Chapter 4: The Safe House
1447 Words
Morning came quickly. The city was very still and quiet, the drama of last night violence was filled in the atmosphere.
Sofeey haven't had enough sleep. Every time she closes her eyes to try and sleep, she always saw flashes of what had happened last night - glass breaking, the gunfire, the fierce and strong look on Vince's face.
Vince was standing at the kitchen counter, he was dressed in his black as usual, his sleeves were rolled up, he was pouring coffee into a mug on the table like it was just another beautiful morning in New York. His calmness and softness made her very uneasy.
"How can you even act like nothing really happened" she asked with a harsh voice.
He actually didn't look at her right away. "Because if I acted like something happened or if anything matters", he said, "it means am letting them win".
She frowned. "Who were those people?"
He set a mug in front of her. "People who actually wants what's mine. People who don't take 'no' for an answer".
She looked at the coffee but didn't drink it. "So is that what all this is? A struggle for power? Territory?"
His firm tightened, but he still didn't answer.
"Like do you even listen to yourself?" she asked furiously. "You talk like----".
"Like what?" He then finally looked at her, his eyes sharp.
"Like...like someone who thinks people are just...... collateral damage".
Just his silence alone said a lot of things.
Sofeey stood there. "I'm not staying here".
Yes, you are". He said. His voice was quiet though, but it stopped her cold.
"You can't just----"
He crossed the space between them immediately. "Sofeey, you just walked straight into my life the wrong night. I am trying my very best to keep you safe, to not involve you in all this, but it's all over now. But you will have to stay here for now, till it's safe out there. Then I promise you, you will never see me again".
Her heart racing with hurt. "You really think that's what I want?"
"It's what you need".
She laughed loudly. "You don't get to decide that for me".
"I decide a lot of things I don't want to, you get", he said softly, almost to himself.
There was something about the way he said it - it sounded quiet, tired - it calmed her anger. She sat back into the chair, the fear leaving her body gradually.
For that moment, none of them said anything to each other.
Then she asked him, "Who were they? The people who shot at us?"
His look towards her darkened. "Rossi's men. A rival family. Lately they've been pushing into my territory. Last night, they wanted to a send message".
"And I was just.... there".
"You were the message".
The words landed like a blow. "Because I was with you".
He nodded his head.
Her faced changed. "You said I didn't matter".
"I lied".
Silence filled the air.
She looked away immediately, out the window. The skyline glittered in the distance, it was cold - very cold.
Finally, she said, "So what now?"
"Now you can stay here", he said, "and you try not to hate me too much".
----
Over the next few days that passed, the penthouse became both a prison and a love house.
Vince came back and went at very odd hours, never telling anyone where he was going. His men - silent, armed, strong, respectful - they always keep check - the windows, replaced the glass.
Sofeey barely spoke to anybody. The only sounds she heard were the city far below and the occasional muffled conversation through the walls.
At night, she found herself wandering around - through the sleek, empty rooms, through the edges of her thoughts. She'd always stand by the window and watched the lights flicker across the penthouse, wondering what normal people were doing at that exact moment.
She kept on thinking on how she'd ended up here, a scared ghost in a stranger's fortress.
Sometimes Vince was there, always sitting in the dark holding a glass of scotch, watching the same skyline over and over again.
"You really don't sleep at all right?" she asked him softly one night.
He hesitated for a while then looked at her. "I used to".
"What changed then?"
He looked away. "You start losing enough people that you love, you stop closing your eyes".
She hesitated for a while, then joined him by the window. "Do you mean family?"
"Family", he said. "Friends. People I trusted".
He took a sip, then added, "People I killed before they could kill me".
Her breath caught, but he didn't look at her. He wasn't boasting, he was arrogant. He was confessing.
"Why you telling me that?" she whispered.
"Because you keep asking me who I am". He turned to her. "That's who I am".
For a long moment there, she just looked at him. The man who had actually saved her life and ruined it at the same time. His aura made her feel dizzy - he was fierce yet protective. Broken, yet still trying to hold his world together.
"You actually don't scare me", she said quietly.
He smiled warmly. "Then you're not paying attention".
"Maybe I am", she said. "Maybe I see something you don't".
"What's that?"
"That is just underneath all that control, you're just.... tired of being just the monster".
He looked at her, something flickering in his expression - anger, maybe or maybe vulnerability. It was actually hard to tell.
Then he placed his glass down and steeped closer to her. " You think you can read me that easily?"
"No", she whispered. "But I think you want someone to try".
He didn't give an answer, but his hand came up slowly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. The gesture was very tender, almost hesitant - so unlike him it made her heart pound.
Their eyes met with each other's. And there was silence.
Then he said to her, "You should get some rest".
She actually wanted to say something - anything at the moment - to break the tension between them, but her voice wouldn't come up. So she nodded and walked away instantly, she felt his stare follow her down the hall.
----
By the next morning, she woke up to the sound of muffled voices again - this time around from the kitchen.
She cracked the door open slowly. Vince was talking to one of his men in the kitchen.
".... they're watching the bridges", the man said quietly. "If you move now, you will be seen, they will know".
"I'm not going to stay in this city forever", Vince said. "I've got someone important to protect".
Sofeey stood there frozen.
The man asked. "The girl?"
Vince didn't answer, he remained quiet.
The man sighed. "You know how all this ends, boss. It always ends the same way".
Vince's tone was very quiet, deadly. "Then maybe this time, it doesn't have to be the same way".
Sofeey closed the door softly behind her, heart pounding.
She wanted to believe that he meant everything he said - that she wasn't just another of his weakness, another liability. But a part of her that still lived in the real world that isn't Vince's world whispered that men like him didn't get redemption.
They always got the headlines. And bullet holes.
Still, that night when he came back - bruised, blood on his lips - she didn't ask him where he'd been. She just took the first aid kit.
He didn't stop when she cleaned the cut, he didn't shake when she touched his skin.
"You shouldn't do this, really" he said softly. "You shouldn't care".
"Sorry, too late", she whispered.
They looked at each other intensely - and for the first time, he actually didn't look away.
----
That night, when he was fast asleep on the couch, she sat across from him, watching the faint rise and fall of his chest.
For all his power and danger that he had, he looked like a human in his sleep. Vulnerable and innocent. Like all the weight of his entire world finally loosened from his shoulder for a moment.
She reached out her hand, brushing her fingers against his hand - light enough not to wake him up.
"I don't know what you've done really", she whispered. "But I don't think you are past saving".
Outside, the city was still as it used to be, unaware that somewhere above that huge city, two people who should have never met were quietly changing each other's lives.
- Writer
