The Reign Of Vause

Rio flashback

(Piper's POV)

We were in Brazil. Rio to be exact. In a club called 'Swing Club Pearl'. Alex's cartel did business here all the time when in Rio. Enrique Iglesias himself was playing here tonight and Alex and I were in the middle of the dance floor, rubbing up on each other and getting hot and heavy while Enrique sang his hit 'Bailamos'. The lyrics were fitting actually.
'Tonight we dance
I leave my life, in your hands
We take the floor
Nothing is forbidden anymore.
Don't let the world dim my sight
Don't let a moment go by
Nothing can stop us tonight
Bailamos, let the rhythm take you over
Bailamos
Te quiero amor mío, bailamos
Gonna live this night forever
Bailamos
Te quiero amor mío, te quiero
Tonight I'm yours
We can make it happen I'm so sure."
Alex was in the middle of kissing me and sucking on my neck when we were abruptly torn apart by Aydin.
"Vause. Kubra needs you upstairs." He stated.
Alex looked from Aydin to me and back again not knowing what to do. Should she leave her girlfriend alone in a strange nightclub and go do her job or stay with her and be killed?
"Al, I'll be fine." I tell her for her own safety and my own. Kubra was not someone you wanted to anger. She nods, kisses me quickly then follows Aydin to the VIP lounge upstairs.
I then walked from the dance floor to the bar alone and ordered my favourite margarita when a sleazy looking Brazilian man slid up next to me.
I knew Spanish and Portuguese pretty well so I could answer him.
"Ei, há uma linda dama. O que é um lindo raio de sol como você fazendo uma margarita sozinha?" He asked with a toothy grin, gold tooth to top it off.
He'd asked,
"Hey there pretty lady. What's a beautiful ray of sun like you doing ordering a margarita alone eh?"
I tried not to cringe, not knowing what this guy's intentions were.
My drink came and I looked upstairs in a bid to find Alex. For reassurance. My eyes found hers immediately and she was watching us intently, boring holes into the head of the man beside me with her eyes which were gleaming with anger. Her face turned livid all of a sudden and her fists balled tightly.
I mouthed up at her,
"Al. I can handle this."
But she wasn't looking at me, she was glaring intensely at the guy beside me until,
"Vause!"
It was Kubra commanding her full attention again and she clenched the railing with fists and I could visibly see a vein protruding in her neck in anger as she reluctantly turned to continue her job.
"Deixe-me comprar isso para você. Ah margarita, boa escolha moça bonita boa escolha." The man beside me then said.
In English it translated to,
"Let me buy this for you. Ah margarita, good choice pretty lady, good choice."
It was exactly how Alex had landed me 10 months ago but with her, I appreciated it, this guy was just a sleaze.
I smiled at him and thanked him, taking a sip of my drink. Regardless of what he said, he didn't buy me the drink, instead, he slithered to the other end of the bar and disappeared into the shadows. I looked back up in the direction I'd spotted Alex before to show her that I'd managed to get rid of the guy on my own without her help but she wasn't there. Deflated, I sat at the bar alone as I continued to sip on my drink.
As I drank, my vision started to get blurry and the room started to spin. I rubbed my eyes and started to get up to leave the club to get some fresh air but my legs were like jelly and my vision was getting worse. All I heard before everything went black was a glass smash, liquid fall all over my arms, someone screaming my name then a thud as my head hit the floor.

(Alex's POV)

Kubra had called me upstairs because apparently one of my clients had walked into the club and would only do business with me. My Portuguese wasn't great so Kubra translated for me. All while I was conducting business, I kept Piper in my sights, watching her from the upstairs balcony, wanting to make sure she was safe.
"Vou levar 200 gramas mas vou te dar apenas €15,000." My client said from behind me as I watched Piper, which I think translated to,
"I'll take 200 grams but I'll only give you €15,000."
As I continued to watch Piper with one ear on business and the other on her and what she was doing, I saw a sleazy looking Brazilian man dressed in a slick, black leather jacket, white T-shirt and denim jeans with a chain linking his front and back pockets approach my girlfriend at the bar. My fists instantly balled and clenched the railing I was holding as I glared down at him. Piper looked up and saw me and mouthed,
"Al. I can handle this." But I ignored her and continued to glare at the unwanted intruder. As Piper looked up at me, he poured a small tube of clear liquid into her margarita while she wasn't looking. Fuck no. I was a drug dealer, I knew exactly what this was. Piper please for the love of God do not touch that drink. I could feel my veins protrude from my neck in anger as I willed for her attempted rapist to drop dead from my poisonous eyes and was about to sprint down and kill him myself until,
"Vause!" Kubra boomed from behind me since I hadn't answered or tried to negotiate with my client. Annoyed I couldn't help her, I sighed and clenched the railing even harder before I turned and said,
"Tell him he can have his 200 grams by all means but €25,000 is the absolute minimum price. It's either the cash or the withdrawal sweats, his choice."
Kubra grinned at me and relayed what I'd just said back to my client in Portuguese. In my line of business, I needed to be cruel, especially when there were sleazy rapists downstairs pouring drugs into my girlfriend's drink and I could do nothing about it while I was up here.
"Vause, will you fucking sit down?" Kubra commanded so I sat at the seat right beside the balcony to keep my eye on the situation downstairs. It wasn't good and I knew I needed to go down there but I was stuck here. I was practically bouncing on my chair with my heart in my mouth. My client and Kubra then got into an argument over the price and I could see Piper starting to lose awareness. No. Fuck no. She'd taken some of that poison. As soon as I saw this, I got out of my chair faster than lightning and raced down the stairs of the club's VIP lounge to go save my girlfriend. Kubra and Fahri, seeing my actions, immediately took off after me to, I assume, reprimand me about my very swift exit from the business deal until they saw what had caught my eye.
As we were running down the stairs, a glass smashed then there was a thud. Piper had fallen from her bar stool, dragging her drink with her as she fell, causing her drink to spill and her glass to smash as they hit the floor.
"PIPER!" I screamed, trying to be heard over the loud music surrounding the club and in fear for my girlfriend. Luckily, no shards of glass had cut her but her drugger emerged from the shadows of the other side of the bar and draped my unconscious girlfriend over his shoulder. I fought through the crowd, elbowing everyone in sight to get out of my way as I ran towards them.
Thanks to my last success, Kubra owed me a favour so I pulled it in and my boss allowed it since I had managed to defend Piper myself the last time when we were in Paris.
Finally, I'd reached the rapist who was now at the exit of the club with an unconscious Piper over his shoulder. Flanked by Kubra and Fahri who both had guns tucked in their pants, I tried to calmly tap him on the shoulder and as he turned around I yelled,
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING TO MY GIRLFRIEND?!" as my fist swung from behind me and hit him hard, directly on the nose. In pain, he cupped his nose now dripping with blood and dropped Piper. Before she could hit the ground again, I caught her. I then tried to go in for another punch, dangerously angry with this Brazilian prick but Kubra stopped me as he subtly pulled out his gun. He nodded to his henchmen who'd followed us from upstairs and they grabbed the perpetrator and dragged him outside through the back exit which led to an alley. Still holding on to Piper, I carried her out the front exit and laid her flat on a bench outside, hoping the fresh air would help her.
"Pipes?! Babe?! Wake up! Come on babe, please wake up!" I panicked, trying to encourage her to regain consciousness, gently shaking her and caressing her face, hoping the air will help.
A few moments later she stirred and I sighed in relief.
A-A-Alex?" She asked for me feebly as she wakes up.
"Yes babe I'm here. You're safe now. I'm here." I tell her lovingly and reassuringly, continuing to caress her face and plant a lingering, relieved kiss on her lips.
From the alley behind us a few feet to our left, I could hear the sounds of my girlfriend's attempted rapist being beaten to a pulp by my boss and henchmen as Kubra threatened him in his native, thick Arabic accent.
"You do not go near the love partners of my cartel employees or you regret it, understood?"
Piper grabbed my attention from listening to what was happening.
"Alex! Your hand! Wh..-" she blinked, rubbing her eyes and continued, "What happened?" She asked as she saw the bruise forming on my knuckles from where I'd punched that prick.
Before I could answer her, he replied to my boss in English and what he said was disgusting, so disgusting I couldn't hold back.
"Hey....come on,...... we're all...... we're all guys here..... you can't... tell me.... that you.... haven't thought about.... putting your dick.... into that..... spicy, blonde señorita... over and... over... again." He wheezes.
At this, I saw red, quickly kissed Piper on the forehead and aggressively charged down the alley, fists balled and ready to punch the shit out of him again and again. My face was red with rage, I was absolutely livid, words couldn't describe how dangerously angry I was right now being the protective girlfriend.
When I got there, Kubra stopped me again and whispered,
"Trust me he will pay. Your girl needs you. Now go." He told me and turned me around to go be with Piper again. I looked over my shoulder and gave that disgusting human being a dangerous glare as I walked back to Pipes. He was bloodied and had purple, black and blue bruises all over him. I wasn't usually a fan of Kubra's handiwork but in this case, it was good.
When I was back with Piper, I tightly clutched her hand in mine and heard Kubra down the alley sarcastically address our perpetrator,
"Okay, he's been punished enough, let me put him out of his misery."
Then we heard the gunshot and Kubra emerge with blood spatters all over his expensive white shirt, holding his Glock pistol. Piper and I both jumped at the noise.
Kubra leaned in to me and murmured so Piper wouldn't hear which I was grateful for.
"He was Julio. He worked for our rivals here. The dry cleaning for this is on you, but, you are free to go back to the hotel with your girl, make sure she's okay." He tells me in his thick accent and I thank him profusely and agree to the dry cleaning bill. I hold Piper up and load her into the back of the cartel's SUV and instruct our driver to take us back to the hotel immediately.