Entangled with the Mafia Don

Three

Four in the afternoon, Melissa had just finished her part of the shift in her place of work. She works as a cleaner in Gazette Restaurant, a very large and famous restaurant owned by a French man who stayed in Italy for sometime and decided to establish there. Melissa was fortunate to get herself a job there, although, it was something as low ranked as a cleaner. Being one of the least works in the restaurant, she got a very low pay compared to what she needed for herself. That was more reason to why she took pickpocketing as a side hustle.

Melissa removed her cleaning apron after she was done with work that afternoon. She hung it on a stand in the corner of the inner room which had 'workers only' written on the door. After changing back to the clothes she wore to work that morning, she stepped outside the room to sit on one of the chairs customers sat when they came for lunch. As soon as she sat, her mind drifted to her boyfriend, Marcus, and his condition.

“Miss Melissa Gomez, I am sorry to inform you that your kidneys aren't a match with Marcus Fransisco," she remembered what the doctor had said to her.

"What? Wait, what? What do you mean?" She had raised her hands with a pissed look to argue with the doctor. Although, deep down she knew there was nothing she could do about it.

"Calm down, miss Gomez," Doctor Paul had replied, picking his words carefully so as not to say something that would annoy the young woman who was clearly close to the patient.

"How can I remain calm? What do you expect me to do? If my kidney doesn't match his, then what do I do? How will he survive?" She ranted. "He's the only family I have left!"

"Calm down, miss." Doctor Paul had tried to calm her down once more. "If yours doesn't match his, then the only way out is to get enough money so we can find the patient a suitable person who would be willing to give out his or her kidney to him, and then, the donor would be paid."

A glint of hope appeared on her face as she heard that. Though she had no money and she had no planned way of getting the money yet, she knew she could do anything possible so as to get whatever amount was needed to find Marcus a donor. "And how much are we talking about here, doctor?"

"Well," Doctor Paul had said and paused. He knew it was a huge amount of money but he had to say it anyways, because without that, there was no other way Marcus could survive. "You'd need about a sum of €4,255 to pay the donor, and another sum of €1,000 for his medicines and other things that would be needed to take care of him."

"Ugh!" Forgetting that customers were in the restaurant at the moment, Melissa screamed as she hit her hands on the table right in front of her. "How do I even get that much money in days!" It was after she said that aloud that she noticed she had brought the attention of a few customers to her, so she bowed her head to apologize to them for disturbing.

"Yo," someone tapped her on the shoulder and she jerked in shock. She turned to see that it was her friend, Laura. Laura drew a chair to herself and sat right next to Melissa. "What's good?"

"Damn, you startled me," Melissa said irritatedly. These few days she felt very anxious as though the world was about to get her. "What are you doing here though?"

"To have lunch, of course." Laura said as she shrugged her shoulders in a way of telling her that 'wasn't it obvious that she was there to eat?'

"Oh, yeah, I forgot. How was work today?"

"It was good. Pretty good." Laura said and then, her face lit up as she remembered something. "They said to increase my salary from this month. I'm so excited about it!"

"Oh wow, that's really nice, Laura. So happy for you." Melissa said to her with a small but sincere smile on her face. "I knew something was up. That explains why you came here to have lunch. You haven't done that in months, despite knowing I work here."

Laura works in one of the biggest cloth industries in Italy as a secretary to the billionaire CEO of the company, and she gets paid in a huge way, much to her contentment.

"Yeah, I decided to come and share the good news with you.” She said jovially, “Enough about me though, what were you ranting about when I came in earlier?" Laura asked with a concerned look on her face. "Something you'd like to talk about?"

"Urgh," Melissa grunted as she moved on her chair, a feeling of unease rushing through her veins. Laura was the only friend turned she has, and she knew she could speak to her about anything, since they've been friends for a long time. But then, the fact that Laura had a well paying job and all she needs to stand on her own always made Melissa feel like a liability whenever Laura asked her if she needed anything. And many times, her problem was always in one way or the other related to money.

"Hello? Are you there?" Laura waved her right palm in front of Melissa's face seeing that she had zoned out.

"Yeah, yeah. It's just... You know, Marcus—"

Laura cut in immediately. "What exactly is it with you and Marcus? You've spent almost all your life savings on this man. All because of love? You really need to think, Melissa. He's not the only man out there and believe me, you deserve better than—"

"This is why I don't like speaking to you when my issues have to do with Marcus. You're always against it like you have a grudge against him or something. It's fine. Either you tell me to do it or you discourage me, nothing changes, Laura. You know me too well than to think I'd change my mind over this discussion." Melissa said, a look of annoyance appeared on her face. Ever since Marcus' sickness started, Laura had always been against her helping him, despite her knowing he had no one except both of them.

He had been separated from his parents since birth. He was born in Mexico, but he was migrated to Italy illegally with no family. Melissa had seen him wandering around the streets of her hometown then, so she befriended him and ever since, they've been good friends. She had introduced him to Laura and the three of them have been friends ever since. Before the unfortunate loss of her parents, Melissa would invite both of them to her home for evening meals. Sometimes, they slept over. Their friendship grew through the years and they became tighter. Feelings grew in from there, and years later, he asked her out and she accepted to be his woman.

"Fine. I'm sorry, Melissa. I was just worried about you. I didn't want anything to cause you to do things that won't go well with you. Besides, what assurance do you even have that he has just you and you alone? I mean—"

Melissa cut in immediately. "I said it's okay, Laura. If you won't say something nice about him, then don't talk about him at all. And besides, I don't involve you at all in my struggle to get money for his care, so don't act like I bother you with it. Please."

Laura sighed, then spoke. "I'm sorry, Melissa. I didn't mean to sound that way." Then, she eased the tension between them by trying to be nicer. "Anyway, what did the doctor say?"

"He said to get some amount of money to pay a donor, so he can get a kidney transplant. Mine doesn't match his."

"Sad." Laura simply replied.

"I know you're happy about it, since you were never in support of me donating my kidney to him in the first place. Don't try to act like you're sad about it." Melissa said as she rolled her eyes at Laura.

"Well, yes, you're right but then, it's actually sad. Poor guy." She said and silence followed. Just the sounds of the plates and customers eating and chit-chatting was heard in the background. Then, Laura tried to break the silence again. "How do you plan to get money for his transplant though?"

"That's what I do not know, really. I'm so lost." Melissa said and sighed again. "My work here hardly pays me enough money to get food for both of us for the month, not to talk of being enough for his transplant. Damn."

"How much is the fee though?"

"Roughly €6,000, so, no, you can't help. Unless you want to give me your salary for two consecutive months and that will take me about a lifetime to pay back." She stated the obvious.

With raised eyebrows, Laura replied in disbelief. "€6000? That is so much money, guy."

"It's not exactly that amount though, it's lesser. But to round it up, yes, we can say it's that amount." She said and sighed. Then, an idea came to her mind and she decided to share it with her friend. "Hey, do you by any chance know a place I can work to get a large amount of money in days?"

"Days?" Laura chuckled lightly. "Do you even hear yourself? That's literally impossible. I have no idea what you can do to get that much within days." She paused a little, then spoke again. "Unless..." Her voice trailed off as she looked at her friend in an awkward manner.

"Unless what?" Melissa sat up as she heard that. It sounded like she knew something that could bring in money, but didn't want to say it for some reason. Whatever reason it might be though, she was ready to do anything. Anything for her Marcus.

"Well, the thing is that it's not a very decent thing for a young lady like you to do, coupled with the fact that you have a man you're dating, and—"

"Skip to the good part, Laura. What's the work?"

"Have you heard of the La'capan club?"

"La'ca what?" Melissa asked, looking confused. "What the hell is that and what does that have to do with the money I need? Do I have to work as a bartender there to get the money I need? If that's it, then it's fine. Who the hell cares if it's decent or not? Do they pay their bartenders well? Oh my God, I'm so excited about this. Drop me the location, please. Need to get there tonight and start work as soon as possible." She said excitedly.

Laura chuckled as she watched her friend. "I never said you were to work as a bartender though. Stop jumping into conclusion and calm down."

"Then which work do I have to do? It's a club anyways, what else would I do there than be a bartender?" Melissa said, stating the obvious.

"One night stand, Mel. You need to engage in a one night stand with one of the rich men that go there to drink, then they pay you for it." Laura dropped the bombshell.

"What in the world did you just say?!" Melissa exclaimed, unable to believe her ears.