Black Death And White Roses (1) Mafia Romance

31. Tesoro

Roxana

"Give me the pen," I snap, making the lawyer frown at me.

It's only me, him and Stefano in the room.

There is no way something good is going to come out of this arrangement, and it also looks like my life is an endless string of debts to mobsters since my dad had that unfortunate idea of gambling a lil'bit. Father is dead however and there is no way in hell I am going to go into debt again after I am hopefully finally free, in one year, according to this marvellous contract, I have in front of me. Let's see how that will work out.

"But of course. Why such a hurry, tesoro?" says Stefano looking at me in that strange way of his, where you are not sure if he is thinking about fucking or strangling you, or possibly both, none of it delightful, however.

Why I am in a hurry? Because my brother is kidnapped by the mob. I come to think, that Stefano also looms in the underworld, but he is a more elevated species of gangster, not a thug like Vitali or Ivan, and that is not necessarily good for me.

I didn't tell him why I need money. He didn't even ask to be honest. It was unexpected for him to just offer me the money and I am certain he has shady things in mind, but I don't care. He can do whatever he wants to me.

I take the silver pen and sign. My hand is shaking and the plume scratches the paper making a small but ugly hole.

"Ok. I signed. Now transfer the money."

That Cheshire cat grin stretches over his face again and I shudder.

He types something on his phone and shows me the screen.

I acknowledge a live transfer of fifty thousand euros to Karyme Abadi. Kary is going to meet Vitali and give him the money in exchange for Dani.

My own phone is beeping.

K: I got it.

I can't help exhaling and he notices and smirks.

"Ok. In three weeks I get the million."

"Of course, tesoro, as agreed, but in these three weeks you have to behave exemplary, or else you don't get any money. I have shown you I am a man of my word haven't I?"

"Yes, sir."

"Sir... So respectful."

"Here is your copy, miss," says the lawyer. He is rather young, seems also Italian and is blatantly unaffected by the fact that he drafted and let me sign an obscure contract with a matching NDA where I basically give Stefano the right to use me for whatever he sees fit in the next year.

Do I know what to expect? Not really. Nothing is stated explicitly; it is just drafted in those strange, foggy terms where you can understand various things by a sentence.

"May I go now, sir?"

The door opens abruptly making me divert my gaze. Tomaso steps into the office and throws a strange glance at everyone. Where has he been?

After I walked in on Stefano and Lisa and we came to this weird arrangement, Stefano made me wait for three hours till the lawyer boy came along, but Tomaso was not here and he rarely was somewhere else.

"Che cazzo sta succedendo qui? Cosa ci fa qui? Pensavo che si fosse licenziata/ What the fuck is going on here? What is she doing here? I thought she quit," he asks Stefano, frowning.

"L'ha fatto, ma l'ho appena assunta come personale... Ah devo ancora pensare al titolo. Allora cosa hai scoperto?/ She did, but I just hired her back as my personal... Ah I still have to think about the title. So what did you find out?"