Chapter 2

A MONTH OR two HAS passed since Laura walked out on him and he had kept to the promise he made himself that day about not having anything to do with her. 

But her face constantly flitted across his mind and haunted his dreams. He missed her. Badly. 

Rain was drizzling lazily and the sun peeked out of the clouds at the same time - like the sky had not concluded which one to pick.  Arthur drove his Lamborgini sports car across the street twice before mustering up the courage to step out of the car and enter the building. 

The lobby man was at his desk. Arthur walked up to the man. "Is Laura in?" He asked. 

The man looked stunned and lost for a second. "Um, No, sir. Ms McKenna is, um…" He stammered. 

Arthur waved him off. "I'll just wait for her in her apartment. I have a key." He walked up the stairs and headed straight for apartment 15 and tried the door. It was unlocked. 

He stepped into the apartment and had to cover his mouth to hold back his shock. 

The apartment was stripped. It was almost empty and it was like no one and been there in days. He walked from room to room, reminiscing the memories that he and Laura had had there. 

He gave a sad chuckle as he remembered the first time they had sex. It was here, on this spot. They had done it on the floor because they were too impatient to go to the bedroom. 

He gritted his teeth and walked out of the apartment just as the next-door neighbour was walking out of her apartment too. 

He knew her and she knew him. 

"Hey, Arthur." The middle-aged woman greeted. 

"Hello, Kim." Ge nodded at her, closing the door behind him. 

"What happened to the apartment?" 

"Oh, Laura moved." Kim said. 

"Moved." Arthur repeated. "Moved? Moved where?" He tried not to show the way he was feeling on his face.

"Oh, I'm not allowed to say," Kim said. Then she placed her hand on her hip and rested on her door frame. "Now that I think of it, she didn't say where she was moving to? One morning she and Chantelle ordered a moving company and just… moved out." 

Arthur sucked in a breath. 

"Hey, you look green around the gills. Are you sure you're alright?" 

Arthur nodded. 

"I thought she would tell you where she was moving to," Kim said. 

"We, um - are having an issue now." Arthur said in a small voice. 

"Aww… that is quite bad. You two make such a good couple." Kim turned to lock her door. "You make sure you set things right between you both, okay?" 

Arthur nodded again. "Yes ma'am." 

Kim gave him a wry smile before walking away. 

Arthur walked back into the apartment and sank down on the floor in despair. He remained like that. Willing himself not to cry. 

His father, Old Papi, would slap him senselessly if he found out that his 24-year-old son is crying over a woman. 

He shuffled and got up, dusted his trouser and walked out of the apartment and down to the lobby man's desk. 

"You did not tell me that she has moved." He said through clenched teeth 

"I tried to, sir." The poor man said. 

"Did she drop a forwarding address?" Arthur asked even though he knew she did not. 

The lobby man shook his head. 

"Shit." 

"Is there any way I can help, sir?" The lobby man offered.

"Fuck off." Arthur snapped and walked out to his car. 

He took out his phone and tried Laura's mobile number. It went to voicemail. He tried to leave a message for her but the voice mail was filled. 

Kim had said Laura and Chantelle ordered a moving company. 

Chantelle! 

That bitch of a best friend should know where Laura moved. 

He gunned down his engine and made an illegal UTurn. Good thing he knows where Chantelle lived. 

Driving 10 miles over the speed limit, Arthur got downtown in record time. Chantelle's apartment did not have a lobby man instead it had a buzzer intercom. 

He buzzed Chantelle's apartment but there was no answer. He buzzed again. Still no answer. 

Frustrated, buzzed multiple random apartments and waited for the first one to answer. 

An old woman's voice croaked, "Yes?" 

"Hello, ma'am. Pizza delivery." Arthur lied. 

"Wha?" 

"I got pizza. Pizza delivery for apartment -"

The old woman muttered something and the door buzzed open. He walked into the lobby and up the stairs to Chantelle's apartment. He knocked on her door. 

"Coming…" 

He heard shuffling of feet and locks unlocking and then the door opened a crack. 

"Why, you bastard!" Chantelle yelled. "You've got guts coming out here, after what you did to my best friend." 

"Huh?" 

"Huh, yeah?" Chantell sneered. "You don't even know what you did. That's the highest level of irresponsibility." She started to close the door. 

"Wait, I just want to talk." He poked a toe at the door to prevent it from closing completely.  

"Yeah? Talk then." 

"Can I come in?" 

"No." She replied flatly. 

"I need to know where Laura is." 

"No, again." 

"Please." 

"You know, I never really approved of you… I failed to see what she found enticing in…" She gestured at him. "...all of this." 

"That is not the point, Chantelle," Arthur said, reining in his impatience. He never liked Chantelle too. 

The way she looked at him whenever Laura was not around made his skin crawl. "I need to know where Laura has moved to." 

"I am not going to tell you. Now get the hell out of here before I call the police." She yelled, slamming the door in his face. 

Arthur sighed. 

"Well, that was a disaster." He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his wrist. 

He walked back to his car. 

What next? he thought. 

He can't go on parading the whole of New York for one woman. But neither can he go a day without seeing her again. 

"Fuck!" He yelled and punched the steering. "I am going to go around New York till I find you, Laura. I don't - "

His phone made a ping! sound. A new message notification from Diego, his cousin. 

He skimmed through the message and felt his blood run cold. 

"Fuck! Fucky! Fuck!" He yelled again. All the thoughts about finding Laurs evaporated from his head as he sped toward the family estate. 

LAURA LOOKED AROUND the room. It was not much but it was hers and it was somewhere that was out of Arthur's reach. She walked out to the half finished sitting room where boxes were arranged. She was yet to unpack completely. 

A little bird settled on her kitchen window sill and sang at her. 

She smiled. She was going to love it here. 

A day after Arthur had told her that he belonged to the Mafia underworld, she had called Chantelle, her best friend since childhood and they had arranged an impromptu house move. 

She had used most of her savings to get a new house just on the outskirts of Vermont. 

She missed him but she was determined to move on. She had no plans of growing old with a gangster. 

She did not tell Chantelle the reason for the move. She did not tell her that her boyfriend of over 3 years was a Mafia, that would have put her best friend in danger. 

"Am I overreacting?" Laura stood straight and thought to herself. "Maybe he was right… I've been watching too many tv shows." 

But either way, she had only told Chantelle that Arthur had broken her heart, badly. She told Chantelle that she had caught Arthur in bed with another lady. 

That had gotten the type of reaction she expected. Chantelle was hysterical and furious. She had taken it upon herself to take Laura as far away from Arthur as she could. 

That far away was Vermont. Luckily this small-cabin-like house was up for sale, and she had gladly bought it. 

Although she could see her child, preferably a boy, growing up in the yard and playing with the mud in their little backyard garden; she could not settle down here. That was why it was taking her so long to set her things up. 

She sighed, this is not home. 

She sighed again as she opened a book and prepared to take out her picture frames to hang on the wall. Her heart bleeding as most of those pictures were with the man she tried hard to forget