ATONEMENT (14 page)

There were words spiraling around
in a heated argument.
The
n
S
elange was
forced to drink
water, i
t flowed down her throat, some of it spilling
on the ground
but i
t tasted good
. S
he drank more
.
The sickness began to subside and her chest
calmed. The images were gone; she was
in control again. The rage and heartache
dimin
i
shed
then she
sniffled. The entire Giacanti
family was
murdered
, weren’t they aware of the legacy? Her
mother
and new husband were
murdered by a craz
ed
killer sent on the order of a mobsters’ greedy wife,
who wanted Alfonzo dead,
didn’t they know that too?
Weren’t they aware
th
e
malicious joke played
to
the
wrong audience
?
They should
’ve
known
and
expected
her reaction
,
or maybe
traumatizing her
is
what they wanted
.
She despised their sick humor and most of all she
was disgusted by
them!

Her head
stayed
bowed
,
afraid
if she l
ook
ed
or peeked and saw those two again
she’d go ballistic. She
did
n’t
trust her
reaction. Someone wiped her
face with a damp
cloth. It felt cool and nice but it
didn’t erase w
hat
the
y’d done. The hands loosened
some more
and
this is
when
Selange
bolted
. She sprint
down the driveway
not caring wh
ich direction she fled as long
it carried her somewhere other than there.
She’d get far away and call Alfonzo. He’d make them pay for
this;
he’d do it if she asked.

They were calling her name, shouting
loudly
in the night but she was running and they couldn’t catch
her
in their high heels and cumbersome gait.
She wanted to go home. Her children
are
what she needed, not a wet cloth or disingenuous women with their dumb games.

“
Nico
stop
her
!” A woman demanded.

The name carried in the
distance
and she
tripped. One human
falter
cost her more than the thousand stumbles in her life.
She teetered on the edge of damnation for her transgression
.
Once her secret became exposed, she’d fall into the deepest pit with no way out.
She came upright and
turned
. There he was, approaching with
determined stride
s
. T
he
familiar and
handsome face altered by facial hair
, giving it a
more rugged
and
dangerous
appearance. The man coming to her
on the shores of Italy, at a moment of heartbreak was the lover she
hoped to forget
but
one
fate
forced her to remember,
Nico
!

                     
                  
***

Vincent waited
outside
the
closed
door, his ear
s tuned
for signs of trouble. Alfonzo was in a meeting with a
contractor
, who obviously had no idea who h
e was talking to judging by the height of his voice.

“
Who the fuck told you that?”

“Doesn’t matter.
I’m asking
you
.
”

“It’s a motherfucking lie!”

“Shouting doesn’t mean you’re heard. Matter-of-fact, Bryan
I start listening less!” Alfonzo said getting to his feet.

“
The worker
’s
going to be
okay, what’s the big deal he ‘
aint
dead?
”

Alfonzo came from behind his desk. He put his hands in his pockets to keep from clocking the arrogant
contractor
. “I don’
t tolerate drinking on the job or
two hour lunch breaks
.
You haven’t supervised the
foreman;
frankly, you haven’t done much except put me behind schedule. Now I
’ve
got an
injured worker
and undoubtedly OSHA coming in
because
of you. Where were you when Carl fell and b
roke his
leg
?”

“
At lunch
.”

“Yeah, where?”

“
The deli down the block
.”

“We had a rough inspection
today and
were
given the okay to start covering the inside walls
. Y
ou had one foreman trying to cover six floors and an inexperienced
worker
out on
a catenary with no fall arrest system and you’re out to lunch down the block, that’s your excuse
?”

“Well, yeah.
I was on the site since seven and hadn’t eaten.
”

Alfonzo almost laughed at Bryan’s incompetence. He
was a recent hire
brought in
to replace
the former general contractor
who suffered a heart attack
.
Bryan came with all the bells and whistles, as they say. Good track record, clean license, checkable references, except the man had a drinking problem. He found this out after the construction accident. The foreman didn’t want to snitch but finally came clean and told Alfonzo
Bryan w
asn’t on
hand
when the accident
occurred
, he was at a bar
!

Alfonzo
stood
inches from
Bryan
and sure enough, the scent of alcohol and cigarettes clung to his skin. “Give me the access key.”

“Come on…you’re firing me?”
                        Alfonzo put out his hand
; h
is face stern, “The key!”

Bryan reached in his back pocket, took out a swipe card and slammed it on the desk, “Fine…here take it and shove it up your ass, you prick.”

“What did you say to me?”

Bryan opened his mouth, “Fuck…”

Alfonzo struck him right below the ribcage then did a foot sweep and
Bryan
crashed to the floor. Vincent entered and Alfonzo pointed
down
, “
Bryan tripped, help him find the exit.”

“Sure thing,” Vincent said, lifting the man roughly to his feet and shoving him out the office.

When the door closed Alfonzo exhaled. Thanks to Bryan, he
’d have to work late again,
visit the
site
,
do an equipment check, make sure the safety arrest system
got installed
before OSHA and an inspector came
roaring
in
tomorrow morning
. H
e’
d wake
early
and
stay late
interviewing
replacement
contractor
s
, all
due to one man’s incompetence.
He
instructed
Georgina to pull some of the former
applicant’s
files and schedule
the
interviews for the afternoon if any were still interested in the position.
He scoffed,
sometimes;
it was easier being a bad guy. You d
idn’t
have to think so goddamn hard about doing right!

He straightened, grabbed the
electronic
key and headed over to the site with Vincent in tow. It was six-
thirty;
the foreman was getting paid overtime due to Bryan’s dumb ass
and
so were the electrician, plumber and a stone mason.
Sure, they were all there, working gladly,
at
those hourly rates
,
who wouldn’t?

Vincent shadowed him as he did
a
walk through and
stood silently in the
background
.  Alfonzo
warn
ed
the foreman
to call him
if
Bryan
appeared wanting his tools,
and
notified
the guards
as well
, in case
the d
runken fool
got any bright ideas
about sabotage
.