The mafia boss owns me

CHAPTER 5

"Stop.... right here" Riley’s voice was low but sharp, cutting through the rain slick hum of the street. The huge man behind the wheel, Vito eased the car to a halt down the alley, hands steady on the wheel like a man who’d driven through worse and seen less.

She opened the car door, got off, and shut the door behind her, soothed and adjusted her already dirty clothes, covered up her face with her hoodie, then moved towards the driver's window

"Thank you" she said, more of a reflex action than courtesy, and then immediately hated herself for it.

Vito nodded, rolled up his glass and drove off

Why did I say that? she thought. He’s the leader of the goons I just fought. He could have finished me in two seconds. But there’d been something, a look, a hesitation that maybe, just maybe, something told her he wasn’t the monster he appears to be or she was being sentimental because she was alive. She sighed and bruised off all thoughts and

"whatever". She said then walked into a dark, lonely alley

Around the grimy backstreet behind shuttered auto shops, where oil slicks, cigarette butts, and the distant rumble of the L train kept the city’s filth and secrets company, Dante’s safehouse stood hidden in the shadows, too small for the big players, too mean for the law but quiet enough for dirty business to breath. She could hear a dog barking at a distance, lonely, persistent, hungry.

She walked into the safe house.

Riley yanked the door of the safehouse open as she matched into the dimly lifted room, her face still bruised, lip split, jacket torn, dirt all over. Her boss, Dante Belini, looked up from his phone, a stocky, balding Italian, mid 40s, with a gold chain over his usual outdated suit trying to look more important than he was.

“Well, well,” dante drawled squinting at Riley's battered face. “Looks like my girl had a rough night.”

Riley stormed across the room, flung the visitor chair aside like it was an insult, clearing her path, then 'bam' she slammed her palms down hard on the table, so hard the glass rattled.

“You told me it was gonna be just a bunch of low-level thieves. Easy money, in and out. You didn’t say a word about 'I Senza Volto' She roared immediately.

Ah… so that’s who it was, huh?” Dante reached out with one arm for his bottle of Ruffino and the other arm grabbed his glass, he chuckled nervously pouring the drink into the glass and taking a sip.

"That's who it was!!!!??? Riley echoed, "yes that's who it was"

I Senza Volto'

Her fist clenched, trembling with fury. “Don’t play dumb with me, Dante, You sent me in blind even better, U knew it was them right, but you sent me anyways because you knew I'd never go, if you had told me the truth. I almost died!!!. She yelled

"Woah, I had no idea it was the mafia, I didn't know, I'd never have sent you if I did, besides I don't want to get entangled in anything involving them, I avoid trouble"

She paused and sighed, she continued softly arrogance in her voice; "The last time something like this happened Trent came back almost missing an eye, trying to protect me!!

Raising her voice higher, she continued you swore, it was gonna be the last time" but his time around, I was sure, I was on my way to hell

“Hey, hey.” He dropped his glass, raising an arm as if to calm her, “It was Intel I received, come on, Intel gets messy sometimes. My guy swore it was a soft target. How was I supposed to guess, it'd be the mafia?”

“You weren’t supposed to guess....Dante” Riley hissed, leaning close, her bloodied face inches from his. “You were supposed to know. I knocked two of them down before they swarmed me. I'd be dead if their boss didn't think I was useful, rather, I'd be dead if he didn't see me as a tool.

Dante's eyes widened. “The boss? You actually met THE BOSS? The boss of I Senza Volto'

Riley pulled back the guest chair she had once pushed away and sat down

The name hung in the air between them, I Senza Volto. The faceless one. The streets whispered it like a curse.

Riley's glare sharpened. “ Yeah, I met him, face-to-face. And just so you know he’s not the kind of man you want noticing our crew. Apparently, tonight's job was some big important deal I messed up, thanks to your bad intel, and now I’m on his radar.” Pray to God he isn't out for your head

Just then an idea popped into Riley's head; I bragged and I may have given him a name: Dante Belini.”

Dante flinched as if struck. The chair scraped.

“You gave him my name?” Dante’s voice was a dry scrape. “You idiot.”

“You gave him your idea of value,” Riley snapped. “You see what I’m saying? To him I’m either an asset or I’m garbage. He makes his decisions quick. If I’m useful, he keeps me. If not, he makes me disappear”

Dante gulped, trying to cover his uneasiness with an obvious fake laugh, but his hand trembled slightly on the glass. “Maybe that ain’t such a bad thing, kid. If 'I Senza Volto' interested in you—”

“Don’t twist this,” she snarled. “You don’t get it, do you?? To him, I’m either an asset… or I’m dead weight, he’ll crush me immediately without a thought. I ran my mouth too much to be left alive anyways. You made me walk blindly into a lion’s den.

"Feed me intel like that again, and I won’t need 'I Senza Volto' to deal with you. I’ll do it myself.”

The room went still. Time in itself froze. Dante stared at her, his mouth half-open, his false bravado faded, and for the first time, he realized the girl he’d been using for petty jobs wasn’t just a pawn anymore. She'd grown

Riley stood tall, wiping blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. Her voice dropped low, steady.

“You used me. You nearly got me killed. Next time… I choose the job. Or I walk.”

And with that, she turned away and stormed out, slamming the door behind her, leaving Dante alone in the room, staring at the door after her with a mix of anger, fear, and the sinking realization that he might already be losing in a much bigger game