Chapter 5
"Okay take care of yourself for me" I said hugging Jon. He was such an easy going person and couldn’t stay mad at him.
"Take care of yourself too, big guy" I said as I felt the emotions well up in the back of my throat.
He nodded rapidly and I pulled him in and gave him a very tight hug.
"See you soon," I whispered and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"All passengers going to Rome, please board the plane, it will take off soon!", the shrill voice of the flight attendant announced through the mic.
"Before you go, have this!", Alan said before handing me a black necklace. I stared at it and enveloped him in a hug one more time.
"Goodbye!" I said and waved for the last time before rushing to board the plane. While safely in, I put on the chain and clutched it tightly.
Jon had sent me on just one mission and that was to siphon Dennis’s money and cut him into shreds. But I had added one more mission to the list. And that was to kill Jay Black.
I wondered if he was still the same 6ft 5inches tall, muscular and well built with a tattoo drawn all over his right hand alone and an oblong shaped face with eyes that demanded respect without killing.
Alan had informed me that Jay's driver who would pick me up from the airport once I landed and take me straight to Jay's house.
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That was one heck of a journey! I thought to myself as I disembarked the plane. It was a long flight and I could feel my muscles getting sore.
I walked straight to the tarmac, just like Alan had instructed and just like he had described, I was met with a short, chubby, middle aged man that had a bald head.
"Are you Jemima Valerian?" he asked with a Latin accent, oblivious to the fact that I could literally end his life with a little snap of his fat neck.
I just nodded and put on my dark shades. The sun was scorching and I hoped my pale skin wasn’t going to get sunburnt.
I took my position in the back of the seat and soon I found myself dozing off.
"We're here ma’am!" Pius announced after we got to the house which aroused me from sleep. I yawned in exhaustion and tried to rub the remnants of the sleep from my eyes.
"Yeah whatever! Just show me to my room, I don't want to see your boss" I grumpily said.
"Just spare me two minutes ma'am, so I can get your..."
"Then be quick already!", I said in agitation at the poor. I watched as he fidgeted to open the boots and drag out my luggage.
Then, I shifted my gaze to Jay’s house. I fought the urge to not gawk at his beautiful edifice.
"Let's go in ma'am" the driver directed gently, bringing me out of my thought.
"I'll leave now, just sit on the couch over there and someone will come to show you to your room," he urged me once we were inside the house.
"No! Don’t leave me here!” I cried out to him but he had already bolted out of the house before I could protest any further.
I slouched on the couch and a painting in the corner of the house caught my attention. I stood up to examine it and I heard a voice, "Hello Jem!"
The hairs on my skin stood on edge at the oddly familiar feminine voice. I slowly but steadily turned around to see the bearer of the voice and as I did, my breath caught in my throat and it felt like all the air was being sucked out of my lungs. I pulled my jacket off from my body because of the sudden heat I started to feel even in the freezing atmosphere of the room.
She was still the little girl I played with, short and with an extraordinary beauty with the same mixture of brown and black hair, brown eyes slightly laced with a blue hue.
“Va…Vanessa?" I stuttered, finally finding my voice. She smiled endearingly at me and walked towards me. It had been forever since I last saw her.
What was she doing here? How was she connected with Jay?
So many questions raced through my mind as my vision became a blur. My head started spinning and I began to see black dots. My hand unconsciously moved towards the black chain I was putting on, clutching it tightly and wishing Alan was here.
Relax! I tried to tell myself but before I could grasp anything, i was pulled into an embrace by her. I hesitated to return the embrace because I was still struggling to figure out what was going on.
Before I was sold off, Vanessa and I stayed in the same neighbourhood. She used to be so mean and always avoided human contact. I tried getting through to her and we became pretty close. We played at our little cottage and I had never seen her she’d a tear. Vanessa had always been the strong one and I the weak one. We were so different but when it came to one thing we have in common, it was hatred for our family.
But that was over a decade ago. I wondered if she had changed so much.
"Come on let me show you to your room and then we'll talk."
I only nodded my head, still dumbfounded by all these.
Two hours since I arrived and I had already spoken to Alan and Jon.
"So Jem, how are you? Where have you been all this while? You know that day you were leaving I saw you. I was angry at you for not telling me anything. I thought we were best friends and when I asked , she said you hated me" Amerie said all at once and I struggled to grasp everything, fighting the urge not to cry.
I knew Vanessa went through a stage of depression. I knew she always thought that everyone hated her and to have my so called mother tell her that? I just couldn’t imagine.
"I could never hate you Vanessa. Well here's what actually happened…"
I began to narrate everything that happened leading up to that very moment with her and she listened with rapt attention.
“You are so strong Jemima!” She stated simply and looked at me with pity. I shrugged it off and tried to swallow the emotions that had started to form a knot in my chest.
"So how did you end up with Jay?", I asked in an attempt to change the topic.
"Well you know how I was maltreated at home by everyone? Well Mr Reeves didn't want me to get married to my boyfriend of three years and every other person was in support of him, so I eloped with him" she explained and my brows furrowed in a frown.
"So you’re married to Jay?" I queried and Vanessa burst out in laughter.
"Oh Jem, I'm not talking about Jay, I'm talking about his cousin, Dimitri."
Amerie began to narrate her own ordeal with her parents and how she ended up with the so called Dimitri.
"Wow! I still can't believe you cried. I always thought you were non-human" I said jokingly and we both laughed.
"So how long have you been here?" I asked again.
"A year"
"Why did you decide to join the mafia ring Vanessa?" I asked her cautiously.
"I wanted to show my parents that even the rejected stone could one day become the corner stone", she stated with a deadly look in her eyes.
"Indeed! Anyway, where is your husband and Jay by the way?" I asked in order to lessen the tension.
"Dimitri and I are not yet married, we postponed it till our next birthday but, They went to America to attend to a business” she announced with a smirk and I nodded my head in understanding. Business in the Mafia world meant murder.
"Why didn't he take you?"
"Who would you have preferred to welcomed you?", she asked with a raised brow.
"You?"
"That's right!"
"One more thing, do you mind showing me around this house?"
"Sure!" she said and pulled me out of the room.
We made a quick tour around the rooms and were headed towards the kitchen to have some ice cream. I was so glad that our love for ice cream remained unchanged.
Entering into the kitchen, we were met with two pair of eyes. One with a hazel nut-shaped eyes while the other had small round eyes. The one I was all too familiar with.
“Babe!” Vanessa called out in excitement and threw herself against whom I assumed to be Dimitri. They shared a kiss and I just watched, a sense of longing engulfed me.
"You're here, so soon!”
“Well yeah, the business deal came to a quick conclusion.” Dimitri said and winked at her. A small blush crept to her cheeks and I fought the urge to not roll my eyes.
“Oh pardon my manners. Babe meet Jem and Jem this is Dimitri, my fiancé.”
“Nice to meet you Jem.” Dimitri greeted and stretched his hand out for a handshake. I stared at it skeptically before taking it.
“And this right is…”
"Jay Black"