Protecting The Princiepessa (Complete)

~ Chapter 15 ~

She wasn’t sure what he meant by those words; besides cops, who would come up to her? But, as he said, she wasn’t stupid. It wouldn’t be long, she bet, that people at the club started asking if she knew where to get this or that. She also knew there were other families in the city, ones who could come after her, could question her. So yeah, though she wasn’t sure, she wasn’t an i***t.

“Got it,” was all she mumbled and out of the corner of her eye, she saw him smirk.

“That didn’t take you long.”

“Was it supposed to?” He shrugged at her question as he pulled into a place she hadn’t seen before.

“Want to go in, Ignazia?” She glared at him as she undid her belt and climbed out of the car. She wasn’t nervous as she followed him, having more of an idea of what to expect. However, seeing a half-naked lady walking around was something new that she wasn’t. Adriano barely glanced at the woman as she stopped before him, her hands on her hips.

“You’re early, Adriano.”

“Get dressed, Susana. You know I’m not here for a good time.” The woman laughed and waved them over to walk behind her.

“Who is that?” Izzy whispered as Adriano placed his hand on her back, escorting her through the walkway.

“Susana, the manager of this joint. She’s a free spirit, but she knows better than to be walking around like that,” he told her, leading her to a back room. Izzy nodded as she sat down and crossed her legs. She glanced behind her as the woman walked in, thankfully covered at this time.

“I see you got my message,” Susana said, sitting behind the desk. “And you brought a friend, she’s a pretty one, Adriano.”

“Thanks. Ignazia, Susana. And no Susana, she won’t be working for you.”

“Such a shame, I could use a face like hers around her.” Izzy ducked her head, the blush high on her cheeks at the woman’s words and the eyes should feel on her from the man beside her. “Sweetheart, if you change your mind, feel free to call me. I know quite a few men who would pay top dollar for a stunner like you.”

“Susana, stop. Trust me, not going to happen.”

“Such a shame.” Susana lifted a shoulder and turned her attention to Adriano. “Business?”

“Yes, got the cash?” Susana stood up and walked over to a safe that Izzy didn’t even notice. Within moments the door was open, and Izzy’s eyes opened wide at the stack, make that stacks, of cash that was being handed over. Good f*****g Lord, how much was that she wanted to ask.

“200 G, just for the boss,” Susana said, and Izzy had to shake her head at that. These were the funds that good pulled in? In what, weeks, days? Didn’t matter honestly; that was a lot! And it was crazy. She was finally beginning to understand how her mom’s hospital bills were paid.

“He will appreciate it.” Adriano took the money and put it inside his coat pocket and grabbed one of the bags and handed it to her. Izzy was amazed at how easy the process went down, and how smoothly. She also couldn’t help but wonder if anyone was ever stupid enough to try and take from the boss. Either the goods or the cash? From what she could see, Adriano had a damn good f*****g handle on this, and she could understand why the Boss wouldn’t just trust anyone. But there still had to be an i***t who tried to steal.

But she didn’t get the chance to ask because Adriano was already standing up and getting ready to leave. She smiled at the lady and followed him out to the car where he popped the trunk and then opened some special compartment with a key. He put the money in there and locked it back up when he was done. His eyes glanced around and finally, he opened the car door for her. She had to admit, she was a little floored at the whole process.

“Wow,” was all she managed to get out. He c****d a brow as he started the car and looked at her.

“What?”

“That’s a lot of funds hiding in the trunk of your car,” she told him, glancing behind her shoulder to the back of the car.

“Sure. That’s also pretty slow.” Her head snapped around and she stared at him. 200 thousand dollars was slow?

“How? Why?”

“Susana had some building issues that required her to close for 48 hours. That closure cost us about 100 grand, not including the fixing.” Izzy couldn’t help but shake her head at those numbers.

“Has anyone ever been stupid enough to try a little bit off for their own purpose?” Adriano pulled out of the spot and glanced around before heading down the road.

“Once, actually.” She glanced at him, waiting for him to continue. She rolled her eyes when he failed to go on though.

“And? What happened? You have to share more than that.”

“Susana was a worker at the joint, one of the first ones who started actually. When the asshole manager thought he could be stupid enough to steal and we found out, she saw me put two bullet holes into him: one in the groin, one in the stomach. De Santos likes to make sure messages get across loud and clear. That being said, he learned fast that the Boss doesn’t like to have people steal from him. He bled out and died outside the club where we dropped him.

“We asked Susana if she wanted the job. She said she had some manager experience from the past and promised not to pull that type of s**t. She hasn’t, and her club is one of the biggest money makers, on many levels actually.” Izzy blinked a couple of times as she stared at him.

“You shot him in the groin?” Adriano nodded at her question. “Why there?”

“Because if one thinks they can f**k over the Boss, the Boss will let it be known that he doesn’t tolerate that. So, the groin it was. From the way he screamed, I’m going to assume it hurt like a b***h and he might have had second thoughts. But it was too late.” Well, what the hell could she say to that? As sick as it was, it made sense and probably got the point across to anyone who wanted to cross him.

Izzy watched him, her mind wheeling. She wasn’t surprised to hear that, she guessed. A boss was a boss, and he was a rich man, you had to make sure people understand the rules. And when they broke them, they sure as hell need to be enforced. She would also say that something like this, inside information such as that, was not talked about amongst the women, probably even some men. She turned her head and glanced back out the window.

What she thought she knew; she was finding out she didn’t. Maybe her world was painted pretty because of the scenes that Hollywood gave her, but she as finding out that wasn’t the case. Sure, the men were good-looking, the woman beautiful, and there were for sure lots of drugs and lots of money. But there was crime, there was violence, and even brutality. For sure, Hollywood couldn’t show that. She still didn’t live in a rose-colored world, but it sure was hell wasn’t quite this vivid.

“Are you shocked?” Izzy shook her head at his question. No, shocked wasn’t the word she would use actually.

“No, more like, aware.” She turned and glanced at him, his brows coming together in confusion.

“You knew what your dad was?”

“Oh, I knew. I knew about the mafia, about him being important, but I guess I just never really thought how violent it was or what all it consisted of.” Adriano chuckled.

“It’s not easy being a Boss, like a lot of people think. Sure, Carlo was handed the position, but he’s fought tooth and nail for it; f**k he’s lost family for it. Those that are attacking him now, they stopped for a time while he built up his empire.” Her head snapped back around at those words. She was under the impression that they had always been after him, that’s why he never came back for the family he adored.

“What do you mean they stopped, stopped when?”

“When he got married. They didn’t start again until the announcement of Sara’s engagement.”

“Why?” Adriano shrugged as he looked at her.

“Your guess would be as good as mine. We’ve searched, he’s searched, and he’s struggled to come up with an answer. It could be a wide range of people but whoever is doing it, they’re f*****g good at covering their asses and that makes s**t harder for all of us.” Izzy sat back in the seat, struggling to compute that. Why would it possibly stop when her dad got married? And then start back up? Why not take him out when the empire was coming to, not after it was done? Furthermore, again, what did any of this have to do with her?