Twisted Mercy

Connection

July 29th, 2021

7:43pm

Location: Rockport, AR

**********

"What are you doing?"

I turned away from the punching bag, only to meet Genevieve's furious face. I looked at the clock on the wall and noted the time, then turned back to her. "Exercising? Why do you look like Frankie just ate your last poppy seed muffin?"

She huffed and crossed her arms. Her chocolate eyes were more of an onyx - which only happens when she's angry. I'm about to get a lecture. I can feel it.

"We were supposed to meet Eddie half an hour ago," she started, going slowly to make sure she got the point across. I nodded my head and started to unwrap the tape from around my knuckles. "You were a no-show."

"Yeah, I didn't feel like going. I needed to blow off some steam." I threw the tape in the trash and took a swig from my water bottle. She was now pinching the bridge of her nose.

"You didn't feel like going?"

"Nope."

"Lillian."

"Genevieve."

"He's not happy. He's genuinely pissed. You have to make it up to him."

"How? By buying him a box of chocolates and stealing an 'expensive' bottle of wine from Olive Garden? Their wine isn't even that expensive."

I grabbed my duffel bag and headed for the door, Gia following close behind me. We walked out of the gym and through the little compound the mob bosses gifted to us last year. The halls were dimly lit and the Sun was lowering in the sky. At the end of the hall, I turned to the left and headed into the kitchen. Grabbing a banana, I stood in front of the sink and Ivy positioned herself on the other side of the island, staring me down.

"This is the third time you've missed out on a meeting, Lillian. If you miss one more -"

"What are they going to do," I asked through a mouthful of banana. "It's not like they can ruin our lives anymore, G."

She sighed and leaned against the counter. A few moments of silence passed and I finished the banana. I walked into the pantry to throw away the peel and, when I exited, she was glaring at the counter. I reassumed my position across from my best friend and she looked up at me with sorrowful eyes.

"Skipping out on these meetings isn't going to get you anywhere, Lily," she reasoned with me.

I looked away and sighed. The eight years where we've lived as assassin trainees and then actual assassins for the top mob bosses of the United States have been long and hard.

I remember when we first got taken. For one whole year, we tried finding a way out. Either running away or trying to get arrested, we tried everything and anything just to make it back to our families. We were always found. If they tried separating us, we fought tooth and nail, often causing some minor injuries along the way. They learned quickly to keep the two of us together. We caused them less trouble that way.

I looked back at Ivy and saw the pain in her eyes as she kept glaring at the counter top. Neither of us asked for this. Every two years, we got handed to a new boss or bosses. At the end of this year, we'll have another new life. Hundreds of new aliases and missions, debt collections or exterminations. Anything to keep the bosses happy.

"Look, I'll make it up to Eddie, okay? But these meetings are getting out of hand. This is the third one he's called this month ALONE. I'm tired of hearing 'you need to make sure to not get caught. Always stay on the move.'" I told her, trying my best to impersonate the angry Cuban man. She cracked a tiny smile, but it faded just as quickly as it came.

"Why didn't you show?"

It was a simple question. An honest one too. I should've been able to answer it with something dismissive, possibly a lightweight joke to mask my real reason for missing. But Gia knows me better than I know myself. She would've found out eventually. She probably would've snuck into my room while I was taking a shower just to find out.

"Her birthday was three days ago." My answer was short and simple, not something that would make most people emotional, but the weight behind my words caused Genevieve to gasp.

Only after hearing her reaction did I realize that I was absentmindedly twisting the ring on my left hand. It was simple, but beautiful. The silver band held a peridot at the center, surrounded by diamonds styled to look like an infinity symbol. Given to me on my twelfth birthday with the promise to never take it off until after marriage. My Mom and Dad wanted to give me something special and, after months of saving up, promising that not eating out will be worth it in the end, this ring was a symbol of their love to me. A symbol for how much they cared.

"You weren't able to contact her," Gia stated.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "Yeah, as if I was able to contact her at all these past seven years."

"Lily," Ivy began, but I cut her off.

"What would I even say? 'Hey, Mom, I know you haven't seen me in seven years and you probably forgot about me altogether, but I wanted to wish you a happy birthday! Here's proof of my still being alive!' Why not just add in details of how we'd been kidnapped and put into the organized crime syndicate, huh? Yeah, that would've been real tasteful."

"Hey, I lost my connection to my family too." Gia cut in.  "I know how much this hurts, but ignoring our bosses, especially when they have people watching our families, watching us to make sure that we don't step out of line."

I dropped the duffel bag on the ground and crossed my arms. She had a point, but I had a better one. "They can't control us forever."

She rolled her eyes and mimicked my stance. "And until we find a way to get out from under their thumb, we will keep doing what they ask of us."

I hate it when she makes an even better point than my better point.

We engaged in a glare off. Neither of use were going to back down. It wasn't until I noticed just how bad I really stunk that I let out another deep sigh and rubbed my temples. I picked up the duffel bag and headed out of the kitchen and up the stairs. About halfway up, I turned around and met her gaze.

"I'll meet up with Eddie tomorrow." She cracked a genuine smile and I continued up the stairs. "He's lucky that I snagged a box of chocolates on my way back from Olive Garden yesterday."