Mesmerizing Mr. Mafia

The Russian Mafia

"You don't have to try everything on, ya know," Luca whined as I walked out of the dressing room for the umpteenth time in the span of an hour.

None of us had a change of clothes, but everyone (except me) had wallets loaded with spending money. There was a small clothing store right on the water that a family friend of Angelo's owned apparently. He was probably in the mafia too though.

Trust no one.

"Well, revenge is a dish best served cold, haven't you heard Luca?" I spun around quickly in the floral skater dress. "You people have ruined my life. The least I can do is bore you to death."

"Well aren't you thoughtful?" Angelo mocked.

"Took you long enough to notice. Observant much?" I walked to the back where the dressing rooms were. I had one last thing to try on.

A hand clasped around my mouth, making my scream inaudible. "Don't make noise, bambina," I was surprised to hear a woman. She released her hand and I quickly turned around to face her.

She was older.

Like way older.

"Who are you?" I asked, "What do you want?"

"Those are bad men out there. I want to help you. I've seen your face on the news. You're that millionaire's daughter, aren't you? Chloe Cruise?"

I nodded, "How do you know who they are?"

"My son Renaldo grew up with Angelo, they were best friends. He helps the mafia whenever he can. It's dangerous here. Follow me, I'll get you out," she grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the small dressing room to a back door.

"What's your name?" I asked as we walked outside. There was yet another black car with tinted windows parked right in front of me.

"Bellisima," a new voice answered. I knew this voice though and I did not like it one bit.

Angelo.

The oh so familiar sound of the safety being taken off a handgun blared through the alleyway. This time, to my utter amazement, it wasn't being pointed at me. It was directed at whoever was in the car.

"Who's in the car, mom?" A new guy came out. I'm going to assume this was Renaldo. Bellisima stayed silent. "Who were you going to send Chloe off with? Who are you working for now?"

She was hesitant, "La mafia russa."

"What?!"

"Luca, get Chloe out of here," Angelo said as Renaldo and Dom approached the weird black car.

"Um...ok," he gripped my upper arm tightly, "Where do you want-"

Shots fired through the tinted windows and I dropped to the ground. Not because I was scared, but because I had actually been hit. Luca hooked his arms around me and dragged me back inside.

"They got you?" He pulled me to my feet, and that's when I actually felt it. Pain rushed through my entire leg and I cried...like a little baby. I fell into Luca, "Oh, they did. Didn't they? God, you're bleeding...and crying."

"No shit!" I snapped, surprising myself. Bad words were not my forte. "I'm gonna pass out."

"No, don't do that. That's probably the worst thing you can do right now."

Too late.

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"Chloe. Chloe. Chloe..."

I cracked an eye open to see Luca standing over me, waving a hand in front of my face.

"Hey...mornin' sunshine," his smile was from ear to ear, "Ya know, if you died, I was probably gonna die with you. I would have been murdered."

"By Angelo?" I tried to sit up, only to be pushed back down by Luca.

"Yep."

"Are we in the hospital?"

"Correct again. You're smarter than you look," he sat on the edge of the bed, "I'm gonna get killed for this anyway. Not supposed to take you anywhere people might recognize you. So if anybody's asks, your name is Constanza D'Amico."

"Whatever."

"And as soon as they give you your next dose of pain pills, we're bailing. It won't be long before the russos come looking for you."

"Russos?"

"Russians."

"That was the Russian mafia?! Bellisima was going to send me off with them?! I don't know which sounds worse. The Italian or Russian mob."

"Eh well, I'll give this one to the Russians. Why would Bellisima trade you like that though? What do they want with you?"

"My fortune?"

"Maybe. Kinda inaccessible though. How's your leg?"

"Numb. Do you think the others were injured?"

"As in Angelo and Dom? Doubt it."

The room was only silent for a brief second before Luca's phone started ringing. He pulled it out and looked at it, "Speaking of...it's Dom," he answered the phone and walked out of the room as a nurse lady walked in.

"Come ti senti," she said.

"Um...uh...what? I don't speak Italian."

She looked just as puzzled as I'm sure I did. Luca picked the absolute worst time to leave.

"Come ti senti." She said again.

"I don't know what you're saying."

After a few awkward moments of trying to understand each other's languages, Luca finally came back to help us both out.

He looked at the young, raven haired nurse for a minute before a pleased smile crept onto his face, "How've ya been, Alessandra?"

Of course they knew each other.

"Solitario," she ran to Luca and planted a single kiss on his cheek. "Why did it take you so long to come back to Napoli?"

Oh and she suddenly learned English too?

Italians.

"Business has been booming. Chloe, we have to go. Dom and Angelo are going to meet us in front of the hospital. Can you discharge her please, Aless?"

"Chloe? I knew she wasn't Italian. Wait...is this the Chloe? Like the one that's all over the news? Gesú, what did you guys get yourself into? She has a huge reward on her head. I could be rich for turning you in, but you're lucky I love you, Luca. Just go, I'll fill out the discharge papers."

"Grazie. Amarti," he placed a quick kiss on her lips.

I tried to stand up, but as soon as both feet touched the ground, I collapsed. My entire left leg was numb, useless.

Luca rushed over to me, and scooped me into his arms bridal style, "Well this doesn't look weird at all," I said as we walked out of the hospital. "So I'm going to be rocking a hospital gown for the next few days, huh. That's chic enough."

"Oh be quiet, Chloe."