Like a Friend

The journey down to the pier seemed so much longer this time around. Rain relentlessly pelted down on my umbrella and an ocean mist billowed up the beach that engulfed everything in it. My only guide was the light from my phone that barely illuminated the wooden boardwalk in front of my feet. A single, lonely streetlamp stood just before the pier and there on the bench sat a lonely figure dressed in a trench coat. Spotting the light of my phone, he watched my approach with small beady eyes and it took everything I had right then not to turn around and run in the other direction.

He stood on my approach, towering over me and my umbrella. "You're late."

"But I'm here," I shivered.

Logan grunted, reached into his jacket and pulled a yellow envelope. "You know what to do."

Hesitantly, I accepted the documents and tucked them safely into my coat, the look I gave him showing all to well how I felt about this.

Logan only smirked. "I'll be meeting with you tomorrow night. Now be a good little girl and don't disappoint me."

Without so much as a word, I turned and headed back into the mist, ever aware of his horrible grin as he watched me leave.

The moment I stepped back into the hotel I knew things weren't right. And as I shook off my umbrella and placed it back on the coat stand, I was immediately aware of the eyes that watched me. Hotel staff pretended not to notice my presence but at the same time tracked my every movement. From the corner of my eye, I caught the flash of a black uniform as one of Giovanni's men strategically situated himself between me and the front door and made a point of talking quietly to the communicator on his wrist.

Legendaries! Why was it taking so long for this lift door to come open?! I pressed the button again, tapping at it incessantly only to feel the shadows that came up behind me. Even though I expected it, the hand that slammed down on my shoulder made me jump. There was nothing I could do to fight them as two of Giovanni's biggest agents grabbed each of my arms, and as the door casually slipped open, directed me into the elevator. I couldn't run, I couldn't scream… I stood, silently watching the numbers flash by on the display. My floor came and passed and still higher we went only to stop at the top… the presidential suite. The doors came open and I felt the pit of fear that suddenly gripped my chest. I wanted to dig my heels in, to beg them to take me back down. But it was useless. I might as well have been made of paper.

Archer - Giovanni's most recently promoted executive – was there to greet me. His uniform freshly pressed and his teal hair neatly combed, he watched me with a sullen gaze.

"Delia," he said quietly, his eyes looking honest and… disappointed. "Please don't tell me it's true…"

I couldn't look at him. I let my eyes focus on my shoes as he carefully unbuttoned my jacket only to pull from its inner pocket Logan's vile, yellow envelope.

"Take her to Giovanni's office."

The march down the hall was long and probably one of the most excruciating exercises I ever had to undertake. The beauty and splendour of the suite now seemed to do nothing more than insight feelings of terror in me, especially as the thought suddenly impacted me… I'd just betrayed the trust of the most powerful man in the underworld.

Giovanni was at his desk as the large, double doors to his office came open. He faced the darkness outside his window and I watched a ring laden hand that carefully stroked the head of his ever obedient cat who sat next to his chair.

The two men that held me directed me to the centre of the room before letting me go and stationing themselves on either side of the only exit. I watched on in silence as Archer approached Giovanni's seat and handed him the envelope. I heard the dreaded sounds of his fingers that curled around it and tore it open, and I waited an agonising eternity as he considered its contents. The chair spun, and in that moment I felt my heart sink into my knees. His face was solid… emotionless as he threw the paperwork onto his desk. He wasn't wearing his jacket or his vest. Just his shirt… and the gun holster that was tightly wrapped around his torso.

"I just have one question for you," he said slowly.

Giovanni pulled himself to his feet, falling into a slow walk that circled me and kept me pinned in my place. He took up a spot on the end of his desk which he lent on and crossed one treat-trunk leg over the other. He was all power and muscle. And as I watched him reach for his holster, time suddenly seemed to have no bearing in this place. My heart froze and my mind raced to a screaming halt. He pulled the gun from under his arm and took every care to gently screw on its silencer.

"Would you have actually made the switch?"

I swallowed, my throat immediately going tight and my voice coming out as barely a whisper, "My family was being threatened."

The Crime Lord's head fell into a nod and I watched the knuckles that gripped the handle of his gun turn white. His eyes flashed on me that now barely contained his fury before, in a mighty outburst, he bellowed, "Do you honestly believe that I am not capable of handling the threats of a snivelling, conniving grub such as Logan?!"

With the force of a Taurus behind him, he approached me and in a single motion he grabbed me by the hair and dragged me the length of his office. I let out a helpless cry, struggling to keep up with brute strength as he threw me into an armchair. His body towering over me, he stepped around the chair and placed one hand gently on my shoulder, watching in silence my heaving chest and my heart that threatened to break its way out of my ribcage.

"I'm very disappointed in you," he said.

"Giovanni… please…" I found myself begging him. But it was like he didn't even hear me. His hand on my shoulder came up and formed a death grip on the side of my neck and that was when I felt the cold kiss of the gun under my chin. I closed my eyes tight, unable to stop the light wimpier that gurgled forth from the back of my throat.

He bent down so that his face was so close to my ear that I could feel his breath on my cheek, "It's lucky for you that we're friends, Delia."