Get Married Or Die

Episode 33

“Today is Friday. So we’re having a movie night,” Remi explained. +

“Lorenzo will be here too, he had an argument with Cait so she’s not coming. They’re fighting like cats and dogs sometimes” Milo explained. 9

“Then maybe I can make something to drink. How about ice tea?”

“I’m good with that”

“What are we watching?”

“Shrek?” Remi said, stuffing a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

No objection. Shrek is a timeless masterpiece. 57

“Don’t eat before the movie,” Milo scolded and grabbed the bowl with popcorn from his brother’s hands.

The boys opened the door that in a normal house would lead to the basement. But it turned out that this place was nothing like a normal basement. It was more like a huge entertainment area with a bar and a pool table. We ended up in the home theater. Seriously. It was a room with chairs arranged diagonally in a row, of course, more comfortable than those in a real cinema. There was a huge screen taking all the space of the wall in front of our seats. It was insane. 5

“Oh my God. What else is in this house that I don’t know about?” Casey said, shock visible in her voice.

“Who knows maybe if you behave nicely we will give you a tour” Milo winked at her.

“Keep dreaming” Casey clearly wasn’t interested in this exchange.

We ended up sitting on incredibly soft burgundy-colored armchairs.

Then the phone rang “pizza is here, I will go pick it up,” said Lorenzo.

“I hope there’s no pineapple on it,” Casey said. 8

“Who do you think we are?” 31

“We would have to change our surnames to non-Italian ones”

I had zero ideas why people had the problem with pineapple on pizza. As we were waiting for Lorenzo I decided to hold to the topic of food. 16

“What’s your favorite cuisine?”

“French,” replied Milo.

“Boring. Sichuan is the best one, “Remi said confidently, scooping up a good amount of hot sauce with nacho chip.

“You just like to eat cruelly spicy things,” noted Milo. 10

Remi shrugged his shoulders not even trying to deny it.

“And yours?”

“Indian food,” Eliana and Casey said simultaneously. 147

“We know a good place in town, we’ll take you there”

“What? You’re visiting other restaurants, traitors?” Asked Lorenzo, pretending to be offended. 1

Milo rolled his eyes and was about to say something when Remi spoke.

“Shush, the movie starts”

At the end of the first part, we decided that we should watch Shrek 2 because it’s just as good as the first one. 5

After we finished watching there was of course sparked a debate about which part is better. Personally, I think both of them are equally good, my answer caused common disapproval probably because it meant I opt-out from arguing about it.

It was already 1 a.m. so it was time to go to bed. It was a good day and I relaxed a bit after what happened at work. But nothing lasts forever. Especially not my peace of mind. 2

When I was standing up from my seat to move upstairs Lorenzo’s phone rang.

“Okay, I’ll bring her” he hung up. The conversation lasted maybe half a minute and then Lorenzo looked at me. “I know you want to go to sleep, but Rafael wants to see you,” Lorenzo said.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

“Now?”

“Yes. Come with me”

It’s not like I had a choice so I did follow him.

“His office is in the opposite direction?”

“He’s not home,” Lorenzo explained, then stopped and looked at me, “Go change, he will murder me if I bring you there in your pajamas.” 3

“Can you say at least where we’re going?”

“To the club,” he replied.

“What for? Did he gave you any reason?”

“I don’t know, Rafael doesn’t like to be questioned after he gives an order”

“Well, damn it”

Lorenzo laughed at my reaction.

We arrived at the club I shivered as I walked downstairs again. That creepy place. If I could I would never come back here again. 4

Instead of going to Rafael’s office, I was led the other way. We entered an empty room with naked cement walls and a floor of the same depressing grey color. In the middle, there was a simple, plastic chair on which sat the tied gentleman. The same one that I met in my store yesterday.

There were now three people in the room. Antonio, Rafael and me. Lorenzo said he has to take care of something club-related and left.

“Do you know this man?” 2

“What is he doing here?” I asked feeling nervous.

“Answer the question Eliana” Rafael looked at me with a clear warning in his voice. I didn’t want to be the person in this gentleman’s place so I replied quickly.

“He’s a regular client at my store. Yesterday when he came he was already drunk. I refused to sell him alcohol and he got angry at me”

“Is that so? What exactly did he do?”

I was glad for once to not be at receiving end of Rafael’s freezing gaze.

“He called me a bitch spat on the floor and left” I skipped the phone part.

“Footage from the camera in front of your store shows that when he had left the store he didn’t leave the area. Instead, he waited until you leave and followed you”

“Oh wait, now I remember that he also mentioned something about my ring. He saw it and assumed I’m doing well financially”

“I already know everything I need to know then. Antonio will now talk to Mr. Klein and explain to him in detail who he robbed ” 4

“Wait, we are leaving?” I asked confused.

“I will drive you home and come back to finish” 1

“To finish what?”

“My conversation with Mr. Klein of course” 2

“You should just let him go,” I said feeling worried about what might happen. Not because I particularly cared about that man. I didn’t what Rafael to do anything wrong. I care about him even if it’s hard to admit.

“I don’t want s to suffer because of me” I tired “Maybe it’s just better to leave him to go? You got the ring back, right?” 9

“Suffer because of you? I wish he was thinking that way when he hit you with a rock on the back of the head. He does not suffer because of you and because of his own stupidity”

“How did you find him? How did you know where it is so fast? “

“This ring has a tracker” 36

“What? And you didn’t inform me? ” 3

“I felt no such obligation” 10

He didn’t?! Of course, he didn’t. Christ.

Well, Giovanni tails me every time I leave the house so this tracker didn’t really matter. Unless I ever wanted to escape from Rafael. That thought made me feel uneasy because could I? Could I run away from that dangerous man if I wanted to? 5

“You took the phone number of my landlord did you settle anything with him?” I asked drily, changing the topic.

“Of course. You no longer have to pay for the apartment. I will make sure someone tomorrow will collect all the things you left there “

“How did you manage to settle it?”

“It’s not important”

I wanted to argue, I really did. But I didn’t know what to say. And I was terrified. Who was this man what he was capable of?