Clean Slate (New Mafia Trilogy #2)
Read Clean Slate (New Mafia Trilogy #2) Online
Authors: E. J. Fechenda
CLEAN
SLATE
Book
Two of The New Mafia Trilogy
by
E.J.
Fechenda
Copyright © 2014 E.J. Fechenda
Kindle Edition – published 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any form without the permission of the author, except where
permitted by law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the
author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual
persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Cover design by: Jessica Loranger
I dedicate this book to dreamers everywhere.
Table
of Contents
LOS
ANGELES
I sat in my car just
outside the entrance to the Warner Brothers studio lot. The security guard had
his back to me as he attempted to page my former best friend. He hung up the
phone and glared at me through the small window of his “office”, which was
smaller than a toll booth. He had been working on a crossword puzzle when I
pulled up and seemed annoyed that he actually had to do his job. The phone
trilled and he picked it up mid-ring.
“Security,”
he paused. “Yes, there’s a Natalie Ross here to see you?” He pivoted in his
chair so his back was to me again. “That’s right, Natalie Ross. I checked her
ID – it’s a Pennsylvania license.” There was another pause and I waited,
holding my breath until he said, “I’ll send her in.”
Well at least she was
willing to see me. My heart rate kicked up a notch as I pulled through the
gate. With the convertible top down and sunglasses on, I already felt like I
fit into Southern California. I just needed to work on my tan. My skin was so
white it created a glare. The guard had handed me a visitors badge and a map of
the studio grounds. He’d circled where Chelsea’s office was and drew a line
indicating the best route; it looked like a maze.
I had just arrived in
Los Angeles after driving cross country in record time. The long drive from
Philadelphia had been an interesting one. For the first half of the trip I had
developed a nervous habit of looking in the rearview mirror every two minutes.
I kept expecting to see my brother Grant, my ex-boyfriend Dominic or other
members of the Philly mob behind me in hot pursuit.
A string of violent
events precipitated my journey west. First, I had discovered Grant was a hit
man for the mob after unwittingly being at the scene of one of his hits, which
happened to be a triple murder. That same night I learned my boyfriend,
Dominic, was also a Mafioso. Then, I was sexually assaulted by the Don of the
most powerful mob families in the country, a member of the Five Families out of
New York City, who Grant and Dominic murdered. I knew I needed to get out after
I was shot in a drive by, which almost killed Dominic and resulted in me
lodging a bullet in the forehead of a member of the New York mafia. Despite
threats that my brother and I would be killed if I left, I ran away.
To avoid losing myself completely, I left the
love of my life and my family behind.
I spent many sleepless
nights in hotel rooms. Every time a car door shut outside my window I’d jump.
Whenever someone paused outside my door, I’d hold my breath and clutch at the
knife I kept beneath my pillow. By the time I hit Montana, I relaxed a little
bit, cut three inches off of my hair and got bangs, which really made the shape
of my face look different. Hopeful that I wasn’t being followed, I stopped
checking the rearview mirror and concentrated on the journey ahead.
Now I was about ready
to beg my best friend for forgiveness and I prayed that she would throw me a
much needed lifeline. She hadn’t been expecting me and we hadn’t spoken to each
other in over nine months. Not since the night we had a huge argument over
Dominic and I moved out of the apartment we had shared. She claimed I was
forgetting who I was and who my friends were. I couldn’t tell her the truth -
that I had already sworn myself to the mafia in order to save my brother’s
life, and my own. But, she deserved the truth now.
I parked in a spot
marked with a visitors sign and turned the car off. I grabbed the map off of
the dash and looked around. A giant warehouse the size of an airplane hangar
loomed in front of me. Doors lined the exterior wall every ten feet or so. I
chewed on my bottom lip as I tried to figure out which door to enter. Turns out
I didn’t have to figure it out as Chelsea emerged from one. She squinted and
raised her hand above her eyes to shield them from the sun. I stuck my arm up
and waved, noticing a brief hesitation before she started walking towards me.
My stomach was in knots
as I stepped out of the car to meet her. She was thinner than I remembered. Her
round, rosy cheeks more defined. Her hair was longer too and hung in blonde
waves past her shoulders.
Chelsea stopped a few
feet away and I felt her eyes surveying me. She would be quick to notice the
dark circles under my eyes, more pronounced by the swollen bags that sleepless
nights and crying jags had created. She wouldn’t miss that I too had lost
weight. Although where Chelsea’s weight loss left her looking leaner and
healthy, I was gaunt.
“Jesus. You look like hell!”
“Yeah…well, I feel like I’ve just come from there,” I
responded.
“What are you doing here?” Her stance hadn’t softened.
This was going to be harder than I thought. My hopes of her running out and
pulling me into one of her bone crushing hugs quickly dissipated.
“I’m sorry to bother you at work, but this was the only
address I had. Your mom gave me one of your business cards.”
“Are you moving here?” Chelsea looked behind me at the
numerous bags in the backseat. “Did you and Dominic break up?”
“Can we talk after you get out of work? I’ll tell you
everything…and it will explain a lot.”
“Um, sure, I guess so.”
We made arrangements to
meet at six o’clock and I would follow her back to her apartment. I turned to
get in my car.
“Nat?”
I turned back to face her.
“Are you okay?” Chelsea’s expression had softened.
“I don’t know.” Unconsciously I shrugged my shoulders and
winced as the reawakening nerve endings screamed. Chelsea’s eyes moved to my
right shoulder. I was wearing a white tank top and the strap wasn’t wide enough
to conceal the healing wound.
“What is that?” she asked at the same time sliding the
strap over. The bruising had faded to a faint jaundice yellow, but the scar
tissue surrounding my injury was still red and raw.
“I was shot.”
She jerked her hand
back with a gasp.”What?”
“This is part of what I want to talk you about later and
please don’t tell anyone you saw me. Not even your mom.”
“Does this have something to do with why Grant called me
a couple of days ago?”
I wasn’t surprised
Grant had already called Chelsea and I was glad that she didn’t know I was
coming.
“Yes and I promise to tell you everything. There’s a
really good reason for the secrecy. Okay?”
Chelsea didn’t say
anything, just nodded her head in agreement. I think my statement stunned her
into silence. She stared after my car as I backed out and pulled away.
I followed Chelsea’s rusted
out, hand-me-down Volvo wagon down a palm tree lined street. She pulled into
the drive of a huge apartment complex. We wove through visitor parking, past
the leasing office and up to a gate. She punched in a code and the gate rumbled
open on its track. She gestured for me to follow close behind.
Chelsea and I walked up
to her apartment building, which had a beige stucco exterior. A water fountain
filled up the center of a small courtyard.
“My apartment is small, but it’s affordable,” Chelsea
commented as she unlocked the door.
Her one bedroom was
decorated like the apartment we had shared in Philadelphia. The same futon,
coffee table and entertainment center furnished the living room. A recliner
appeared to be the only new piece of furniture. I was surprised to see that
Chelsea had held onto a couple of my paintings and these hung on the walls.
Maybe she didn’t despise me after all, I thought to myself and took my flip
flops off before stepping onto the white carpet to sit down on the futon.
“Your
place is really cute.”
“Thanks. The best part about this complex is that it has
a pool and a gym. A pool, isn’t that awesome?”
“That is cool.” I didn’t remind her that the condo where
Dominic and I lived had those too, but that was an exception since most places
didn’t. L.A. was definitely a different world from Philly. I just hoped it was
far enough away.
“Do you want something to drink?” Chelsea asked from the
kitchen. I looked over my shoulder to see Chelsea framed by the breakfast bar.
She didn’t seem as defensive as she was earlier this afternoon. Her curiosity
must be killing her right now. I chuckled remembering how she would interrogate
me after every date with Dominic.
“I’ll just have some water.” Since arriving in the more
arid climate I was constantly thirsty.
Chelsea sauntered in to
the living room and set the glasses on the coffee table. She sat down cross
legged on the futon, looked directly at me and said, “Okay, spill.”
Her gaze was unwavering,
so I took a deep breath and began.
“Dominic and Grant are part of the Philly mob.”
“What?” she shrieked. “Are you fucking with me?”
“I wish I was,” I paused. “You know that after hours
place I told you about?”
“The Speak, right?”
“Yes. Dominic took me there one night after work and that
same night, Grant was there and he killed three men.”
Chelsea’s blue eyes
widened and her mouth hung slack.
“It was awful! There was blood everywhere and…” I broke
off with a shudder. “That night I was sworn to secrecy in order to protect
Grant and myself.”
“You haven’t told anyone this?”
“No. But it gets worse.” I took a sip of water, wishing
it was something stronger. “Dominic’s Uncle Marco is the boss of the mob and
he’s an awful man.”
Chelsea watched me
place the glass back on the coffee table, my hand shaking so bad, water spilled
over the sides.
I told her how Marco
forced me into the room with Mr. Genovese, the head of the Five Families and
how he had assaulted me.
“I got off easy though,” I continued. Chelsea reached for
my hand and held it tight as I told her about my coworker, Brittany, who was brutally
raped by Genovese’s men. I told her about the pressure and the fear, but also
how powerful it felt to be part of the mafia.
“Two weeks ago someone tried to take Dominic out. We were
both shot.” Chelsea’s eyes shifted to my shoulder. “I shot one of the men, who
was firing rounds into Dominic’s Mustang, and killed him.”
“You killed someone?” She stared at me in disbelief.
Ashamed, I lowered my head and nodded in confirmation.
“I had to. Otherwise I’d probably be dead right now.”
“Whoa!” Chelsea sat back and analyzed me in silence. I
plucked at a loose thread on the dark green futon cover. “So you ran away to my
place, just like you did when you were nine.”
I laughed, having
forgotten that time when my mom and I had a horrible fight. I packed my dolls,
my piggy bank and some candy into my backpack then ran away to Chelsea’s house.
Of course her mom called my mom and I spent the night before going home the
next morning. “I guess so. I hated losing you. I hated not being able to tell
you what was going on. You have no idea how surreal it’s been.”
“What are you going to do now? Are you going to get
arrested?”
“I honestly don’t know. I’m more worried about the mafia
than the police. They could still come after me so I need to keep a low profile
for a while. Nobody knows where I am.”
“And that’s why Grant called me.”
“Yeah, but obviously you didn’t know where I was either.
I still don’t know where I’m going to go. Unless…” I looked up at Chelsea and
she knew me well enough that I didn’t have to finish asking.
“Yes, you can stay here. You’re much too interesting to
not have around,” she teased.
I smiled and breathed a
deep sigh of relief. “Thanks.”
“I’m glad you’re here. I missed you,” Chelsea pulled me
into a hug that made my shoulder ache, but I didn’t pull away. Even though I
was in California and in this apartment for the first time, I felt like I was
home.