Chapter 3 - Her Father's Killer

Everyone’s heads turned as the heavy footsteps neared us and one by one the Clifford family’s members took their place. I couldn’t help but stiffen when Waylen Clifford, brother of Edwin Clifford took his place at the head of the table, making me inch away from his chair. Luckily for me, he didn’t spare me a glance.

Then Mr. Clifford’s youngest son, Gael Clifford took his seat on the fourth chair of the left side of the table, he was only 11 but had already wielded a gun. Dressed in a tux, the blonde boy looked like the spitting image of his father. Then his sisters, Olive and Lucy sat beside him and closest to the head seat……. my breath hitched so hard, I almost gasped for air. Closest to Waylen sat his brother, Edwin Clifford. Waylen was superior to Edwin in age, wealth and authority but not in cruelty. 

Other Cliffords along with the other guests took their seats but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Edwin. He was right there, less than a few feet away from me. It took all the self-restraint I had to stay put and not jump over the table and rip off his head from his neck. My teeth grit so hard, I was afraid they would fall out.

Slowly all the chairs were filled, and members of the Clifford family occupied the seats nearest to where Waylen Clifford was sitting at the head of the table.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed the old man grin the fakest smile, raise up his glass and clink his fork against it, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Before the food is served, I would just like to thank all the ladies and gentlemen for being here on this especially happy occasion for me and my family. My happiness knows no bounds when I introduce to you the heir of the Clifford family and my blood and pride, Derek Clifford……” The guests applaud, the Clifford family applauds, everyone drinks wine in the name of the heir and whatnot but all of it goes over my head, my ears turn essentially deaf to all the noise around me. 

I somehow faced forward and away from Edwin before anyone noticed my staring but I couldn’t help but keep glancing back at him. Waylen continued on with his speech but I couldn’t manage to comprehend a word of it, my mind was in a stormy haze, and all it now wanted was to get through with the plan, rest all didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except that Edwin Clifford must be ingested with poison within the duration of this banquet dinner.

When I finally regained my senses, I started surveying the room. Ok, so there were in total 34 people. 9 were Cliffords. The other 25 were guests.

The guest’s food had already been tasted beforehand but the family’s food had to be tasted in front of everyone, just before they ate it. With the number of enemies they had, it was a good thing they had such measures in place. Or was it? 

Oook…. Ooook, Rose, the malicious villainy thing is for later. Focus now, focus!! You’ve spent years in this hellhole waiting for this moment. It’s finally here. Don’t fuck it up!

“It is a remarkably auspicious day today because my son is officially a made man of the american-italian mafia and both my son and brother have stepped foot in the US after over 6 years. After years of grooming my son to be the heir along with handling the majority of the international relations and transports, Edwin will now be taking over the position as my Consigliere and Derek will be Underboss, as he rightfully should.” At Derek’s mention of being underboss, Seth Clifford, Derek’s younger brother scrunched up his nose and traced his glass with a knife, making a wide line around its circumference. Everyone pretended to not notice that.

At that instant I made the mistake of looking to my right which I’d deliberately been trying to avoid. I caught sight of pitch black hair and deep grey eyes and a lean body clad in a black suit with a perfectly loosened black tie. Before I could make out any more features, I jerked my head down and stared at my feet.

This was not the time for this. Fuck! 

I recited Abram’s words in my head. You need to get out of the banquet hall as soon as it's done, don't wait for the poison to take effect. Don’t waste one second, not even one second, you hear me?! Not one second!!

Why the bloody hell couldn’t the food be served already?

“Before the food is served, I would just like to say one more thing….” Oh for heaven’s sake!

Edwin didn’t seem to be paying anymore attention to his brother’s speech than I was. I was horrified to realise he was looking straight at me, his pasty-skinned face screwing up into a malicious smile. I barely manage to not let my feet carry me away from his creepy stare, making my skin crawl so bad I wanted out of my own body.

I was lucky to catch Waylen ending his speech with a “Let the feast begin.”

And the waiters soon had the hot, steaming food served.

That was my cue to do my job as the taster. 

Walter motions to me with his eyes and I nod back as the sound of soft chatter fills the banquet room. The guests could start eating but waited out of “respect” for the don and his family.

 Oook here goes nothing.

I started with Mr Waylen’s food whilst trying to maintain a safe distance from the old but still sufficiently sadistic don. I tried not to think too much about his calculating eyes….. no one knows anything, this is going to work! This has to work! 

I turned to the right side of the table, those same grey eyes met mine for less than a millisecond before I quickly averted them to the food placed in front of him. Wracked with nerves and shaky hands I proceeded whilst trying to arch away from him, and ended up almost spilling the soup whilst tasting it and hurriedly moved on to his mother who was sitting right next to him.

Soon I was done with the right side of the table and making my way to the left side as no one paid any heed and carried on with their conversation.  I was soon done with everyone and was left with the last Clifford, the one responsible for taking everything away from me.

My nervousness grew as I neared him but so did my excitement but I reined it all in and went about tasting Edwin’s food. Venom spiked my nervousness, urging me to be as inconspicuous as possible.

I tasted the soy milk chiffon cake last.

Now I needed to get out of here as soon as possible. The antidote had a time slot of an hour for it to successfully fight off the poison but it would still be better to stay on the safe side and get the precious elixir flowing in my system as soon as possible.

Everyone was now engaged with their food, eating in the most ridiculous posh way possible with an elegancy so pretentious, even the food must’ve felt embarrassed to be eaten by them.

I couldn’t help but glare at my father’s killer from my place among the lined up waiters on the far side of the banquet room.

The 5 minutes that ticked by felt like 5 eternities as my patience skated on dangerously thin ice…. but Edwin fucking Clifford seemed intent on saving his dessert for last. Which made more sense than I cared to admit!

When the anticipation became too much to bear, I convinced myself that I would be back in no time to make sure that Edwin had eaten his dessert and would be out cold within the hour. I quietly sneaked out of the banquet room through the small exit which led to the storage room. 

I fished out the vial of the antidote out of my apron pocket and emptied every last drop of it into my mouth…. I needed to be thorough or it would be 2 dead bodies leaving this mansion. 

Now there were two things I could do - I could escape by my original plan now since there were only 17 minutes left for that window to be closed or I could go back in there and make sure that Edwin had eaten his dessert and would be out cold within an hour but then I would have to improvise my escape.

 It wasn’t that the Cliffords would keep me prisoner if I wanted to leave the job but with the reputation I’d created, it was quiet in character for me to just disappear. And obviously, there wasn’t much time to put in my resignation.

Abram had tasked one of his men with getting a job in the truck transport of carpet rolls(coverup for cocaine) for the Cliffords…. that particular truck driver and his truck would be leaving in the next few minutes. I had to make up my mind. Fast.

Fuck this!