Chapter 6 HELENA REACHES OUT
The knock comes too softly that it almost sounds polite. I step around the shattered glass and I walk towards the door.
I stop to breathe in order to calm my nerves. My shoulder loosens a fraction and I can feel my chest getting lighter.
Helena said she was sending a lawyer and I was not expecting anyone else. I was glad that she was open to working with me to sort this out, I was already suspecting her involvement in this. There has to be a misunderstanding somewhere.
I open the door halfway and peek out.
A man stands there… he looks to be in his early thirties, maybe. Clean shaven, warm brown eyes. He smiles gently and calmly.
“Good day, how may I help you?” I ask
He looks down at his suitcase and opens the zipper. I feel my heart beat accelerating at a very unhealthy pace because that suitcase looks very identical to the one Helena sent me to take to the dry cleaners that day.
“Miss Anya,” he says as he fetches something from the case. His voice is smooth, practised. “I'm Daniel, Helena sent me.”
He holds up a sleek black card, it's a business card and he hands it to me. Then he shows me his ID.
“Daniel Cooper…” I whisper back to him as I read it on his ID and he nods politely.
“Exactly.”
He clips his I'd to his pocket and I step aside, letting him in.
He walks past me and I get a whiff of his expensive cologne. His suit is sharp and clean, I wonder if I would be able to afford his service. But he hasn't mentioned that yet.
He walks into my small living with a reassuring air, his gaze skims over my apartment without judgement, he just looks around curiously.
He doesn't even notice the broken glass on the floor until he almost steps on it.
“Oh… Careful,” I say quickly, reaching out to grab him.
He takes a step back and we bump into each other.
“I'm sorry, are you okay?” He asks with concern and I nod.
He turns his attention back to the floor.
“What happened? Rough day?”
“Yes. Sorry about that, I was going to clean it up.”
“I could help you clean it up, it happens to the best of us.”
I laugh weakly but he doesn't seem to be joking.
He crouches and starts getting the larger chunks.
“Don't you need a tissue?”
“I'll be careful,”
But I insist and I hand him a tissue. I'm still shocked as I watch him help me clean my floor. He's nice, too nice. I start to feel uncomfortable.
What kind of lawyer cleans up your floor? The kind you pay ten grand per court session and regardless of the fact that Helena owns a hotel, it's a cheap trashy place and I'm not sure she can not afford ten grand per session either.
I take a step back and I try to let myself breathe and sort a way out of this situation.
I point at the bin and he discards everything and we take our seats. He pulls out a folder and drops it between us. I eye it like it's a wild animal about to pounce on me.
“Helena told me everything” He starts softly. “She told me about the missing suitcase and the money.”
He opens the folder and hands me an image of Dante.
“This is Mr Dante Marchetti, we do not want to offend him. He's a very dangerous man, capable of committing any crime and walking away freely. This man doesn't just rule the underworld, he commands it. And everyone in power is under him in one way or the other.”
I almost choke on my own saliva. The utter fear on the lawyer's face tells me more than his mouth could.
“That's terrifying…” I say rubbing my sweaty palms on my pants
“Helena said that he has reached out to you?”
Reached out? He fucking kidnapped me.
“Uh, yes. He reached out and he asked me about the money in the suitcase.”
“And what did you say?”
“I told him the truth, Helena sent me to take it to the dry cleaners. It was packed with nothing but dirty clothes.”
He watches me for a long time. Too long and I'm about to ask him if there's anything wrong when he picks his suitcase from the table and drops it on his lap.
“Don't worry Anya,” he says softly with a very gentle smile. “We will fix this.”
His voice is reassuring and warm in a way that almost makes me cry from exhaustion. This… this is what help should look like.
He pulls out a pen and hands it to me.
“I just need your signature on these papers,” Daniel says, flipping through the folder. “You don't need to read it, trust me…It's nothing binding.”
I feel a pang of distrust but it only lasts a few seconds, something in me is restless.
Daniel notices my distraction
“Are you alright?”
I feel eyes crawling all over my skin and the hairs at the back of my neck are standing.
“Yes. I'm fine… But I need to ask you one question?”
“How long have you known Helena?”
“She reached out to my firm and asked for my services.”
“So she's the one paying?”
He chuckles lightly.
“Those are two questions, Miss Anya. But yes, she's the one paying.”
I stretch my hand to sign and he points to a dotted line. “Sign here.”
“What's the name of Helen's hotel?”
“What?”
“I said, what's the name of Helen's hotel?”
There's a faint pressure shift between us as time ticks and he doesn't come up with the name. The air becomes too thin and my brain is firing with a million questions.
I want to scream for help, I want to do something to get myself to safety.
My heart stutters as he stands. His posture stiffens and everything else changes along with him.
“But Helena said you were a dumb bitch.” his voice of filled with nothing but utter irritation as he pulls out a gun and points it at me.
