The Don's Trust

Chapter 8

After Vito collected his winnings, he went over to Christopher who was sitting in the lounge of the casino. Christopher unwrapped his arm from the woman beside him and told her to leave.

Vito unbuttoned his suit jacket and sat down. Christopher drank the last bit of his liquor and put the empty glass on the table.

"They sent someone,'' Vito kept the volume of his voice as low as possible.

"You know who it is?''

"It is the man sitting at the bar. Auburn-coloured hair, navy blue suit, bowtie.'' Vito described the detective.

"The sombre looking one?'' Christopher glanced at Philip.

Vito nodded. '''He said his name was Phil. He is quick to get overconfident,''

''So, an alias,'' his brother muttered. ''I'll still try to see if I can find anything on him.''

An hour later, the two brothers went their separate ways home. Vito locked the front door of his house and set foot in the living room. Without properly paying attention to his surroundings, he carelessly threw his suit jacket on the couch which made Valentina stir in her sleep.

Vito heard her soft moan and finally took notice of her presence. He grabbed the thrown suit jacket off her and used it as a blanket to cover her up.

It was a cold night and she was sleeping on the couch without a blanket.

He found it fascinating how she didn't wake up from it. He learned something new about her, she was a deep sleeper. The opposite of him.

Vito poured himself a glass of whiskey and sat beside Valentina's sleeping figure. He took a sip from his drink and placed the glass on the coffee table.

His eyes were drawn back to Valentina. He moved a strand of her silky hair to the side to get a better view of her face. Vito noticed small things about her he didn't pay attention to before, like the beauty mark above her lips and her long natural lashes.

Vito moved to the edge of the couch and grabbed a cigarette from a pack on the small wooden table. He reached into his pocket for his Zippo lighter and brought the fire closer to his lips.

He leaned back on the couch and took a long drag from the cigarette. The strong smell of tobacco and whiskey made Valentina's eyes flutter open.

Where am I? What day is it? Those thoughts quickly vanished when she set her eyes on him.

As Valentina went to a sitting position, she noticed his suit jacket covering her. She took a liking to the lingering cologne scent on it. Valentina wondered why he bothered putting it on her.

"Thank you,'' her voice was quieter than usual. ''For this.''

Vito acknowledged Valentina's gratitude with a nod. ''Did you tell Kevin who the guy was?''

"Yes.'' Valentina watched Vito tap the ash of the cigarette off into the ashtray on the coffee table. ''I asked Kevin what he said to him, but he wouldn't tell me.''

"He isn't supposed to tell.''

"But what if-''

"Valentina,'' his voice was as cold as steel.

Valentina flinched and lowered her gaze to the suit coat on her lap. Unconsciously, she wrapped her arms around herself to feel safer.

Vito dropped the cigarette in the ashtray and turned his body toward Valentina. He took hold of Valentina's arm and examined the bruise on her wrist.

His actions didn't match his facial expression. His warm touch was gentler than Valentina expected it to be, but his face didn't carry any of that. He was still difficult to read.

"It doesn't hurt as much anymore,'' she commented making Vito meet her grey eyes.

His gaze made her cheeks burn up. The longer he kept quiet, the more Valentina could hear her own heartbeat. When Vito let go of her, she wanted his warmth again.

He got off the sofa, picked his empty glass up and headed to the kitchen. As he walked away he told Valentina she shouldn't sleep on the couch.

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The next morning, Valentina forgot to turn her alarm on. It resulted in her getting late for class. After a quick apology to the teacher, she looked for an empty seat in the classroom. On the exact same moment, another student came in late.

"I hope this doesn't become a habit, Lilly,'' the teacher said to the girl.

Lilly smiled apologetically to the teacher and walked past the filled up seats and sat beside Valentina. She opened the book to the correct page and was ready to take notes.

Valentina's first impression of Lilly was that she was either a goody-two-shoes or just a well-prepared student.

"This is my first time coming late.'' Lilly pouted.

Valentina couldn't believe her ears. She already lost count of the number of times she was late for class.

Valentina asked, ''Ever?''

"Yup,'' she sighed. ''The police flyer on the bulletin board screamed for me to read it.''

Valentina giggled at her phrasing. ''The flyer screamed?''

"Don't laugh at me. You know what I mean.'' Lilly tried to contain her own smile.

"What did it say?''

"Mostly just the usual stuff, you know.''

No, I don't know. I'll check it out for myself after class, Valentina thought.

Before Valentina and Lilly went their separate ways, they exchanged phone numbers. It looked like she didn't have to go through this school year on her own.

She went to the bulletin board near the entrance of the building and scanned it. Her search stopped when she saw a small flyer in the bottom left corner. Kevin and Luke exchanged looks while Valentina read the piece of paper.

'If you know something, report it! It can be done anonymously. Do it for your safety and the safety of others!'

When she read those words, she gulped. The police flyer warned citizens to watch out for suspicious people and take action if you knew something. It made her feel guilty about living with the leader of a crime organization.