The Gambler (21 page)

The next morning, before the sun rose, he snuck out of bed. She was dead asleep after a night, or early morning, of hot loving. He was amazed at her capacity for love, not to mention how well she’d taken to the joys of sex. She pretty much outshone every experience he’d ever had. But he didn’t like thinking about his past exploits in the same thoughts as his little flower. It seemed to cheapen it somehow. He sufficed himself with the knowledge that the girl of his heart; was perfect.

He slipped down the stairs to the door that was locked from the outside. He’d sent the man he’d had there to a different post. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his men, but there were some things better not shared. He was always thinking long term, he didn’t want anything coming back to bite him in the ass later.

She was asleep, as was to be expected. There were candy wrappers and other discarded snack bags all over the side table, as well as the bureau. It was as if she thought she was on holiday or some shit, the way she’d taken over the room and made herself at home.

He stood over her for the longest while just studying her. What he came here to do was not an easy thing. He knew that some way, somehow, what he was about to do, would affect his Jenna and that was the last thing he wanted to do. He’d thought he had it figured out when he left his bed. But now, standing over her with murder on his mind, he held himself back.

Could he hear her call for this woman in her sweet voice, knowing what he’d done? He couldn’t imagine denying her anything. The fact that he held Sonia Petridis accountable for a lot of what had happened wasn’t what was most important here. She was still important to Jenna.

“You’ve come to kill me haven’t you?” her voice coming out of the dark startled him.

“How did you know I was here?”

“You don’t tangle with the Bonata family without learning how to be on your guard at all times.”

“Why would you need to be? I thought you were all such great friends?”

“Hah.” She laughed long and hard, and he was almost tempted to say fuck it and just choke the bitch to death, but then she spoke.

“I despise that man. But you see, you’ll never believe me now, because we’ve got ourselves so entangled that it would be hard to unravel. I’ve been living this lie for so long that…”

“Don’t fuck with me lady. What is it that you’re trying to say?”

“I can’t…can’t tell you. But I will say thanks for taking care of my girl. Make sure that she’s happy. If you betray her may you rot in hell.”

What the fuck? Where was the callous woman who’d sold out her own daughter? What game was she playing now? She was just trying to save her ass; that had to be it. She knew he was here to end her, so she was changing her tune.

“You don’t believe me do you? Just as well, it’s all over now anyway?”

“What’s all over?” She rolled over away from him and he stood there for the longest while before turning and walking out the door.

Why the fuck was it that he always ended up with more questions than answers when dealing with these people? If she was trying to convince him that everything he’d come to believe up until now was a lie she wasn’t doing a very good job. And what was that crack about hating Bonata? He couldn’t ask his Jenna, because he was pretty sure she wouldn’t understand what he was getting at. Even with everything that he’d learned about her capabilities, he still knew and understood, that unless he asked her leading questions, he won’t get the answers.

He made his way back up the stairs, suddenly more tired than he’d ever been. As soon as he reached the door he knew. His heart fell and the bottom fell out, as he pushed the door open, to an empty bed. He searched the bathroom and the closet calling for her, but there was no answer. “JENNA.” He went running through the house. He searched the wing where he’d put her grandparents but even then he knew.

He called his men in from outside. No one had seen her. He lost his shit in that moment. Isn’t that what he was paying them for? Willie pulled him off of the guy he was presently pummeling to dust. “Sir, get ahold of yourself, this is not helping.” He pulled away from the other man and tried to think calmly. He couldn’t, his heart hurt in a way it hadn’t in a long fucking time.

Where could she be? He knew no one had come into his home and taken her; that meant she’d left on her own; but to go where? What danger was she in now as he was left here with no answers and no idea where to look?

“Find her, if there’s a hair missing on her head I will end every last motherfucking one of you.”

He headed back to the room he’d left not too long ago. He needed answers and he was through playing games. No more fucking riddles. He slammed the door open in his fury, causing her to sit up in her bed with fright.

“Okay lady, you’re going to tell me what the fuck is going on and you’re gonna tell me now. If I don’t like what the fuck you got to say, or I think you’re lying, I’ll blow your fucking head off without a second thought.”

She eyed the gun in his hand as she straightened herself up on the side of the bed. “What happened?” He wasn’t going to tell her shit, but then he thought, what could it hurt.

“Jenna’s gone, she snuck out of my bed while I was down here with you. Now I know there must be a reason for this and one that has nothing to do with your mother.” Her eyes widened at that.

“Oh yes, I know the senator is your mother. I also know about the shit that you’ve allowed Jenna to become involved in…” She flew off the bed and grabbed his shirt. “You’ve got to find her, if Bonata…”

“Bonata’s dead.”

“What?” She stumbled backwards and fell against the bed.

“Yeah, he’s gone and so is your son. I didn’t do that one but not for lack of trying. Now tell me what the fuck I need to know.”

“It’s a long sordid mess…”

“Talk fast because I don’t have all day. I need some insight so I will know where to start looking for her.” His blood was up, and he was barely hanging on by a thread. His sanity was being taxed to the fucking limit. Every minute she was gone was a minute in hell for him. He wouldn’t do this again, he wouldn’t survive it he knew, if something were to happen to her. Life couldn’t be that fucking cruel could it?
To give him such beauty to hold, only to destroy it, not once, but twice?

“They took her father. That’s the short version.”

“Come again.”

“When mom found out and started making waves, I tried to put her off. We thought she had given up on it, but somehow word leaked that she was still digging; only now she was being a little more inconspicuous. You see; Jenna had been feeding mom information, only she didn’t know it was from Jenna, because we had to do it on the sly. If Alphonso ever found out, who knows what he would’ve done.

After they found out about the expose` they were scrambling around to head her off. I guess a lot of influential people were involved and if their names got out it could destroy people’s careers and such. It’s been almost a year since she started, and we think they planted someone with her to keep track of what she was doing.” That would be the assistant. He really didn’t have time to muddle through all this shit right now. He just wanted to find her and bring her home safe. It seemed like everywhere he turned, there was something darker and deeper, hidden beneath the surface.

“I’m going to ask you one question and I’ll know if you’re lying so do not fuck with me. What part did you play in all this?”

“To understand that, I’d have to go back to the very beginning.”

He drew up a chair from the little sitting room, clasped his hands between his knees and glared at her. “I’m all ears.

She composed herself and gazed off into thin air for a minute, as if gathering her thoughts. It wasn’t easy to speak of these things, and especially not to someone she was sure hated her. She looked at the man who held so much of what was important in her life, in his hands. His face was set in stone, his posture unbending. She made a silent plea for strength, and then she began.

“When Jenna was born
, we didn’t know what to make of her. Back then they didn’t have all the diagnosis and different names for things like they do today. We just knew she was different; for one thing, she didn’t speak until she was three years old. Not that she couldn’t talk mind you, we’d heard her say a few words here and there, but she just didn’t seem to like talking. She was more of an observer, she was always watching.

Paulie and I
didn’t care, we loved our girl she was the apple of her daddy’s eye. She had her own routine, which never really varied from day to day, except for a few very rare occasions. We spent so much time with her, Alec sorta got shoved to the backburner, not that it was her fault or that we resented her for it.” She rushed to add that little bit on when he shifted in his chair.

“
Anyway, by the time the doctors could tell us what was wrong with her…”

“There’s not one fuck
wrong with her.”

She hid a smile by ducking her head. Well now, that’s what she needed to see, to
be reassured that they’d made the right decision after all. She cleared her throat and continued. “Sorry let me rephrase, by the time they told us how to handle a child with her…” he sat forward in his chair menacingly and she changed tact again.

“When we learned how to take care of her needs
, she had already been pretty much set in her routine. We were home schooling her by then. We did try going the regular route, but with her not talking, there always seemed to be an issue. So Paulie and I thought it best to keep her home. She was your normal pre-teen I guess, except she liked to sit for hours doing the same things over and over again.”

“
Then one day Paulie brought home a computer, some friend of his had told him it was good for Jenna, that maybe she could use some of the programs online. Within the first couple weeks she had mastered the darn thing. She stayed on that thing forever, and since I’m not too swift on them myself, I had no idea what she was doing.”

“
Paulie was the first to notice; apparently she was able to get in and out of places that she wasn’t supposed to. Hacking he called it. We tried to get her to stop, but it was no going. Eventually we were able to interest her in other things on it and the hacking thing came to a halt, or at least we thought it had.”

“
At this time like I mentioned, Alec was pretty much left to himself, not that we neglected him, but he kinda got lost in the shuffle. We gave him everything he needed, but the truth is, Jenna got most of our time. He was always messing with Bonata’s boys, always wanted to be a part of them. And no matter what I said I couldn’t dissuade him.”

“Then one day he went
bragging to them about his little sister and the computer, which was a shock to me, because he never mentioned her outside the family. I’m not sure anymore how the topic even came up, probably bragging rights or some such nonsense. But whatever set it off, Bonata sent his men to the house not long after that for Jenna.”

“
Imagine our surprise when this man, whom we’d heard so much about, and knew very well to steer clear of was on our doorstep. Of course we couldn’t say no. There wasn’t even a choice given. Anyway, we put on our coats and got Jenna ready and off we went. He asked us all these questions that we didn’t have the answers to, and then they put her in front of a computer. It was something to see. These grown men were in awe of my girl. Anything they asked her to do, she did it, and in less time than it takes to sneeze.”

“
Bonata said he wanted to hire her for his business, she could work from home sometimes, but other times she’d have to come to him. I was still a bit weary about the hacking thing, and knowing his reputation, I was afraid that he would use her for these purposes, but he assured me that he wouldn’t. When I told him that it might be a problem getting her to come to him, since she never really went anywhere without me or her dad, he suggested that Alec could bring her.”

“
Now I know what you think of my boy, but I’ll never believe that he knowingly led his sister into trouble.”

“I think it might be best for all concerned if you don’t mention your fuck of a son to me again. Carry on.”

“Um, okay, so they started out going there for a few hours everyday. I didn’t see anything wrong, or any real changes in her behavior, and Alec assured me that she was safe and that she loved what she was doing. In my mind it was like she’d gone out and found a job. Then the days started getting longer; sometimes she’d be gone ten, twelve hours. I started to worry, and Paulie tried to figure out what was going on, but you know, unless you ask her something directly, she sometimes have a hard time explaining herself.”

“Where did the gambling come in?”

“Oh that, that was an accident I think. Paulie was watching one of those stupid marathon poker games on TV, Jenna was sitting there with her dad just watching. I think he jokingly asked her if she liked it or something, for me it’s like watching paint dry.

But he was happy enough to have someone to watch with him. He got out some cards and started teaching her the game. I can’t remember how long it took her, but wasn’t long before Paulie was yelling for me to come see this. I watched her for a good ten minutes
, because I thought it was a fluke you know. Then I joined in because Paulie’s never been the best at cards.”

“
Anyway, this went on for a while, she loved it. We’d play with her for hours sometimes when she wasn’t over at Bonata’s place, trying to figure out how she did it. In over a hundred games that first weekend, she lost only one. Paulie found a card under the table later that he’d dropped when he was shuffling. To this day I think that’s the only reason she lost that one.”

“
We stupidly told Alec about it, we were so proud of her; you gotta understand, until all this, our girl just sat and watched TV or did something quiet around the house. There was never any indication that she was capable of anything more, or that her life would ever be anything but those four walls. As a mother and father, it was very heart warming for us. I know it pissed you off about the chocolate, but it’s the one thing she loves, that means something to her. I would’ve given her truck loads of the stuff if I had to to make her happy.”

He could understand
that now, looking at it from that perspective, though it still burned a hole in his gut. He didn’t say anything either way, as his mind sifted through all that she was saying. If she were to be believed, he’d jumped to the wrong conclusion and that’s something he hated. The wrong people could die if that happened. Like he’d almost taken her life when, according to her, all she’d been trying to do was help her kid. She went about it in a fucked up way yes, but if what she said is true, then she hadn’t set out to exploit her own kid.

“I’m guessing Alec told Bonata about the gambling?”

“Yes he did; I was so angry at him back then. He would do anything to be a part of them, of that world. Until then I think they barely paid him any attention at all. But after the computer thing, he started acting like a different person. Then suddenly he was Jenna’s best buddy; I should’ve known there was something fishy going on there. He never really had much to do with her before this all started. Paulie and I let him have his way in a lot of things, because we felt guilty. We’d given Jenna our all, and poor Alec had been left out in the cold.”

“You shoulda poisoned the fuck at birth.”

She looked at him askance; he really was a hard one; why her Jenna thought he was an angel was left to be seen. All she’d seen so far was a cold, unbending young man who didn’t seem to have much use for people, except maybe her Jenna. She picked up the story where she left off.