Blood in the Golden Palace

Chapter 6: Penny

Chapter 6: PennyPenny laid in that bed for she didn’t know how long. Nothing about that day seemed real. No matter how many times she went over it in her head, it was as though these horrible things were happening to someone else. Like an actor on a screen. But each and every time she would open her eyes to try and wake up at home, she was met only with the harsh reality of her new predicament. As the hours ticked on, Penny paced the bedroom if only to get out her extra energy.

Eventually, the horror of it all faded away to numb acceptance. It was indeed possible that Penny was simply delaying an inevitable mental breakdown, but after hours of crying, she was too achy to continue but not tired enough to sleep. With nothing else to fill her time, and no phone for a distraction, Penny instead decided to poke around. First, she checked the bathroom. It reminded her of a fancy hotel with how clean it was. There were even soaps and basic toiletries laid out for potential guests. A shower would be nice, though she wouldn’t exactly have clean clothes to change into yet. Penny left the bathroom to check out the television, which had plenty of streaming services to pick from. However, she wasn’t really in the mood, and turned it back off. She then looked around the bed, finding a few extra changes of sheets packed away for emergencies. At least her prison had a turn down service.

Finally, she checked the closet. It was more than enough room for her clothes with plenty to spare. Penny had to admit, if she wasn’t being held captive with her very life in the balance, this wouldn’t be a bad setup. She was about to go back to bed for another psychological panic session, when her foot nudged something as she turned. Looking down, she spotted a storage box hidden in the shadow of the closet door. It was a box upholstered with leather, as was everything else in this house, and looked big enough to use as a seat. Kneeling, she lifted the lid and looked in. It was nearly impossible to see in the light, and so she reached in and pulled out the top item.

It was a leather flog.

Penny blinked. For a split second, she thought it might have been a criminal instrument of torture, endured by people like poor Jimmy, but something told her that it wasn’t exactly that insidious. She reached in and pulled out a few more things, laying them all on the floor. Limb restraints. Chokers. Ropes. Paddles. Lubricant. And some of them looked fairly well-loved, so to speak.

Knock, knock, knock. “How are you doing in there?” Quick as a flash, Penny threw everything back into the box and shut the lid. She stood quickly as the door cracked just so. “May I come in?” Angelo asked on the other side.

Penny gripped her hands behind her and answered a meek: “Uh-huh.” The door opened fully and Angelo poked his head in.

“Sorry for the intrusion,” he said, stepping over the threshold. A brightly colored shopping bag hung at his side. “I realize you didn’t have much when I brought you, so I had my driver run out and pick you up a few things.” He gestured to the bag and sat it on the bed. “I hope you don’t mind. I had to guess your size.”

Penny approached the bag and pulled out a night dress. It definitely wasn’t something she would have picked out for herself. It was a silk slip with spaghetti straps, barely reaching down to her mid-thigh. Penny turned to Angelo with a befuddled look. “Is this…lingerie?”

Angelo blinked. “What?” Taking it from her hands, he examined it. “Huh…I guess it is.” He folded it up and tossed it back into the bag. “When I told Hank to get you something to sleep in, this isn’t exactly what I meant. I’ll have him return it—”

“Erm…no. No, it’s okay.” Penny picked it back up. It felt nice in her hands. Frankly, she’d never even held a slip this nice let alone owned one. Looking in, she saw more than just the slip. A fresh pack of underwear, a tooth brush, hairbrush, and even a T-shirt and a pair of sweat pants. “This is…really nice.”

Angelo smiled ruefully. “It’s the least I can do.”

Penny sat on the edge of the bed, gripping her knees. “Why are you doing it?” Penny looked up, timidly. Angelo met her with a gentle gaze. “To be honest I…I don’t know whether I should hate you or thank you.”

Angelo ran his fingers through his hair. “Believe me, I don’t expect gratitude. This is a shitty situation.”

Penny stared at her feet. “Still, it probably would be easy to just…like…I don’t know…”

“I’d rather it not come to that,” Angelo admitted. “That’s a messy side of the business. I’d rather solve things diplomatically.”

Possessed by someone much braver than herself, Penny said: “Is that what you call smashing people’s hands in?” The minute the words left her mouth, Penny was sure she’d signed her own death warrant. Fear gripped her heart. She looked up to immediately apologize, and was met with the steely gaze of her captor. Any and all words died under those eyes, and she shrunk against the bed, expecting retaliation. However, none came. Instead, Angelo turned to leave, only to pause when he spotted something by the open closet.

“What’s that doing here?” Walking over, he plucked the flogger from the floor, much to Penny’s embarrassment. Looking into the closet, he noticed the box. “Oh. I guess this never got moved.” Casually as you please, Angelo stored the s*x toy and picked up the box. “Sorry about that,” he said, carrying it in his arm. “I usually use the guest room for…” He hesitated. “Well. Guests. Wasn’t really expecting this arrangement. I’ll get this out of your way.”

“Are you…” Once again, Penny’s mouth was moving without the blessing of her brain. “I mean…do you like…Are you into…?”

That smile returned to Angelo’s lips. Shifting the lid, he pulled out a paddle to show off. “We all have our hobbies, don’t we?”

Penny went red. “I guess…”

Angelo put the paddle back in its container and lowered the box to his hip. “Listen,” he said, “I know that a lot of this is scary. I wouldn’t blame you if you hated me for all this. But I want you to know something.” Angelo set the box down and sat across from Penny, leaning forward in earnest. “While you’re here, I’ll make sure that you are safer than you’ve ever been. All right? I know what you saw back there…It was business. That’s all. I will never—ever—lay a finger on you.”

Penny hugged her arms, daring to search Angelo’s face for lies. She found none. “You’re a strange guy.”

“So I’ve been told.” Standing, he hoisted the box back into his arms and turned to the door. “I’m ordering in. You’re welcome to join me.” Penny nodded, and once again, Angelo left the room.

It took some time before Penny was comfortable enough to leave the bedroom, even with Angelo’s reassurance. First, she took a long, hot shower. Brushed her hair, wiped her face, and changed into those new sweats. They fit her perfectly, as did the T-shirt. Once she was in comfortable clothes, she sat on the bed and stared at the door.

Of course, she had gone back to her and David’s final conversation the day before. Penny burned with shame and anger, and clutched a pillow tightly to her lap the more she thought about it. She wanted to believe that this would all be over very soon, but she couldn’t bring herself to be that naive again. Penny ran through so many different scenarios that might have avoided her predicament. What if she took a later bus? What if David never grabbed Angelo’s business card? Hell, what if Penny actually believed the evidence of her own eyes and took David’s advice? What good was a woman’s intuition if it was this egregiously wrong? With a deep sigh, she pushed her face into the top of the pillow. She could, of course, go through “what if’s” all day long, but it wouldn’t negate her new reality. She was stuck there, perhaps indefinitely.

And she was hungry.

Penny lifted her eyes. Frankly, she was scared of leaving the confines of her new cage. Would that chivalry die the moment she said or did something wrong? Who was to say that it wouldn’t be her someday, held down with hands splayed while Angelo picked out a hardware tool to his liking? A tiny voice in her head told her that this was nonsense, that Angelo had given Penny his word, but a much louder voice told that tiny voice to shut the hell up, Angelo was literally a mobster.

But still. She was hungry.

Penny took a deep breath. Summoning her courage, she shuffled to the door and carefully pried it open, poking an eye out the crack. She couldn’t see anything down the hallway, but heard a noise of someone on the phone. It was difficult to make out the words. She opened it a little wider and took half a step into the hallway. The hardwood floors were smooth and expertly cleaned beneath her feet. Before leaving, she glanced to her left. A few other closed doors sat in the darkness. Curiosity tempted her, but for now, she walked toward the living room. The further she got, the more clearly she could hear the conversation.

“So then put eyes on the west end runners. I don’t know what else to tell you.” Angelo was standing in the kitchen, a few bags of Chinese take-out open and arranged sloppily on the island. Penny recognized the logo; it definitely wasn’t cheap. “Nico, listen, I have got my hands full at the moment, I can’t be the one who—none of your business, that’s what.” Angelo turned, and Penny froze. She felt like a mouse, spotted by the house cat. Angelo nodded and gestured to a few paper plates and forks at the end of the island before turning back to his phone call.

“Sure. Send them over, I’ll take a look. But things are gonna be dicey for me for a few days. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Yeah, you too.” Angelo hung up and took a bite off of his fork. “You can’t get good help these days,” he joked.

Penny took a paper plate and looked at the spread of food. “Jeeze. This is a lot.”

“Well I didn’t know what you’d like, so I just got one of everything.”

Penny threw up her eyebrows. “One of everything? Do people actually do that?”

Instead of answering, Angelo held up a box. “Fried wonton?” Penny couldn’t help it. She chuckled, and the tension melted. Quietly, she assembled a little plate of food and grabbed a plastic fork. She ate standing on the other side of the kitchen island, as did Angelo. “I’m going to have to leave in the morning,” he said. “But Hank will be here to keep an eye on things. I should be back before too long.”

Penny ate a forkful of noodles. “Is it um…business stuff?”

Angelo hesitated. “Yeah,” he said. “It’s business stuff.” He took a sip of his beer and gestured around the house. “While I’m gone, I want you to be comfortable. You’re free to read or watch TV. And your stuff should be arriving by five, so you can unpack. If you need some fresh air, there’s a walking path through the trees. It’s really nice in the morning.”

“You’re not worried I’ll escape?”

Angelo c****d an eyebrow. “Should I be?” Penny didn’t answer, and Angelo took another bite. “Along with Hank, I’ve had a few guards stationed by the gates. So I guess you could try.” Penny laid down her fork and stared at the plate. That almost playful tone between them died quickly, and they were left standing awkwardly in the silence.

“Thanks for the food.” Picking up her plate, Penny turned and walked back into her room, closing the door behind her. Angelo, thankfully, didn’t follow.

* * * *

Penny slept hard that night. Initially, she was worried about letting her guard down at all in the house, but before she knew it, she was out like a light, and didn’t rise until late the next morning. It had been a harrowing day, so it was no surprise that her sleep schedule was all but wrecked. When she did open her eyes, it was nearly noon. It took her a moment before she remembered where she was and why. She reached for her phone, only to be smacked in the face with another reminder: Angelo still had it.

With a deep sigh, Penny stared out the window. It was windy, and the rain had been on again off again since the previous day. It was the perfect book weather. Too bad she didn’t feel like relaxing. After waffling around her room a bit, she found her dress from yesterday had been laundered and was folded outside her door. She headed to the kitchen, where a breakfast of take-out leftovers awaited her, only to find Hank the driver making himself a coffee.

“Oh.” He looked up, distracted from the Keurig. “Morning, Miss. You sleep okay?”

Penny hesitated, lingering at the end of the hallway. “Well enough,” she finally said. “Um…you’re Hank, right?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Hank said with a smile. “Don’t worry, Angelo explained the situation. Don’t fret, you won’t even know I’m here.”

“…Right.” Penny remained where she was. Hank finished up his coffee and took the mug from the mouth of the machine. “So uh…does this sort of thing happen a lot?”

“What, you mean like…?”

“I mean this. Me. Or anyone before me.”

“Basically you want to know if my boss is a serial kidnapper?” Hank chuckled, though his eyes were sympathetic. “Why don’t you have a seat, I’ll make you a cup.” Penny finally stepped into the kitchen and settled on a far bar stool. When he turned back around, he had a freshly brewed mug of coffee ready to go. He set it in front of her. “What do you want? Cream, sugar?”

“Sure, thanks.”

Hank obliged, and Penny stirred in her additives of choice. Taking his own coffee, which he took black, Hank leaned against the kitchen island casually. “No,” he finally said. “That’s the simple answer. Angelo isn’t really prone to snatching girls off the street. This is kind of a hairy situation all around.”

Penny sipped her coffee. It tasted way more expensive than the bargain beans from the café. “Do you know how long I might be here?”

“Sorry, miss,” said Hank. “I don’t think anyone has that answer.” They were momentarily interrupted by a buzz at the front door. “That must be the movers. Hang tight.” He walked toward the front of the house. Penny saw him push a button, and soon, she heard gravel crunching under tires outside. Before long, movers were coming through the house, carting boxes upon boxes of Penny’s personal possessions. Hank directed them to Penny’s room, and Penny watched, hands on her coffee mug, as every detail of her life was carried by strangers. It was like setting up a new animal pen at the zoo, and Penny was the main attraction.

It was a relatively quick process, as Penny didn’t have many things to begin with. She certainly had no furniture other than a few small bookshelves. As the moving men dropped off her things, she wondered how Vivian would do without her. She could only imagine the panic of trying to survive alone on a fixed income. It was hard enough when there were two of them. Sitting on the edge of the bed, surrounded by her world in boxes, Penny was overcome with another wave of unyielding anxiety. Every horrible possibility flashed through her mind. What would happen if Viv got evicted? Kicked out onto the streets at her age in the middle of the winter…Her gut churned at the idea of it, and she bent down by her boxes to start unpacking, hoping that the work would push the guilt from her mind.

“You want some help?” Penny looked over. Now with the movers gone, Hank had returned to Penny’s company. He eyed the room, counting up all the boxes. “You think they got everything? This doesn’t look like much.”

Penny did a quick scan. “No, this seems right.” She found a box of clothes and headed for the closet to hang up what she had. “I wasn’t exactly living in the lap of luxury before now. I don’t think I’ll be able to even take up half this closet space.”

“Well at least that makes moving a breeze.”

Penny had a thought as she hung a coat up on the closet rack. “I think I can handle unpacking on my own.”

“You sure?”

“Positive. Thanks.”

With a shrug, Hank headed back to the living room. Casually as she could, Penny closed the door behind him. After which, she set to work. Quick as a flash, she went through box after box, wishing, praying that what she was looking for was there. It took her reaching the final box, but at last, she found it: her old laptop. With one more glance at the door, Penny hurried into the closet as an extra precaution and opened it up. Immediately, she went to the Wi-Fi icon. Three popped up. And all three were locked.

Her hopes crushed for now, Penny sat in the dark closet, wringing her hands. This was her one chance. Her once chance to contact the outside world for help. She needed that Wi-Fi password. If she was lucky, she could find it somewhere in Angelo’s things. He was bound to have a home office in house this fancy. But if she was going to snoop, she needed to be careful. She knew that she would only get a few chances to find it.

Penny looked around the closet. There weren’t too many nooks and crannies that could hide a computer easily. She considered putting the laptop under her mattress. But beds were conspicuous, and usually the first place to look for contraband. She needed to be smart. No, she needed to be smarter than smart. An air vent? Too small, and she had no tools. Perhaps taped to something? No, it could fall and make a noise at any time. That’s when she noticed the windows. First, she looked around. It only just occurred to her that her room might have been rigged with security cameras, but after a fast investigation, Penny concluded that Angelo was not a spying pervert. For which she was thankful.

Penny headed to the window, grabbing an old pillow case along the way. She turned off her laptop and wrapped a plastic bag around the computer for protection. After which, she stuffed it in a shoddy towel, then in a pillowcase, and knotted it loosely. She opened the sliding glass pane, slipping her head out into the cold. She knew that Angelo mentioned guards on the grounds, but so far, she could see no one. Penny looked down. Beneath her window sill was a thick row of perfectly manicured bushes. It was like she hit the Jackpot. Prying open the branches, she lowered the pillowcase until she felt the computer touch something solid. She let it go, and through the bush, saw the computer settle.

Hopefully, Angelo didn’t have a thorough gardener.

Penny was quick to put the rest of her things away, lest Hank get suspicious of how long she was taking. Upon reentering the living room, Hank was none the wiser. “Got it all settled?” he asked.

“Yup. Just like home.”

Hank, who was resting on the couch, sat up fully and put away his phone. “Hopefully you’ll mean that soon enough.”

Penny winced. “Come on, I won’t be here that long, will I?”

Hank shrugged. “Who knows? But it’s better to be comfortable, isn’t it?”

“I guess…”

Hank stood, hands in his pockets. “Have you eaten yet?” Penny shook her head. “Well I was eyeing those leftovers in the fridge. Why don’t I fix us up some plates?” Without awaiting an answer, Hank walked into the kitchen and started pulling out the Chinese food from the night before. He stopped to examine a box and laughed to himself. “Boy…He really never gets tired of this place.” He turned to Penny and held up the box. “I used to take him here all the time when he was little. He liked the Pad See Ew.”

Penny sat at the kitchen island. “How long have you known him?”

“Years,” said Hank. “I was hired by Don Luciano as a footman, though I occasionally tasked with watching the kids. Had a couple of my own at the time, so it was a good fit. I’ve known Angelo almost all his life.” Hank piled two plates high and put one in the microwave, punching the quick reheat option.

“Huh.” Penny folded her arms on the kitchen island. “It’s weird to think of him as a kid. He’s so…” Penny couldn’t find the words, so she gestured vaguely with her hands.

Hank grinned. “You’ll never guess, but he was a quiet little tyke. Shy, too.”

“Seriously?”

“Oh yeah. Now his sister Nikki, she was an absolute terror. Daddy’s baby girl, you know? Fortunately, Mrs. DeRossi usually looked after her so I didn’t have to.” The microwave beeped and Hank switched out the plates. “I never minded looking after Angelo. Tell you what, there was never a kid so well behaved.”

“How come his mom only looked after his sister?”

Hank hesitated. When the second plate was done, he handed one to Penny, putting the second in front of him. “Mrs. DeRossi…well, she isn’t actually Angelo’s mother. They don’t have the greatest relationship, truth be told. Here, you want a fork?”

Penny took it, but her appetite was forgotten for now. “Was he from another marriage?” Hank said nothing, and instead prodded at his reheated plate. The implication was an easy one to figure out. “Oh…Wow. That sucks.”

“It is what it is,” said Hank. “Angelo’s got a lot riding on his shoulders because of his family. And it’s not like he ever asked for it. Look, I’m sure you got your opinions of the guy after…well…But you gotta understand. He’s lived his whole life stuck in between a rock and a hard place. You’re trapped here for now, sure. Angelo’s been trapped since the day his father brought him home.”

Penny stared at her food. “Are you trying to make me feel sorry for the guy who kidnapped me?”

Hank leaned forward on his elbows. “Nah,” he said. “You got every right to be mad. Just…go easy on the guy. Besides, if any other mob boss found you sneaking around their place, it’d be a whole different story. s**t, last guy Don Luciano caught creeping around one of his store rooms ended up chained naked to a radiator.”

Penny flinched. “Jesus. And that’s Angelo’s dad?” Hank nodded over a forkful of food. Among her many conflicting thoughts, one stood out prominently: Man, I hope I never get invited to Thanksgiving.