His Mafia Queen

Chapter 2

Six Months Later

I stared at myself in the mirror. The past six months have haunted me. It has made me paranoid. I have to constantly look over my shoulder. I feel hunted and I can see it in my eyes. The story they have seen so far. I stared at my dark green eyes, forcing myself to wake up completely as I fiddled around on the bathroom sink.

I carefully added the contact lenses, one by one, making my eyes brown. Blinking profusely until the irritation dissipated before brushing my now blonde hair. I looked at my reflection, eyeing off the regrowth. I want my life back. I want to be myself. Not hide. But being myself is also a form of being a coward and to be scared of every noise that startles me. I don't want that. I don't exactly want the life I use to have before Europe. I was timid even then. A lonely girl, an only child, growing up in a household of neglect, feeling unwanted and unloved. That has morphed me. I don't want that, I want freedom. I want to smile and laugh, meet people, hopefully gain a boyfriend or two through my life, fall in love and have what I see many people have now.

But I can't have that. Not anymore.

Sighing, I made my way out of the small bathroom to the kitchen in my tiny unit. Witness protection sucks and I can't do much about it, I had no say over it. It is just a precaution to be sure no one comes for me back on my own homeland. It was high alert for two months, staying at the Embassy then another month back in Australia.

I had uprooted myself completely and not by will as I was placed in a state I'm not from, a city unknown to me. After a while, I was allowed to leave my isolation, get a job or go to Uni, gain some mental sanity even. So, I got a job in a little family-owned restaurant and the owner is lovely. A sixty something year old widower with a couple kids scattered around with their own families. They come together once a month for large family dinners. It is a sight I've witnessed and its so warming to the heart. How he cherishes his children, his grandchildren. The laughter that fills the restaurant is contagious and the only emotion that anyone can feel is content. All my fears, my worries, gone. A feeling I welcomed with open arms.

Sighing, bringing myself back to this reality, I turned the kettle on and while I waited, I checked the temperature for the day. A top of 35 degrees. Right shorts it is. I got dressed in black shorts and a black v neck top and pulled on my socks just as the kettle finished. I made myself a coffee and slowly drunk it as I pinned my hair up off my neck. Todays morning temperature is already starting to spike, the warm air felt cold for a brief second as I lifted my hair. A very thin layer of sweat had already lined my skin.

Being in witness protection isn't all that bad but it still sucks. I don't have anyone I particularly call family and I was an isolated person at school and still am. I don't have anyone close to me and even if I'm killed, lord forbid, I know I won't be missed. My father is a drunk and wouldn't even comprehend it if told.

Protection has been light lately as planned, I know I'm still being watched, but not as heavy as I once was. I had a meeting with an agent from Rome, someone working on the whole Ricci case after my shift today and I am nervous as anything. I don't know if there will be any good news or bad news, or if there is anything at all. But it is definitely about at least one thing. A testimony.

I don't want to testify. I want to move on with my life. I want to keep my life. Every authority figure I spoke to basically pleaded with me to testify, but that means going back to Italy. I don't want to go back to Italy. I don't want to relive those days, I do every night in my nightmares, can that not be enough? Can I not be left alone with my deteriorating mental health and my inner darkness that narrates my life?

I finished my coffee and slipped on my shoes before finishing my morning routine of brushing my teeth and perfuming myself. Throwing keys into my bag, I snatched its handle and walked out the door and down the stairs to the entry of the units that I live in.