Seven Days: A young black woman makes a deal with a mob boss. (17 page)

She slowly opened the door and walked out. The young man who had handed her the bag full of money that day, was waiting for her in the hall.
"Ms. Davis, if you would please follow me, I'll show you to your room," he said.
"Oh. Thank you. And just Victoria," she said, as she walked closely behind him.
It was a large guest room, beautifully decorated. The heat filled her nostrils when she walked in. The young man turned on the light and was about to exit when she called out to him.
"Um, thank you...?"
"Reni. And you're welcome," he said as he left.
Victoria grabbed the large robe that was folded on the bed and slipped into it. She felt like shit. Her whole head felt like someone had hit her several times with a baseball bat. Her nose was burning and her chest felt tight.
She wanted to go find Paul and tell him thanks, but her body was so tired, she could hardly think. She pulled back the covers of the bed and got in. The sheets were so warm and comfortable. Within a few seconds, Victoria was asleep.
After a while, Victoria saw a small light shine into her room as someone placed a tray on the nightstand beside her. Her nose was stopped up, but she was sure it was food. She rolled back over and nodded off to sleep again. 
Later that night, Victoria woke up gasping for air. She felt like she couldn't breathe. Her whole body was shaking. She tried to get up from the bed, but knocked over the lamp and tray that sat on the nightstand. They hit the floor with a loud crash, spilling food everywhere. Fuck! 'I'm more trouble than I'm worth,' Victoria thought, trying to clean up the mess.
A few seconds later she heard footsteps coming down the hall. Shit. As soon as Paul entered, she tried to apologize. "I'm so sorry, I was—," Victoria tried to get out, before Paul shushed her. 
"I have my doctor coming over to examine you," he said, helping her up from the floor and back into the bed. "I've been checking on you while you were asleep, and your breathing is really labored and you're running a temperature."
Victoria could barely listen to what he was saying. Her head was exploding. She laid back down and he pulled the covers around her. After a few more minutes, Reni escorted another man into the room. He was an older man with a bag. He took her temperature and held the cold part of the stethoscope to her chest. Victoria started fading in and out as Paul and the other man talked. That was the last thing she remembered before she fell back into a deep sleep.
Nic was furious and...hurt. 
"Turn down here," he said to Raymond. It was now three in the Goddamn morning and they were still searching for her. Nic cursed himself. He should have just followed her. It was freezing outside, and she only had a flimsy little jacket on since she had refused to take any of the clothing he had bought for her. He got desperate and had gone to her parent's house. That...had been interesting.
He had knocked on the door several times. He could see them pacing back and forth through the light in the peephole and he could hear them frantically discussing something. No doubt, whether or not to open the door for him. But then, finally, her father had answered.
"Yes?" he said.
"I'm looking for Victoria, is she here?" Nic had asked.
"No."
"Do you know where she is?"
"No."
Nic narrowed his eyes at James. His next question was going to be, 'Do you care where she is?', but Nic didn't have time to argue with him. 
"If you see her, tell her to call me. She has the number."
James just stared at him and then tried to close the door. Nic couldn't resist any longer. He stopped the door with his hand and leaned close to him. "You may not owe me any money, but I can still make your life hell," he threatened.
James nodded slightly, "I'll tell her to call if I see her."
"Thank you," Nic said, and removed his hand from the door.
But now he and Raymond were still driving around in the rain looking for her. Antonio had gotten in his car to look as well, but he had not called to give him any good news. Fuck! 
By four-thirty in the morning, they pulled back up to his house. He needed to get into some dry clothes and get his head straight. When he opened the door, he saw Jimmy standing there with a worried look on his face.
Nic's heart dropped. "What?" he asked.
Jimmy hesitated, then said, "Hey Nic, look, don't hate me okay? But...I know where she got the money from, and I know where she probably is right now."
Nic wanted to punch Jimmy in his fucking face. Why he hadn't told him earlier would be another conversation at another time, but right now he needed to get to Victoria. "Where is she?" Nic asked, burning a hole through Jimmy.
"She, uh, well the day she brought the money to you, she had called me earlier asking for Paul Marconi's address. So, I figure that's the only person she could have gotten it from. I would have told you earlier if—"
Nic turned and walked away from him. He didn't want to hear. That motherfucker had known all this time where she was and hadn't told him! Paul Marconi...what the fuck kind of relationship did they have? He didn't even know Victoria knew him. He marched upstairs to his office, pulled the bag from a small safe and quickly returned downstairs.
He walked out of the door without saying another word to Jimmy.
When Nic finally pulled up to Paul's gate, they quickly let him enter. As soon as he parked he walked up to the door and was greeted by Paul.
"Hey Nic," Paul said, extending his hand.
"Paul," Nic said, shaking the older man's hand. "I believe this belongs to you," he said, handing Paul the black duffel bag. 
"Hmm, thank you," Paul said, looking at the bag, then placing the strap over his shoulder. 
"Is she here?" Nic asked, scanning behind Paul.

"Yes, she is. I'll tell her you're here," Paul said, turning to walk upstairs. Nic wanted to follow him, but this was Paul's house, and he would try his best not to be disrespectful. No matter how pissed off he was.
Victoria was awake, but still she felt a bit weak. Her eyelids felt heavy. But whatever the doctor had given her had made her feel much better.
"Victoria?" she heard Paul say as he entered. "Good, glad to see you awake. Are you alright?"
"Yes," Victoria croaked out. "Thank you."
"You're very welcome. I need to let you know that Nic is downstairs and he wants to see you."
Victoria quickly woke from her haze. "No! I mean, no, I don't want to see him."
Paul nodded his head and left the room.
Nic waited patiently as Paul came back downstairs.
"Nic, she doesn't want any company at the moment. But if you come back later, perhaps--"
"Paul, you and I both know I'm not leaving here until I speak with her."
Paul narrowed his eyes at Nic. He didn't want to get in the middle of this lovers' quarrel, but he also wanted to respect Victoria's wishes. She had come to him for help.
"I understand you're concerned Nic, but causing a scene in my house won't make this situation better for her."
Nic stepped around Paul and started heading towards the stairs. Reni approached from the side blocking Nic's path.
"Sorry sir, Mr. Marconi asked you to come back," Reni said.
"Paul, I have a lot of respect for you, but I'm about to drop this kid and head upstairs anyway. Now if you don't want him hurt, I suggest you tell him to move," Nic said, just a few inches from Reni's face. 
Paul could easily call another of his bodyguards, and blow this whole situation out of proportion. But he knew that Nic wasn't thinking rationally. And that he probably would break Reni's nose. Paul didn't know every detail about Nic and Victoria's strange relationship, but he did know that there were more feelings involved than either one was letting on. He stared at the back of Nic's body, which was tense. He had always liked Nic. Much more than Nic's father. Nic had a brutal honestly about him. Paul respected that. He wished his own son could be more like Nic. But Sonny was sneaky and unreliable. Two traits that neither Paul nor Nic possessed.
"Reni, let Mr. Andretti pass," Paul said. Nic moved forward, barely giving Reni a second to move out of the way. Paul followed behind. "I would like to give her a heads up, Nic. So she won't think I am betraying her."
Nic stopped when they reached the top of the stairs. "Alright," he said as Paul moved ahead of him and entered a room at the end of the hallway.
Victoria looked up to see Paul come in. "Is he gone?" she asked.
"No. Actually, he's right outside the door. He wants to make sure you're okay, Victoria. He was very insistent. I'll stay in the room if you want. So is it alright to let him in?"
Victoria really didn't want to see Nic. Not now. Not when she felt and looked so weak. To fight him, she needed all of her strength. But she didn't want Paul to go through so much trouble just because of her. So she nodded her head.
Paul walked to the door and let Nic into the room.
Immediately Nic was concerned. She looked so frail. He wanted to scoop her up and put her in his car and take her to his house. Where she belonged. Her big, brown eyes looked weak and less expressive than they normally were. And although the room was pretty toasty, she shivered.
Victoria watched as he scanned over her body. And then he turned to Paul.
"Has a doctor seen her?"
"Yes, my family doctor came. He diagnosed it as a slight case of pneumonia, but he gave her some antibiotics, and already she's doing much better."
"This is much better?" Nic accused. "I want my doctor to see her," he said, looking back down at her.
"Nic, I assure you, my physician is one of the best. She's already feeling better."
Nic tore his gaze away from her and glanced at Paul. "I need to speak to her alone."
Paul looked back at Victoria and she slowly nodded her head. Paul walked out and closed the door behind him.
Nic removed his jacket and sat down on the bed. "So, how are you feeling?"
"I'm alright," Victoria answered. She took in his appearance. He seemed tired. His eyes were a darker blue and he had small dark circles underneath them.
"So basically, you'd rather get pneumonia than come back with me?"
"Nic, I have no reason to be with you now. You have the money. So just leave me alone."
"Actually, I don't. I gave it back to Paul. What are you going to do when you leave here?" Nic asked, wanting so bad to pull those covers back and get in bed with her. He knew another way to cure her sickness and hopefully make her feel better. Make himself feel better.
"I don't know, but I'll figure something out."
Nic exhaled. "I'd like you to come stay in my house with me."
Victoria shook her head. "Nic, you just don't get it, do you? You treated me like shit! Like I was nothing. I even gave you a chance to explain your actions, and you refused. And instead, you called me...you made me feel so low. I felt worse the last night I spent with you more than the first night I spent with you. And I don't ever want to feel that way again. And then on top of that, you get my friend to kick me out when you KNEW I had nowhere to go. Why would you do that to me?" Victoria asked, staring at him with hurt in her eyes.
Nic had no answer. Well, none that he actually wanted to divulge to her. "Victoria, I know I've made some decisions that you don't understand, but I have my reasons for making them."
Victoria scoffed. "If that's all you have, then please leave."
"Victoria," Nic whispered, but she rolled over onto her side, facing away from him.
Nic got up from the bed, turned off her light and walked out.
When he reached his house, Jimmy was sitting by the door. Nic ignored him and marched upstairs to his office. Jimmy followed.
"So, is she okay, Nic?" Jimmy asked, shutting the office door behind him.
Nic glanced up at him and narrowed his eyes. "And what was your reasoning for not telling me?"
"Nic...I just wanted her to be okay."
"You have a job and you weren't fucking doing it!" Nic growled at him.
"You know, if being a fucking decent human being is not a part of my job, then fuck, I quit!" Jimmy shouted back.
Both men stood there staring each other down. 
Jimmy finally relaxed and loosened his tie. "Fuck, Nic. I've known you since we were little kids still wanting to be on the right side of the law. Over the years, I've never questioned you. And we've done some pretty shady shit, and hurt a lot of people, but I never minded because I felt like they deserved it. Hell, I even enjoyed it sometimes. But Nic, Victoria doesn't deserve this. I mean, you really thought you could take away all of her options, and she'd come back to you with arms wide open? It doesn't work that way. I know you're so used to getting what you want, and to have someone throw that all back in your face is new to you, but that's no reason to hurt someone who hasn't done anything wrong. Fuck, Nic. I...look, she was sad and miserable. I knew what she was planning to do, and a part of me wanted her to. This whole thing with her has gone way too far."
Nic sat down at his desk. "Are you done?"
"You don't even realize that you love her, do you?" Jimmy asked, shaking his head.
"Jimmy, you don't know shit about our relationship. Love? You have no clue what you're talking about."
"Right...you couldn't possibly love her. That's why you were parading her around as your girlfriend a few weeks ago. Spending every other night at your condo, or driving around in the rain at five am searching for her. Because you don't love her, right?" Jimmy retorted sarcastically. 
"Done?"
Jimmy shook his head. He knew there was no getting through to Nic, because he would never admit that Jimmy was right about something like this, even if he knew it was true. He would lock it deep down inside and ignore it for the rest of his life. "Yeah, I'm done Nic," Jimmy said as he walked out.
Over the next two days, Victoria quickly recovered thanks to the doctor's visits and medication. She tried to stay out of Paul's way so she wouldn't be more of a bother than she already felt, even though Paul insisted that she wasn't. Paul offered to let her borrow one of his cars, but she politely declined and took the bus to work. At first, Greg had refused to let her work since she was recovering, but Victoria was desperate. She needed to make some money, so eventually after nagging and following him all over the restaurant, he agreed to let her pick up some more shifts if she would just shut up.
But it was her third day in the house when Sonny showed up. And of all the times, she had been bending over her bed, trying to find a rubber band for her hair when she heard his voice.
"Damn, I think that's about the best position," he said.
Her body immediately tensed as she raised up. She was still on her hands and knees when she turned to glare at him.
"Don't you knock?" she asked.
"In my own home?" he shot back at her, raising an eyebrow.
"I thought this was your dad's house."
"Yeah, but when he bites the dust, it will be mine. So...how are you feeling? Pops told me you were really sick," Sonny said, leaning against the door frame.
"I'm much better, thanks to your father," Victoria answered, looking uneasily at Sonny. She just didn't trust him.
"Good. Glad to hear it. By the way, dinner's ready," he stated, and then walked out.
Downstairs, Victoria sat at the dinner table with Paul and Sonny. She noticed that neither man really talked to each other. They more or less talked to her. Paul said he wasn't feeling well, but said not to worry, he was just tired. Victoria asked if he were sure, and he said he was, then excused himself early, asking her to finish her meal. But this also left Victoria alone with Sonny. The asshole.
She noticed him, out of the corner of her eye, staring. She tried to ignore him as she picked over her salad. 
"Vicky...I want to apologize to you," Sonny said, taking a sip of his drink.
Victoria looked up at him. "What?"
"I want to apologize for the prior two times that I met you. You know, for the pool game and Nic's party. For what I said. And if it's okay with you, I'd like to start over."
Victoria didn't know what to think. What did he want? Sonny had this friendly way about him, but it was almost that look he would give right before he would stab you in the back. She just didn't trust him.
"I mean it. So...this is corny, but I'd like to re-introduce myself. I'm Sonny Marconi," he said while reaching for her hand.
Victoria did think the whole thing was rather silly, but she would play along. 
"Apology accepted and I'm Victoria Davis."
"Nice to meet you, Victoria," he said, while kissing the back of her hand. A gesture he learned from his father no doubt. She wondered why none of Paul's other wonderful traits had rubbed off on him.
Sonny ended up becoming a permanent fixture at his father's house. Victoria couldn't escape from him. But pretty soon he started wearing her down, and she even laughed at a few of his jokes. When he didn't have a group of people around to show off in front of, he seemed like a halfway decent guy. 
He even tried playing Scrabble with her, but she could tell he was pretty bored with it. His game was cards. Poker to be exact. Victoria had played before, but she was nowhere near as good as Sonny. He beat her every time. And something in his eyes when he won, was unsettling for Victoria. Almost like this lust for winning. He had to win at all cost. She thought about that night he bet Nic in the pool game. How dark his eyes seemed when he had lost. And again, when he taunted her at Nic's party, and she told him not to bet someone who will beat him every time. Again, his eyes darkened. Victoria tried to shake off the thought, and concentrate on the game.
"So, a friend of mine is throwing a small party tonight. Want to go?" Sonny asked, placing down another card.
"No, thanks," Victoria said, as she studied her cards.
"Oh, come on Victoria! Live a little. You go to work, then come back here and read, then go back to work. You're too young for that shit. It will be fun," Sonny said.
"Sonny, I'm content right here. But thanks for the offer."
"Please...please. I need a date. You wouldn't want people to think I'm a loser, would you?"
"Sonny, I'm sure some already do," Victoria quipped, while placing a card down.
Sonny pretended like she had struck an arrow to his heart. "See! That's why I need you. Who else is going to keep this huge head of mine from taking off?"
Victoria laughed and shook her head. "Sonny, no. Besides, I have nothing to wear to stuff like that."
"Problem solved, I'll buy you something now," he said, as he placed his winning hand down and left the table.
Victoria hopped up. "No!! Wait, seriously, don't do that!" she called after him.
He stuck his fingers in his ears and walked toward the door. "I can't hear you...be back in a bit," he said, grabbing his jacket and leaving.
'Fuck!' Victoria thought. She walked back to the table to clean up the game. She grabbed a book and went to her room.
About an hour later, Sonny appeared at her door.
"Knock, knock," he said, while barging in. She could tell he held something behind his back. "For you," he said, while holding up a very short, strapless bright blue dress in one hand, then pausing for a moment before producing the heels in his other hand.