It appeared that once the mayor heard the screaming and gunshots, he called in his troops to search mercilessly using the full weight of the police force and all his connected resources.  Through vigorous investigating of each and every building in the city, even door to door searches, the cops eventually stumbled across to that particular warehouse, within three days after the kidnapping had gone wrong.  All the searching panned  out leading the cops to the scene of the crime, and the bodies left behind.  That's where all the trouble began to lead directly to them.

One of the officers that was instructed to investigate the warehouse happened to be on Silvio Lorano's payroll.  Sam Rigotti had came upon the scene at the warehouse, and knew right away something was fishy.  He kept his thoughts to himself though until he could speak to the man himself.  During the routine crime scene investigation, Officer Rigotti made notes of what he saw.  It wasn't until the next morning that he was able to get out to the Lorano residence to share his findings.

Silvio Lorano was indeed outraged, and began immediately wondering who would be stupid enough to use one of his facilities for an outrageous act like that.  The mayor wasn't the only person in Palermo to have city wide connections.  Silvio Lorano began making inquiries into things himself during the rest of the day.  Rachel sat there at the dinner table quietly the night of her father receiving the news.  Franco noticed partway through the meal how terribly quiet she had been, and even commented on it, quite loudly in fact.  Bringing to the attention of their father how she had been a little absent from home lately.

"Hey Rach.  Not seen ya 'round here for a while.  Where ya been?  Hmm?  Out cavorting with a boyfriend eh?"

"I was at a friend's house."

"Oh yeah lil sis?  Did your little bodyguard tag along too?  Heh."

"Mind your own business, will ya?"

She sighed then rolled her eyes, but didn't dare glance in her father's direction.  Rachel could feel his gaze resting on her though, and took a bite of her dinner.  She swallowed nervously, but after a few bites the conversation finally moved elsewhere.  Little did she know, that innocent teasing question her brother had let loose, started a whole set of other questions going on inisde her father's mind right then.  Dinner wasn't over soon enough for her sake, but she quickly made haste to exit the dining room to the sanctuary of her bedroom as soon as she was able.

The days that followed were just as nervewracking at the dinner table for Rachel.  The silence at times was palpable, but she tried to pretend everything was perfectly fine on the outside, while inside she was a mess.  To be honest, it wasn't guilt she was feeling over the incident anymore, but moreso dreading the yelling and disappointing endless lectures about her doing something he would consider foolishness.  Silvio Lorano would often talk about having finesse to handle whatever situation arising that came his way, but Rachel knew he would lose his cool just because it was her idea, so she spoke with Roberto that evening about what to do.  Patience and laying low was his answer.

Over the next week of being around the house, the officer on her father's payroll made a few more visits.  Rachel only caught partial amounts of the conversations, but from what she did hear the cops were baffled at the low level thugs being the masterminds of something like kidnapping the mayor's son.  She even tried to persuade Roberto to get in on the meetings, but he refused unless he was actually called in specifically by her father, that was to avoid suspicion he claimed.  Rachel had her doubts though.

Off and on throughout the week, Rachel had heard her father's thunderous voice echoing down the halls in anger as he discovered new things day to day.  The electric company was pursued in interest of having been reconnected without his authorization.  Witnesses were being interviewed again that were present at the restaurant during the initial time of the kidnapping.  Bits and pieces of the conversations about the backgrounds checked into the hired thugs, including bank accounts, known associates, everything.  Her father was nothing if not thorough when it came to business.

The part though that had Rachel even slightly worried was the fact Roberto had been called into her father's office for questioning during the week.  She wondered if her idiotic brother's comments at dinner a while back had got her father to thinking about the whereabouts of both herself and Roberto.  How her brother brought to her father's attention of Roberto being gone during her absence didn't help the situation for them, just sufficed to make things more difficult.  Rachel almost inquisitioned Roberto later that evening after the meeting with her father, so she could find out what was asked, what was said, and just what the hell he had told her father.  Roberto almost stonewalled Rachel giving her cause for concern.

People were in and out that week coming and going, bringing information to her father, some news productive while other news put Rachel on edge more and more.  At times she felt like just getting it over with, and marching in there to tell him right to his face, 'It was me!'  There was no telling how he would react though, so Rachel had to just bide her time still.  She remembered the look on Roberto's face after coming out of her father's office, so that kept her quiet for now.

It had been a trying time since the kidnapping went horribly wrong.  Rachel refused to let herself feel down though, and thinking that perhaps her father was right.  Things went wrong, that's just a part of life.  The plan was solid, but the events that occurred couldn't have been predicted.  At least that is what she kept hearing from Roberto as well as trying to tell herself, too.  Rachel knew even her father made mistakes in life, and he'd be a fool to say otherwise.  However, that was not the issue at hand.  Things were being revealed, and the cops were hot on their trail, getting closer and closer over the past three weeks since they had found the bodies in the abandoned warehouse.

Things finally came to a head when she noticed Roberto looking nervous after coming from her father's office the previous day.  She spoke to him, but he passed her right on by ignoring her presence.  Rachel moved to stand in front of him, attempting to force him to look at her, so she could figure out what had happened.

"Roberto! Come on!  Talk to me damnit!!"

His eyes met her gaze as he tried to speak, but barely anything came out.

"He knows."

"He who?  What?  What does anyone know?"

Rachel could feel her frustration levels increasing rapidly with this conversation.  It was like Roberto was spooked, and that wasn't like him. She had never seen him this rattled.

"An.."

"Ann?  Ann who?"

Rachel then grabbed his upper arm, almost wanting to shake some sense into him.

"Roberto.  Just tell me for fuck sake."

"Your father knows.  He knows Antonio was the one who grabbed the kid."

Rachel felt the blood drain from her face.  Pale as could be as her grip on Roberto's arm tightened.

"What did you tell him Roberto?  What?!?!"

Roberto gulped slowly then choked out the information.

"Your father was informed that witnesses identified Antonio at the restaurant.  The mayor said it was a female's voice who called him each time, and the situation with the warehouse electricity..."

His eyes look haunted as he refocused on her gaze dead on.  She could tell he needed to say something else though.

"Is that everything?"

He shook his head.

"No.  Franco was in the office of course, and he brought it to your father's attention how I wasn't around the house for days, and smugly told your father that you weren't around the house during the same time.  Then laughed saying wouldn't it be funny if his sister was the criminal mastermind, and thought he was so funny, he laughed hard.  Your father however glanced in my direction.  You know how observant your father is, and suggested he might have to have a chat with you sometime soon."

Roberto suddenly stopped talking as he grabbed Rachel by the shoulders.

"You need to leave here.  Save yourself."

Roberto had ushered her to her room, giving her tidbits of information along their walk, but keeping their voices low in fear of being overheard.  Such a terrible thing to worry about in your own home, eavesdroppers and snitches.  Once they made it to her room, Roberto awaited while she packed a few things in a bag pretty quick.  She told him to go on, that she'd be fine and leave while he went downstairs to distract them.  Rachel had no intentions of leaving the house to be honest, and was deadset on marching straight to her father in defiance, but she had to give the appearance of leaving to Roberto.

Once he reluctantly left, Rachel waited near the top of the stairs as he vanished out of sight downstairs down the hall to her father's office.  She knew Roberto just wanted what was best for her, but enough was enough.  She was getting tired of the sneaking around, all antsy and nervous as she waited for the other shoe to drop.  Rachel gripped the banister tightly gathering the courage to go confront her father once and for all, and made to take two steps forward then came to a sudden halt as she scurried outta view from the men downstairs coming from her father's office.

One she had recognized instantly.  The other two Rachel didn't really know them because she never bothered to get names of the hired thugs her father had lazing about day in day out. One of the men had a firm grip on Roberto's arm as they all three walked towards the back door.  That door led to part of the property where the poolhouse and storage buildings were located.  As they passed under the stairs, Rachel resisted the urge to get a better look over the railing. She tried to stay out of sight then scurried back off to her room, heading out to he balcony to get a glimpse of them as they disappeared on the grounds.  Dinner that night was tedious and unbearable, and filled with silence off and on, or glares in her direction.

"Go ahead and scream.  These walls can't nobody hear ya anyways."

Roberto glared at the man standing before him, taunting him without mercy.  He was bound to the chair by his legs, and his hands were bound together behind his back.  Roberto knew what to expect, having witnessed a few interrogations ordered by Silvio Lorano.  He finally managed to get a breath of air from the recent assault to his abdomen, face and chest regions by the man standing across the room.  His weaker partner was close by Roberto's chair waving a gun while talking big.

He already knew the routines, and the drastic measures to be taken, but Roberto vowed to himself to keep his mouth shut to protect Rachel, even if it was the last thing he could do.  What he couldn't prepare for was the physical aspect of it all.  Day one inside the storage building was filled with questions of his whereabouts during the kidnapping, and the mild torture began with beatings when he refused to answer, and even when he did answer simple things.  When Roberto would smart off in his replies or just smile, the thugs would give a few extra punches here and there seemingly enjoying their job a bit too much.

Day two proved to be somewhat of a strain to his resolve, but Roberto did his best to hold on keeping his mouth shut or giving glib answers on things.  Despite the torture advancing to more than punches thrown, he still wouldn't admit to Rachel being a part of the job.  One of the men had untied his hand then placed it on the table in front of him.  He held Roberto's wrist firmly while making sure his palm lay flat across the table.  

"Ima ask you one more time!  Where were you?  Who was in charge?  Because we know you ain't got the brains to pull off an operation like this Robbie boy."

This earned a smirk on Roberto's face.

"Who says I was even involved you dumb fuck?"

That comment received an angry look, so he clenched his grip on Roberto's hand even tighter then nodded to the other man behind Roberto's chair.  The second man came over to the table not bothering to even look at the man sitting in the chair as he placed the vise grip around one of Roberto's fingers.  He winced in pain, but it wasn't until an hour later, and five more fingers total on both hands had been squeezed tightly in the vise grips that Roberto had let out a muffled scream from the pain.  The one in charge had smiled in satisfaction feeling like they were finally getting somewhere.

He began asking more detailed questions about the abandoned warehouse, the thugs hired to do the job, and the mastermind behind it all.  In the midst of all the pain, Roberto attempted to brace himself for was about to come, but failed miserably once the big brute of a man who had been inflicting the pain brought out his knife.  The pain from losing two and a half fingers on his left hand, one by one, had been his breaking point.  He had admitted to being there at the warehouse, but was still resisting to give more information on the true mastermind.

Mid way through day three in the storage building, Roberto had lost a decent amount of blood from his injuries.  Despite his loss of fingers and the fact he could barely see through his eyes by the third day, the men continued their punches and even added small cuts on his torso and back once they ripped his shirt off that morning.  At one point in the late morning, the one thug had stabbed Roberto's right hand causing another low grunting scream because by that point in time, all he could do was gasp and struggle to breathe, so screaming loudly would have taken a lot of effort.

Broken ribs, busted kneecaps, both hands wounded greatly, bruises from the endless beatings, swollen eyes, broken jaw, and various sizes and shallow depths of cuts still wasn't enough to drag Rachel's name from his lips.  Unfortunately, once the knife was plunged into Roberto's side a third time, he finally cracked and gave up Antonio Maldonado's name.  The man interrogating him motioned for the man on guard duty by the door to come over there, whispered in his ear to bring the bossman to the building asap.

A short time later, Silvio Lorano entered the storage building with three other men, one of whom had been sent to fetch him.  The Man himself had first asked a simple question of Roberto.  He stood off to the side of the table, walked round to the front to face the wounded man in the chair, and Silvio placed his hands palm down on the table then leaned forward somewhat.

"That is all you know hmm.  Antonio is this so called mastermind eh?"

Silvio Lorano leaned even closer then lowered his voice.  

"Nice try, but he doesn't have the connections Roberto."

Silvio nodded towards the man behind the chair then stood idly by while Roberto cried out in agony as the knife was plunged into his lower back.  After a solid hour of witnessing the torture himself, Silvio Lorano gave a wave of his hand, indicating to end this, having decided this man was done in, and they wouldn't get anything else from Roberto now.  He left the building to go back to his office followed by the three men.  Once Silvio had settled back into his chair, he gave the order to the men to find Antonio Maldonado with urgency, but alive.

"You need to leave here.  Save yourself."  Those words haunted Rachel over the next three days.  Ever since Roberto had been escorted off the other day, she hadn't seen him at all.  That had her worried nonstop.  Her mind was filled with dread every night at dinner, and throughout the day, she would venture off away from the property until she tried to leave this morning.  

"Sorry miss.  Your father said no one is to leave the house today."

Rachel arched an eyebrow in response.

"Surely that didn't include me?!"

"He said no one."

The man didn't budge from his hardened stance as he just stared her down.  Rachel turned and stormed off back to her room, sprawled out across her bed and laid there for sometime before the worry began to set in.  Her mind kept wondering back to Roberto, and his words of warning.  Now those words were making her wonder if she shouldn't have been so stubborn, refusing to believe she was in any danger at all whatsoever.  Now she was a prisoner in her own home, and for what reason?  

Sometime later in the morning, Rachel heard her father's voice coming from outside.  She eased outside on her balcony making little to no noise as the men stood there near the edge of the house.  Her father was furious by his tone, but nothing was new there.  She could hear him asking the men what they had found out now.  Those words had stuck in her mind as the men vanished from the edge of the house out of her sight, and her father following them.  Her curiosity got the better of her this time, and Rachel scampered off down the stairs quickly to make it to the spot outside where all four of the men were just standing.

Cautiously Rachel peeked around the corner of the poolhouse to see the last of the men entering into the storage building directly behind the poolhouse.  She went inside the poolhouse to wait until the men and her father would take their leave from the building.  Rachel wasn't overly fond of waiting, but this was important.  There was still no sign of Roberto in three days, and she was beginning to imagine the worst possible scenarios.  After about an hour, her father and the three men had exited the building, closing the door with a loud thud that she even heard from inside where she was at.

Once the coast was clear, Rachel ventured out of the poolhouse then headed to the storage building.  There were no windows to be able to see inside, so after gulping nervously, she turned the doorknob then went inside with cautious movements.  There were shelves with boxes on them, but she stooped down just a little bit to peek through the boxes in between the shelves.  The sight she saw had her gasping softly then shaking with fear.

Roberto sat half bound to a chair, blood oozing from multiple wounds, and a man held a gun to his head.  Before she could react and yell for the man to stop, the trigger had been pulled, and her confidant and long time guardian had been shot.  The screaming came then as she turned to run back out of the building.  Her progress was halted when her arms were grabbed from behind restraining her in front of the storage building. Within moments, and endless struggling to break free, Rachel found herself planted in a seat in her father's office. 

"Father what have you done to Roberto?!?!?"  WHY???"

Silvio Lorano's voice was void of emotion as he spoke.

"I will not have you question me in any shape or form.  Roberto was involved in the kidnapping of the mayor's son.  I won't tolerate that type of deceit in my employ."

Rachel gulped, but was still fighting the tears that threatened to fall.  When her father continued on in his dreary monotone speaking, her ears and attention were snagged when Antonio's name was mentioned.  Roberto gave up that bit of information, but apparently still didn't say a word regarding her involvement.  When her father said that Antonio would be dealt with for dragging the Lorano name in the midst of things, the fury inside her exploded.  She jumped from the seat in anger then slammed her hands on the desk as she glared into her father's surprised gaze.  Rachel began speaking in fluent Italian to her father still furious about what had happened.

"I'M THE MASTERMIND!!! NOT Antonio!!  You wanna 'deal' with someone then deal with the one who set this whole thing up! ME!"

Of course Silvio Lorano was in disbelief that his own daughter was remotely capable of pulling off something of this magnitude, and naturally assumed she was covering somehow for that Antonio fella.  He refused to believe it all, even telling her so, which only fueled her anger even more.  She flew from the office in a rage, needing desperately to get to Antonio before her father could.  He was in this mess because of her, and she had to do something.  Rachel managed to get past the men out front, yelling that her father needed them, thus giving her time to get in her car and speed off in hopes of reaching Antonio first.  He'd know what to do.

I was taking the last drag of my cigarette as I finished packing the last of my meager belongings. I'd been here for awhile but I still managed to keep things simple when it came to possessions. That was the best way for people in our life to live, especially those who were on the lamb in the first place. I had abandoned my home back in America when things started to get hairy, and here I was preparing to do it again.

I knew shit was gonna hit the fan once things in that warehouse turned south, but things seemed to get worse faster than I expected. I had planned to stay another week or two maybe even another month to make it seem like I made the slow decision to head back home to America, but the mayor had ruined that. Can't say I'm surprised, his son being kidnapped and potentially shot by the criminals he was trying to put down would probably drive any man into doing the most to settle the problem in front of him. Funny thing was, I don't think it was mostly the fact his son was in danger that drove him to act, but rather that this would make him look bad to the public.

My assumption was backed up by him using the death of his son to crack down more on organized crime and he didn't seem to be the grieving father until he was reminded or asked a question about it by the media. Regardless of all that, between the crackdowns and Don Lorano's apparent manhunt for whoever was involved in what happened at the warehouse, I knew my time here was running out faster by the day. I continued to check in with the Capo I was working for. Things seemed to be fine, I even pretended to be helpful in their little search and help them out. Then recently they started to tell me not to worry about helping them and begun getting over friendly. That was two red flags too many and I wasn't one to sit around and let the other shoe drop. It was pretty obvious that I was being "rocked to sleep" which is a mob method of making it seem like everything is all alright to put you at ease before they come along and kill you.

I didn't know if they KNEW I had anything to do with the failed kidnapping but I wasn't gonna sit around and wait to find out either. Beforehand they were planning on having me get my button and become a made man for them but I had planned on turning that down, and the smiles and pats on the back that I was getting now was something completely different. I immediately used my off days to pack up my shit as fast as I could. Only took me a couple days to break down and get rid of the stuff that I had to get rid of, and pack up the few things that I actually wanted to take with me.

"There all set." I said to myself zipping up the private compartment I had in my suitcase.

A long time ago I had bought custom suitcases that had special compartments that I could hide things away in case I ever had to jet away. It came in handy to hide guns in and get them through security checks. I didn't just sit there and rely on that though, I disassembled the guns I was taking with me and broke them into parts. I would stash the parts in the secret compartment so even if it was found I could just explain it away as some contraption that I was working on and hope like hell that it wouldn't get searched or that security's salary wasn't enough to make them happy and they'd look the other way for a few extra dollars.

I tucked away another smaller pistol in my underwear hoping that it would be able to get through as well. I had to have one workable weapon on me in case I ended up getting tracked down or identified trying to leave by some of Lorano's goons. I couldn't tell how far along in the search the top brass were and I wasn't gonna be poking my nose in where it didn't belong either. I had come over here and happily played the role of a regular rank and file goon. Asking questions about things I wouldn't or shouldn't normally care about might give them the missing tip they needed to pin this shit on me.

I gave myself and the room I had been staying in one final check. It looked like I would be coming back to it. I tried to make it feel as homely as possible to myself, without leaving my stuff that I was taking of course, and hoped that anyone who discovered it would just assume that I was continuing to live here but wouldn't know where the hell I had gone off to. That would hopefully make them think that I had stayed in the country and keep them looking here for awhile before they reached across borders and started looking elsewhere.

I gave myself a quick patdown to make sure I was truly ready to go. I made sure I had a full carton of cigarettes in the upper jacket pocket along with my lighter and grabbed my bag of personal belongings. As I was getting ready to make my way to the door it suddenly burst open. I was woefully unprepared if this was an attack but fuck it, I wasn't just gonna stand around and be shot. If it were uncle Frank he'd probably laugh and say something witty, fully expecting to scare whoever was dumb enough to try him off with his reputation and a bunch of subtle threats. Me though, I wasn't much for talking.

I ran into the kitchen and quickly reached into my pants trying to pull the gun I had stashed there out. Unfortunately for me, whoever had just burst through my door was quick witted enough to hear my footsteps and look around quick enough to figure out where I had gone. The intruder then rushed into the kitchen and I caught a head of red hair in my vision first before I looked at the feminine face of Lorano's only daughter Rachel.

I couldn't help but let out a chuckle internally and an ironic smirk took over my facial features as I stood there not moving with my hand stuck in my pants. I wasn't gonna draw down and shoot this woman, that just wasn't in me.

"Heh, so they send the one person I just won't shoot huh? It would figure. It's always the one you don't expect, but I should've seen it coming. I figured it would've been your useless guard who'd do the work." I finished with a chuckle at that thought as she just continued to stand there out of breath and staring at me.

I figured I must've looked very foolish to her but oh well. I found it ironic in my head that I'd be going out with a smile just like my mentor. He'd probably kick my ass in the next life but a part of me was actually looking forward to it. I mentally shook off those thoughts as I came back to the here and now.

"Well, it's your move princess. Let's just go ahead and get this over with huh?" I said, smirk still gracing my features as I waited to see what she was gonna do or how she'd go about this.

She stood there as Antonio stared at her while the blood drained from her face at the mention of her trusted guard.  Rachel gulped uneasily, and just couldn't find the words yet. He spouted off to get this over with, but surely he didn't know already. And get what over with? Her expression turned slightly confused for a brief moment before she sobered up enough to speak.  The words sounded heavy and broken.

"He knows."

When Antonio kept standing there waiting for her to continue, Rachel took another gulp of air as she fought the tears over her departed friend and confidant.

"He knows you were involved."

Her blue eyes began to gloss over as she choked out the next few words.

"Roberto is dead.  My father..."

She paused trying to regain what little composure she had left hanging onto.

"I told him it was me, but he naturally disbelieves that a woman, not to mention his own daughter could pull this off.  Roberto..."

Rachel felt the first onset of tears begin to fall down her cheeks.

"They tortured him! Then killed him!"

She tried to look around before returning her gaze back to the man standing a few feet away.  Rachel had never anticipated things to go this wrong, but they had.  She brought Antonio into this, but she wouldn't and couldn't let him come to harm because of her actions.

"You can't stay here.  You have to go, or they'll kill you, too."

Rachel turned to leave as well, but had no clue to where she would be going now.  She walked out of the kitchen heading to the front door, knowing she'd probably never see this man again.  She felt such a sadness wash over her at that thought as she reached for the doorknob.

I took in all the information as quickly as I could that the princess dropped on me. Apparently her father and his goons were onto me already. Well, that made things much more complicated than I was planning on. I finished pulling the gun outta my pants slowly so as not to alarm her but she was already in the process of turning from me anyway. She was obviously still in some shock about the whole thing. Sure the guy was useless in my opinion, but the princess obviously cared a lot about Roberto. Who could blame her, she grew up with the guy after all, almost like me and Frank except less hands on.

She began to make her way to the door looking like she was ready to exit, but she wasn't really paying too much attention to what she was doing. Like the lights were on but nobody was home. She obviously had a lot on her mind. My caring instincts that I didn't know I had, took over again and I found myself following after her tucking my gun in the back of my waistband.

"Wait!" I shouted to get her attention.

I caught her right as she was opening my front door, a lot more softly than she did when she came barging through there in the first place. She paused but still that might have just been a natural reaction. She still looked like she was out of it. I walked up to her and put my hand on her shoulder gently.

"Hey," I started softly "I don't really got time to calm you down and give you a pep talk and all that shit, but you're gonna be alright. Yeah they got Roberto and it's fucked up, but the fact your old man don't believe it's you is a good thing. That means he wouldn't possibly do anythin' to you and seein' as they're coming after me now you should be perfectly fine." I said to her not sure if she was even fully listening to me or not.

I pulled her back inside and closed the door briefly. I walked back over to the little couch I was at when she first came barging in through the door and picked up my bag that I was getting ready. I looked at her and she was looking all over the place looking like she was barely beginning to put the pieces of what I was doing together.

"That's right princess. I figured I had worn out my welcome here anyway when the guys I was workin' for started being a little too friendly. Not mindin' if I was blowin' off work, showin' up with envelopes that weren't full. They even called me off the manhunt for you guys. Sounds a little fishy to you too no?" I asked rhetorically.

I walked over to the window that overlooked the front entrance of the apartment that I was staying to make sure there were no heavies waiting in front of the door to jump me or if they were waiting on the street. If she had rushed here to tell me that and they were onto me a hitsquad couldn't be too far behind the woman who had knocked in my front door. That thought put things back in perspective.

"Alright listen princess, I'm only gonna say this once, and I ain't got time to be usin' pretty words or none of that shit and gettin' all cozy. You're talents and abilities are bein' wasted here. This place is so fuckin' misogynistic, it makes ME sick and usually I don't give a fuck about that kinda shit. But you obviously got more talent and ability, not to mention brains, than your brothers, in your little finger than they got in all of their heads combined. Your father, he's old blood. He won't say it but he thinks you should be happy to be stuck in the kitchen in your fancy house makin' sandwiches and shit and spreading your legs to pop out grandchildren or to entertain some politicians kid or some shit so he and your family stay in power." I stated and took another look in the window. Still the normal amounts of movement but I knew I had to wrap this up.

"There's a lot of other things I can say but the point I'm tryin' to make here is you have talent and potential. You need work, A LOT of work but it's there. I'm headed back to America. It's nothin' like what they tell you about here, it's just as shitty there as it is here only in a lot of different ways and they expect you to be happy while goin' on about your shitty life but the one upside it does have is opportunity. Last I checked there were women runnin' their own criminal organizations and shit. Now the white collar public thinks like the people over here but the criminal world is a whole other thing over there. Trust me if you stick around here whether your father thinks you were involved or not, you're goin' nowhere fast. But over there you got the chance to make somethin' of yourself. Hell, I'll even help get ya started. But it's up to you. So whattya say princess? Care for a change of scenery? And don't take too long to think about it, we gotta get outta here, like now. Before the only new place we go see is hell." I finish, looking out the window to check the activity outside again.

It really didn't take long for Antonio's words to sink in before Rachel focused on his eyes, this time really seeing him.  She knew she couldn't stay here, especially with her father and everything that's happened.  Her blue eyes paled some as she started to speak softly.

"What about money?  I can't go back home.  I'm sure we'd be spotted at the bank."

Rachel didn't think he was the type to worry about things like that, but to be honest she'd never had to ever worry about money, or the future. Life was about to get a helluva bit different.  New land.  New opportunities.  Her blue eyes glanced back to meet his gaze, wondering if for certain Antonio was being sincere in his offer for her to come with him to the Americas.  She'd already come to respect the man, and admired his skills.  She would never tell him this though.

"I've got my car here, but I didn't grab my purse, clothes, or anything."

She held her hands out helplessly feeling defeated already, certainly not in control as she once deluded herself into thinking she was.  Her voice was soft.

"I would like to go with you, but I don't have any I.D. with me either."

The wheels in my mind we turning too fast with ideas for me to both focus on them and all of what Rachel was saying at the same time. There was also a clock in my mind that was buzzing and telling me that this was already taking too much time. I caught onto key things like Rachel had brought her car and that she didn't have money or clothes or anything. I really would've liked to have done something about the car being somewhere around this place. When whoever was coming to round me up or kill me got here and saw and identified Rachel's car here, that would be that.

I idly wondered if they would think in the future if I in turn had kidnapped Rachel, or if they would think we ran off together. I quickly cursed myself remembering that time had long run out. We'd just have to leave the car. I wasn't too worried about the princess not having clothes or money, that's not too much of a concern when your life was on the line. Then again I had to remember that it wasn't her life that was on the line and that it was mine. If I was a good honest man I probably would've left her here with her family, but that wouldn't be a good man because she would've been seen with me. Her being seen with me would give away her inclusion or would at least be seen as her going directly against her father. If she wasn't in shit before she most certainly would be now.

With that bit of information being revealed in my head, I decided the time for deliberation was now over and it was time to move. The sound of tires screeching also helped spur me into action as well. With that I grabbed the Princess' hand and made for the door.

"Well, you're just gonna have to start over when we get stateside then. Don't worry about money, I can just put your royal ass to work when we get where we're going and you can pay me back." I said aloud while rushing down toward the back exit of the building which had it's own separate set of stairs than the front.

It was more of an emergency exit than it was a normal exit, but to my knowledge it wasn't wired to any alarm or anything that would give away my presence. That should buy us a few precious extra minutes or so. I knew I was being hopeful but I couldn't really afford to be negative, only plan for it. That was why I kept the pistol tucked in the back of my waist instead of down my pants. If the princess was a killer then I'd be a corpse right now and I couldn't make that mistake again.

We continued to run down the stairs and due to me being alert and looking for any signs of trouble I couldn't really pay attention to what the princess had been saying or going on about. It was all matters that could be dealt with later and I trust that my brain would latch onto anything important that she would've spewed, but most of my mind was stuck in preservation mode.

We finally got down to the bottom of the stairwell and I gently opened the door to lead us to the back alley behind the building. I never parked my car on the same street as the place as I was staying. Call me paranoid or whatever but it was for reasons like this. I was sure they had left some goons in front of building hoping to catch me sneaking out and coming around there to try to escape if they didn't catch me inside. I wouldn't be doing either as I used the back alley to lead me out to the next street over from where my apartment was, and walked quickly to where my car was park, pulling the princess along as well.

"Get in the backseat and keep your head down, you don't have to hide completely but your red hair is very identifiable. I don't know how many of these idiots there are around or where they're posted, so we're gonna have to keep a low profile until we get to the docks." I say while throwing my bag in the back before getting into the drivers seat and starting the car up.

I carefully take a look around my surroundings and make sure the engine to the car didn't attract any more undesired attention than normal. It seemed we were in the clear but I couldn't be one hundred percent sure. I reached in the back of my pants and pulled out my gun again and passed it back to my new riding companion.

"You're probably no good putting together a gun from it's parts are ya? Ahh well, take this. You're a killer now right? You got all that shock and being squeamish shit outta your system? If anybody's tailin' us I want you to use that and give em hell. I'm gonna focus entirely on the road and our surroundings, so I ain't got time to be doin' what they do in movies with all that drivin' and shootin'. I'll do one and you do the other. That sounds like a fair trade." I declare.

With that I put the car in drive and pull out of the parking spot nice and normally not driving at any erratic speeds or making any kind of moves to draw attention to ourselves. I take looks around constantly, but nothing too wild so as not to seem panicked or anything of the sort. The princess did a good job of keeping the talking to a minimum and by some stroke of luck or good fortune we make it to the the docks peacefully and quickly enough.

Once there I immediately put the car in park and hop out quickly. I go to the backseat and retrieve my bag from there and take the gun out of the princess' hand as she gets out the car and tuck it back in the back of my waistband.

"Alright listen up. I know you're taking orders patience are runnin' out but this is very important so I need you to pay attention. I'm gonna get you on this ship. All you gotta do is keep your mouth closed and stick close to me." I order.

Somewhere inside me I was finding commanding the princess around quite fun. She couldn't give me much fuss back at this point anyway. I'm sure she was giving me all kinds of dirty looks and glares with my back turned but ahh well. Better to be alive for her to give me looks than dead going back and forth over who's gonna be doing what and all that. I quickly take us to the line of people boarding the ship headed to America and have us blend in. It was hard to do with this woman's head of red hair. I should've thought about this better. I don't think I kept such useless things as hats in my bag. I gave an internal sigh just thinking if we got found out because of this woman's hair I'd be quite upset.

I don't think Lorano's goons were working or hanging out at the docks, seeing as today wasn't an import or an export day, especially not at this time. I tried to keep my head down and told her to remain as low and as close to me as possible so nobody tried to figure out who she was. Most of the people who were boarding this kind of ship were the ones with wide eyes too focused on that dream bullshit they sold them in passing or when hearing about America, or they were on the run from something themselves. Poor fools, the only thing waiting for them off this ship is a rat infested little living space for them and their families and a job where they'd kill themselves working for peanuts.

I shook those thoughts out my mind. My father had told us the true story of coming to America and what it's like when you first get off the boat and if there was one good thing about my father is that he didn't lie. So I believed every word he said about the experience and took his word for it. Unfortunately I'd now have to see for myself but I was a leg up on him in this situation. I already had roots down in America. I didn't know how good they'd do me now but I'm sure I'd still be much better off than these people.

I then thought about the woman next to me. She'd have to start over completely too. That was on me but it was also her doing as most of the rest of this was with that wild idea to do a kidnapping in the first place. Oh well, she shouldn't have had to go so far to prove herself and in America she won't have to do that. One good thing about the place over there is that the underworld was very open. Man, woman, black, white, whatever the only thing that mattered over there was how much money you made and how much work could you do before you made a nuisance of yourself.

We finally made it to the man who was checking for tickets and checking bags to make sure you weren't smuggling anything over to America that would make Italy look bad or that you weren't supposed to. Ideally, if you had weapons on you while getting on the boat and something were to happen you might be mistaken for a terrorist or one trying to start a war or something so those weren't allowed. I also only had one ticket, but I had a plan for both of these things. As I approached the guy I pulled the princess close to me and handed him my one ticket. I then looked around to make sure too many people weren't looking at us, it wouldn't do to flash too much cash to too many eyes on this rough trip across the waters.

"Look mack" I started in a hushed tone. "Guy down there said they only had one ticket left. I didn't have time to go and find another one but I need you to allow me to bring my wife over there with me. I can assure you there won't be any trouble and there's nothing to gain in stopping us from leaving this place. I just wanna get my woman outta this fuckin' country you know? Let her go make somethin' of herself." I pulled out a small wad of bills and put it in the mans hand that was holding my ticket. "That should be enough to let this whole thing slide right? Take it and put it down as a contribution to you guys cause for keeping these boats safe. All the hard work you guys do out here, you're not bein' paid nearly enough. Also don't gimme that pat down shit please. I ain't got nothin' but clothes in my bag and I ain't smart enough to pack anythin' on me but a little peacekeeper that you now know I got. That's all I ask for that nice little contribution you just got." I barter with the man.

He looks at me then the money then repeats the sequence a few more times before he rolls his eyes and pockets the money and the ticket, and jerks his head toward the ship, indicating that we can board. I give the man a respectful nod and bring Rachel along with me onto the ship. We spend a little while looking for a nice secluded little corner where we could sit down amongst ourselves and prepare for the ship to take off. While we do I immediately pull open my bag and discreetly begin to assemble my two pistols again. Once I'm done with one I hand it to her and tell her to keep it hidden. I then assemble the other and keep it for myself. By the time I'm done I can feel the ship begin to move a little which must mean it's getting ready for departure.

I stand up and hold my hand out to help the princess up. "C'mon, let's go give your home a proper goodbye." I say.

She takes my hand after a little bit and I pull her up and lead her to the outside again. We find an open spot on the railings and look back as the land of Italy as the ship is pulling away further and further in the other direction. It was a beautiful sight but only because I was leaving it with my life to me. I idly wondered what was running through Rachel's mind, if she was sad she was leaving, or happy. I was sure that she'd be happy in the future especially if making a name in the criminal world was what she wanted she'd have loads of opportunities here. She wouldn't exactly be working for her family but she'd be in the family business nonetheless. Hopefully that'd be enough for her.

Speaking of families, I'd get to see my own again hopefully. It's been years since I seen my mother and sister. My father's funeral I believe. I wonder what they would say to me coming back to see them now. I can imagine they'd both give me a smack for taking so long and honestly it'd be well deserved. All those years of acting like I didn't care and like I didn't wanna be around them, and it took me to almost lose my life and be heading back to America on a piece of shit boat to realize I missed them. Heh, it looks like I'm quite the fool.

As much as I tried to be nothing like him, here I was, on a boat heading to America from Italy with a woman to start a new life just like my father. It was at this point I had to admit to myself and aloud.

"Fate is one helluva thing isn't it? No matter how much you try to run and no matter how much you try to fight against it, it always seems to find you huh? I used to think what utter bullshit but I guess I was just foolin' myself thinkin' that. Ahh well, nothin' to do but accept it and roll with it now." I say as I pull out the pack of cigarettes I'd almost forgotten.

I stick one in my mouth and light it while looking over to my companion with a smile on my face, laughing at the irony of my previous questions, statements and thoughts as I say "Who says you can't go home again?" I ask sure that she must think I'm a little deep, crazy, or both by now.

I then turn and look out to the ocean. Not looking back at the little piece of land Italy, but ahead to the future, wondering just what in the fuck it has to offer me and this woman beside me.