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I huffed. Seriously now, my name was the least of my worries, considering all the shit I still had to fix in life.
Calina's pov
"Why? Is it that bad?" I asked him with a frown. "What do you think, Hooker?" he asked me back with a chuckle.
"I don't know," I told him with a shrug, looking at him, "it doesn't sound that bad for me, after some time you get used to it, I guess."
"Were you ever married, Hooker?" he asked me next, making me tense. "Why are you asking?" I asked him cautiously, getting a little nervous, thinking he might know who I was. After all, I got quite famous in the Mafia world with my actions in the past.
"Just curious about something," he muttered with a shrug. "About what?" I asked him with a frown.
"If you hated your boyfriend, your daughter's father, because he didn't want to marry you? And you had to stay with your maiden name? Even after given him your daughter?" he asked me with a grin, I snorted at his assumption.
If he only knew that my maiden name was Ivanov, one of the strongest name in Russia, and that I was married to the Italian mobster, he'd probably either kick me out of the car and drive away, wanting nothing to do with me, or hand me over to my nightmares. And in all honesty, I'd rather stay Hooker for the rest of my life than be a Morelli or an Ivanov again.
"You're mocking me because of my last name, but I bet yours isn't phenomenal either, what's your name?" I asked him while he was slowing the car as he turned left.
"Mateo," he muttered shortly. "What's your full name?" I asked him.
"Why do you ask?"
"Well, it's time for me to mock you a little too ..."
"Too bad I can't tell you, pretty lady," he told me.
"Why?"
"You're really asking a drug dealer why he can't tell you his full name?" he asked me back. "Right, I get it," I muttered. "You do?" he asked me. "You don't want me to go with your name to the cops," I told him.
"Not only pretty, but also smart I see ..." he mocked me.
"Why are you calling me pretty lady after I already told you my name?" I asked him curiously. "Because you're very pretty," he mumbled with a shrug.
I laughed lightly.
"What? What's funny?" he asked me.
"The irony that you love the cover without knowing what's inside," I muttered, sighing. My back was full of scars, even if they faded away by time, they were still there. And if he knew I was scarred, I bet he wouldn't find me pretty anymore.
"You seem nice too, I'd love to meet you if we met in different circumstances," he told me kindly, misunderstanding what I had mean.
"Are you hitting on me?"
"Well, you're pretty enough so ..." he claimed but in a joking way, not making the situation any awkward.
Smiling and frowning, I looked at him, trying to figure him out. His behavior was too nice for a drug dealer. In general, he has acted like a nice guy since I met him. I expected him to harass me, look at me perverted, and say nasty things to me.
I thought he would be hard to convince or would want anything in return for taking me to see his boss. However, he just agreed to take me to his boss without taking advantage of my situation after I told him about my situation.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Are you interested in me, perverted lady?" he asked me, bringing me back from my thoughts, making me gasp.
"Excuse me? How do I look at you?" I asked with a frown, feeling a little offended after he called me pervert.
"You're excused, and you look at me as if you want to ravish me," he claimed with smirk, lighting a cigarette while driving.
"You wish," I huffed, shaking my head, looking out of the window, "I just looked at you because you're confusing."
"Why am I confusing?" he asked, sounding curious.
"Why are you so nice?" I asked him. "There is no reason for me not to be nice. Yes, I'm a drug dealer, but I'm also a human, pretty lady," he told me blankly, "if you're nice to me, I'll be nice to you, if you cause me problems, I'll do the same.
"Yes, you act like a human. Therefore, I wonder how such a nice man can do such a job. Most men or people who do your job are not nice at all," I mumbled curiously.
"I'm not like the most men in this business, I'm not a no-brainer, I'm more ... like a mirror ... I tend to reflect peoples behaviors and treat them the same way they treat me."
"Be careful, being nice might cause you problems and bring you in dire situations," I mumbled in a daze, reminding how I almost drowned in my own tears and pain after getting caught by him after helping his brother.
"You speak as if you know this business too well," he claimed, giving me a suspicious look, bringing me out of my daze.
"I was young too, I went to parties, to clubs. I took drugs. And the people I bought drugs from weren't as nice as you," I lied, lying became a habit for me over the past few years. And it wasn't difficult for me to lie as my whole life was based on a lie.
"Why did you start with this business?" I asked him, leading him off me, changing the topic from me to him.
"I had no choice. My sister is sick. And I didn't make enough money to buy her medication and have a roof over my head with my previous job. I heard that this business makes good money. Therefore, I got into this business. Now, I make enough money to pay my sister's medication and have a roof over my head," he muttered.
"I'm sorry, what does your sister have?" I asked him. "Cancer, like you," he claimed. "I'm sorry Mateo," I said again, before a question popped up in my head again, "where are your parents? Why aren't they taking care of her?"
"They died, in a car crash."
"I'm so sorry for your loss, and I bet your parents are proud of you for taking care of your sister as best as you can," I told him with a genuine smile.
"You think so? Even after all the shit I'm involved in?" he asked me back.
"I think they'd understand you, at least I do, because sometimes you have no choice but to involve yourself in shit to survive, I mean look at me, I wouldn't sit here if I had another choice, would I?" I asked him with sad smile.
"I guess you wouldn't, as you understand me I do too, we both understand each other because we both knew what despair for a feeling is," he told me with a smile.
"I wouldn't take you to my boss, if you wouldn't tell me about your daughter. I agreed to take you to him because I know the feeling of despair. I know what it feels like to be afraid of losing someone. It's hard to see the one you love in pain or know the one you love is sick. I know it because of my sister."
"I'm so sorry for your sister, but she is very lucky," I said him. "Why?" he asked me.
"I can tell you that love and care her, that's why your sister is lucky, Mateo. Don't let life change you, stay who you are for your sister," I told him with a smile.
It was rare to see someone in the Mafia who could empathize and wasn't selfish and self-centered. And I really hoped he could survive in our world without changing.
He nodded his head before parking the car near a villa guarded by some men. "I'll try, pretty lady, and we have arrived," he told me, before looking at me seriously. "This is your last chance to turn around and leave, pretty lady."
"I decline, I want to meet your boss," I told him firmly. His boss didn't scare me. I've dealt with more dangerous people. Dealing with his boss would be a snap. When I was about to get out of the car, he prevented me getting out by grabbing my arm, which made me frown at him. "What?"
"Look, this is not a game we play here. These people in the villa are dangerous, really dangerous. If you get involved with them, it's hard to get away from them," he warned me, and I wanted to laugh in his face.
I knew the mafia well, I knew it better than him. I grew up in it. I knew it was difficult to get away from the mafia once you got involved, and it was even harder to leave it when you were born in the mafia. It was like a parasite picking on you, refusing to let go until you died.
"I need the money for my baby's surgery by tomorrow," I gritted out before pulling my arm from his grip and getting out of the car. "Okay, I warned you," I heard him sigh before he got out of the car and we went to the villa.
"I have a visitor for boss," he said to the two bulky men in front of the gates, before one of them called his boss and informed him of our arrival. Then, he nodded his head and opened the gates for us. We went in.
I looked around as we walked to the front door. "Don't ask too many questions. And if he asks you something, answer him straight away," he told me as he rang the doorbell.
"Okay," I said before a maid opened the door. "Mr. Cortez is waiting for you in his office. Please follow me," she said with a smile and we walked inside before she led the way to his office.
As I followed the maid, I thought about the name 'Cortez'. It sounded Spanish. If he was in the Spanish mafia, and the Spanish people weren't a fan of my family, or from him, which was good as I could consider the enemy of my enemies as my friend.
I wasn't afraid that the Spanish gangster would know who I was because the chances of him knowing who I was were very low. My dad kept care not to show me to his enemies in order to protect me. And Raphael didn't have time to introduce me to his loyal watchdogs because I escaped before he could. My name and my actions might be known in the underworld, but not my face.
We stopped at a door before the maid knocked on the door. "Yes!" we heard a male voice say before we entered the room and the maid closed the door behind us. "Who did you bring for me, Mateo?" he asked him with his gaze on me.
"Her name is Candice. She wants to make a deal with you," he told him. "What kind of deal?" he asked, his question was directed at me.
"I want to borrow money. I need fifteen-thousand pounds. I will return the money to you within a week with great interest," I told him.
"And you know that I'm not a bank? I take more than I give," he told me, cocking his head. "It's alright, I'm ready to pay you back more than I'm taking," I told him. "Alright, and how can I make sure you pay me back?" he asked me with a dark smile, "I don't know you."
"I will, I have already taken out a loan from the bank, twice the amount I want from you. However, the bank can transfer the money to my account next week, but I need the money by tomorrow, otherwise my child's surgery will be postponed and I don't want this to happen. I will use the money you lent me to pay for my child's surgery costs. And the money I'll get from the bank, I'll give it to you next week," I told him.
"Let's say I give you the money. What if there are some complications with the bank and they refuse to give you the loan? Then, how are you going to repay me?" he asked me cunningly.
"Then I can offer you my services," I told him. His eyes darkened before checking me up and down and licking his lips. Pervert. "What kind of services are you talking about?" he asked me interested.
"I'm a doctor," I said, and he looked more interested. "I know you often need a doctor when you're involved in ... in something illegal. I'll operate and take care of your men if they are shot or injured. I will take care of their injuries without asking any questions about what happened to them, if I can't repay you the money you will lend me by next week. How does it sound?"
"It's a great offer, I think I'll accept it, Miss...?" he said before looking at me questioningly and not knowing what to call me. "Hooker. Ms. Candice Hooker," I told him, which made him look at me with a confused expression now.
"Is this a joke?" he asked me and I shook my head. "No, my parents had a strange fetish, they liked weird names," I shrugged.
"Cesar!" he called before a man in his thirties walked into the room. "Yes, boss," Cesar said. "I want you to do a background check on Candice Hooker," he ordered, looking at me.
"As you wish, anything else?" Cesar asked. "No," Mr. Cortez said, shaking his head, "that's all, you can go." Cesar nodded his head and left.
"I hope you are telling me the truth, Ms. Hooker," he said with a dark expression. "I have no reason to lie to you," I told him while holding his gaze.
"How much do you need?"
"Fifteen grands."
"Alright," he said, before leaning over, opening his safe and pulling out a pile of money. "Here are fifteen thousand pounds."
"Thanks," I said, taking the money, after he put the money in an envelope and motioned for me to take it.
"You're welcome, Ms. Hooker. I don't the double amount, for next week, I only want twenty thousand back. If you don't have my money within a week, you'll work for me," he told me.
"Don't worry, I'll give you your money back," I said with a nod. "Then, it was nice doing business with you, until next week, Ms. Hooker," he told me before turning to Mateo, who was watching us in silence the entire time. "Lead Ms. Hooker out."
"Goodbye," I muttered and Mr. Cortez nodded his head before Mateo led me out.
When I left the villa, I felt relieved. My baby would be operated and well again. "Thank you," I said to Mateo. "I hope you know what you've got yourself into," he told me with a blank expression.
"Don't worry, I know," I told him.
"You want me to drive you home, pretty lady?" he asked me. "No, I'm good," I declined.
"You sure?" he asked me. "It's late, you might have struggle to find a taxi at those times in this area."
"I am good." I smiled.
"I wouldn't mind--"
"I don't want a stranger to find out where I live," I told him. He looked at me for a while before smiling, "As I said, pretty but smart. Then, take care of you, pretty lady, and get safe home."
"Thank you, and Mateo, I won't forget this favor you did to me!"
"You're welcome."
Then, our ways parted away. Maybe for forever, or not. Who knows? Except fate.
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