Roses & Ruin

Chapter 53 (Lexi)

        When I answered the phone I heard the front door opening simultaneously. It made me look quickly over my shoulder to see who just walked in. I said hello like any normal person would during a normal moment of a normal day, but my heart started pounding in my chest when I saw that the man walked back in here after we'd let him outside no more than two minutes ago.

"Dropped this" the guardsmen said, leaning down to grab a pull over cap. Like a beanie folded over with the insignia stitched into it.

        "They call him Pepper. He's got a scar on his head behind his left ear." I heard Anthony telling me through the phone, but my eyes were fixed on the man in the front hall. He has a huge gun strapped to his chest like all the guardsmen do. He can so easily grab it and blast us dead.

"Mhm" I barely got out from my tight throat as Anthony told me he was suspicious about a guard. How can I tell him I'm worried too?

"Yup, everything's fine here, Mom," I knew he'd find the comment odd. Anthony knows my mother is dead. It did the trick. Anthony's deep handsome voice assured me he was coming, and I wanted to push through the phone and just be there next to him. 

        "Do you have a water, Miss Fiore?" the guard asked Mia who had still been standing when he walked in. She snapped into action. "Oh sure," she said, heading for the kitchen. Again, this shouldn't stand out as odd because we've given several of the guards water during the hotter hours of the day. But still, I just knew I should be afraid right now. 

I slowly inched towards the coffee table where the gun sat. He hadn't left the front hall so he was between me and Mia now. She was down in the kitchen. I could hear the fridge.

I was trying to lean slightly to see if this man had a scar on his head, but his hair was too long to spot any scars. Doesn't seem like he has one. That gave me a moment's ease. I was jolted when Mia entered with a water extended to the man. 

        At the same time a different guardsman filled the front door. "What's taking you so long? Get back to post" I heard the man say. The dude got his water and thanked us, shucking off. "Is there a problem here?" The other guard whispered to us. I bet Anthony reached out to them. 

"You tell me?" I asked him. He looked between me and Mia and nodded. "All is well" he told us, walking out the front door, closing it behind him. I released a long held breath I didn't realize I had stuck inside me, locking the door. 

"Lexi?" I heard Mia's questioning voice again.

I told her about the phone call and that was when she remembered her own phone. She rushed to it and sure enough she had 14 missed calls from Dom. "Oh no, let me call him back quickly or he might show up here blasting the place" she rushed to dial him.

        "Yes, hi, it's me. Yes, yes, I'm okay" she said quickly on the line. She listened to whatever he was saying back to her. "I know, Lexi was just telling me. He didn't do anything. He went back out to his post" she told Dom. There is a chance this guy is just an innocent guard and we're all wrong about him.

But if my life has taught me anything it's to assume it's the other option that's probably the true one. Like that guy being a rat and a spy, and that we're in danger regardless of however many other guards there are.

        Mia was still talking to Dom. He wanted her to stay on the line until he got there, because yes, he was on his way. The way this safe house is set up, there's practically a wall around us, and a thick gate that keeps the people out unless the guards let you in. They have eight guards. Two in the front, two on the left side of the house, two on the right side, and two in the back on post.