“That took you long enough,” Chiara exclaims as I finally join her in the living room.She stands up from the sofa where she was keeping Lidia company.“I mean you look amazing, but come on, I almost fell asleep waiting for you.”
“It is a great dress, isn’t it?”I twirl, loving how the shimmering of my gold dress adds to the lights twinkling all over the city outside the windows.
Chiara rolls her eyes and tosses a black trench coat at me.“Let’s go now.Put that on.”
I’d very much rather not put on the oversized coat she got from who knows where—probably one of those thrift stores she loves so much.But I do it, because I really want to be out in that darkness now, just one of the lights, not sitting perched up above it all, isolated.
“Have fun,” Lidia says.“I’ll cover for you the best I can.”
“You should be going with us,” Chiara says as she puts on her own coat, an army green number that goes very nicely with the white and silver jumpsuit type outfit she’s wearing.
“Maybe next time,” Lidia says, casting a glance at the thick book lying on the bronze and glass side table beside her steaming cup of tea—mint, by the smell of it.
“Sure,” Chiara says and rolls her eyes again, then turns to me.“All right, so you know the plan…”
“I do,” I interrupt.“We’ve done this a bunch of times.”
Lidia nods.She is already standing, holding a mostly empty black trash bag.
We have this routine down cold.
Lidia will go out the front door with the trash bag, Rafaelle or whoever is guarding our door tonight will follow her even though she’ll insist she can take the trash out by herself.
We usually have a guard each, but after we’re safely tucked away in our high-rise perch above it all, they take turns watching the door.Whoever is out there tonight, will want to at least hold the garbage chute door for Lidia if she won’t let him take the trash out for her.While that’s happening, Chiara and I will sneak out and rush to the service elevator.Once there, we’ll ride down to the garage and take the side exit from the building.In the coats and keeping our heads down, we’ll be unrecognizable on any cameras we pass, and there aren’t many of those on this route.We’ve successfully pulled of thistrash runform of escape a few times and it’s the most foolproof of all our escapes… it never fails.
Lidia leaves the apartment and we wait about half a minute before opening the door a crack to see if the coast is clear.It is.I can hear Rafaelle’s deep voice way down the hall as he talks to Lidia.
He used to be my brother’s right-hand man, his number one bodyguard and still blames himself for failing to protect Antonio.That’s why he begged my father to let him guard us, the three daughters.It’s a step down for him, but he sees it as the highest honor to protect my father’s last remaining children.That also makes him annoyingly efficient and attentive.
We don’t speak, just hustle down the hall in the opposite direction.There’ll be no talking until we’re outside, it’s not worth the risk.
Everything goes off without a hitch.There wasn’t even anyone at the desk by the side entrance to try and stop us.The sweet heady heat of the city feels like a breath of the freshest air on my face as we reach the sidewalk.I’d like to stop, bask in it, let it fill me up with all the life energy that is so thin up in our apartment, but blazes like a thousand suns down here on the city streets.
But Chiara sets a brisk pace down the street towards 5thAvenue where we’ll catch a cab downtown and finally really be free.We ditch the coats in one of the flower pots along a tiny sidewalk sitting alcove… maybe they’ll still be there when we get back, maybe not, doesn’t really matter.
As always, I realize just how much I love being free.I keep that need, that desire under very tight wraps most of the time, but actually being free makes it explode.My life has always been home, school, shopping, and more home, with a party here and there, like the one organized for my birthday.Nowadays, I don’t even go to school anymore.So it’s just home and shopping.Sad.
The cab ride to the Sphere—a hip new place in the Alphabets—will take about twenty minutes.Then the night will be ours.
“I can’t wait to get there,” Chiara says once we’re well on our way.“I’m gonna dance ’til I can’t no more.”
She laughs and I do too.“I’ll be right there with you.They’ll have to carry us out.”
“Oh, God, please no,” she says, her eyes wide in mock shock.“That would be way over the top.”
I shake my head.“Nothing about tonight will be over the top.It’ll all be exactly perfect.You’ll see.”
She grins at me, but there’s a sort of sadness in her eyes, pity maybe.Maybe that’s what she sees in my eyes too.
Fact is, we don’t have a normal life, and we never will.All we have are moments like these, short nights where we get to pretend we’re normal and not a couple of prisoners of the NYC underground.
So, yeah, tonight will be exactly perfect.I’m going to make sure it is.
Chapter4
MATTEO
It’s wellpast two AM but the party isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.First, Nico took me to a fancy dinner.Two of his girlfriends joined him, both blonde, leggy, and busty, but maybe slightly less altered than women like them tend to be back West.They were both more interested in him, though maybe that’s because I wasn’t paying much attention to either of them.I’m staying sober and they’ve been doing lines all night and drinking way too much, so I’m just not on their level.I don’t got time for distractions.I came here to do a job.I’ll party harder than anyone once it’s done.Lord knows I deserve that after the last seven years.But all in good time.
