Prom Queen

         The dark room, stunk of smoke, alcohol and lust - it wasn’t unusual for the big gentleman’s club in downtown Dallas. For me, it was my safe place, where no one knew me - or what I have done to survive.  “Florence, get back to work.” Leo Fraser, my boss says and I roll my eyes - everyone called me Flo, apart from my boss and my “father”, my father the person that took me in after I ran from Italy.  He’s not my real father, he just likes me to call him that - which I know is weird but I trust him - a lot, which most people around me find weird.  He’s not my stepfather nor his he my biological father, it’s what confuses everyone. “Oomph, watch where you’re going puta." A small voice says, I looked to see it was Phoebe before putting my hand on her arm and she went to throw my hand off of her. “Oh my god, Flo. I’m so sorry. I thought you were someone else,” She says, apologetically and I tilted my head to the side. "Clearly" I say, before looking around and then pushing her into the staff area. “What’s going on Phoebs?” I question her, and she pulled her lip between her teeth. “I’m moving to Italy,” She admits, a bit too fast - and my eyes widened before pulling my own lip in between my teeth and tilting my head to the side. “Phoebe Angela Brooks,” I say, and she looks up at me with a c****d brow. “That was way too fast to be a normal answer, you’re lying to me - what else is there?” I question her, and she rubs her hand up her arm. “I’m marrying your brother, Gio.” She says, and my eyes widened. That is why she was so nervous around me right now, she knew if Giovanni finds out that she has been lying to him about me - god knows what he would do to her. “Oh god, Phoebes. If he finds out that you’ve been lying to him. God knows what he will do to you,” I say to her and she nods, before biting onto her thumb “I know,” Phoebe says, and I sigh before pulling her into my arms. She dug her head into my neck, before sobbing lightly - her hands clenching around my back. I walked towards my door, when I stopped - seeing some sort of red substance on the tarmac nearby, I leaned down and rubbed some of the liquid on my fingers. I almost fell back when I realised what it was, s**t. I forced myself to think that someone had just fallen over but in reality, I knew it wasn’t. I looked up to find a body lying on my front door step - my eyes widened when I saw a note, written on his blood on my front wall. Tu sei il prossimo, Fingoli, sii pronto.  (Translation: You’re next, Fingoli, be ready.) I shivered as I thought back to everything I knew about, and how to survive - but I knew that if my father saw this, he would know. It’s time I went back to la famiglia.  &&& But I would stay hidden for a while, just watch see what was different from when I left. Maybe then, maybe just maybe I wouldn't be brutally murdered for what I did to them.  And what they had to go through while I was away, missing even and maybe I could save Phoebe from getting murdered for keeping it a secret.  "Flight number A146 to Italy is now departing, please take your seats and buckle in and enjoy your flight." The pilot says, and I breathe in deeply as we pulled off from Dallas Airport.  Deep breaths, Florence. It'll be alright.  I sighed as I pulled my body to the side, and closed my eyes - deciding to try and get some sleep. Otherwise, I was going to be exhausted when I got to Italy because of the different time zones there.  The loud screaming kids behind me were disrupting, but I clenched my jaw and tried to ignore them. "Do you want anything from the trolly sweetie?" A flight attendant questioned and I faced her. "No, thank you." I say, giving her a tight lipped smile - before closing my eyes once more, once she was gone. My phone vibrated, even though it was on airplane mode and I groaned when I saw the name.  Lorenzo Fingoli.  I had an iPhone 7 but I had kept my phone number the same and all my phone contacts had swapped over to this phone as well. She had five brothers, three sisters and one cousin - or for what she knew she did.  She sighed before falling totally asleep, ignoring the text she had gotten from her second oldest brother.