billion book
The Burn
Chapter 4 The Burn
The entire restaurant was uncommonly scanty today – business was bad for the manager.
Despite it being a fast food restaurant, its rate of patronage was surprisingly high but today, it was different.
The waitresses, having nothing to do than gossip, dove completely into it – their lips moved quickly as varying words of either truth or insincerity rolled out of their mouths.
A sole waitress, however, could be seen washing the dirty dishes in silence – Raven had other things to indulge herself in than gossip. What good would it bring to her?
Oh, absolutely nothing.
Perhaps her colleagues found it as a means of diverting their troubled minds, but Raven’s couldn’t be distracted.
Not when the payment date of the loan her father collected from Ramos Escobar was fast approaching – heck, it was tomorrow morning. And sadly, the beautiful hot–headed female hadn’t gathered nearly enough.
She always knew how bountiful Mr. Salvador’s operation would cost, so tried to get the money through safer means, then again, all that doesn’t matter now.
A silent sigh escaped her plump lips before she resumed scrubbing the dirty surface of the glass plate. While Raven wallowed in self-worry, grief, and trouble, the waitresses spoke anxiously between themselves.
“Girl, you lying! Why would Alfonso come to New York?”
“Doubting me, huh? You won’t for long when the Mafia War begins”.
“I heard The Stray Dogs are the deadliest in the entire seven continents”
“Why would such a syndicate come to New York, of all places?”
“A drug exchange, maybe?”
“This explains the scantiness on the streets lately?”
Their incessant and raucous chatter thrived in irking out an already vexed Raven. Couldn’t they at least shut up?
Her bad mood was obvious, then again they kept speaking so irritably.
Having none of their noise, Raven purposely let go of the glass plate she was washing and once the glass shattered loudly, silence stepped in…
Everyone stared confusingly at her – what was her problem? None was given the luxury of speaking since Raven dried her drenched hands with a towel and then barged out of her kitchen.
Was she enraged? Definitely.
Surprisingly, in the restaurant sat two men – one she immediately recognized instantly.
It was Dr. Lee.
Raven, though curious about whosoever he was speaking discreetly with, didn’t intend on having a conversation with the doctor.
Why should she? Raven took him as her only friend, yet he unhesitatingly avoided and lied about her father’s source of operation.
Raven didn’t feel betrayed due to her policy of never getting too attached to anyone, then again, it did pain her.
Sharply, she walked past them and the instant she stepped out of the restaurant, fast-approaching footsteps were heard from behind.
“Raven, wait, please!”
Lee called from behind while rushing after her. He assumed she’d ignore him and well, his assumptions were right – she kept walking while acting oblivious to his calls.
The medicated glass-wearing doctor had to run ahead, then stood in front of her, blocking her path.
Raven halted in her steps, lifted her brown eyes to ogle at the attractively handsome young doctor, then smirked. She smirked at his outfit – who knew wearing a lengthy dark cloak would suit him so well?
In addition, the few patches on his face as a result of the beating the Graveyard gave him made his face…slightly more handsome to Raven.
“I can see you’re getting better, good. Now, leave” she mouthed sassily and tried to walk away, but he also obstructed her path.
“C’mon now, birdie, don’t” he went closer to her before placing both hands on her shoulder then gave them some light squeezes.
They were the only ones in the dark streets – for some reason, New Yorkers hardly came out of their houses.
Not like Raven cared – what she concerned herself with currently was the closeness of her face to the doctor’s.
Her eyes accidentally glanced at those thin lips of his, but she averted her eyes back to his face.
“You’re not going to forgive me for keeping that a secret from you?” Lee smiled sweetly at her, only to receive an eye roll. “Get your fucking hands off me, Lee!”
Raven slapped his hands off and stepped backward, trying to create some kind of distance between them.
Lee attempted to speak again, but the sudden blaring of her phone interrupted him – it was a message from her father.
“I gotta go”
“I can drop you off” he suggested immediately and Raven smirked largely while walking off. She made sure to flash a heart-warming smile at him before stopping a taxi which she slid into.
Subsequently, someone else walked out of the restaurant – a man whose looks were synonymous with…otherworldly.
“Alfredo?”
Lee turned to gaze at Alfonso Sanchez when he called his name – his real name.
*
*
*
“Isn’t that a burning building?” The sudden question from the taxi driver drew Raven’s attention to the building, which burned outrageously. Its flames were so huge to the extent the firefighters who stood there found it terrifying to approach.
As the car drew nearer, Raven’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief, shock, fear, and surprise – that was their apartment!
“Wh-wh-why is it on fire?” her ear-splitting scream freaked the driver, but before he could scold her, the back door got opened as she rushed out.
The car was yet to stop, so Raven did hurt herself once she rushed out. Still, in her waitress outfit which exposed her thighs and knees, which Raven hurt badly yet didn’t mind.
Why was their apartment on fire? And most importantly…what about her father? Madly, she ran to the firefighters before her hands gripped the leather coat of one.
“Miss!” he gasped, shocked at her abrupt grip, but at a glance, it was clear the burning building was hers. By now, Raven’s eyes were filled with eager tears as her lips quivered frighteningly.
“My-my father, where is he? Where’s my father!” Raven demanded fearfully. If her father was in there when the fire started, could he perhaps be…?
“Miss, no one was in there when the fire began – we’re positive”
Relief and perplexity mixed in her soul – she was happy her father was safe, but…where was he? Mr. Salvador couldn’t have gone anywhere, so where could he be?
The ding of her phone brought Raven’s wild thoughts to a standstill. Again, she checked her phone, then again it was a message from an unknown number.
‘Get your pretty ass to this address unless I’mma sending your old man to hell’
Done reading the text, her fingers curled into a hard fist. This was Ramos, how dare he kidnap her father and burn down their house?
Her eyes caught the sight of the time on her cellphone – it was past midnight, it was already the next day, yet she didn’t have a dime on her to pay him.
“What’s that shitty geezer up to?”