Kidnapped By The Italian Mafia

"What are you doing?" Connor entered the room and threw a stack of money on the desk, where I was busy reading through a small stack of papers. "You look hard at work."

"Sorting through companies to call about the suspicious smell downstairs. What is this from?" With tentative hands, I picked up the stack and fingered through the bills.

"Our cut for letting dealers use our girls to sell." Connor closed his eyes and plopped down on the couch close to the wall a ways from my desk. He threw an arm over his eyes and sighed deeply, making me realise how tired her looked. He and Moira had been holding down the fort while I was gone and suddenly I come back acting worse than before. He needed a break.

"Babe, go home. Take the day off." I could handle things here on my own. There wasn't much to do so he could take the day off in confidence and let me do the work for once. After all, isn't that what managers are supposed to do?

"I can't do that, you might need me here."

"There's nothing to do here that I can't do myself, don't worry about it."

"Henri told me to stay close to you, and if I'm being honest he's right, you get yourself into bad situations when you're left to your own devices."

I gasped at him. "Excuse me, I escaped from my kidnappers by myself. I outsmarted an entire mafia!"

"And yet you're still a dumbass." He grinned at me. "I'm okay, don't worry about me."

I could hear the lie through that thick accent of his. If he was going to go home, I had to trick him.

"We're getting new people at home today, don't you want to see them arrive?" I had to set out the terms and conditions for them as well. It was going to be important to be transparent with them, especially now that they wouldn't be drugged anymore. That was horrible.

"I want to make sure you're safe even more."

That was it, I was going to trick him into going home for sure, but first I had to check in with Henri.

< I'm still alive.

Then I was free to place a phone call to a pest control company that was close by. Once I made the appointment, they assured me that they would send someone over before the end of the day, which was nice because I really wanted to get this situation under control as soon as possible.

Connor just watched me the entire time, blinking slowly and looking hyperfocused. With the pest control taken care of, I wondered how the installation for Mockingbird was going, so I stood up to go find out.

"Do you want to come with or are you going to stay in here?" I asked Connor, who had followed me with his eyes.

"I'll come with." He shrugged and stood up to follow me. This man was taller than me in my five inch heels and it was unsettling. I was by no means short with my 5'6 frame, but Connor was 6'4.

Walking out of the office with him seemed like a scene out of Alice in Wonderland. He dwarfed the hall with his height, but it made me feel safe.

"I was thinking of installing it in the entire building but that would be a little suspicious, right? The upstairs area is all I really care about anyway, there's no need to have weaponized the entire first floor."

"Especially when it's full of strangers," Connor agreed. "A little funny that you decided to open up a strip club. It kind of panders to misogyny, don't you think?"

"The biggest feminists are the ones who willingly exploit their body for money," I turned to him right before opening the door of the hall. "And you know why? Because they can. It's their choice. It's empowering. Also we have that no touching policy."

I felt like strip clubs were the most conspicuous places to find mafia money laundering. It was a stereotype that we just kept falling into, not because we wanted to, but because it was easy to manage.

"I was thinking about converting this place into a higher end club, membership and everything." There would still be a.d.u.l.t entertainment, but with a more expensive rate and a different angle. "A gentlemens and sapphic lounge, of sorts, for the cream of the crop."

"More money that way. Smart."

We stepped out into the main room of the second floor, which was huge in itself. This was going to be where I would start the reform, and slowly take over the first floor as well.

"How's it going?" I asked the foreman, who was just scratching his head beneath his hard hat as he looked at a scroll.

"Oh, just fine. We finished installing the main wiring a few minutes ago and you'll be given a control for emergencies where you can't get to the button. It'll be hooked up to your office and several other spots."

"Perfect! I'm actually curious abou—"

"Miss VanBurren, you're being asked about." One of the girls from downstairs poked her head around the corner of the doorway. "Some people have come looking for you, they're downstairs now."

"It's probably the delivery people," I explained to Connor, who looked completely confused about the whole ordeal. "Moira probably told them I could be found here. Are you coming?"

"Not yet, I have a few questions to ask the foreman." He nodded sideways towards the construction job that was taking place. "I'll be down in a few minutes if you're not done first."

"Perfect," we smiled at each other before going our separate ways, him with the foreman, me with the dancer who had come to fetch me. "How many people are there?"

"About five, four men and a woman." That seemed about right. They were probably the delivery crew. "I ain't gonna lie, they look proper frightening." She made a shivering motion as we turned onto the landing and began to descend the stairs.

"I should hope so, they delivered precious cargo." And it was very expensive. "We'll be getting new employees soon."

"New girls?" She raised a dark eyebrow at me. "Is that what the second floor is for?"

"Well no, I want to make some changes around here and make the first and second floors into two different sections, but that comes later. We have to figure out our first steps before we get to that."

We reached the bottom step and turned to head out from the hall into the main club room. The low lighted atmosphere made it hard for me to make out the faces of the people, but I could definitely see the group. I plastered on my Isabella smile and prepared to greet them.

"Bonjour, welcome to Club Five! How can I help you?" A man turned around and my smile instantly froze into a fixated expression that made my cheeks hurt and my eyes water.

This was not the delivery crew.

"Hello," Marco greeted carefully, almost like he was unsure of what to say. "My name is Marco DiBiancci. I'm assuming you are Isabella?"

My throat felt tight, kind of like I'd been thrown into a frozen lake and didn't really know how to stop gulping down water. What the hell was I supposed to say? How was he that quick?

"Uh-huh!" I nodded, ignoring the high pitched squeal that was supposed to be an affirmation. To be honest I shouldn't have been all that surprised that he found me, considering he had Lina right beside him. She probably gave in and said something, even if she herself didn't know much. I had left her express instructions to keep him distracted, but I guess it didn't work. "I'm the manager of this establishment. How can I help you?"

Speaking in a pathetic croak really didn't help my case, not because of surprise that he had actually located me, but because he found me very quickly, and, my disguise was working. Also my strained voice made me seem guilty as hell.

"We would like to speak to you about your employer, Katarina Montenegro. Would you be able to speak with us about her?"

Not a chance in hell.

"Uh sure," f.u.c.k me, I was going to speak to them about myself, and I decided that maybe I shouldn't lead them to my office. "Let's head over to the bar and talk over a few drinks. Will your, uh…" I took a look at the men in black behind him. "Companions be coming along?"

Marco looked behind him and shook his head. "No, just the lady here."

"Right. Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Isabella, as you heard I'm the manager of this club." With just as bright a smile as before, I reached a hand out towards Lina for a handshake.

"Lina. P.l.e.a.s.u.r.e you meet you." She did shake my hand, but her grip was very weak, which was suspicious. My eyes flittered down towards her wrist and I found red circular marks on them, the outlines of restraints. They were peeking out beneath her long sleeves and wrist bangles. She still dressed like a lunatic, so at least that part was normal.

"Right this way, then." They followed me towards the bar, where the bartender was still mixing a few drinks together, as bartenders do. It was probably a little early for day drinking, but the f.u.c.k.i.n.g Italian mafia heir, whom I had run away from as my original self, was in my strip club in downtown Manc.h.e.s.ter with a woman he was clearly holding hostage and I was lying to his face with my face full of fillers so I was sure that it was 5 pm somewhere in the world.