The Series of Unfortunate Events (pt. 4)

I always thought running away from my kidnappers would be more climactic than what it actually was. I mean, I jumped out of a window, for goodness sakes. Sure, a few of the guards stood in my way and I absolutely demolished someone's nose when they felt my roundhouse kick to the face, but other than that, I managed to make a clean getaway by stealing the hummer in the garage.

With Marco's gun in the front seat, I tore my way through the path at the back of the house going towards a main road. I had noticed this path when I made Marco take me out for a walk around the property. The police had just gotten around to the back of the house when I tore through, and they didn't have time to shoot at me when I was driving away. Also, the hummer was bulletproof, so that was a thing.

I never expected my escape to have been so successful, but it's not like it was my place to complain or anything. I had to take what I could get, and a win was it for me. Well, for now. I had about twelve hours before the police all over the country of Italy began looking for this car, so I had to get where I could and quickly. With the help of some guards, my packed duffle bags were placed in the back seat and a purse full of cash was sitting under the passenger seat.

Before leaving the room at the mansion, I had made sure to do a sweep and wipe out anything that would match my identity. I also made sure to wipe my fingerprints from everywhere in the area. In any case, if there was something I had missed, I already paid someone from the police cleanup crew to finish wiping them for me. Still, if detectives took something as evidence, I was sure they wouldn't find so much as a trace of my DNA there.

I was driving to what I assumed to be Lina's restaurant even though I had no idea where I was going because I was guiding myself solely on blind memory. I could roughly locate where to turn left and where to turn right by counting the minutes between turns. This was a skill my father taught me to hone when I was little in order to find my way out of any place. As soon as I found somewhere I recognised, I could guide myself from there.

Actually, now that I could see where I was going, driving myself to Lina's restaurant wasn't so hard at all. I recognised the town in no time and decided to ditch the car in a random location so as to not lead it directly to the restaurant. That would be inconvenient for me.

I grabbed all of my bags and hid the gun beneath my shirt. In order to stay a step ahead of the police and maybe even the other mafia groups under DiBiancci control, I had to switch cars and leave the country as soon as possible. Unfortunately, my foresight didn't lead me to establishing anything in Italy because this was enemy territory so I wasn't allowed to even be here, so I was completely dependent on getting to my offshore bank in France. From there, I would slowly pave the way for myself and wait out the storm in Greece until it was safe enough to return and take over everything.

"So you're finally here," Lina had her arms crossed and she was waiting for me behind her restaurant with a set of keys in her hands, "I thought you were held up."

"No, just a little delay. Is the gas tank full?" I took the keys from her and unlocked the sedan. The car was brand new and low-key, so it would last me a long time and would also be unnoticeable.

"Yes, I filled it before bringing it here. I also used the documents you gave me, it's completely registered," Lina went around to the passenger side and opened the glove compartment. "Here, I also withdrew two hundred thousand in cash just like you asked."

"Uh, I didn't ask you for two hundred grand," my eyebrows furrowed and I gave her a weird look. "I asked for two large calzones."

"Really? Oh. Well, take it anyway and consider my debt to you repaid. I'll get the calzones to you in a minute," Lina withdrew from the car and went back inside while I set my bags in the back seat and put the purse full of cash under the passenger seat. The stack of cash that Lina gave me and the keys to the hummer made their way into the glove compartment and the gun followed them. I made sure everything was within inconspicuous reaching distance so I could grab a hold of them without arousing suspicions.

"Here you go," Lina handed me a huge takeout bag where I could see two large boxes, very similar to pizza boxes. "That should get you through a few days. Where are you going?"

"North. You should be free from me once I'm completely undercover," I placed the takeout bag in the passenger's seat and turned on the car. This was going to be a long trip. "Oh, and I'm taking the phone, sorry."

"Don't worry about it, just get away from me and let me live in peace," Lina stood straight and smiled at me. When she was being herself, she was very different from the cowering woman who was crying when Marco pointed his gun at her. Maybe under different circumstances, we could've been friends.

"Will do. See you!" I saluted her and pulled up the window at the same time that my foot stepped on the gas. Honestly, for this being my first time experiencing the world on my own, I think I was doing pretty well. Thank you father!