Princess of St. Vincent

Chapter 28

Vada nervously walked into the club, her hands on her face as if to assure herself that her mask was in place.

Davide had dropped her off, explaining that everyone was aware she was coming back, and that Chachi would explain to her what her new duties were.

She was nervous that the other girls would ask questions but Davide was kind enough to explain that the other girls would not ask questions- they understood not to cross his orders.

She hadn't missed his meaning- he was certainly not going to forgive her, although Vada wasn't sure what he was so upset about. The more she thought about it, the more what she did made sense.

As she walked towards the bar, she noticed that some of the girls were already down stairs, but as she approached Chachi, all of them cleared.

"Come with me." Chachi said, taking one look at her before walking out from behind the bar and towards the office.

Vada followed in silence, afraid to face Chachi, after all- she had promised she would leave.

Chachi closed the door behind Vada without saying a word, locking it and then she let out a sigh before moving towards her and taking her hand. Vada stared at her, startled.

"Are you okay?" Chachi asked, concern in her eyes. Vada nodded, thrown a bit off by the question.

"I'm okay." Vada muttered. Chachi sighed again.

"I'm sorry he found you." Chachi whispered.

"I'm sorry too. Chachi- I'm sorry for putting you in this position." Vada said. "Was he mad? Did he do anything to you?"

Chachi smiled softly.

"yeah- he was very mad. He's docking my pay for a while." She said, sitting on the edge of the desk. "But fortunately, Davide can be extremely reasonable. He understood why I let you go." Vada raised her brow.

"Then why doesn't he understand why I left? How can you call him reasonable? Do you have any idea..." Vada began but Chachi shook her head.

"The fact that you're alive is more than enough for me. Listen, He's after you and he'll be looking for any reason to punish you. Don't give him one. He's angry you left without permission, but more so that you showed up and lied- he's not a man to be lied to. He means business but if you do what he says, I'm sure eventually, he'll let you come back to stay here." Chachi said.

"Do you think he'll ever let me go completely?" Vada said.

"I don't think so. You know too much. Even if he lets you go home, you can be sure that he'll eventually call you back to do something for him." Chachi said. Vada was quiet, she hadn't considred that even if he did set her 'free' he could as easily manipulate her in the future.

"Then what can I do?" Vada asked. Chachi sighed.

"Just do what he asks, get on his good side and make your peace with the situation." Chachi said.

"This is such a mess. My parents think I'm working an internship at his company, EPI." Vada said.

"I read about your parents, they look like good people. It's best to leave them out of this. You should consider what you plan to tell them in the future." Chachi said.

"If he lets me see them..." Vada said with a sigh.

"I'm sure he will, you're right about one thing." Chachi said, standing and moving behind the desk. "You're father could cause a lot of trouble for him, it would end badly for everyone involved."

"So, now what? Look at me- he expects me to do the midnight show." Vada said.

"Now, I tell you exactly what he told us. None of the girls are allowed to speak to you. None so try not to talk to them unless you have to. They're instructed to only give short answers or statements in case they do need to talk to you and only about business. You won't wait tables anymore." Chachi said, signalling with her head to a tray on the floor.