lips to take a sip despite it being very hot.
If it was anyone else, they would have jerked away at the scalding drink, but the man merely held my eyes as he took not one sip, not two, but three.
“This is the best cappuccino I’ve ever had,” the man told me with a small smile as he placed the drink back down on the counter once again. “It’s so good that I can’t leave without tipping you.”
“Oh, there’s no need to tip me. Knowing that you enjoyed the drink is good enough for me,” I smiled and shook my head. My actions were humble but, on the inside, I was desperate to get this man as far away from me as possible.
“No, I insist,” he smiled sweetly at me, but I could only gulp in response as he reached into his suit jacket.
Straight away, I knew he wasn’t reaching for some spare change to tip me with. I knew that he was reaching for his gun, as if the outline of it wasn’t already a dead giveaway.
“Where did you go?” the man suddenly asked, no doubt surprised to see me gone.
Little did he know that I had pre-empted that he planned to point the gun to me and had ducked behind the counter before he could do so.
The man continued speaking and calling out to me, but I didn’t stick around to listen. Instead, I got on my hands and my knees as I crawled to the other side of the counter where the secret exit out of here was located. Instead of taking a left into the backroom where Massimo and I had fucked that first time, I would have to turn right in the storeroom, and that would be my secret exit out of here.
But to do that, I would need to open the door and currently, my fear was that if I did that, the guy would go crazy and start firing his fun.
“I know you know who I am and why I’m here, Yasemin Turgenev,” the man chuckled as I heard him begin to walk around the side of the counter. My eyes widened as the sound of his footsteps got louder, and I pushed myself to crawl faster toward the door.
“Cara?” Massimo called into the earpiece. “I can’t see you anymore. Cough if you’re safe.”
I wanted to cough. I really did. But one, I wasn’t exactly safe and two, if I coughed right now, then that I would give away my current location, and that was not something I could risk right now.
“You can run but you can’t hide, Yasemin,” the man continued to taunt me. “You’re going to pay for what you did to my brother. You’re going to pay for what you did to a Romano. The fact that you thought you could get away with it is laughable.”
My breath hitched in my throat at his words, and I came to a stop when there was no more space to crawl to anymore.
I could hear his footsteps continue to get louder as he got closer to me, and the door was in front of me. If I didn’t try to make a run for it now, I may not be given an opportunity later.
Taking in a sharp breath, I reached for the handle first and yanked open the door to the storeroom. When I heard his shouts as his footsteps got louder and closer, I rushed up to my feet and all but threw myself out the door.
“You little bitch!” the man swore loudly before firing his gun.
I didn’t stick around to find out where the bullet had lodged himself, or whether he went the long way around the counter or jumped over the counter to chase after me. Instead, I propelled myself toward the door on the right, the one which would be easily missed as it nearly blended into the wall, and it was barely ever used. This was a door that I remembered to close behind me and once I did, I released a sigh of relief.
This door required a pin which only employees knew, so there was no way the man could chase after me. At least not this way.
And by the time he managed to find out the quiet, abandoned corridor that this door led to – not as straight forward as you would think as it was closed off from one side – I would be long gone.
“I think I’ve lost him,” I murmured into the earpiece, but when I was met with radio silence, I lifted my hand and grazed it against my ear only to find nothing.
It appeared that in my mad rush to get out of there, my earbud had slipped out and I hadn’t realised. Well, i would rather lose an earbud than my life.
“You may have lost him, but you’ve got the rest of us to look forward to.”
-
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Layla Knight
05.02.2022
