Dark Embrace

10

DAISY

The room was littered with people filled with disgusting auras, and a slow melody song set the background. I'd been gummed to the deranged man the whole night and there was something about the way he looked at me, a gaze that would summon ladies on their knees but I found it irritating, icking even.

My mind recalled what happened during the lunch, the bullets, the screams. I was scared that one of those bullets would come through me but now I regret those bullets didn't end up in my body, I wouldn't be next to this deranged man if I was dead. I kept asking myself what he wanted to do with me but I couldn't find answers.

The guy speaking with the deranged man earlier at the bottom of the stairs came to whisper something in the deranged man's ear and he slightly jumped, the jump was so little that it was only me who could notice since I had my eyes on him the entire time in case he tried something stupid with me.

"Don't speak to anyone or move an inch." He said to me, his voice low. He was angry but it doesn't show on his face. I didn't give him a reply and just slurped in the rest of my cherry drink. He grabbed my jaw with one hand and forced me to look at him.

"Answer me." He bit out. I spit out the little cherry drink in my mouth on his hand and said, "Don't tell me what to do." His grip on my jaw tightened and it felt like if he tightened it more, he might break my jaw. No words still came out of my mouth. With a lazy sigh, he released my jaw and tilted his head at me before leaving with the other guy, I watched him disappear into a room. Sicko. Oh petal, my jaw hurts.

It was like I was in the VIP side of the room, everyone was just passing by and not wanting to walk to the side I was seated. Everyone was in twos or threes, talking and clicking glasses. I looked around the whole room, it was a house but unlike the one I was locked in, this one was more modern. I sat there, nursing my sore jaw, and surveyed the room again. I spotted a few women eyeing me from across the room and whispering, their gazes lingering on the dress I was forced to wear. I felt like a delicate petal in a garden of thorns, vulnerable and out of place. The music changed, shifting to a faster tempo.

"I hope you don't mind if I keep you company." A voice said, I turned to see a man or rather, a young man, in a dark navy suit, gumming smile, dimples, brown coiffed hair and a serpent tattoo poking out from his neck underneath his half-unbuttoned shirt. I didn't know what to say or how to act but then I remembered the deranged man's warning: don't speak to anyone or move an inch. Why should I listen to him?

"I don't mind. Take a seat." I forced a smile.

He smiled back, his dimples deepening, and sat down across me. I sneaked a glance at him, taking in his features. He looked harmless, but I knew better than to trust anyone in here.

"So, what's your name?" He asked, turning to me with a charming smile.

I hesitated for a moment before responding. "Daisy."

"Daisy, that's a... beautiful name." I was starting to get uncomfortable with the way he was looking at me and licking his lips. "You are not a w***e, Viper don't bring whores to lunch."

"Viper?"

"Yes, viper. That's his nickname."

"What's his real name?"

"Enzo, Lorenzo Esposito. He is called the viper cause he is a viper. You are more than a w***e but you should watch yourself around him." His gaze kept going down to ample cleavage like a pervert, making me feel like a piece of meat and to make it worse, he looked 20. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, trying to cover myself with my arms. I had no choice but to deal with it since I needed to keep him talking, to get more information about "Lorenzo".

"Is he..." A human trafficker? That was what I wanted to ask but decided not to, asking the question from one of them might make the situation worse.

"You are pretty and clean. Topside girls are mostly whores and drug addicts. More like their owners feed them drugs like food." He grabbed Lorenzo's leftover bourbon and gulped it.

"Topside?" I asked, curious.

"Yeah, topside." He noticed the confusion on my face and sighed.

"There is the east, south, north and west, the east has the Russians, and the west has the Moranos. The north and south were the Espositos but when the former capo and his wife died, their children which are Luca and Enzo split it due to rivalry. So the north has Luca which is the downside and the south has Enzo which is the topside." I stared straight ahead, trying to understand what he just said. "Anyways, welcome to the Mafia's good side."

I felt a chill run down my spine. Mafia? I had stumbled into a world I knew nothing about, a world where crime and violence were the norm. I thought back to the prisoner I was supposed to treat, the one who was a killer for the Mafia. The Mafia was something I'd only read about in newsletters. It was a world that seemed so far removed from my own, until now.

"My name is Angelo." He tore off a tissue from the table and scribbled on it. "I know you are going to need help, call this number when you do." He hurriedly grabbed my purse and put the tissue.

"Need help from who?"

"Who do you think?" He shoots his eyebrows up. "From Viper." He said and left immediately.

Why did he think I would need help? I would have asked him why if he wasn't in a hurry to leave. My eyes scanned the room and unfortunately landed on Lorenzo, his eyes aiming to build a hole in me and striding towards me. I swallowed hard. What if he was much worse than I imagined? What if I was trapped in a living nightmare from which I might never wake up? Before my mind could process the what-ifs, he got to me and grabbed my wrist, forcing me to follow him into the room he came out from.

"Hey, stop." I protested. He didn't release my wrist even when he locked the door behind him. There was a slight movement on his usual stoned face when he turned to face me, his jaw was clenched and his eyes were burning with an inner fire, and I could feel the tension radiating from his body. I tried to pull my wrist free, but his grip was like a vice.

"Let me go." I demanded. He listened this time and released my hand.

His eyes bore into mine as if searching for something. I tried to look away, but he held my gaze, his eyes so hypnotic.

Suddenly he lifted me on the table in the room and his hands were roughly all over me, looking for something.

"What are you looking for?" I asked but got silence in reply.

"Stop!" His hands went from my thighs to my waist and then my breasts, I got more than angry when his middle finger went down my cleavage. I tried to push him back to stop but he didn't budge. Since that didn't work, I hit him across his face. Hard. His middle finger slowly left my cleavage, his eyes fixed in the direction I hit him like he couldn't believe I just did that. I shifted away from him on the table, breathing heavily. The music in the background did little to the silence and tension in the room. I tore my gaze away from him in an attempt to get off the table and leave the room but I heard a sound coming from him. He was chuckling. Darkly. His Adam's apple bopping with each chuckle. A faint red mark on his cheek was already visible, where I had hit him. He stopped and slowly brought his eyes back to me and I swallowed at the sight.

"You just hit me across the f*****g face and for the first time, my mind doesn't tell me to bring out my gun. You are..."

His eyes trailed to my purse on the table while talking and he trailed off.

He stared at it for a moment then grabbed it, spilling its contents on the floor. The red lipstick the old hag told me to retouch with, the hair tie and the little tissue Angelo scribbled on were all scattered on the floor. He went on his knee, his eyes scanning the items. I still didn't understand or know what he was looking for, I was just as curious but then I got my answer when his hand closed around the tissue, crumpling it in his fist.

His stoned face returned as he stood up unfolding the tissue.

"I want a name." He demanded, his voice low.

I didn't reply and nonchalantly tore my gaze away from his face even though deep down, I was terrified as hell. A scoff escaped his throat and his hand went behind him, bringing out a gun from his waistband. He didn't aim the gun towards me, instead, he went for the door. What was he going to do with the gun? To shoot someone of course, Daisy. I hurriedly got off the table and ran to put myself between him and the door.

"Where are you going?" I dared to look him in the eyes.

"To teach someone a lesson." He grunted. "To remind them of their place."

Angelo.

"I asked for his number and all he did was give it to me, why don't you shoot me instead?" His gun trailed from my hair down to my lips. I swallowed for the millionth time tonight and my throat was starting to hurt.

"Cause I can't but you will be getting punished," His gun left my lips down to my collar bone then stopped on my waist. I jumped when I heard the gun click. "Just not by my bullets." He growled.

His hand grabbed my arm and moved me out of the way.

Bang. Bang. Bang. The sound of gunshots so loud it covered the song playing in the background.