He chuckled surprising me. “Jia, it’s okay… and for heavens sakes you don’t have to walk around tense because you’re with Xander. It’s good you two found each other, no matter the circumstances. I can tell he cares very much for you and I just hope this whole incident gets resolved as soon as. Happiness is always a great outcome.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that. I care deeply for him too. I wish I could be more useful. I wish this wasn’t about me. I wish my father wasn’t so…” There was so much to wish for when it came to Pa. So damn much. “I just wish he was normal. Not the mafia boss. He was normal sometimes. When he cooked.”
“He cooks?”
“Yeah, he always insists on fresh everything and bringing the Italian cuisine to the table, like he’s bringingItaliaitself. My mother was the same. Cooking. For me it’s the one thing we do that brings people together. Everybody loves good food, right?”
He smiled at that. “I agree. I love cooking. I insisted on teaching my daughter how to cook but just like everything else, she refused to learn. Why learn when you could have take out or me doing cuisine meals?”
I laughed. Xander couldn’t cook either.
“So you were the cook?”
“I was the cook and the bearer of failed attempts. So when she decided she wanted to do art I got her everything she asked for only for her to give up a week later, when she decided she wanted to do ballet so she could be more like the other girls. I got her the whole caboodle, tutu and all. She hated that with a fiery passion. One day I told her to just do what she loved. She joined the air cadets. Then followed my career path like it was a road map.”
“Wow. That is amazing.” I loved how he spoke so highly of her. “I’m sure she was amazing.”
“She was and she died doing what she loved most. The memories keep her alive for me. Death is the risk we take with jobs like ours. But we wouldn’t do it if we didn’t think it was worth it.”
I nodded. “Yes. I agree. It’s so honorable and beautiful. I hope I can be something worthwhile like that one day. All my life everything was given to me, art is the only thing that I do where I get to show my heart and who I am.”
“Miss Jia, I swear to God I’m looking at you right now and I can see your heart and who you are. Don’t worry about things like that. Enjoy life and try not to...” His voice trailed off when his phone buzzed in his pocket.
He reached for it at the same time that Frankie ran back in the kitchen, guns in both hands.
“Guys we have company, doesn’t look like our people,” Frankie balked. “Two guys on bikes were heading toward the house from the woods.”
My heart jumped in my throat and I dropped the mixing spoon.
Oh God no…
What was happening?
Jack whipped out his phone and spoke to someone really quick.
“Ra. They’re here. We have to get out of here,” Jack cried. He moved to the cupboard and pulled out a gun.
Just then though, a loud smash echoed in the sitting room and two men ran into the kitchen.
Jack fired a shot from the smaller gun and took them out.
He then grabbed my hands and put me behind him while we moved forward, Frankie next to us, just in time to see more guys filling the house.
Jack shoved me in the corner and opened the door to the basement.
“Go down there and stay there until I say,” he ordered.
I did as he said, following exactly what he said.
I opened the door and ran down the stairs.
After five minutes I wasn’t sure what was worse for me, being upstairs and in the action where maybe I could have helped, but also get myself killed. Or being down here and listening.
Gun fire clashes, then thuds would echo over the roof as bodies went down.
People would scream in pain, scream to take cover, then scream as they died.
It went on like that for maybe fifteen minutes, but it felt like forever.
