The Mafia's Good Girl

It’s been three hours since the close of work and there’s still no sign of Ash. His line redirects to voicemail. Again. Sure, Ash can be a fool sometimes, but he’s never home late. No couch potato wants to linger after work hours. Putting on her fuzzy slippers, she waltzes over to the window and parts the curtains for the umpteenth time. No Ash. Just three girls sharing a blunt and a couple passionately making out in the nearby alley. They’ve been going at it for about 30 minutes, Rain has to touch her lips, briefly wondering how swollen theirs must feel.

“If Ash returns without a meaningful reason for giving me a heart attack, I swear, I’d kill him,” she mutters and plops onto the ground. Their shoebox apartment is too quiet without Ash and his RnB music. Without their constant bickering which is almost always his fault. She decides to call his colleague, Roberta. The woman answers on the second ring.

“Roberta Ramirez, how may I help you?” she says in her usual bored, customer care service voice.

“Roberta, hi. It’s Rain. Ash Sullivan’s sister. I wanted to ask if he’s working late tonight. Do you have any idea?”

“Oh, Ash left at like, 3. He left before everyone,” the monotone reply comes.

Rain sits straighter. “Did he?”

“Yeah. He left in a rush and I didn’t see him till we closed.”

Rain chews on her bottom lip, her brain drawing maps and guesses. “I see. Did he say where he was going?”

“I don’t know. I saw him from a distance. He was on the phone.”

He left in a rush and was on the phone? Rain’s tongue becomes bitter with a foreboding taste. “Oh. Well, thanks a lot, Roberta.” Roberta doesn’t acknowledge the appreciation before hanging up, and Rain doesn’t care. She’s on her feet, jacket in hand and on her way to only to the police station. She calls Ash’s other colleagues because he doesn’t have any work friends. Lindsay corroborates that he left in a hurry, Ezra doesn’t even know if Ash was at work today and Richard says he heard Ash saying something along the lines of ‘I’d bring the money to you in cash. I swear,’ before scurrying away.

Rain stops in her tracks. The chilly March air plays symphonies with her honey-blonde hair. What money? Richard didn’t have any further answers for her. She has to figure that out on her own and where on Earth is she going to start looking for her brother? Who in the city of New York does he owe money? They don’t even have money! She allows memories to roll through her head in a panorama. He’s been juggling many jobs more recently. They’ve both been working extra hard ever since their Bubba was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia. He actually deposited a chunk of money for Bubba’s treatments a few weeks ago. And though Rain asked her brother where he got that much money, he didn’t say anything interesting and she didn’t find him suspicious. Sure, he was a little evasive, but Rain didn’t pay any mind to it. Bubba was going to get the best treatment; that was what mattered.

Could her brother have borrowed money from someone without paying? If yes, who? Still standing transfixed, her horse neigh text notification comes.

‘Looking for Ash?’ the text reads and before her lungs can free up for air, another one comes in and this time it’s a video. Ash is bloody and battered. He’s in his underwear and tied up in some dark, abandoned-looking room. Rain grinds her jaw so hard, it sends a sharp pain to her temples.

“Ayo!” the person making the video says. “You’re related to this thief, right? If you want him alive in the next three hours, you better get your pretty ass here as fast as you can. I’m not gonna tell you to come alone. Bring someone, and y’all will be having brunch in the afterlife.”

Rain hears everything he said but her eyes are fixated on her brother lying limp and lonely on the floor. A cry of anguish escapes her lips and she doesn’t even notice until a couple of New Yorkers turn to look at her weirdly. The next notification she receives is an address, so with tear-stained eyes and anger pulsing through her veins, she starts to run. The streets of the city are bright and busy even at this time so navigation is not really a problem. She flags down a taxi and practically yells out the address to him, begging him to hurry. What has Ash gotten himself into? What has he gotten them into?

Soon, the driver pulls up in front of a factory. She alights, drawing her jacket closer to her body. More than the wind, the eeriness around and what she’s about to see inside the building bite at her skin and soul. ‘Enter’, she receives a text and looks around for cameras. She spots two. They’re monitoring her. Taking a deep breath, she marches towards the steel door, solely powered by the desire to save her brother and not rational thinking. If she was thinking rationally, she wouldn’t even attempt to come here alone. But right now, getting her brother out of this mess was paramount. Even though she had absolutely no idea how to do that and what she’d be facing behind the steel-hinged doors.

A musky smell and darkness welcome her. The sound of her heart banging against her rib cage is as loud as the DJ at her cousin’s housewarming party. She fumbles for her phone in her pant pockets and with shaky hands, turns on the flashlight. But what she sees next is yet more darkness, as strong undoubtedly masculine hands grip her thin arms and press a cloth to her nose. She wriggles, tries to scream or bite or beg, but her head feels foggy. So, very foggy and painful. Before she passes out, a single tear slips out of her eyes. If she and Ash die, who would take care of Bubba?

The Axe doesn’t have the time nor the patience for riffraff. Especially not tonight. He flicks his lighter. On, and off. On again, then off again. His surest sign of boredom.

“How much property do they have? What’s the worth?” The Axe doesn’t have a loud voice. His tone is low, raspy but somehow manages to be commanding.

“Nothing that’s worth anything, sir,” Jaguar, his right-hand man says. “They’re poor, have no meaningful investments or wealthy relatives. The only relative they communicate with is their grandfather who is a cancer patient and hospitalized.”

The Axe makes a throaty sound and adjusts the collar of his chipper, Italian navy blue suit. “So . . .Shabiru loaned out 300grand with no collateral or assurances of payment?”

“I’m sure he has a plan, sir.”

“I don’t need a plan. I need my money back. Immediately.” The Axe rests his elbows on his knees, scrutinizing the two people lying on the floor in front of him. “Wake them up,” he commands and Jaguar gets a hose and basically baptizes them. It takes the female less time to wake up. She coughs and chokes, trying to block the water from reaching her but it’s futile.

“Stop! Stop!” she cries, teeth chattering. “He’s going to get sick.” She uses her small body to shield the male and it’s such a cute sight, The Axe almost vomits.

“Turn it off,” he says and Jaguar obeys. The male is rousing slowly and when his eyes finally open, the female holds his face and starts to cry.

“Ash, are you okay? What did they do to you? You’re so stupid, Ash!” She’s a lot smaller than him, yet she spreads herself like a blanket to wrap him. “Can I please get a . . .a blanket? A tow . . .el. A hanky. Anything to keep him warm . . . please.”

The Axe makes a huff sound. “What do you think this is, a telenovela?” he asks drily. “You’re lucky you met him alive. Now, return the money he owes so I can get out of here. I have a lot of things on my hands, and time isn’t one of them.”

The female stares at him, pierces into his soul with hazel eyes made dark by obvious annoyance. Her hair is plastered to her scalp like a wet dog’s and her nipples point accusingly at The Axe through her pyjama shirt. She definitely came here in a hurry.

“Please,” the male—Ash—coughs. “Leave. Her. out. Of. This,” he picks his words slowly. His mouth definitely hurts from all the punches he’s gotten today.

“Jaguar, you said they’re siblings?”

“Yes, sir.”

The Axe hums and nods. “Explains why they both have runny mouths but an empty bank. Hand me the knife.”

The Axe watches as the girl’s eyes widen in fear and she recoils, yet again shielding her brother. “Knife? There’s no need for a knife. Please explain to me. I have no idea what the heck is going on!”

“Aren’t you siblings the closest in the world?” The Axe’s voice is synonymous with an eye roll.

“We are, but—”

“I don’t care, woman!” The Axe interrupts, clearly out of patience. “Do you have my 300grand or not?”

The female’s soul visibly leaves her. “3—what . . .I think you have the wrong man. Come on, Ash. Let’s go.” She attempts to stand alongside her brother, but The Axe pulls a gun out of his breast pocket and fires it up in the air. The siblings squeal and run into each other’s embrace.

“I don’t care for any of this drama. This is the longest I’ve conversed with a debtor. You two should be food for the dogs by now. So I’d continue with the kindness I’ve already started with and ask you one last time. Where is my 300,000 dollars?”

“I only have . . .25,” Ash says, tears streaming down his bloody face. “If you give me one more month, I’ll—”

The Axe is fed up with the nonsense. He rises to his full, intimidating 6-foot 2-inch height, grabs the knife Jaguar placed for him and storms toward the siblings. They recoil again, hugging each other. When The Axe gets to them, he bends on one knee and swiftly places the knife on the female’s neck, letting it hurt her but not enough to leave a bruise. He’d never hurt women and/or children. That’s something he swore to himself from the moment he joined the mafia.

“Please! She doesn’t know anything!” her brother walks on all fours and grabs The Axe by the forearm that’s not on his sister’s neck.

“I want to know,” the female says, a wicked resolve creeping into her eyes and voice as she holds The Axe’s stare. She seems like a tough nut; he thinks to himself. “Tell me, Ash. How the hell did you end up with a 300grand debt? Is that . . .did you borrow for Bubba?”

Ash sniffs and whimpers like a hurting puppy. “Where were we going to get all that money from, Rain? Chemo, hospital space, everything. We didn’t have it. And I hated how hard you had to work. I didn’t want Bubba to die.”

“But 300grand, Ash. He didn’t need that much for treatment.”

Ash is quiet for a while, and then says something that drives The Axe feral. “I invested it in some coin business. But . . .it was a sham.”

The Axe thrusts his large fist across Ash’s face. It sends him flying in the opposite direction and brushing his shoulder on the concrete floor. He coughs and spits out blood and tooth.

“Please, stop! He’s in enough pain already!” Rain screams, shaking The Axe’s shoulder. The nerve of her to touch him. She lets out a shaky breath and runs equally shaky fingers through wet hair.

“Ash,” she starts, disappointment coating her voice. “Who introduced you to this . . .coin business?”

Ash starts to cry again. “Roy. I’m not sure where he is right now. he . . .he absconded with all the money. I’ve been trying to reach him, I’ve gone to the police, but . . .”

The Axe has heard many stupid stories like this. They loan money expecting interest when it’s time for payment while the borrowers out of desperation invest it so the money can double. That ends up going south.

“What do we do now?” Rain sniffs and The Axe isn’t sure if she’s crying or not. “Who are these people you borrowed money from?”

“I don’t know who this is. But I loaned the money from Shabiru. He’s . . .a mafia member.”

Rain suddenly sits straight. “A mafia? You borrowed money from a mafia group?! Ash, what the hell were you thinking? Look at us. To what end is this? We’re going to pay with our lives and leave Bubba alone in the world.”

“Your lives mean nothing to me right now,” The Axe clarifies, rotating the knife in his left hand. The blade catches the light and glistens. “All I need is my money.”

“We need more time. Please.” Rain begs.

“More time to do what? Borrow from someone else? I don’t care what you need. All I need is my money. Jaguar, help me out here. I’m tired of saying the same things over and over.”

Jaguar gives a curt nod. The lanky man with a tattooed hairless head pours more water on Ash who seems to be drifting back into unconsciousness. Then he gives him quick slaps on the cheek to complete the awakening process. “I’m putting you on the field. The next task we have, I’m giving you a gun to do a job that’d fetch you a good chunk of the money.”

“G-gun?” Ash stutters.

“You can’t do that!” Rain whines but is cut short by a phone call. When Jaguar answers, his demeanor changes and he rushes over to The Axe.

“It’s the Black House,” he whispers and The Axe takes the phone, clearing his throat once.

“Dax Edwards. Yes, good evening, Senator Collins. Good. I’m well aware of the time constraint and I promise to revert to you with sufficient feedback. I’ve got some, work on my hands at the moment.” He gives the siblings a stank eye. “Well then, have a good evening, Senator Collins.” He hands the phone back to Jaguar.

“Still need more hackers?” Jaguar takes the phone from his boss and pockets it.

“Yes. All the hackers I’ve paid millions for are not enough. It’s the Black House. We need enough hands and enough disguise.”

“Hackers?” Rain interjects and the mafia men look down at her like some vermin.

“If we killed her earlier, we wouldn’t be having this distraction. The guy’s gonna join them on the Boston trip.”

“124 Coke?” The Axe fiddles with his cufflinks and Jaguar nods in response.

“Okay. We have a use for him. Give him zero protection. If he dies, so be it. Shabiru would provide the money one way or the other.”

“What about his sister? Can I kill her? We have no use for her.”

“Yes, you do. You actually have an urgent need for me.”

The Axe turns on his heels to properly behold Rain. Her hazel eyes are determined, yet afraid. There’s a defiant stance to her jaw and her teeth are still chattering from the cold.

“The politicians in the city always have a need to quench their bizarre sexual fetishes. A week should be more than enough for you to gather what your brother owes. Clean her up,” he orders and starts for the exit.

“I’m a hacker! Not an object of exploration for the selfish desires of disgusting old men.”

“Hacker? One of your ears would be cut off for eavesdropping.”

“You spoke in front of me. If it was a secret, you should have stepped out.”

The Axe chuckles, and it’s deep and humorous. Interesting, this Rain. She is one interesting girl.

He saunters back towards her and bends to her height. Drawing her chin to himself, too close for comfort, he searches her eyes yet again. He doesn’t find a lie in them. If there’s anything he’s learned from years of dealing with the most criminal people, it is that the human eyes hardly tell a lie.

“I’d give you one chance. If you fail at it, you and your brother will have to kiss your sick, old man goodbye.”

His words sting her so much that she tears up. He doesn’t give a hoot about that.

“My brother will not go to Boston.”

“Are you instructing me, little one?” The Axe smirks.

Rain juts out her chin. “Don’t call me that.”

The Axe bellows, clapping wildly as he laughs. “You, are one interesting girl. You seem smart too. So I’m sure you’d learn really quickly that around here, there’s only one person who hands out instructions. And it’s not you.” He smirks again and addresses Jaguar. “Keep her in a room for an hour. If she’s unable to hack into The XV website by then, cut off one ear. And as for the borrower, just leave him there.”

He strolls out, expectant to see if Rain would survive the hour or leave with one ear and no brother.