The Abandoned Mafia Princess

The Himeros Club

The Himeros club was a unique place for sure. A treat for the fans of classical architecture. The former museum turned into a club. Huge stone columns drowned in purple and blue lights. There was an entrance fee for the guests to ensure that whoever parties in here is loaded. This is a place for the rich, spoiled men who thought they owned the world. The type of guys Clara hated the most but nevertheless, she still served them drinks with a wide, fake smile plastered on her face.

Clara was working for over a month now and she felt like she joined a survival camp. She was feeling pure terror being surrounded by so many people at once. Her first days were awful, she was forgetful and skittish but she also had the tendency to learn quickly. Waitressing was still something she really disliked but after some practice, she got better at it.  Clients liked her, she was nice and she smiled at people a lot. No one really knew what's going on in her head.

Her distress was caused not only by the job but also because of what Noah said to her. She is sure to tell her how bad it will be if anyone finds out about her little undercover operation. She was really trying to minimize the amount of information she was giving about herself to her co-workers.

Clara gave herself a month to get close to Loretta. Loretta, unfortunately, was very closed off. She barely spoke, mostly when asked. Whenever Clara tried to approach her she was busy. And she smiled only when clients were watching. That being said Clara hasn't given up and after the long weeks they were on more friendly terms, let's say.

"I hate Saturday, I hate them so much," Clara muttered to herself.

Saturdays in the club Himeros was a treat to the guests who enjoyed seeing the staff serving them wearing clown outfits... I'm sorry. French maid costumes. For Clara, it was the same thing.

"Don't be dramatic" Loretta responded putting her costume on. Loretta had no emotions about dressing ridiculously. Zero. As if she was putting on grey sweatpants and a loose T-shirt, she was completely indifferent. Unlike Clara.

"I want to die," Clara said looking in the mirror with great intensity as if she was hoping her hostile gaze would make the costume evaporate.

"Don't die since it's your special day. Oh, right. Arturo wants to see you in his office" Loretta responded. A hint of amusement was noticeable in her voice.

Ah yes, Arturo. The manager. Wanted to see her.

"Leah. Come in" Arturo said and smiled warmly at her. "Please sit down" he encouraged her eagerly and pointed at the desk in front of him. "You look cute by the way"

"Thank you," Clara said in a professional voice. She didn't appreciate the compliment. She was a person who preferred to keep people at the distance, especially men. She would rather have him shut up but as always when he was sending this type of remarks her way.

"I am happy to announce that your trial period has ended. You're now a full-time employee. And you got to work in this today" he grinned seeing the long face Clara was making at the item he was holding in his hands.

Oh yes. The fucking headbands. She "forgot" to put it on.

"Seriously is that thing necessary?" She asked, but she already knew the answer to that.

"Yup. I can see you're ecstatic"

"You know me so well" she responded dryly and sent him a wry smile.

Arturo chuckled and said "Many of our guests will be surely overwhelmed by your cuteness"

Okay, now she was really going to puke. She put on the damned headband because she didn't have a choice.

"Now speaking about your work contract I have it prepared"

"Speaking of that, can I sign it tomorrow? I just want to get well acquainted with the terms of employment" Clara lied smoothly. She was planning to quit right after her trial period ended which was now. But she couldn't bring herself to ask Loretta about Desmond, it was never the right time. So today, today was her deadline. Today she would ask.

"Naturally" Arturo responded and smiled at her warmly "I'm open for negotiations" he smiled suggestively and Clara smiled back awkwardly.

"Thank you, I will keep that in mind" she responded politely and said her goodbye. Being upset at Arturo and his inappropriate remarks could wait. Today she had other things to worry about.

She had to make Loretta talk. Easier said than done. The place was really crowded today. So it was hard to catch Loretta at the bar but Clara managed to do so at some point.

"Where have you been working before?" Okay. Maybe that was blunt. Clara cringed at her awkwardness. Not interacting with people for too long resulted in her inability to talk to people. Damn, embarrassing.

"None of your business" Loretta responded sharply, wiping the bar counter with fast, aggressive movements.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be noisy" Clara muttered, suddenly weary and focused on carefully wiping wine glasses in a way that won't leave a single smudge.

"No, it's okay. Sorry for jumping you like that" Loretta said "I just don't like to talk about my past, you seem to be on a more introverted side as well so I hope you can understand me" Loretta admitted.

"I understand," Clara assured quickly. "You don't need to tell me anything. I was just trying to make a conversation sorry if I made it awkward"

"No, it's okay. I was working at another nightclub, that place was shit in comparison to Himeros. I don't like to talk about it because the workplace was toxic. I got really lucky that my cousin got me a job here"

"Your cousin?" Clara asked surprised.

"Oh right, you probably don't know. Arturo"

Arturo must have personally known the mysterious owners of the club. Why mysterious? They were rarely seen by the regular staff. For most of the times they were behind the door no one had access to except the few chosen ones. Whenever they arrived at the club they would gather the stares of jealousy, curiosity, respect, fear. Clara was the curious one. Because she was such a stalker she had tried to get every information she could on Himeros but all she knew was that this nightclub was just a small part of the bigger branch called Vincenti Group. They invested a lot, especially in the entertainment and real estate market. Other than that they also started merging their corporation with SFM company that was the biggest gun manufacturer in the country. They were also expanding on the hospitality side, in recent years they opened up many luxurious restaurants across the globe; the latest one was located in Hong Kong. To get any information about their board members was an almost impossible task but she did manage to get the names of the two key players: Rafael and Lorenzo Vincenti. Almost zero information about them online. Unnerving. Clara was very used to getting any information about people she wanted due to her hacking skills, the fact that she got nothing on them scared her. She sincerely hoped that she would never meet them.

Oh, right. She was speaking to Loretta.

"What night club you were working at before?" Clara asked. She was so close to getting the information she needed but the more questions she asked the more nerves were eating her up.

"It's far away from here. You wouldn't know it" she responded curtly. Without looking at Clara

"Oh, really? I thought I saw you in Desmon's Nightclub. I sometimes visit that place and your face just looked familiar-" Okay, now Clara was in for it. She pushed too hard. She froze at the change in Loretta's expression. From uncomfortable to straight out hostile.

"And?" She asked sharply. The blonde woman's face was pale, her voice was icy. She was looking with unspoken anger in her eyes "So what if I was" she sneered.

"I wanted to ask if it's hard to get a job there" Clara blurted out not knowing what else to say.

"What!?" she looked at Clara as if she saw her for the first time.