Mafia Connections

Four

Armed with a slice of toast, I get back in the car. Oliver sits beside me as I rub my hands together. Viktor taught me what he could of self-defense. Most could be used in means of escaping, only one could harm. I think he still believes that I'm soft, fragile.

He's wrong.

A file. That's what I had to get before he would teach me more. He wouldn't tell me what the file contains. Only that I had to get it in one piece.

We pull up outside the bar and I get out. "Different bar tomorrow. I'm sure you'll find me" I smile at Oliver and he chuckles.

"Good luck" he says and looks back down at his phone. I shut the door just as a hand touches my shoulder.

"Who was that?" Rose says. I turn and look at her. She scowls and grabs my bag from my hand. She reaches in and pulls out two thousand pounds cash. "Have you... Did you..." she looks up at me.

"Sell myself? No. We're not at that point yet" I bite my lip "I'm getting help"

She glares at me. Her green eyes shine in the moonlight and her raven hair falls over her face. "You better not be. We agreed that we wouldn't put ourselves in too much danger. Not now. Not until Angelica has her baby"

I nod "I know Rose. You tell me the same thing every day"

She takes my hand "Then you better remember it this time. No more sacrifices"

I laugh "No more sacrifices. Sorry but I don't love you enough to throw myself under the bus" I joke knowing that I probably would. She hits me over the head and I continue to laugh.

"We're leaving. Hurry up or we'll both get into trouble" she smiles and walks away. I grab my bag from her just as we reach the car and I get inside. Isaac raises an eyebrow at me and then I realise that they all noticed my absence.

The car journey is silent and awkward. Just like every other night. I chew on my lip until Isaac physically removes it from my mouth. I often bit my lip so much that it bruised or split.

The car pulls up in front of the country house in the middle of nowhere and I'm roughly removed from the car. I stumble on he gravelled driveway as my heels sink in. We're pushed into the house and towards our shared bedroom where Freddie and Angelica wait.

I get in first and grin as I see her. Her faded pink hair is the only colour in the room and she sits on the bed surrounded by cushions and pillows. Her face is sleepy and she rubs her eyes.

Freddie sleeps in the armchair in the corner but I ignore him as much as possible. "Did you eat?" I ask.

She laughs "The tables sure have turned. Usually it's us forcing you to eat"

I shake my head "I'm not pregnant. Did you?"

She sighs. "They never brought anything in"

I smile and run over, bouncing slightly as I jump onto the bed. "Isn't it good that I have this then" I reach into my bag and pull out a cereal bar. Something so simple that made her face light up with excitement. It was a miracle that Rose never found it earlier.

She rips open the packaging but stops just before it reaches her mouth. "One of you guys should have it. I've been eating more than any of you"

Rob sits down beside us and pushes her hair behind her ear "There's two of you. Remember? Eat up"

She sighs before biting into it. Her eyes close as her tense body relaxes. I turn away to allow her to enjoy her food and reach into my bag again to find a bar of chocolate. It was half eaten as I might have stolen it from Artie when he wasn't looking.

There are six squares left and I break it up and hand them out. We eat in silence and I stare at the remaining piece. I smile and pick up a cushion, throw it at Freddie as hard as I can. He jumps awake and I laugh. "Chocolate?" I ask and push the piece towards him.

He glowers at me as he takes the piece and walks away again. Guess he hates me again. He has a love-hate relationship with me. One day he's obsessed with me and the next it looks like he wants to bury me alive.

It doesn't bother me but it does make an awkward atmosphere. He retreats to his armchair and bites into the sweet before finally smiling.

****

Get the file. Not that hard. Right?

I walk into the bar and look around for the person I'm looking for. When I finally spot her I smile. "Hey! You haven't seen Sean have you?" I ask the girl with terribly bleached blonde hair and fake tan.

She grins showing off her fake teeth. "Of course I have! He's upstairs but he doesn't want any intrudera. Buisness" Becky smiles. I don't know if that's her real name but it's what we've called her since we met her in Liam's bar four months ago. I nod and walk past her towards the stairs. "What are you doing?" She calls out.

"Intruding!" I shout back with a grin. I push upstairs and my white heels click against the wooden flooring. I wear a white dress tonight. Just perfect for tonight. That's sarcasm by the way.

I walk into the room full of only what I can guess to be extremely dangerous men but they don't faze me in the slightest. "Sean!" I call out and scan there faces until I meet his.

"Bella" he warns "What are you doing here. You know that you're not allowed to be here"

I smile and kick the door shut behind me "Oh I know. I also know that some guy is keying your car out back"

He jumps to his feet "And you didn't stop them!" He roars.

"It's not my car bitch!" I protest. He glares at me and pushes out of the room. I look back at the men "Now I'm guessing we have about five minutes before he realises that I was talking bullshit. That means I have three to get the file and leaves two for me to get the fuck out of here! Now, are you going to make it easy for me or am I going to have to work for it?"

The gun that gets aimed at my head answers my question. "Fantastic. Just what I was expecting" I laugh. "Let's get this over with" I grab his gun in one hand and snack his arm in the opposite direction. A simple trick I learned from a movie once. Trust me when I say that I wasn't certain that it would work.

I turn the gun on him and shoot him between the eyes. I wasn't a good shot long-distance like Gus but I could pull a trigger easy enough.

I shot three more and the dropped the gun. Guns were no fun. They gave you an unfair advantage against those with knives. I grab a small knife off the table and slash at the man charging at me. He falls as blood pours from the cut on his face and I kick him back. A man runs at me with his knife held out and I duck. He stabs the man behind me in the back and I hear a bloodthirsty roar just before I grab the file and high tail it out of there. My shoes leave bloody footprints but all I care about was getting the hell out of that bloodbath.

I drop the knife and wipe my hand son my dress. The occupants of this particular bar weren't unused to a young girl running through covered in blood so no one even looks at me as I burst out of the bar and dive into the car.

"Fucking drive!" I scream as Oliver slams the door shut. "Shit!" I look out the window to see one of the men stand at the window. They were still alive. That meant I was I big trouble.

"What the fuck?" Oliver said as he stared at my bloodied hand and dress. I must have accidently kicked him as a bloody footprint was printed on his white shirt.

"I got your file" I threw it at him and relaxed against the seat. "He better be happy"