She walks downstairs and drags her feet into the kitchen as if she’s about to be sentenced on death row. I could pretend that I’m Mr. Nice guy and smile and tell her everything is going to be all right. But her fate depends on her decision, and I meant it when I said there are no strings attached, she can go if she wants and I have sorted out a package to make sure that she’s as comfortable as possible.

I don’t want her to be caught up with my dad and even worse, end up dead. So, I made sure that Rick sorted a new ID for her so she could get on with her life.

As she approaches me, I reach out to hand it to her. “This is for you,” I say as I put it in her hand and then get a drink. Fuck! I’m so damn thirsty; the last few days have been fucking crazy. From spending it with Rick to trying to get a new ID for not only Leah, but myself too. I need to grow this damn beard to make sure that everything is in place from the moment that we leave.

“What is it?” she asks as she puts down the phone and then moves it from hand-to-hand.

I sigh. “Open it and see.” I pour a glass of juice, while I’m explaining it all to her. “It’s a new life. One that you can take from the moment you leave here.”

She laughs nervously. “Why do I need a new life?”

“Because you can’t go back to the old.” I pass her a glass of orange juice.

She grabs it with both hands and seems refreshed by drinking it.

So, I move next to her and pour her another glass. I do this three times before she says. “I just want to go back to the diner. I want to talk to my friend. I don’t know what’s happening, but I can see that Mom and Hayley having money has something to do with you. I want to know, but then again part of me doesn’t care. Why should I? After all, since I’ve been here they haven’t even bothered to get in touch, but if they didn’t have money then no doubt they’d be calling me as if there’s no tomorrow.”

I realize that it’s not enough to give her an envelope and send her on her way. She’s been here for over a week. She’s not the bright-eyed girl that walked through my door and into the limo. If anything, she’s the complete opposite. I wonder if David did more than just knock her out when she tried to escape?

“Did David hurt you?”

She shakes her head, her mouth opens and shuts as if she wants to say something else. “No, but can I have something to eat please?”

I nod my head. “Sure. But don’t you want to look in the envelope?”

She shakes her head.

I want to explain things to her, but she doesn’t seem interested. Maybe if I get the fried chicken that she loves eating as if her life depends on it, maybe then it’ll spark some interest. Enough to make her listen and understand how things have to be from this moment onwards. I find the chicken, and I turn to watch her.

She’s just sitting there as if she hasn’t got a care in the world.

“Have you thought about where you want to go once you leave here?”

She doesn’t hesitate in looking at me and saying, “The diner. I want to see Olivia. Talk to her. All of them.” Then she plays around with the cell. The new iPhone I gave her. She looks up at me as if she thinks that I want gratitude for the phone. “Sorry, thanks.” She lifts it up.

I just nod. This isn’t what I was expecting from her. I’ve been keeping her here for the last few days against her will. I’ve given her the chance to leave, and I expect her to be running out of the door any minute. Instead, she seems to want to stay, then again if she did, then she wouldn’t be toying with the envelope and would be telling me to take it back. That she didn’t need it.

As I hand her the plate, she laughs. “Can I take some with me?”

I nod my head and then turn to put some in a box for her to take. I look to see that she’s eating it the same way that she did last week. She was hungry, but I was sure David said that he fed her regularly. She slows down after the first one, and that’s when I see her nibbling it.

“You love watching me eat the chicken. Don’t you?”

I nod my head and then get the plate out of the microwave and join her. I sit by her side waiting for her to react to fear.

Nothing!

If anything, she acts quite comfortable next to me and then she gets up. “Can I get a soda?”

“Sure, help yourself.”

Last week, we were sitting here as if we were lovers and couldn’t get enough of each other. Now, we’re acting like strangers and as I finish my first drumstick. I hesitate about eating some more as I want to get everything out into the open including the blood on my hands. “You see it was about fifteen years ago, or so, that’s when I first met Steven. He was thrown out of his house because he was one of those guys. I thought that he was misunderstood at the time. He was older but so fucking smart.”

She nods as if she’s interested in what I have to say.

I don’t deserve her time. But I’m grateful that she’s giving it to me. “My family are a bunch of mobsters. Kill first and then ask questions later. I was part of it, and it was all good until things got out of control. Steven stepped on the wrong feet. Always flirting and using his charm to get together with women who were taken or just shouldn’t have been touched.”

She gasps. “Wow, even when he was married to my mom?”

I nod, thinking that I remember when he told me about getting married, he said that he was doing it so it would calm him down. I remember him saying it as if he was doing me a favor. I laughed at the idea of it, but I wasn’t his dad. I didn’t have time to sit and listen to everyone’s problems.

“Anyway, he seemed to calm down for a little while and then it was as if he was bored or something. Gambling, drugs, stealing. You name it. Steven was into it. And then I found out what he did with his own family. The real reason that they wanted nothing to do with him.”

She tuts, “He told us that they were all dead. That’s why none of them came to the wedding.”

“Oh, they’re alive alright. They think that he’s dead. That’s what he did to get out of the money that he stole from his dad.”

“What the fuck was wrong with him?”

I can only say what I assume is the reason for him doing it. “Some people are like that. They do things, not because they need to, but simply because they think that they can get away with it. I think that was the deal with Steven. He did it because he thought that no one would catch up with him.”

“Did you kill him?” she whispers as if she knows the fate of him before I even got to that side of the story.

“No, but he’s dead.”

She nods. “I see.”

What does she see? Because so far, she’s not saying anything. I just told her a major thing, and she’s quiet. Maybe she was suspicious all along that there was something wrong with Steven and I’ve just confirmed her worst fears. “Anyway, the thing is you’re supposed to disappear like your mom and stepsister.”

“Her dad’s dead, and she doesn’t even seem to care.”

I shrug. “Maybe she takes more after her dad then you ever saw. I just want you to know, Leah. That the money will keep coming as long as you want it to. The passport and the envelope is a way to a new life.”

Again, she repeats the words, “I see.”

“Let me know when you’re ready to leave, and then I’ll take you to the diner.”

She nods, but then there’s this uncomfortable silence between us. She breaks it by saying, “What happened to you?”

I should tell her my side of the story about Silvia dying and giving up my life as a mobster. But I don’t. I keep that side to myself as I think about the tiredness that’s slowly, but surely taking over my body. No amount of sleep will get rid of it. Just time and not an overactive imagination about what’s happened in the past, but a peaceful life as I’ll sit and reflect about my plans for the future. “Too much. And we need to get going before it gets dark.”

She gets up and starts heading out of the kitchen as if she’s ready to go. She doesn’t take the envelope or even the chicken. I know that she may not want it, but she certainly needs it. Maybe not this second, but soon.