It took a while, but I'm back! You won't BELIEVE what I have in mind for this story! Please ignore the random change of Lauren's outfit towards the middle of the update. Me has had big brain fart.
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John frantically opened the door. When he saw it was Lauren, he pulled her into a hug and began crying. Lauren awkwardly put her arms around her father. John pulled his daughter into the living room, wrapping her in a blanket, calling for his son. The two fawned over Lauren, asking her questions, hugging her, kissing her, telling her how much they loved her. She assured them she was ok, then went to bed. She was ok, wasn't she? She could protect herself now.
"I knew you would be back."
"This isn't exactly an easy decision for me."
"Yes. I understand that. The important thing is that you made this decision. I had to admit, you're cutting it close. Only seven days until the wolves come for you."
"What?"
"Seven days until the wolves come. Collection day. It says a lot that Sal himself is coming to collect your debt."
"Father, I just can't keep up with it."
"I told you not to do it in the first place. That $400,000 could have been put away for the kids."
"I thought he'd be reasonable."
"Yes, but you're Magdelena's husband. You got one of the most desireable women in the mob world. She was pretty, came from a
very respectable family, took care of herself. Hell, she'd even kill for her man."
"It's just not right."
"No it isn't. Now tell me about Lauren."
John sighed and began to tell Mr. Anatoli about the change in his daughter nearly two months after she'd come home home late and damaged.
"She's not herself anymore. She's quiet, then at random times, she'll just get this evil devilish grin. Something happened to her, but she won't talk about it."
"Sal's what happened to her, that's what."
"I...I can't let him torment my family!"
"No, John, of course not."
"He's a monster."
"The worst of the worst. I can offer you a road to revenge, though. You don't have to stand for this. Work for us. Work
with us. Help us take Sal down."
John stood in startled silence.
"Oh, come on. Don't act like you didn't expect that to happen."
"Well...you'd protect the kids?"
"They're my blood, too. No harm will ever come to them."
"Can you guarantee that?"
"Of course, John. I can also guarantee that Sal won't be a problem anymore."
Lauren held the mass of steel. She loved the feel of it. The metal was cool to her clammy hands. She inspected the surface, watched as it gleamed in the light of the late rising sun. It had given her power, but she needed power on her own, not from some weapon. There was a name engraved in the silver metal: Magdelena. A rose branched away from the "a". Lauren smiled. Had she really done anything different from her mother? She had no reason to be ashamed of herself.
"You did
what?"
Lauren could hear her brother yelling. Their father must be home. Lauren shoved the gun back in her mother's nightstand and quietly went to the kitchen, where the raised voices had come from.
"I can't believe you!"
"I thought you would understand why I'm doing this! He can give us protection--"
"What? A gun?"
"No, I refuse to do that."
"Then what do you expect to do?"
John was silent. He didn't want to admit to his son that he didn't exactly know. He wasn't sure what being part of the mob meant. It was too late now to start asking questions.
"Lay off dad. He's doing what he feels he needs to do to protect us."
Father and son turned to see Lauren leaning against the doorway. At least, it was someone who looked like Lauren. They both knew their Lauren would never have been ok with her father joining the mob for any reason. This renewed questions about what happened to her that night. Countering any questions that might come to her, Lauren laughed.
"Don't worry so much about me. I know I can protect myself."
John glanced at his son to see if there was some hidden meaning or understanding that had gone over his head. John jr. could only shrug his shoulders.
"I'm going out."
Before she could be questioned, Lauren hurried to her room to change before leaving.
"I want to protect myself."
Seraphim smiled at Laurne.
"Yes, my husband told me about what happened. What're you looking for, sweetie?"
Seraphim waited patiently as Lauren thought.
"Well, what don't you want?"
"A gun. I don't want that."
"Good girl. Guns are ovverated. You're looking for self defense."
"I want to be the bully."
"Careful now. Taking a life like you did is a power trip, I understand that. Don't get carried away. you become the bully, you'll loose some of yourself. I know you're not a mean girl. How much are you willing to give up? Are you willing--"
"I want to be my mother."
Seraphim closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Sal told her it was coming. He said he could feel it in her. Something of her mother's nature had awakened.
"No, you don't."
"I do."
"Sweetheart, your mother was unhappy. She was angry. The only reason she took up the family business was because
her mother was killed. I'm not going to let you continue this vicious cycle just because you--"
"Let me avenge her death!"
Seraphim laughed.
"This isn't the dark ages anymore! I case you haven't noticed, chivalry is dead, and it was a man's job to defend the honor of his family! Gone are the days where you could set the streets ablaze in your fury! Are you really willing to loose all sense of yourself?"
"I may loose me, but I'll gain my mother."
Seraphim could see the tears starting to form in Lauren's eyes. She pulled the girl into a hug.
"We all miss her--"
"You don't have to lie to me."
Lauren shoved herself away from Seraphim.
"I know you hated her. You hated her because your own husband loved
her more than you!"
Seraphim smiled sadly, hurt on her face.
"No, Lauren. I never hated your mother. I never even resented her. She didn't love Sal, she loved your father. It took me a while to realize this, I'll admit, but we all do stupid things for love. I've been the butt of way too many jokes for this to be even remotely funny anymore. Sal is used to getting everything he wanted. To him, Magdelena was the forbidden fruit. He thought he loved her. It was never anything more than infatuation. Now? Now he's got to collect the debt she racked up, and there is still a little more than anger aimed at your father."
"What brought on this change of heart?"
"I can't pay. You won't leave me alone until all debts are repaid."
"Well, that's definitely true. I suppose I can find a place for you in book keeping. You'll have to earn the good stuff though. Hell, I'll even put you under Jeoffry. He holds your account, he'll be your teacher. I imagine since you're an accountant this won't be too hard for you."
John sighed. He knew he was betraying his son. He knew he was betraying Lauren. The old Lauren. Still, this was better than being beaten by Sal every month.
"I'm glad you came to your senses. I was beginning to think nothing was getting through to you."
Sal packed up his things and got ready to head out.
"How's Lauren doing?"
"No thanks to you, I can't tell. Whatever you did to her changed her. She's not my little girl anymore.
Sal nodded with a sad sigh. "I only protected her, John. I'd never hurt her."
Was that remorse? Greatly confused, John followed Sal Monella to the front door, intending to further question the matter. As Sal opened the door to leave, though, Lauren was taking out her keys to come in. John couldn't see Sal's face, but his daughter's told him all he needed to know.
Something
had happened, though it may have gone as Sal said. Lauren didn't look at the mobster with disgust or fear. A knowing glance was passed between them as if they had some secret. Lauren immediately stood tall, her shoulders back, a devilish grin on her face. Fear rose in John and he determined to pull the truth out of Lauren no matter what it took. What scared him even more was that he'd seen Magdelena smile exactly the same way before. Knowing now what his dearest Maggie did for a living, John's stomach fell to his feet. Had he done the wrong thing by exposing his children to this life stlye? Either way, it was too late to back out now.
Sal nodded a greeting to Lauren. She nodded in return. Sal stepped out of the way to let Lauren in. When Sal turned, John read concern on the man's face. Was there any reason this man should be concerned for his daughter? When the front door closed, John pulled Lauren into the kitchen.
"Enough is enough. What happened."
"I went out for a bit. We really are having nice weather."
"You know that's not what I meant."
Lauren sat down, her back to her father.
"Did he hurt you?"
"Mr. Monella? No."
"Then what happened?"
"He gave me strength. He gave me confidence and control. He gave me protection."
"Protection? What--how? Did he give you a gun?"
"No, Dad." Lauren laughed. She turned to face him, and John could see that something had definitely changed in his daughter. She looked older. She looked as if something had died inside of her.
"He didn't give me a gun. I don't need a gun, I don't want a gun. What he did give me was confidence. I know I can take care of myself."
Lauren stood up. Standing there in front of him, this mere child looked so much like her very adult mother. She had that same fire, that same desire for, and defiance of, life and all things proper blazing in her eyes. It was John who sunk into a chair. He'd lost his daughter. She may not be dead, but she wasn't the same girl.
"Wasn't I protecting you?"
Lauren looked away, and briefly John saw his little girl again. No, he hadn't been protecting them. He knew the answer before he'd even asked the question. Still, he had to ask; he had to know. It only hurt more that this change was a conscious one. When she let down her guard, when she softened, she became his beautiful daughter Lauren again.
"I'll always love you and be thankful for everything you did and still do, but..."
"You don't need me."
"I didn't say that."
"You implied that. How were you going to finish the sentence, then?"
"I don't know."
Their voices had begun to rise with sadness, abandonment, resentment and frustration. Volumes could be said in the silences between them.
"Things just aren't the same anymore."
"I'm doing my best, Lauren."
"I'm drowning."
"Then let me help you."
"He put me in control, I was in control--"
"Lauren, let--"
"Can you imagine how that felt? The power!"
"What's happened to you?"
"What's happened to me?"
"You're not dead."
"I might was well be."
"Don't say that."
"I've got to get out of here."
"And go where."
"Anywhere but here."
John could feel the anger rising in him. It hurt that she didn't want to be with her family. Sal Monella had poisoned his daughter. In this familiar face, he saw none of the qualities he'd loved in her.
"You're not going anywhere."
Not without a fight, at least. John couldn't--wouldn't--let his daughter go anywhere. Lauren only laughed.
"And if I leave anyway, what're you gong to do? Put a hit on me?"
Never was there a more painful slap in the face.
"You hate him, and yet you're about to do the same thing. You detest him, everything he is and everything he stands for, and yet you're becoming the same thing!"
"I'm keeping him off our backs--"
"Then go to the police!"
"You saw what happened last time?"
"You're a coward. you're too afraid to call the police, but you join the mob? Heh, that's some award-winning logic if ever there was any. Give me a call when you're done being an ass."
John could only look on in shock and horror as this creature walked out of the kitchen. She roughly pushed past her awestruck brother and slammed the frond door on her way out. The men were left confused. Who was that?
Much to John's relief, Lauren did come back on her own. She came back but her attitude remained the same. John and his son briefly put aside their arguments to focus on the youngest member of the family.
Jay tried talking to his sister, but she wouldn't hear anything that was being said.
When the mob boss himself came over with a revised contract, Lauren stood in the kitchen, silently watching everything happen. She watched as her father signed the contract, listened as he was given instructions about quitting his legal job as an accountant. She was a hawk, ever present, hunting for something. Her eyes were intense, her body language saying she was guarding herself.
"The kids will have to transfer schools. The arrangements are already in place. They start Monday, and I'll have some uniforms delivered to you. It's a private school. A good one. My son goes there."
John was reluctant, but couldn't back down. Not in front of Sal, not in front of Lauren. The two men shook hands.
"If you don't mind, John, I'd like to talk to Lauren."
Horrified and angry, John stood speechless. Lauren nodded to him, signaling it was ok. He saw in his daughter's eyes the mirror of a look in the mob boss' eyes. They knew he would listen from around a corner, and they were ok with that.
"Your family is worried about you. You can't keep going on with this self destructive behavior."
"What do you know? It's not self-destructive."
"Kid, listen, I pulled this trick when I was your age. Your dad and your brother love you. They don't--"
"Why are you concerned with my family so suddenly?"
"I've always been concerned with your family."
"Not like this."
"I fell terrible about what happened. The idea was to pick you up, drive you around, drop you home. You were to be back before dark. That man wasn't supposed to be in the picture."
Lauren turned her face away as her eyes began to mist.
"I've got the biggest operation in this city. I don't doubt people are trying to bring me down. You might have just gotten caught in the crossfire."
"So I'm still a little child that needs to be protected? The world can lie to me and it'll be alright?"
"Suck up your tears, kiddo. This isn't a bed of roses, you'll find that out soon enough. Each day in this life is progressively harder. It's up to you to find ways to cope. Don't let this anger consume you."
Sal began to leave the kitchen, but Lauren's yells brought him back.
"So what, Mr. Big Bad Boss Guy, you give me the strength to protect myself, you give me confidence, then you leave me with no way to cope with what happened? You...you just turn your back on me?"
"I didn't give you anything, Lauren. That was you. That strength was in you. That evil,
vile woman you saw in you? That was your
mother. I'm waring you kid, don't get caught up in this life. If you want to defend yourself, take a self defense class. Don't get involved with the bob. It'll eat you up."
"And yet here you are."
"Yes. Here I am."
The two faced off. Lauren's eyes angry and narrow, Sal's eyes challenging and remorseful.
