Page 63 of Waiting Game

When we had our first proper kiss at fifteen.

I already knew.

She shook her head, “and yet you tell me to give up on Antoni?”

“Don’t even act like it’s the same,” I laughed, “Toni’s told you plenty of time’s he’s not interested. He got married to another woman for fucks sake.”

“And if Valerie marries this other guy?” she raised an eyebrow.

“Val has never told me that she doesn’t want me. If she ever does, I would respect that.”

Larissa nodded, and I wondered if she took my hint.

I highly doubted it though.

The problems between Valerie and I was never a lack of mutual feelings. It wasn’t a case of unrequited love like Larissa felt for Antoni. I knew that Valerie still loved me, even if she denied it to herself. It was always a case of life being in our way, of outside factors keeping us apart. I was convinced that if we were half normal, from ordinary families, that we would’ve been happy together.

It would’ve been easier than breathing.

But instead, this was the life that we’d been given. Through a series of our parent’s choices, and our own, this is what we had - these were the cards we’d been dealt.

Valerie was ready to call it quits, to throw in her hand.

But I wasn’t so sure.

The guards eyed me suspiciously as I hobbled through security. My father sat behind the table once again, this time not so happy to see us - even though he was supposed to have believed that I was dead.

He only shook his head at me as I struggled to sit down.

“I told you that girl would get you in trouble,” he scolded.

“Hang on a minute,” I shook my head, “you have no fucking idea what happened.”

He scoffed, “you think I don’t know? You think that there’s no Redliners in here with me?”

“They had been following us, it’s not exactly my fault that it ended up in a shootout.”

“I told you to stay away from her,” he pointed a finger in my face and I slapped it away.

His eyes narrowed at the open act of defiance.

“Do they know that I’m alive?” I asked.

“What?”

“The Redliners - do they know that I’m alive?”

He only shrugged, “I don’t think so, the rumours are that The Family’s second in command is dead. I assume that would be you.”

I pursed my lips, and wondered about how we would be able to use it to our advantage. There had to be some way to play this. If they thought that The Family was now weakened, we could expect another attack soon.

“Do you know who the man is that you killed?” he asked, leaning forward and asking in a hushed tone.

I shook my head.

Dad looked around, making sure no one would hear.

“His name was Joseph, but they called him Prince. You’ve heard of him?”

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