Elaina and Victor remained quiet for the remainder of the drive. Victor reentered New York City, heading back into Manhattan. Elaina gazed out the window at the blurred lights, crossing her arms over her chest. Michael's gun sat in her lap, on her dark green skirt, looking seriously out of place.

"Where are we going?" Elaina eventually asked.

"A safe house," Victor replied, turning into a garage next to an apartment complex. "Neither Tony nor my father know about it. We'll be safe here."

For how long? Elaina wanted to ask, but she kept her mouth shut.

Victor parked the car and stepped out, Elaina opening her car door. Victor took hold of her arm, gently, and guided her over to the exit, Elaina concealing the gun in the folds of her coat. She'd forgotten to take it off in the panic after the shooting and then the whole thing with Victor and Tony. It was fortunate for her, for otherwise she would have left home without it.

Lost my phone, my purse, I no longer can go home, I don't have my car, or any money...at least I have my coat. Otherwise it would just be me, Michael's gun, and the clothes on my back.

And Victor, of course.

Victor and Elaina entered the apartment complex, taking the elevator up to the fourth floor. Victor led her into Apartment 411, locking the door securely behind them. "Do you have your phone?" he asked.

Elaina shook her head. "I lost it in the parking garage."

"Good," Victor said. "I mean, not good that you lost your phone, but good that you don't have it. We don't want to be tracked."

"What about yours?" Elaina asked.

"It's a prepaid burner," Victor informed her. "Kept secret from my folks. I left my phone at my house. I'm sure it's been searched already." He gestured to the kitchen. "Let's get something to eat and then you can go to bed. I'll take the couch, you can have the bedroom."

Elaina held up her hands. "Aren't you going to tell me what's going on first?"

Victor was silent for a moment, studying her. "Okay, Elaina. You're caught up in this as much as I am now, so I might as well tell you." He pointed to the couch. "You might want to sit down first, though."

Elaina and Victor walked over to the couch, sinking into the couch cushions. A wave of tiredness swept over her and all she wanted to do was curl up and go to sleep. No, not yet. Listen to Victor first. As it was, Elaina kicked off her high heels, massaging her sore feet as she glanced over at him.

Victor placed one arm on the back of the couch, turning in his seat to face her. "Okay. Where do I start?"

"Maybe with why the shootout in the garage happened," Elaina suggested. "Or why exactly your brother and father want us dead."

"Both excellent places," Victor murmured. "But I think I'll go a little further back, it'll make more sense to start there. Okay, Elaina, you might not believe this, but it's all true." He sighed. "Man, this is hard."

Elaina raised an eyebrow as she curled her legs up underneath her, putting Michael's gun down on the floor by her shoes. "I'm ready, Victor."

"Okay," Victor said again. "My family – the Andrisanos – we're kinda caught up in some shady business."

"Okay," Elaina said, waiting.

"I'm just going to say it. Elaina, my family is part of the Mafia."

Elaina's jaw dropped. The Mafia? Like, the families who participated in organized crime? That Mafia?

"The Mafia?"

Victor nodded. "Yes, the Mafia."

"Like The Godfather? Don Corleone and all that stuff?"

"Yes, like The Godfather. My family is quite prominent in the modern day Mafia."

"Okay then," Elaina murmured. "I was not expecting that."

Victor laughed, but it was a weak laugh. "Yeah, I didn't think you would be. Anyway, my father focuses his work through Andrisano Construction, and Tony is set to not only inherit the company when my father dies, but also control of our family. As eldest, it's his right. I had the choice to work in the company, and I would have been second only to Tony, once he took over. But I didn't want to work in construction. I liked accounting."

Elaina nodded, watching Victor's face. He ran his hand through his hair, clearly uncomfortable talking about this subject. "When I told my father that I wanted to do accounting, he was thrilled with the idea, which was a surprise. But he saw a way my plan could work in favor of Andrisano Construction. And so he helped me build my firm, so that I could do the tax returns for his company and help hide the Mafia aspect of it."

"Wow," Elaina murmured. "I've been working for a Mafia firm all this time. I had no idea."

"I know," Victor said. "You weren't supposed to know. I reworked the numbers for Andrisano Construction, providing a front to their illegal activities, and I also took on other clients from the Mafia, as well as clients that had nothing to do with them, to deter suspicion."

Elaina frowned. "If you did Andrisano Construction's taxes, then what was my job? I thought they were my client."

"They were," Victor affirmed. "Your job was to make sure the numbers didn't stick out, weren't suspicious enough to attract attention. Anything you questioned Tony reported back to me. That was your job. Not knowing the company's true intent meant you had no suspicions. You could look at the numbers with a fresh eye."

"I was the proofreader," Elaina said slowly. "Just with no idea."

"Exactly."

"So why the shootout?" she asked. "Why try to kill you?"

"I'm getting to that. Recently, I decided that I wanted out. I wanted to be done with the Mafia, with the family business. I wanted to go straight, to follow the clean path for a change. But unfortunately, nobody gets out of the Mafia easily. Or alive, if they can help it.

"Anyway, Tony got wind of my intentions and he informed my father. They couldn't have me leaving the family, not with everything I know. But instead of simply killing me and having Tony assume ownership of the firm temporarily, my father apparently decided to take care of me and my employees with a little game."

Elaina frowned again. "What? What sort of game would make sure information about your family didn't leak?"

Victor tilted his head. "Okay, so this part is more guesswork. See, my brother didn't inform me how he and my father planned to kill me and anyone else with information on the company or the family. So some of this is guessing, but it's an educated guess.

"They used the Secret Santa to turn my employees against each other."

Elaina gaped. "What?"

Victor nodded. "That's right. The Secret Santa."

"How?" Elaina demanded. "How would the Secret Santa help them?"

Victor smiled. "Simple. The name you draw is the person you kill. I'm guessing that's why Tony showed up early for his meeting with you. He wanted to see the Secret Santa happen so he could alert those in the firm who were Mafia to how this was going down."

You can take them out! You know, you can take them out to dinner.

Tony's words ran through Elaina's mind. The words had seemed odd, out of place, but at the time they had meant nothing. Now she realized that must have been the message that this Secret Santa was not the type you bought cheap gifts for.

"So that's why the shootout in the garage happened," Elaina said. "Jerry and Emily must have had me and Michael's names. But what, did they just lie in wait for us?"

Victor shrugged. "I don't know. I just know that after people started leaving the office, shootings began occurring. Once I realized my father and Tony had taken matters into their own hands, I reached out to the employees I could trust, only to find they had already been taken care of. Then I thought about you, and called your phone, but you weren't answering. So I decided to stop by your house and make sure you were okay. Lucky I did, too."

"Yes, thank you," Elaina said. "Otherwise, I'd be dead right now." She took a deep breath. "I'm trying not to freak out but I don't think I'm succeeding!" She gave a slight laugh.

Victor reached out and squeezed her arm. "I know it's a lot to take in, but let's just get something to eat and go to bed. Things will look better tomorrow."