Andrea quietly opened her door at 8 a.m. in the morning and slipped into her bedroom, turning to close the door as quietly as she could. She breathed a sigh when the door was closed but when she turned away from the door, she gasped in shock when she saw her mother sitting on the edge of her bed.
"Mum?" She called sheepishly.
Her mother caressed her still- made bed and turned to look at her with a solemn expression on her face. "Let me guess, you didn't return home last night, did you?"
Andrea swallowed hard. "Um... I was at Camille's." She said quickly.
"I called Camille a dozen times to check on you but you weren't there."
Andrea nervously smoothed her palm against her hips and her mother suspiciously tilted her head to the side and asked. "Have you been stealing again?"
Andrea nervously smiled. "Not really... I just um..."
Her mother interrupted. "Because if that's the case, that should explain why some men came looking for you some minutes ago at this time of the day..." Then she said beseechingly. "Andrea, please if you have anything that belongs to them, give it back. They looked mean."
"What men?" Andrea frowned, confused.
"One had a scar on the side of his face and he came with three others."
Andrea suddenly gasped. They found her! But how?! She knew the one who had a scar on his face was the second in command whom the older man had called Armando but how had they found where she lived? "What did they say they wanted?"
"They didn't particularly say. They just asked to see you." Her mother replied.
"Shit!" Andrea suddenly crossed the room in long strides and her mother's gaze followed her.
"I told you not to use such language in this house, young lady! And what are you doing?" She asked as Andrea started going through her closet.
"Mum, I need to get out of here now!"
Her mother rose now, perplexed. "What's wrong? What's going on?"
"They are going to kill me!" Andrea pulled out a small duffel bag and started throwing some clothes into it.
Her mother was more confused and worried now. "Why are they going to kill you? Who were those men?!"
She glanced over her shoulder at her mother as she continued what she was doing. "Last night, I witnessed a murder and those men saw me. I don't know how they found where I live but I have got to get out of here!"
"You are going nowhere!" Her mother said firmly. "I'll not have my daughter running for the rest of her life!"
* * *
An hour later, Andrea was sitting in the large living room, her knee crossed over the other and her arms folded under her chest as she wearily listened to her parents bickering about her situation.
"We have got to do something, Ray! They are not going to kill my only baby!" Her mother fervently said to her father.
Her father shook his head. "This is a delicate matter, honey. If the man I saw in the pictures she had printed is really who I think he is, he will stop at nothing to erase every evidence and including her life too!"
"Then call the cops! Let them see the pictures and put him behind bars forever! He murdered a woman!"
"Have you forgotten the part where your own daughter will be arrested for stealing and picking the pockets of people too...again?" Her father whispered to her mother so she wouldn't hear but Andrea did and rolled her eyes. "If the cops look into this case, it will go awry. These mafia lords work with corrupt cops, lawyers, judges, name them! They have their eyes and ears everywhere and can buy their way through almost any crime. Andrea's life is in danger and the best thing to do is to keep her under lock and key and double the guards at her door from now on! Andrea?" He called and turned towards where she had been sitting and was shocked when he discovered that she was gone.
"Where did she go?" Her mother asked, roaming the place with her eyes. They heard a car starting and hurried to the window to see her driving off. "Oh my God!" Her mother said, obviously worried and scared. "That girl is going to get herself killed..." Then she grabbed her husband's shirt. "Do something Ray, do something! Do not let them take my baby from me."
Her father rolled his eyes and breathed a sigh, his hands on his hips. "Sometimes, I wonder who she took after." He griped and gently pried his wife's hands from his shirt and said to his personal assistant who was always standing around should in case his services were needed. "Humphrey, get me Dante Salvatore on the phone now!"
"Yes sir!" Humphrey answered and reached inside his suit for his cell phone walking away to make a call.
His wife stared from the personal assistant to her husband's grim expression which was still fixed outside the window. "Who's Dante Salvatore?" She asked.
"The only person who can keep our daughter in check...I should have called him earlier before she went this out of hand." He replied without taking his eyes off the window and watched in the distant as Andrea's car finally disappeared out of sight.