While I was doing my best to be all stealth-like and keep a vigil behind me to make sure no one was following me, I hadn’t paid attention to what was in front of me. My dad used to say, “Don’t be looking down at the piss ants when the elephants are walking behind you,” and that’s exactly what I’d done.
A voice wrought with fear was begging. “No. Please, Luca-” His pleas were cut short by the soft sound of what the movies always told me was a silencer.
And then what he said registered.
Luca.
There was only one Luca I knew of in Morgan City and that was Luca Benetti. It was the city’s worst kept secret that Morgan City was ruled by the Mafia. A chapter that was led by Giovanni Benetti and his sons, Luca, Salvatore, and Leonardo. Doing what I did for a living, I spent most of my days in bad neighborhoods, so I’ve heard the rumors, and I knew what I’d just witnessed. The only thing I didn’t know is why would Luca Benetti be killing someone in a random alley? He had minions for kind of shit.
Another man began to speak. “We need-”
I looked around for a place to hide, but luck wasn’t on my side tonight. The second I stepped back to turn and run, one of the other men said, “Who’s that?”
All four males who were still standing turned to face me, and time stood still with resignation at what just happened. I just witnessed a murder, and they just murdered someone with a witness present. The second time snapped back into motion, I turned and ran.
I. Fucking. Ran.
Shoes and mace dropped, I ran back the way I came, mindful of nothing but making it home. I ran until my lungs burned, but adrenaline pushed me forward. I had strapped my purse around my torso when I had started walking home in case someone tried to mug me, but now my purse was nothing but a hindrance. It kept slapping against my body with every step and I felt, unreasonably, like it was slowing me down. However, I couldn’t toss it because my wallet was inside. It had all my information in it.
So, I just kept on running.
Blood was rushing through my ears, but I could still vaguely make out the sound of footsteps thundering all around me. They were giving chase, like I knew they would, but rational thought was a thing of the past right now. If any of these men caught me, I was as good as dead.
I had no doubt that witnessing Luca Benetti commit murder would result in my death. Then hysteria and lack of oxygen turned my mind into a distorted funhouse of wild thoughts. Why was he killing someone in a public alley for? Why should I have to die because he was sloppy? And on a random Wednesday? What the fuck?
My legs started to burn, but there was no way I was going to stop. I had no idea who was where, but I cut corners and zigzagged through driveways and apartment buildings trying to lose them. Luckily, I’ve been living here for four years, so I knew the area enough to work my way home. I just had to get inside my apartment building before they got me.
My apartment building finally came in sight, but I didn’t slow down. I ran for all I was worth, but I knew opening the front lobby doors was going to give them time to catch up with me, but there was no help for it. I had no choice.
I ran up the steps and keyed in the code to the front doors. As soon as the buzzer sounded and the lock disengaged, I swung the door open and started running again. I bypassed the elevator and ran up the stairs. My apartment was on the fifth floor, but adrenaline and fear didn’t care anything about that.
I could feel myself slowing down around the fourth-floor landing, but I still gave it my all. This was my life we were talking about. I knew it as surely as I knew my name.
There was a small measure of hope that all my running might wake someone up, but I quickly doused that hope when I realized that person might very well meet the same fate as me if anyone came around to help me. I didn’t want to die, but I didn’t want anyone else dying because of me either.
I finally made it to the fifth-floor door, and I swung it open, making a run for my apartment. Unfortunately, my apartment was at the end of the hallway, but I didn’t see any Mob members anywhere, so I took that as a good sign.
I forced myself to speed walk down the hallway instead of running because I really didn’t want anyone else getting caught up in this deadly drama. I wouldn’t say I had friends in the building, but I had apartment neighbors that I got along with. We were...neighborly and were a united front against the lazy super, but that’s it. However, I didn’t want to see any harm to come any of them.
As I got closer to my apartment door, I pulled my purse over my head, unzipped it and started looking for my keys. I thanked God for having the foresight to zip it up earlier in an attempt to stave off a mugging because I didn’t lose anything in the chase. But, right now, I hated the precious seconds it was taking me to locate my keys.
I needed inside my goddamn apartment now.
I finally found my keys in the mess inside my purse and my hands were shaking as I grabbed the doorknob and tried to
