Page 21 of The Mafia's Captive

“Morning.”

“Mr. Morelli told me to order breakfast for you, but I wasn’t sure what you’d want.” I think I like this Colin guy.

“It’s fine.” I stroll over to the phone on the wall next to the table. “I’ll order.” He steps in front of the phone, blocking it.

He seems a little embarrassed to have to make the move. “Uh… I was told to place the order, you see.”

“Should have known. What’s he afraid of? That I’ll code room service that I’m being held captive?”

He looks down. “I just do what I’m ordered to do.” Shyness on a six-foot bulky man looks cute. I can’t get mad at him. I almost don’t want to be a nuisance to him.

“Do you have the menu?”

He nods over to a booklet on the table. I plant myself on a chair and browse through the menu. “Have you eaten yet?”

“I don’t think it matters. “

“So you haven’t. What do you want? I feel weird eating alone.” He looks like he wants to say no, but then he orders coffee and a biscuit. I order a large breakfast just for the sake of it. Dante can afford it.

When breakfast comes, we eat it in silence. Colin is not much of a talker, I realize. Probably what makes him a good bodyguard?

After we’re done, he makes sure the plates are immediately taken back and then he cases around the suite once. “I doubt there are any bugs you missed from your initial sweep,” I say to him. “I’m not looking for bugs.” He’s staring outside when he says so, grabbing my attention. I march over to him. “You don’t talk much, do you? What are you looking at?” He gently nudges me backwards, his gaze firmly on whatever he was staring at outside. “Step away from the window.”

“Why? Am I not even allowed to look outside now?” For a moment, I think he hasn’t heard me until he glances back at me. “I’m sorry,” he says, “I thought I saw something.”

“It’s okay. Although I feel you’re being a little too cautious. I’m sure your job here is to make sure I don’t escape and not to protect me from harm.”

“You never know who’s out there. Mr. Morelli has a lot of enemies.”

“No way! Judging by the way he’s been treating me, I wouldn’t have guessed!”

“He’s better than other people, you know. If he were someone else, you’d be dead by now.”

“Speaking of which, why aren’t I? Dead, I mean?” Colin shrugs and moves away from the window to the living room area where he sits on the couch. I follow him and sit opposite him. “I was sure he would kill me that first day.”

Colin shrugs again.

“I see why he likes you. You do not slip up.”

“I’m just doing my job the best way I know how.”

Talking to him is like extracting water from a stone. Try as I might, he’s giving me nothing. It’s at a time like this when I would take out my phone and endlessly scrolling but since I don’t have it, I pick up the remote and switch on the television. There’s nothing on it but telenovelas, soccer, and news. After two hours of trying and failing to understand a Portuguese soap, I give up and switch it off.

“Do you have any idea when he’ll be back? And if you shrug again, I swear…”

Colin lifts his head from his phone and says, “I can’t tell you.”

“Of course, you can’t. He must pay you a lot to be this dedicated to your job.”

“He pays well enough.”

No wonder Dante left me with Colin. He knew he would drive me crazy. I can’t stand it anymore. I need to walk. Get out of the apartment. Do something. Anything. I get up and begin pacing around the suite. After two rounds of touring the entire suite, I ask, “Where is your boss?”

“Can’t tell you that either.”

“You can’t fault a girl for trying. But I do wonder why he leaves you with me when you could be out there doing all the fun stuff.”

“I’m not bothered by it.”

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