The Mafia’s Flower

Ch. 3 Welcome to Dubowe

After six hours of driving, Ivy arrives to Dubowe. It’s a big city, filled with sky scrapers, feral cats, and millions of people. It’s overcrowded and the air is thick with smog. Ivys only gone to Dubowe once on a school trip, and she was too young to remember much about it. It’s not much of a tourist attraction with its high poverty and crime rates.

As she drives through the city, the GPS takes her to a run down part of the city. As she nears apartment complexes, the people on the cross walks stop and stare at Ivy. Eventually she arrives to a medium sized apartment complex on Carson Drive. It’s decorated with paling and deteriorating brick, and brown muck lining the sides of the building.

Taking a deep breath, she parks her car and walks to buzzers by the front door and presses the button next to 38H.

“38H?” A deep voice asks quickly.

Swallowing thickly, she answers, “for Tart?”

There’s a small pause and the buzzer rings, letting Ivy enter the complex. The inside matches the outside with the same brick and dirt on the walls. Ivy walks confidently past a few people hanging around the inside entrance of the complex. She walks the stairs up to the H floor, blinking in shock as a cat suddenly runs across her feet and down the stairs.

The hallway down the H floor is loud with yelling of different voices from different rooms. Some sounds like a couples fighting, others sounds more intense. Ivy ignores it.

36H.

37H.

And 38H.

Despite looking like every other door, the air feel ominous around 38H, especially being one of the few rooms that weren’t booming with sound. Ivy ignores her anxiety, and knocks hard and surely.

After a few moments, the door, still connected by a chain lock, opens slightly. Ivy can’t see anyone, just a sliver of light peaking through. “What is it?” A deep voice asks behind the door.

“Chess sent me.”

A pause. “And for what reason?”

“I’m here to see Tart, to request an audience.”

“One moment.” The door shuts and she can hear the person behind it walk away. She flicks a piece of her hair.

Ivy waits patiently as the door creaks open again but this time the chain isn’t in place and the door widens just enough for Ivy to fit through. “Come on in,” the deep voice from before invites, and Ivy steps through. The man behind the door is medium in height, with long dark brown hair, medium tan skin and stark yellow scars on his neck. His eyes peer stoically down on her; she doesn’t let her aloof face slip..

“Right this way,” he waves his hand towards the hallway from the door, and Ivy realizes then she hasn’t fully stepped inside. She takes a confident step in, and waits as the man gets in front of her and another man she didn’t notice before steps in behind her.

He leads her down the hallway, so far appearing like a normal small apartment with pale floral wall paper. They walk past a living room area, Ivy can hear faint voices murmuring from the television. They stop to the kitchen. In the kitchen, there’s two people speaking in low tones near the counter; a Chinese woman with short black hair and a chopped fringe, and next to her is a tall, handsome Greek man with olive skin, dark brown hair to his ears, and dazzling blue eyes. Ivy meets his gaze head on as the two people straighten.

The woman sends a small smile towards the two escorts. “Thank you gentlemen,” she greets, the scarred man nodded and Ivys two escorts walked to both sides of the exits of the kitchen. Her gut raises alarms at feeling of being boxed in, but Ivy doesn’t let that deter her, meeting the woman’s eyes confidently as they narrowed onto Ivy. “So, who are you and what have you come for?”

“Chess sent me,” the woman stiffens but only slightly. “I’m here to meet with Tart to request an audience with Czar.”

“I’m Tart,” the woman, Tart, admits coolly. “And before I allow that, I must know, why? What is the reason you want to see The Czar?”

Ivy breathes deeply and glances down for a moment before meeting looking strongly at the two. “I need to pay off a debt and I’m willing to offer work to pay it off. Chess recommended me to The Czar.”

“What? Some college debt?” She laughs. Ivys eye twitches.

“Tart, don’t.” The man orders roughly. “We’ve helped many peoples debts before.” He continues, staring solely at Ivy.

“But we’re not a bank! We can’t go out giving small loans to every poor person with a sob story-“

“Enough.” He orders, and Tart complies with a small glare.

“It won’t be some small loan,” Ivy pipes in, bringing the attention back onto her. “I need a million.”

“A million!” Tart laughs incredulously. “If you think-“

“Tart, leave the room,” the man orders more harshly than before, giving Tart a hard glare. She leaves with a huff and the man turns back to Ivy with a small sigh. “Sorry about that, her name is Tart for a reason,” he smirks and Ivy smiles weakly back.

“I’m Czar,” he introduces, sticking his hand out. Ivy raises a brow, but accepts his hand. “And you are?”

Ivy hesitates; she realized they all uses alias already, of course, but she didn’t think to have one before she got here. She figures it probably wouldn’t be good to give out her real name so willy nilly here. Without meaning to, Ivy spews the first words she can think of, “I’m Flower.”

Czar raises a disbelieving brow, his blue eyes twinkling in laughter. “Flower? Really? You don’t seem like a Flower.”

Ivy twitches, “what’s that supposed to mean?” She snips before she can stop herself.

She tenses, expecting a gun to her face, but the man simply laughs.

“You got guts kid,” Czar grins, Ivy narrows her eyes at the “kid” reference but lets it go. “You’re a spitfire, I can tell, so Flower just seems too delicate; it doesn’t suit you.” He shrugs. “So what’s your real name?”

“And Czar? Tart? That’s y’all’s real names too?” Ivy claps back, ignoring the question.

“Of course not. But you see, from where I’m standing, you’re not in any position to not listen to me,” he grins maliciously, pulling out a gun from his pocket. Ivy stiffens when she sees the weapon.

Czar eyes Ivys reaction, holding the gun causally near Ivy but not directly at her.“If you want that deal you were claiming to want so badly before, you’ll likely end up doing anything I want as part of the deal or if you decide to not go through with the deal, I can just kill you now. Either way I don’t see much of loss on my end,” he shrugs.

Ivy narrows her eyes, before her mind sharply reminds her why she’s here. She sighs quietly, “I’m Ivy.”

“That wasn’t too hard now was it?” He mocks with a false coo.

Ivy forces back the urge to glare, reminding herself again to place nice. This man just brought a sort of anger out of her.

“Let’s go to a more quiet area before we continue,” Czar motions to the two men guarding the doorways, and they each place a hand on Ivys shoulder blades and lead her down another doorway. They enter a dark, small room with the only light coming from the moon in the window, and with only two facing couches decorating the bare space.

Czar snaps his fingers, and Ivys pushed roughly down onto the couch by the two men’s meaty hands. Czar causally sits down in the couch across her, staring coolly at Ivy.

“Want a beer?” The Czar suddenly asks. Her eyebrows raise up incredulously.

“Shouldn’t we get down to business first?” Ivy asks impatiently.

A wry, annoyed grin appears. “I like to relax while I do business, so care to join?”

Ivy licks her lips and reaches the take the beer being handed to her. His grin changes to a more pleasant one and Ivy wonders if she did the right thing.

“So before I give you this money I have to know all the finer details, including why you need the money, how the money problem started, how much you need, etc. I can see how it may seem extreme Miss Ivy,” he chuckles upon seeing Ivys unsure expression, “but you see, it’s crucial for my business to know what we’re getting into. We’re not some bank, you have to prove to me that you deserve this loan.” One of his goons hands his a notebook and pen.

“So let’s start with why you need this money?”

Ivy rubs the back of her neck with a sigh. “It’s for my uncles debt. Every since my aunt died he’s been struggling with money, and once I graduated high school he was determined to send me to college despite the money. And well it just made it worse. We’re to the point we’re about to be evicted.”

He writes the whole time and once Ivy stops he gives her a curious look. “If it’s your uncles debt and you’re an adult, why saddle yourself with that?”

Ivy knows all that already, but she is going to help her uncle like he did her. “Because he and my aunt raised me, they’re the only parents I have. And that debt is partly from caring for me when they didn’t have too. I owe them this at the very least.” Ivy explains passionately.

Czar writes for a moment then meets her eyes. “So, how did the debt start? I know you mentioned your aunt, could you explain more.”

Ivys throat tightens. “My aunt died unexpectedly. She committed suicide. Because she was so young, they didn’t have any money saved for funeral, and my uncle was stacked with grief, funeral expenses, and the loss of an income which made it harder for things in general. I got a job once I could work but my uncle lost his. It’s just been my income supporting us.”

“That’s a lot for someone so young,” he comments gently, and was that sympathy? Ivy hardens.

“I do what I have to do,” she declares, and she thinks she sees an impressed gaze in his eyes, but it’s as gone as suddenly as shes seen it.

“So earlier you said you need a mill, is that the correct full amount?”

She nods. “That’s right.

“By when?” He marks in his notebook.

“Before 4 days from now.”

Czar blinks then laughs, the others chuckling. “A mill in four days? You’re expecting a lot sweetheart. And how are planning to pay off this debt?”

“I can work for you. I’ve worked many different jobs.” Ivy offers.

Czar seems less than impressed, but continues writing for a moment, Ivy watching him anxiously. He then shuts his notebook, turning his attention fully onto Ivy. “We’ll Miss Ivy, you’re just in luck, I think there’s something we can work out,” Ivy can tell from the tone there won’t be any negotiation. “I have just the money to spare, and I can even deposit it into your bank right now. As for payment, you will work a job I designate and follow all of my commands. Half of the hourly pay you receive will go into paying back the mill plus a second mill on top as interest. I’m sure you understand.” His smile is oily, and smug. Ivy clenched her jaw.

“What’s the job position?”

The Czars grin turns into a mix of sadistic humor. “You will be my fiancé.”

“WHAT?!”