“You know…when I saved your life, little one, I never expected you to save mine. You’re quite the hero, you know. Your name is going to fit right in with your new family. Romina has a Russian ring to it. Don’t you think so?” The little girl looked up at him with big chocolate brown eyes as she sucked her thumb. The rocking chair creaked rhythmically beneath them as he pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head.
“Yes, you will live the life of a princess, little Romina Glazov. Anyone who says money can’t buy happiness has never been dirt poor. They will give you everything Amelia can’t…everything I can’t. But it looks like I’ll still be close by. It’s a place called Louisville.” He leaned in closer. “Can you say that?”
“Wee-bill.”
“Close enough,” he chuckled, clearing his throat with some difficulty. “I’ve already got dual citizenship so that’s taken care of. We just need to get your papers in order. Ah, there’s the doorbell now.”
He carried Romina to the door with him, opened it and gestured for the Colombian cartel lawyer to come in. Fernando Suarez was dressed like he’d just walked off the cover of GQ. He was paid well by the Colombian cartel and his designer suit and Italian leather shoes – and the Jaguar he drove – showed it.
“All we need is the mother’s signature. The father’s deceased and I’ve already recorded that and put a rush on the paperwork, so you can go ahead and pick up the adoptive parents and make the introductions. Then you are to take care of your other business. Let’s get this done. Go get Amelia.”
Lucca’s face was grim as he traversed the hallway to the bedroom. “Put the fucking pipe down, Amelia, you need to sign the papers. Don’t forget what you agreed to: you sign the papers and I make sure your pipe stays full. If you don’t sign, I’ll cut off every connection you have. Withdrawal is brutal. You’ll probably drown in your own vomit.”
Her face blanched at the grisly image. “I know what you think of me, Lucca. Whether you believe it or not, I want my daughter to have a chance at a good life. I’m no good for her, I’d have to be blind not to see that. It’s too late for me but she still has time.”
Lucca looked at her, really looked at her, and he was surprised by what he saw. There was one, last shred of goodness in her when it came to Romina. He knew what that was like. There had been times when that child had been the only thing keeping his dwindling humanity within reach. It took a lot of love to let a child go; he was finding that out for himself. It was a good thing the Glazov family had come along before drugs had stolen every trace of motherly love left in Amelia. They both knew the day would come when nothing but love for the drug would remain.
She trudged into the room behind him, averting her eyes from Romina’s smiling face peering at her over his shoulder. Amelia stood before the lawyer, barefoot and dirty, and signed on every line he pointed to.
When Amelia finished, she put the pen down and looked at Romina in Lucca’s arms. She blinked hard as she regarded the little girl, and pressed her lips into a thin, flat line. “So, this is it, then. Okay. Well, this is the best thing for you, the best thing for everyone.” She cleared her throat and averted her eyes, her voice raspy as she continued, “I’m way too busy to take care of a kid anyway, you know. Got way too much going on.”
There was a quiet knock at the door. Amelia didn’t seem surprised as she opened the door and stepped back, gesturing for the visitor to come in. She closed the door and leaned back against it, her face expressionless, her voice bored. “You know how it works. Thirty for my mouth, fifty for my pussy, and we use my condoms not yours. What’s it gonna be?”
He was a middle-aged professional type. Nondescript, brown hair cut in a conservative style, parted neatly on the side. Average face. Lean build. A prominent Adam’s Apple that bounced up and down as if it just couldn’t get comfortable. His eyes shifted from Amelia to where we sat staring at their exchange. He looked back at her and swallowed again as he rummaged in his pocket. “Um, what about your ass? Is that included? Or is it extra?”
She just shrugged and pursed her lips. “Depends.”
He pulled cash from his pants pocket and looked at her anxiously as he held up a couple of bills. “How about a hundred? What do I get for a hundred?”
Amelia stared at the cash, her expression as flat and dull as her next words. “You get it all, baby. You get it all.”
She pushed away from the door and crossed the room, her eyes looking straight ahead. He followed her, his attention focused eagerly on what he’d just paid for as she walked ahead of him. She paused at the door. Her hand hovered in the air briefly before gripping the door jamb, the knuckles showing white beneath thin, brittle skin. “You be a good girl.” Then she shuffled back to the bedroom to take care of business.
“Okay, so that’s everything,” the lawyer said briskly as he handed the manila envelope to Lucca. “You should still be able to visit, at the adoptive parents’ discretion. And you won’t have any trouble from that one,” he said with a nod in the direction of the bedroom. “It’s only a matter of time before the mother loses any maternal instincts she may still possess. It’s a good thing you had the wherewithal to catch things before it got to that stage. The child would have grown up far too soon and died far too young. The damage would have been irreparable.”
Lucca knew his words were the truth. What he didn’t understand was why he felt like a fist was tightening around his chest. It hurt to let Romina go, yes, but it was for the best.
“Good luck to you, Lucca. And you, too, young lady,” Suarez said as he left.
Lucca looked around the room as he bounced Romina on his knee. There wasn’t any reason to stay now. He’d already bathed her and put her in a clean dress. Her hair was brushed into loose, glossy curls with a strand of hair gathered into a pink bow above her ear. “Time to go, sweetheart of mine. Your forever mommy and daddy can’t wait to meet you. You have a big family now, did you know that?”
He picked up her favorite doll and Romina clutched it to her chest as they left the house for the last time. With her perched on his hip, he reached behind him and pulled the door closed.
Inside the house, an eerie stillness settled over the room like years of dusty neglect. Lucca’s voice faded as his steps took him farther away, down the steps and out to the car. The car’s engine rumbled to life, then that, too, faded away.
The silence was broken by frantic, rhythmic grunts from down the hall. He had gone for her ass first. No prep, no lube, and in no hurry to finish. And wasn’t that just what she deserved, Amelia thought to herself.
She didn’t bother pushing the hair out of her face. He shoved himself inside her, jerking her hard back and forth on the filthy mattress. His thrusts picked up speed and his shaft swelled and hardened in the seconds before he finally unloaded inside her and cried out incoherently for someone named Tomas. He pulled out abruptly and moments later tossed the cash on the nightstand -- right next to her saving grace: the pipe that would deliver the mindless stupor she had been praying for.
As Lucca drove across town, the pain of letting Romina go was as real and deep as any emotion he had ever felt. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as he waited for the traffic light to turn green. He looked left and right, then checked the rearview mirror. He would always be looking over his shoulder, just a fact of life. But he didn’t like doing it with Romina in the car with him. Poor kid had hardly ever been outside before. Yeah, her new life needed to start now. As for him, his relief at saving her from a life of degradation would have to be enough to keep him going.
He shook his head as he pulled away from the intersection. Maybe Amelia should have named her Mercy. Romina had saved his life by touching his hard heart the first day he saw her when she was only a few days old, and now she had saved it again. He didn’t have it in him to be anybody’s father, but he sure as hell would be Romina’s guardian angel. They were bound together for life now, no matter where she was. There was nothing the cartel or anyone else could do to change that. He’d kill anyone who tried.