Page 18 of The Runaway Bride

A loud crack rocks through theroom, and my mother drops to the floor. I look at her closely and can see she’sdead. Oh shit, Tia snapped her neck!

“Is this bitch playing games,Elli?” Tia asks as she peers into my mother’s face.

“No, Tia, she’s dead. You snappedher neck.” A giggle escapes and I’m not sure if that is a sign of relief,upset, or hysteria.

“What?” Tia bends down and givesmy mother a much closer look, then looks at me wide-eyed and worried.

“Tia, I was ready to take herout, anyway. She wasn’t here to have a cup of coffee. She was here to finishme, if she could. She had already attacked me right before you bust in with theJohnny comment. But how did you know something was wrong?”

“Well, little Pete Potter knockedon my door and said that he saw a woman climb into your apartment from the fireexit. She broke a window, so we’ll have to replace that, by the way.” Tia isstill looking at my mother’s body and before I can say anything, she continues,“How are we going to get rid of this body?”

“We need to speak to Spinner.” Iblink a few times because if he can’t help us, it means I have to speak to Alexand get the family involved. That’s when I realize that Nico Vincholetti mayknow where I am.

Like magic, the man who I nowknow is one of Alex’s men, or Nico’s, but definitely a made man appeared afterTia spoke to Spinner. He brought a van and wrapped the body in a black zip upbag, made specially for corpses I would think, but I don’t ask. He had thenerve to wink and smile as he threw the body onto a gurney right beforewhistling as he takes her away.

I called Alex to tell him aboutMother, but he wasn't worried; he even found her accidental death amusing.Death by hair pulling! He thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Early in the week, Tia had kickedher job, as the boss had grabbed her ass for the last time. Still living on hernerves since she killed my mother by accident, she whirled around and punchedhim in the face. Breaking his nose in the process.

But, not allowing herself to havea pity-party, Tia had walked right to the restaurant where I work and gotherself a job as a server on the same rota I work. That way we can walk to andfrom work together, giving ourselves that little feeling of safety in numbers.

The joy was fleeting; that verynight, leaving work, we were ambushed. A cloth covered our mouths and noses,and we immediately blacked out.

Chapter 12

Nico

The mansion is ready for Elliwhen she’s brought in. I’ve given the order that as soon as an opportunityarises, my men are to take her and Tia, her friend. I’m not going to pretendthat she’s going to step into my arms willingly, but she’s not going to getaway from me either. Bringing her friend who she sees as a sister, I hope willhelp her see I’m not all bad.

Bruno chuckles from where he’sstanding behind me while I look out of the large window of my main office. “Youknow this isn’t going to be easy, don’t you, Nico?”

Bruno is speaking to me now as afriend and not as the boss of the family. “Yeah, she’s going to kick andscream, I imagine. But I can’t wait for it to start.”

There’s a knock on the doorbefore it opens and Gail pops her head inside. “Alexander Palmeri is here tosee you.”

“Let him in, Gail. Thank you,” Irespond as I take the seat behind my desk.

Alex steps inside and dips hishead in respect. I point at the seat in front of my desk, which he takes beforegiving Bruno and then me an amused look.

“What?” Bruno asks before Alexcan start to speak.

“My mother went after Elli. Sheapparently went up the fire escape, broke into the apartment through thebedroom window, and sat in wait for quite some time, but had every intention ofhurting Elli. We found two weapons on her body, a pistol and a knife,” Alex isstill smiling.

“So, what happened?” I couldn’tstop myself from asking.

“Well, it turns out that Tia,Elli’s new sister, as they now claim to be, was told by one of the local gangmembers that he’d seen a woman breaking into the back of Elli’s apartment.Knowing that Elli’s mother was on the loose, Tia rushed around to Elli’sapartment burst through the door and screamed, ‘Here comes Johnny.’ You know,like that fucking movie.”

Bruno starts to laugh at thevision that he is obviously seeing and I’m stunned because that would probablybe enough to startle anyone.

“Anyway, Elli had already had analtercation with her mother, although a small one, but she stood stunned whenTia jumped on our mother, grabbed handfuls of her hair and started pulling ather head as hard as she could.”

“Fuck, that had to hurt,” Brunochuckles, but I keep my attention on Alex, because this still doesn’t explainhow she died.

“In the excitement of the moment,Tia shakes Renata’s head so badly that a loud crack is heard. Tia doesn’trealize what has happened, but she’s snapped Renata’s neck.” Alex chuckles, andI find it unbelievable that he is laughing about his mother's death. But, whenhe states, ‘Death by hair-pulling!’ I can’t keep the laughter back, neither canBruno, who is holding his stomach, and I can see tears in his eyes.

“How do you know all this?” I askAlex because this must be recent.

“Elli contacted me before work,and I have to tell you she didn’t give a damn that her mother was dead. She wasmore worried that it would hit Tia at a later time that she killed someone.”Alex is still grinning, and it is a little contagious as I feel myself grinningalong with him.

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