Deal with the Devil

Chapter Eight

I woke up on a leather couch with a cold damp rag compressed on my forehead. I could feel someone tugging on my hair and the ping of the slivers of glass hitting a ceramic bowl echoed in my ears.

"The sleeping Bambi has finally awoken." Leo says softly as his face appears directly above mine. I then realize my head was in his lap and it was oddly comforting.

At first I didn't know what to say, I was taken aback by his close proximity and how he was actually taking care of me. He never seemed like the nurturing type but here he was, cleaning me up while I was out.

He had a lock of hair falling into his eyes as he focused pulling out more glass. I reached up, pushing it back with my fingers gently. He tenses up at my touch but quickly plays it off and goes back to his task.

"Why are you here and not out there?" I ask him, puzzled on why he was helping me when he should be interrogating.

"I did my part. You've been out all night. It's now two in the afternoon."

I shoot up off the couch, panicked. "I had a shoot today at noon..."

"I took care of that too. They postponed it till tomorrow. You need to lay back down and continue resting. You had quite a night." He says, now standing up and ushering me back to the couch.

"Where's Matteo?" I ask, still pacing the room as the memories from the night before come rushing back. He immediately frowns, "He's in the infirmary."

"The infirmary? Why?"

"He was shot."

My heart drops and my find my knees getting weak once again and I almost don't make it back to the couch.

"See, I told you to lay back down." Leo points out.

"Is he okay?" I ask, ignoring his comment. He nods, "He'll be okay. Just needs to heal. It's not his first time."

I nod, accepting the fact that gun shot wounds are probably a daily occurrence with the lifestyle they had chosen. I felt slightly better that he was going to be alright. "So what happened?"

He looks at me as if he was deciding if he could trust me or not and he lets out a sigh, "Apparently several of my associates weren't loyal to the Italian mafia and were working for the Russian Mafia too. They put a hit out on me and several of the other higher ranking men here knowing that our guard would be down last night."

"Are they all dead?"

"The ones that attacked us are. I don't know if there's more unfaithful men under me so now we all have to tread very carefully."

"What happens if you find more bad men?"

"I'll kill them too."  He simply says as if it was just killing a bug.

"Why would the Russian Mafia do something like this?"

"That's enough questions for now."

"So you're just going to leave me in the dark? I want to know the whole truth. I saved your life last night."

Leo studies me for a moment, his inked hands once again running through his dark hair pushing back that one stubborn lock of hair.

"How did you know how to shoot like that?" He asks, ignoring what I said. I shrug, "I didn't. I just did it. I had to do something..."

"You could have killed me instead."

"I know." I admit, my eyes dropping to the floor. It was a huge gamble I took. I had never shot a gun before. I just trusted my instincts in the moment. I couldn't let him be killed.

"Then you would have been dead too."

"That was a risk I was willing to take."

"You're brave." He points out. "I knew you were. From the moment you came searching for me at Milan."

"I don't think I'm brave." I admit, "But I do what it takes to survive. If that man killed you then I would have been next."

That wasn't the reason why I shot to kill him though. I feared for Leo. He was a bad man but something about him drew me in like a moth to a flame. I didn't want to lose the man that made my dreams come true even though it was nothing but a couple phone calls for him to do it. He didn't deserve to die at the hands of a traitor.

A man came into the room and starts speaking to Leo in their native tongue. I assume Leo tells the man to leave because he soon exits.

"I'm going to have someone take you to Matteo's apartment."

"But..."

"You heard me." He interrupts then another man enters which they give each other a short nod before the man grabs for my arm and leads me out, ending mine and Leo's conversation.

The halls were busy with men and I couldn't help but take a quick glance behind me to see if Leo followed us out but men were instead flowing into that very room.

Once the fresh air of the outside entered my lungs I didn't realize how bad I needed it but I was soon back inside another dark SUV being toted to my new temporary home.

It was in a nice part of the city where sky high luxury condos were common. He pulls into a parking deck of a large white stone and glass building and hands me an envelope with "Bambi" in fancy cursive on the front. Inside there was a key and a note that tells me to go to Apt. 13.

I ignore the looks of people in the elevator, probably judging me for my messy hair and make up while dressed up in the now wrinkled red silk dress. They probably thought I was doing the walk of shame when really I had just been in a shoot out the night before.

I gasp as I turn the key in the lock of apt. 13, swinging open the door to the apartment. It was a large studio apartment that had a very cozy feel to it. It definitely wasn't what I imagined Matteo's apartment looking but I loved it.

Being that it was a studio meant there was no closet but it had black racks full of clothing pieces that I had never seen before.

I browsed through the racks seeing pieces from Prada, Saint Laurent, Dior, Givenchy among other notable brands. My mouth hung at the thought of how much all of this cost.

There was a shoe rack full of heels, sandals, and boots. All designer brand as well. I immediately jump to the drawers with excitement, pulling them open to see what might be inside.

First thing I notice is another white envelope on a pile of neatly folded lacy lingerie with Bambi written in that same red ink.

"Enjoy,"

So I guess all of the clothes was a thank you from him. I shake my head, he shouldn't have. He seemed to have given me so much already but I felt almost ashamed but for the first time in a long time I felt happy and I didn't want to trade this new life for anything... even if I could have almost died last night. 

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