Overheard Conversations

Overheard Conversations

Arabella

TWO DAYS HAVE passed since Karmen came in and caused a scene in Slice of Heaven and tried to get me fired. I've been at school and didn't once see Karmen or Collette. My nerves are on edge because I know something is gonna come from them, but I don't know when or where it's going to happen. Even with Brock trailing me all over the place, I'm looking over my shoulder and waiting for everything to fall on me. Brock is pissed because he knows how anxious I am and how this is making me feel. He meets me outside of class every single day no matter where his last class is and then walks me to my next one because he doesn't want me alone on campus for any reason. Brock is one of the best guys I know and I'm happy I get to call him my friend.

I've seen the guys on campus and they're pissed as fuck about the situation. Brock told them about things when he was at football practice and there's nothing I could do to stop him. He wanted Kash to know and doesn't have any classes with him. So, his solution was to talk to Fallon, Braxtyn, and Dash when they were together. I don't want them to know what's going on, but if Kash is going to be my husband, he'll have to know what's going on and maybe the guys can ensure the girls don't come near me for any reason. I've had more than enough of their shit and I'm ready to make sure they don't touch me ever again. Especially that Marianna bitch.

Marianna's the worst one of the group. I've seen her hanging all over Kash on a daily basis and there's nothing he can do to get away from her. I've watched him try everything to get away from her and not have anything to do with her when they've been on campus. If he's in the courtyard with the guys, they sit far away from him and her and ignore anything she tries to say to him. Kash has started only leaving the house to go to class and then he hides like I've been doing since the start of school. It's all over campus that Marianna's pissed as hell and is bitching about Kash not spending any time with her. She's taken to treating everyone like shit even more than normal and doesn't care who she hurts or pisses off. Even the rest of the guys are freezing her out which only pisses her off more. From what Brock says, she's trying to fuck them all and none of them are touching her.

Today's classes were long and I almost fell asleep. Vinnie's sick and I was up all night long with him because I didn't want him to get sick and me not hear him. So, I finished the last of the assignments I had to do and got the rough draft of my paper written while I wasn't sleeping. If it weren't for Mrs. Andrews, I wouldn't even be coming to school today. She assured me she'd take care of him and if he got any worse then she'd call me. I gave her my phone number and it's taped to the refrigerator in her kitchen so she doesn't lose it in case there's some kind of emergency. Today is one of the few days I've ever kept my phone on anything but silent because I refuse to miss a call from Mrs. Andrews if I have to leave and take my brother to the doctor to make sure he's okay and doesn't need to be admitted to the hospital or something. He's not able to keep anything down and he's got a fever. I've given him medicine for it and am hoping he'll start to feel better soon. When I called to check on him earlier, Mrs. Andrews said he"s still sick and not feeling any better. She's given him more medicine and tried that drink stuff just to get something in him so he doesn't get dehydrated.

Now, I've been at work for hours and my feet are killing me. It's still busy as hell and I'm ready to go home, check on Vinnie and get some sleep. Tomorrow is another long day filled with classes, tutoring, and then working once again. If I don't get some kind of sleep, I don't know how I'll make it through the day. Yeah, I'm used to running on little to no sleep, but with everything going on right now, exhaustion is consuming me. Sal almost sent me home because I'm dead on my feet. I begged him to let me work because I need the hours and the money so I can still do whatever I need to without exposing myself as having more money than what my mother knows about. The less she knows, the better I'll feel because she's a bitch and I refuse to enable her to continue her addictions and treating Vinnie and me like shit until she needs something.

So, as far as my mother knows, I'm still working here at Slice of Heaven and that's where any money I have comes from. I don't leave anything from my bank at the house because I refuse to have her find out about anything that's been going on since Kash showed me the will and I met with Mrs. Donovan. So far, my mother hasn't shown up at Mrs. Andrews for any reason, but you never know when it comes to her. As long as she gets what she wants, she really doesn't care who she has to go through and I won't see Mrs. Andrews hurt because my mother is a vile bitch.

"I'm headin' out, Arabella. If you need anythin' I'm just a call away. I want to get the deposit to the bank before I head home tonight and there's nothin' here that needs me. You have the key to the shop and can lock up. How much longer do you think you'll be here?" Sal asks me, his voice sounding muffled as he bends down behind the counter and digs around for something.

"I've gotta finish wrapping the silverware, sweep the floor before mopping, and get the garbage out to the dumpster. It shouldn't take me too much longer. You get out of here. Give your wife a hug from me," I tell him with a tired smile on my face as he stands back up and leaves through the back door of the pizzeria because he parks out back every day.

Once Sal's gone, I turn up the music on the radio Sal keeps for when we're closed and gather the garbage to take out back where the dumpsters are located. There's four bags tonight that have to go out and I grab two of them. My trip to the dumpster goes quick because I hate being out here at night alone. Usually Sal makes sure one of the other girls comes out with me. However, the new girl quit just after clocking in because she was going to actually have to work. I swear to everything holy that this generation is the laziest group of people I've ever met. They want the money that comes from being employed but refuses to work to get the paycheck. When Sal yelled at her for talking and not doing her job, she clocked out and disappeared quick as fuck. So, I've worked the pizzeria all alone tonight. It definitely didn't help knowing I want to get out of here quick tonight because of my brother.

Heading back inside, I see a car's headlights pulling down the alleyway next to the pizzeria. I don't pay any attention to the car though because it's not unheard of for cars to pull down that way and park behind the various businesses on Main Street. A second set appears behind the first car and I rush back in the pizzeria to grab the last two garbage bags to take out to the dumpster. My feet hurt as I rush back outside to dispose of the trash. However, I'm stopped in my tracks after tossing the bags inside when I hear the conversation taking place.

"The buyers are getting anxious waiting for us to get everything set up and in place," a man says, his voice hard and cold as I duck down and hide behind the dumpster so the men having this conversation don't find me. "We told them we'd have everything put in place by now and it hasn't come together. What the fuck is the hold up with everything?"

"We needed the contract with Sandra's father and it's fallen apart. Since Hicks couldn't get the fucking job done, I'm now negotiating the new contract with him. I can't believe that little bitch fucking eloped and voided the contract with Braxtyn. Such a fucking little skank. Maybe we should fucking include her in the first shipment once I get this new contract in place. The fucker is willing to give us almost everything, but he wants more money and shit too," I hear another guy answer and a tremor runs through me.

I'd know that voice anywhere. The cold, emotionless voice can only be Mr. Richardson. The man has always made me feel vile when I'm around him. I might not remember a lot from when I was friends with the boys, but what I do know is that Kash's father isn't a good man. I never saw Fallon's or Braxtyn's fathers and I can only guess that the other man with Mr. Richardson is one of their fathers because those men are always together and scheming about shit. They're all a part of The Faction and if this is what I have to deal with by marrying Kash and taking my seat at the head of the table, then I want nothing to do with it. I won't be marrying Kash if he has anything to do with this shit either. Maybe they don't know. I'll have to have a conversation with him about this as I try to listen even more to the conversation so I have as much information as possible.

"Why the fuck would we give him more money when his family is the one who screwed us over? He owes us extra. If anyone deserves to have an advantage when it comes to putting this contract together, then it's us. We should pay him less than the original contract stated and have some kind of extra shit added in because of the shit that his daughter pulled. Braxtyn should've locked her ass down before she fucking left the house the night he met her. I warned him without saying the words because Sandra was sitting right there," a third man states, his voice just as cold and lethal sounding as the other men. However, from the last of his words, I know this is Braxtyn's father and he's pissed about whatever his son didn't do or say when it comes to this girl.

"We're not gonna give him more money than what was in the original contract and that's final. I want to see the final contract before it's signed, Richardson. When you're ready to go in and get everything put in place, we'll all sit down with him and go over the contract line by line so nothing is missed. Now, I've had the guys working for us in this area scouring for the list of people we have already. Benito is pissed we don't have anyone captured yet. He wants this shit up and running yesterday. His son doesn't know anything about this and that's how he wants to keep it. Our boys don't know about this shit and I know they won't be comfortable with us doing this. If anything, they'll shut it the fuck down because they pretend to have morals," the first man to talk says again as I pull out my phone to see if I can record the conversation without alerting them to my presence.

It doesn't take me long to find something in the apps that are already installed on the phone that will allow me to record what's being said. I press the record button and set my phone down on the ground at my feet because I don't want there to be a ton of static or anything so I miss something important being said by the assholes who are talking about people as if their lives don't mean a damn thing as long as they fit the criteria of what these buyers are looking for.

"Benito should fucking keep his mouth closed about this shit. He might be leading all of this shit, but he isn't the one getting his hands dirty or putting in any fucking work. We're the ones taking all the risk and putting every piece of the puzzle together. I mean, we're not exactly getting our hands dirty either, but we've picked all the people and put things in motion because Benito can't be hassled with doing anything other than talking to the buyers and putting together the laundry list of people that we're supposed to get our hands on," Mr. Richardson says, his voice dropping even more and filling me with dread because there's no one stopping them from kidnapping innocent people and hurting them all because someone wants to buy them for their own depraved reasons.

"We all knew what the fuck we were getting into when he talked to us about helping out with this venture. It's going to bring in more money than we'll ever be able to make with The Faction and no one can put any demands or anything on us as we get everything in motion and lined up to start shipping to the buyers and Benito's warehouse out of the country. The longer we hold them in the States, the more likely we are to get in trouble and caught at some point of the process. Have neither one of you thought about that shit. I mean, we have the warehouse already, but it's in the name of a shell company that won't lead back to any of us. However, if someone were to dig deep enough, I can't be sure that we won't be discovered," Braxtyn's father states, his voice sounding unsure as if he's reconsidering the entire deal that they've been working on.

"Look, we've already cut Peterson out of this deal because he'd never go along with this shit. Do we need to cut you the fuck out too?" the first man states, and I can assume this is Mr. Granger based on how dead his voice is.

Another tremor runs through me with the lack of emotion and humanity in his voice. He sounds no better than a robot that's a little more human based than an actual robot.

"You're not cutting me out of anything. I'm the one who put my son in a contract with this girl who broke the contract to begin with because she's a selfish bitch," Braxtyn's father says, anger now lacing his voice as he shuffles around and I want to look out to find out what's going on but I remain hidden from everyone so I don't get into trouble.

"Fine. Now, we need to fucking finish this deal and make sure everything is in place. Benito wants everything up and running within a month. He's extended the time for everything because we can't seem to get our acts together. If we can't manage to get our shit together in the next month, then the deal is over with and he'll cut us out completely no matter what we have going on. We'll lose his connection with the buyers and we'll have to find any buyers for the people we're already holding that are waiting for the shipment to go through. I want to remain as under the radar as we can stay so no attention is brought to us about this shit. The less people who know what's going on, the better off we'll be. Now, let's work out the rest of the logistics," the man I assume is Mr. Granger states as the men begin talking about everything else they've already done and still need to do.

I remain behind the dumpster for a long time and my body hurts because of how I'm crouched down behind the disgusting dumpster and I haven't moved since I got my phone out to record the conversation. When I feel as if I'm about to fall over and alert them to where I've been hiding, the men finally stop talking and car doors start opening and shutting. Still, I wait behind the dumpster and don't make a move to grab my phone or anything. The cars pull out and I still don't move. I remain hidden for a few minutes until the cars are no longer heard and everything is once again silent out behind Slice of Heaven.

By the time I stand up from behind the dumpster, my legs are fucked-up from the gravel that's been digging into my skin since I crouched down. I bend over to pick up my phone and stop the recording while trying to make sure I can save what I heard from the men. Why the hell they would meet behind the pizzeria knowing we haven't been closed for that long is beyond me. There's no reason to think we wouldn't be out here getting rid of the trash or whatever else it takes for us to close. Right now, I wish Sal hadn't already left because he would make me feel safe as I head back in the fucking place and make sure the doors are locked behind me so no one can get inside while I'm here alone. There's no way I can even pretend that Sal or anyone else is here with me.

My mind is whirring with everything I've heard and I don't know what the hell to do with the information. I could go to Kash now that I know he's not involved in this shit. My heart races as I think of all the people that are gonna be hurt because of these men and their need for money any way they can get it. No one deserves to be treated like they're less than because they aren't as rich or whatever else. From what I can understand, they've got a list of qualities they're ‘shopping' for and then they'll kidnap these people I can't even begin to think of what these people will then go through because they'll be held hostage until a shipment gets put together and they're taken to the prison they'll be in when they get in the hands of the individuals buying them. How the hell can anyone think that is something that's even remotely okay to do? I can't even process this because my mind would never think about doing something so horrendous.

Shoving my thoughts to the back of my mind, I finish what I have to do to close the pizzeria so I can get the hell out of here. The rest of the night I have to focus on getting out of here and then giving Vinnie all of my attention if he's still not feeling good. Tonight is not the night I can put any more thought or time into this situation because I can't do anything about it. I'm not the person who can take this recording to the cops for them to deal with and put these men behind bars before bad things happen to innocent people. This is the kind of situation Kash and the guys have to deal with because I'm sure they have experience dealing with this kind of shit because they spend time with their fathers on a regular basis. I just hope they don't want to continue on with this shit once they take their seats at the table.

The second I'm done closing the pizzeria, I leave Slice of Heaven after setting the alarm and locking the door behind me. I've already gone through to make sure all the doors and windows are locked. Pulling my thin coat even tighter around my body, I make my way from work to Mrs. Andrews' house. During my entire walk to the poor section of town, I have to consistently push thoughts of the conversation I've overheard tonight from my mind. It's not something I can just force away though as images of random people I've met over the years flit through my mind because at this point anyone is a potential victim for these monsters. All I'm ready to do is get to Mrs. Andrews' house and forget all about tonight. I just wish I had realized I wasn't the only other person behind the shops tonight.