Stiletto Souls... my short story masterpiece... =)

Sorry about the length of this, but I hope you all enjoy it!

Stiletto Souls

Her crisp Armani suit flapped in the slight breeze, patent leather heels flashing across the pavement; her jet black hair swished to the side. The sleek noir door was swiftly closed behind her with a clack. The driver then entered the car and took his seat before his smooth voice uttered “Your father sent these for you. Some new assignments I presume,” as a dark thick folder was slyly passed from driver to passenger. Natalia listlessly thumbed through the files, until she saw a vaguely familiar face. A Miss Blair Caldwell who was known better as “Candy.”
She studied the picture attached to the file and saw a woman with flowing blonde hair, perfectly tan slender legs, and a bleached white smile that would blind you from a mile away. The look on her face was one that had been worn by years of bathing in the sun’s withering rays and repeatedly taking off her clothes just to collect the meager scraps of men’s fortunes. This surprisingly polished woman seemed to have borrowed more than she could handle paying back from Natalia’s employer. The face staring back at Natalia from a candid shot seemed proverbial, almost as in a blur she felt that she had definitely seen Candy’s face before. Natalia slightly shook her head as if this would replace the images filed away in her memories that had so inconveniently been thrown at her. After sitting in silence for a few moments Natalia’s brusque voice rung out, “Jeffery, could you please stop at the nearest grocery store before my meeting with Mr. Carpenter? I just need to pick up a few things. It won’t take long.”
“Sure thing miss,” came the courteous reply from the chauffer.

After returning with a brown paper bag filled with various supplies for her visit in Vegas, Natalia readied herself for her business meeting with a mister Jonathan Carpenter. As she entered the restaurant she spotted a tall man in a pinstripe suit with a silky blue tie perfectly tied in a Windsor double. A firm handshake solidified their introductions before a pause and recognition of familiarity.
“Wait, oh my gosh! Johnny? Is that you?” said Natalia feeling a strange sense that she had randomly been forced into a high school reunion that she did not want to attend.
“Natalia? Are you serious? Wow, they couldn’t have thrown a sweeter minx at me for this sale,” Jonathan said throwing out his arms as if he expected a warm embrace.
“Okay, now don’t even start trying to butter me up just to get a good price. I am the assistant Chief Legal Officer for this corporation now, not just your high school pal,” she retorted with a sarcastic grin on her face before relenting and giving him a quick hug.
As Natalia ordered the confit of duck and Jonathan the filet minon, they finished discussing how Natalia’s company would buy out the small casino that Jonathan’s real estate company represented, until finally the conversation took a turn for the more personal.
“So what are you up to now-a-days Jon? Do you have a family? Kids?” Natalia asked.
“Well, I’m actually looking for Marie,” he answered.
“Wait, Marie… like your high school sweetheart Marie? Miss- I’m going to throw away all of my parents money to gamble and get drunk off my ass Marie?”
As the words floated from her mouth she was suddenly back in prep school, wandering the halls and laughing hysterically watching the gleaming smile and blonde hair of her best friend. Her mind snapped into the scene of a pond glistening with golden sunlight… Come on Natalia, it’s not that far. Just jump… Came the familiar bright voice of a model-type blonde already playfully swimming in the water. Natalia shook her head once more, trying to focus on Jonathan’s face to keep her from being sucked back into that nightmare.
“That’s her. And hey, don’t be so hard on her. I remember how close you two were” he said with the tone of a wounded puppy. He picked up his highball glass and took a swig of malted scotch. Little did he know that Natalia’s mind was reeling. That’s who Candy reminded her of. But could that haggard face really belong to her friend from high school?
“So whatever happened to you two? Last I heard you were supposed to get married…” Natalia’s voice trailed off as she saw the look on Jonathan’s face.
“I don’t know exactly. Her drinking and gambling problems just got so out of control. And then we had this enormous fight, and she just sort of left and never came back. She completely fell off the face of the Earth according to her parents, and no one I know has seen her since prep school. I called her best friend at the time and she told me Marie was here in Vegas. Said she might have changed her name to get out of some trouble she might be in…”
“Oh Jonathan, I’m so sorry. I wish I could help.” The words came out of her mouth before she could stop herself. Natalia knew she couldn’t help Jonathan find Marie. Unless he wanted to find her as a rotting corpse in her apartment after tragically committing suicide, the rock bottom of her life spiraling out of control… or so it would look after Natalia was finished with her. Natalia couldn’t help but remember the cool look on her father’s face as he explained how he needed to collect some money from a couple of loaners that went south, and that she should just “deal with them as she saw fit,” while she was in the area anyway. Natalia wished she was back in the tranquility of her Chicago apartment, bundled up in the soft comfort of her down duvet, just waking up to the fingers of sunlight tickling her face until she awakened …
“Natalia? Are you alright?” Jonathan’s concerned voice swiftly drew Natalia from her daydream. Her naturally olive complexion had turned a ghastly shade of white.
“I’m sorry Johnny. Please, excuse me…” came the weak but courteous reply as she tottered off on her perfectly polished stilettos. As she sat on the creamy cool porcelain in the ladies room Natalia began to hash out all of this information that had been thrown so forcefully at her, ruining her luxurious life spawned from carrying out the “family business.” All those years going to law school only to learn all of the loopholes and ways to exploit the system to keep her father and his mobster friends out of trouble, wasted. And even before that, when all of this began, in prep school. How could she ruin the lives of the very people who used to be her boon companions? Memories of going on countless adventures through the Redwood forests near her family’s California summer home and spring breaks spent lounging by the pool swept through Natalia’s brain. No, I can’t let this shake me, she thought. All the usual rationalizations ran through her head as she tried not to start hyperventilating. They are just people. I’ve killed countless people who were threats to the family before. She will die eventually anyway… But that blinding smile wouldn’t stop burning itself into Natalia’s mind, no matter how hard she tried to shake it away. God damnit I have to do something… Finally a solution popped into the mess of Natalia’s thoughts.

After returning to the dinner table, Natalia offered her help to Jonathan by way of hiring a private investigator. “He’s helped me in the past… I hope he can be of the same or greater help to you,” Natalia said with surprising cheer. This visibly brightened Jonathan’s mood, and they continued a quite chipper conversation until Natalia excused herself from the table saying she had some other important business to attend to.
Natalia slumped back into the limo and told Jeffery, “Take me to 5421 East Harmon Avenue please.”
“Of course miss.”
Natalia rummaged through the grocery bag until she extracted some French roast coffee, a couple sugar packets, and extra strength rat poison. She slid on a pair of black gloves, the supple leather encasing her fingers in flexible security. After slipping the supplies into her enormous Gucci purse, she bound her long black locks in a sleek ponytail; a perfect compliment to her bluntly cut bangs. She checked the time as the limo slowed to a stop in front of an apartment complex.
“I’ll call you when I need you Jeffery. This might take a while,” said Natalia in the most nonchalant voice she could muster.
“Take your time miss,” retorted Jeffery.

Natalia climbed the wooden stairs and came to a red door. She coolly pulled out a key. As the door swung open, Natalia could see that her friend kept her place as immaculate as ever. She locked the door behind her before walking over to the coffee pot and brewing some of the French roast. As the smell of free trade Columbian beans wafted through the air Natalia was taken back to that glittering pond. “Come on Natalia. Just jump. It’s not that far down. I already made it. Stop being such a scaredy cat,” said a blonde girl still gleefully swimming around the watering hole like a mermaid who had just been returned to the sea. Marie always was one for peer pressure, Natalia thought… Natalia remembered the sheer terror that filled her countenance as she leapt from that rock, a good thirty feet from the gilded pond water that her friend was so happily swimming in. She also recounted the excruciating pain that followed, her leg being completely immobile, water slowly creeping into her lungs and her mind drifting into the black, the sound of Marie’s laugh still ringing in her ears before it turned to a shriek of horror; then a sudden gasping for breath and water spurting from her mouth as she realized she had just been saved from a watery grave. “I’m so sorry Natalia… I don’t know what I was thinking… Thank God I was a lifeguard this summer… Oh my God, your leg is… oh my God… Jonathan has just run off to get help, and find a phone to call 911… No don’t try to get up…” the panic in Marie’s voice was still remarkably clear in Natalia’s memory as she poured the coffee into two cups, one mixed with the sweet sugar she brought, the other with the assurance of a nasty death. Natalia carefully pulled out a snow white handkerchief and began wiping off any remnants of her identity that might have been residing on the rat poison or anything else she might have touched in the apartment.

Natalia heard the lock click and felt the cool air rush into the apartment.
Marie shut the door behind her, distracted by the pile of bills she was now examining. She stopped and looked up from her reading as she recognized the smell of freshly brewed coffee that hung in the air. The silence was shattered by the sound of papers rustling and keys clanking as Marie saw a black shapely figure sitting at her kitchen table with two steaming cups of coffee. She felt her knees buckling under her as she saw the woman that was serenely sitting at the kitchen table swivel in her seat and look at Marie with those piercing violet eyes. Marie tried to form words, but she was so out of breath she could barely keep from passing out.
“Natalia… how did you… where did you… what in the world…” came the broken phrases that Marie finally gained the strength to start spurting as she realized who this stranger was.
“Don’t speak Marie. Or should I say Blair? Perhaps ‘Candy’? Which do you prefer nowadays?” Natalia’s voice cut through the air like a knife through butter.
“I…” Marie realized she was trapped… even if she tried to run she knew she would never be safe.
“Never mind. It’s not important. What does matter is that your bad habits have not only ruined your life, but they have become fairly costly, haven’t they? So much so that you felt the need to borrow $300,000 from my father’s friends. Did you think that would never catch up to you? That you could just keep running from everyone and everything?”
With these words Natalia stood up and started to slowly walk towards Marie, as if to prove that there was indeed no way out of this situation. Marie’s whole body started to shake as if she had just been thrown into the middle of Antarctica, tears streaming down her face.
“Please. You don’t have to do this Natalia. Please. I will do anything. Just don’t kill me. Please.” Marie began shaking even harder than before as she heard Natalia say,
“Look- I don’t have a choice.”
The two women stared into each other’s eyes for what seemed like an eternity before Natalia took a couple steps back. “But you do,” she said as she stood next to the coffee mugs that were assembled on the table, and motioned for Marie to take a seat.
“But… I don’t understand…” Marie had a look of complete bewilderment on her face as she mechanically walked over and slumped into the chair Natalia had motioned to.
“Listen to me. This is the only way you can have a free life. I met with Jonathan today-”
“Jonathan? Does he know I’m here? Oh please God, say that he doesn’t know what I have been doing…” Marie interrupted as she began to cry even harder.
“No, just listen. He will be looking for you, and he will either find you here, dead, or the private investigator I hired to help him find you will make sure you two can have a life together somewhere far away. All you have to do, is choose.” Natalia finished with the calmest look Marie had ever seen on that sullen face hardened by years of ruthless killing.
“Choose what? And wait, what about you? If I suddenly disappear won’t your father know I’m still alive and come looking for me and eventually kill you?” Marie began.
“Just let me worry about me,” Natalia said in a confident tone.
Marie paused for a moment pondering what had just been said, then looked at the coffee mugs and suddenly things began to be a little clearer. “So, I choose one, and you drink the other?”
“Precisely.”
Marie stared at the two cups for a complete five minutes before choosing the pink mug- it had always been her favorite. The way it could brighten her day no matter how horrible it had been. Natalia picked up the blue mug imprinted with watercolor pansies. The two held up the mugs high in unison, saying “Cheers,” before the traditional clink of pottery tapping together resounded through the room.