Mafia's Trap- Jaden

Chapter 3

Katherine POV 

   “What kind of sick joke is this?,”Amelia said in exasperation. 

    ”I don’t see anyone here Kat. I think we should call 911 asap.” Rose said, looking terrified, while she cautiously peered over the window to scan the surroundings. 

     “I need to tell you guys something,” came my small voice. They both turned to look at me questioningly. With shaky hands I placed the note on the table and narrated the whole incident that took place earlier this evening and also about the strange man following me yesterday without leaving any single detail out. By the time I finished both Amelia and Rose were staring at me as if I had grown two heads. 

      “Guys please say something,” I urged them. 

      “Are you sure you saw someone being murdered?”, Amelia asked.

      “Yes I am perfectly positive. I saw the man lying in a pool of his own blood with my very own eyes.”

      “And did the men see you standing there? What if these are the same people who threw the stone at our window to threaten us so that we don’t open our mouths?” Rose questioned me. 

      “I don’t know.. I just don’t know,” my voice shrilled. I was almost hysterical. “Ugh! Let me think'', I was starting to get frustrated. 

    “Well, I am done thinking. I am calling Peter,” Amelia took out her phone and started dialling. I reached out my arm to stop her from calling. 

    “Peter who?” 

    “He is my Friend. He knows some guys.”

     I knitted my eyebrows in confusion, “What friend Amy? What guys? What are you talking about?” 

    “Oh are you talking about that blonde guy who dropped you home when you were super drunk.” Rose immediately put her hand on her mouth as she realised she blurted out something that was supposedly to be kept a secret from me.

     “Amy, were you drunk? How?.. I mean you are not even of legal age and Rose you knew about all that and didn’t tell me.” I questioned, a bit hurt. Am I this hard on them that they have to now hide things from me? 

     “Oops sorry, Amy," Rose muttered guiltily, glancing at Amelia who narrowed her eyes at Rose. 

    “AMELIA…” I warned. 

    “Not the point, Katherine. We need to figure out who is behind all this. You can hold off the scolding for now.” 

    "No Amelia, tell me right now." I demanded. 

    ”Guys we should take this seriously. I think we should call the police and let them handle it.” Rose interrupted us while standing up. 

    “Noooo..” I almost shouted at Rose, "We cannot do that. They might know where we live. I bet they are watching us right now. If we tell the police, they’ll know and probably kill us. We cannot risk it.”

     “Kat is right, Rose,” Amelia agreed, ”that is exactly why Peter can help us. I bet he’ll know what to do. 

    ”How will he know what to do?” I inquired, raising my eyebrows.

    ”He does some odd jobs here and there.. I don’t know much about that as he doesn’t tell me much. 

    Also, as I told earlier, he knows some guys.” Amelia answered casually as if this is something that happens everyday. 

    She dialled Peter while Rose and I waited patiently. She came back after a few minutes and informed us that he needs to see the picture of the note. After waiting for what felt like eternity, the phone rang again. “ Put the phone on speaker”, I directed.

    “Hi Amy…”, came Peter's voice.

    “Hey Peter before you say anything let me just tell you that you are on speaker phone..,” Amelia immediately cut him.

    “Your point being?”, Peter questioned.

    “Just please use respectable language, my sister here is purer than virgin Mary,” Amelia joked.

    “I am hurt Amy.. do you have such low standards about me?” Peter retorted in a mock hurt voice.

    I was sick of their nonchalance. Did she even realise the gravitas of the situation we were in? I immediately cut in before Amelia could reply, "Hi Peter this is Katherine, Amelia's sister. If you both are done fooling around can we please focus on the situation at hand?” I said glaring at Amelia

    “Yes Katherine. I am sorry,” Peter apologised and further added,” I examined the picture of the note that you sent me and if you notice on the right hand corner of the note you’ll see the name Redstone.” And sure enough there it was the name embossed on the crumpled piece of paper which I had clearly missed in my frenzy.      

 “What does this signify and what does that have to do with us Peter?” My confusion was clearly evident.  

   “That’s the name of the hotel chain owned by a very disreputable person. I don’t know much about that but what I do know is that my boss had done some business in the past with the guy who owns the hotel. But I think you guys are thinking too much. It might be some kind of a sick joke played by one of the biker gangs in your neighborhood. As for the murder you witnessed, maybe you were at the wrong place at the wrong time. You were lucky enough to escape the situation without getting caught. Who knows what they might have done to you? Nevertheless to put your mind at ease I can request my boss for some kind of help or information. Maybe he would know what to do?” Peter informed me.

       I pondered over what he said and looked at Amelia and Rose for answers.  

       “Kat, Peter knows what he is doing. If he says his boss can help we should at least try it his way. I mean what else could go wrong.” Amelia stated. 

        She is not wrong. We really didn’t have anywhere else to go. This was our only option. 

        “Yes Peter. Where should we meet you? We will accompany you to your boss.”, I told Peter. 

         Peter laughed, ”My boss never meets any random person. Either you have to be a bigwig or you need an appointment which is not easy to get. Anyways, I’ll talk with him and call you guys as soon as I hear something.” We agreed and he hung up. 

       Unable to sleep, we sat in the living room, each one of us absorbed in our own thoughts. At around 11:30 p.m the phone rang and we all jumped. Amelia quickly picked it up and put it on speaker. 

         Peter spoke in a nervous voice,” Err.. Girls. Don’t freak out. My boss has requested an audience with you. This is very unusual. He typically does not meet anyone unknown. Well, I think this situation is more grave than we imagined. I’ll come to pick you up.” He hung up without waiting for our reply. All of us were now more terrified than earlier. I couldn’t utter a single word. 

    The bell rang after a while. Amelia opened the door. There stood a tall lean guy with dark grey eyes and sandy blonde hair. This must be Peter. He was standing in the doorway looking at us expectantly. He extended his arms to shake hands with me.  I shook it. “Ready?” he asked.

      I didn’t want Rose to get into all this mess. I turned to her, ”Rose, listen to me very carefully. It’s best that you stay home. Just lock the door and don’t open it for anybody except us. Be alert. Keep your phone with you at all times. Okay?”

     “Okay”, she replied meekly. I looked at her one last time and turned around, closing the door behind her.   

      ”How do you guys know each other?” I asked curiously while climbing down the stairs of our apartment. 

       “We met at a friend’s party and he dropped me home as I had gotten drunk. That’s how we became friends.” Amelia answered, smiling at Peter.

         After all this mess gets over I think I need to have a serious conversation with Amelia about her life choices. 

       I sighed and entered into the backseat of Peter's car while Amelia sat in the front. 

~•~•~•

        In the car, I could hear their muffled voices discussing Peter's boss Mr. Woods owning a club but I tuned them out as my mind was wayward with thoughts. I felt like I needed some time to process all of this. Who in the world would be after us? What did we do? We don’t even have anything to offer. Did they threaten the wrong girls? I prayed to God. Please let this be a nightmare.

        Twenty minutes later, Peter informed us that we had arrived. And sure enough I heard the club before I saw it. I saw the name 'Dragonfly 'displayed in neon orange letters. Loud thumping dance music was audible as the door opened and closed. We saw two bouncers guarding the entrance to the club. We got out of the car and headed towards the entrance. Upon reaching, Peter nodded towards the guards who were quite bulky, the guards opened the door for us and stepped back to allow us to enter. 

    For a moment I felt disoriented as I entered the dark of the club. Scents hit me, a swirl of perfume and alcohol. Even though the lights were low I could see the place was crowded with many people drinking and dancing to the music. It appeared to be a very sophisticated place. I'd pictured something modern, shiny and new, with clean lines and sharp edges. I heard Peter shouting through the music that the building had once been a church, then a theater. It explained why the central room soared above us, majestic and old world, with painted murals and gilt details on the ornate plaster. The club was at least three levels, and each one had balconies overlooking the main room. Taking in all the details, We followed Peter past the bar to the side of the main room and to the elevator where I figured his boss’ office would be. As we stepped into the elevator, Peter pressed the button for level three. 

    My heart was pumping at an inhuman pace as we were moving up the elevator. I just want this night to end as soon as possible. I had a long day and I wanted nothing more than to crawl on my bed and sleep like a baby. I tried to calm myself as the elevator dinged and the door opened and we stepped out of the elevator. We made our way to the office and found ourselves standing in front of a well polished mahogany door.

     Peter knocked on the door and an authoritative voice bellowed, “ENTER.” A chill went down my spine as we entered the room. I scanned the room and noticed that it also had the same black and golden interior, giving off the same dangerous vibe. There were several wall paintings in the office similar to the ones which I saw downstairs. There was a beautiful full length window which gave a spectacular view of the city. The whole place screamed money. As I was taking in the interior of the room my eyes fell on the figure sitting behind the chair with his muscular back turned towards us. How can a person look so menacing from behind. 

     “Boss,” Peter cautiously said. He turned around. His eyes fell on me and he smirked.

~•~•~•