GRACE
________________
A familiar creeping sense of hollowness slither behind my neck and down to my spine, ready to drown me into its darkness and hold me until oxygen run scarce and tiny lights flashes before my eyes.
Pieces of glass shattered on the pavement and blood pooled under my face long before I could open my eyes, I can't move.
" Somebody call the ambulance," I heard someone screamed, I can't tell which direction the voices came from but I heard them, too far for my eyes to see but close enough for me to listened to their hysterical voice.
" Yes please hurry," I heard someone frantically,
" She's still under the car,"
" Grace..."
" Doctor Palmer, OP six," I heard new voices when I tried to reopened my eyes, I can't move didn't matter how hard I tried to lift a finger, I can't move.
" Car crash, 22, female,"
" Grace," Someone whispered my name,
" Emergency contact on the way,"
" We need six pack of blood, let's move people,"
" Careful,"
Stop...
" I'm so sorry,"
" Hey, I'm doctor Christine Palmer, you're in downtown Manhattan hospital, everything's gonna be okay,"
" Grace?" I heard a familiar voice calling my name, a voice I just had a fight with," I'm so sorry,"
" Grace,"
" Grace,"
" Grace!"
" Hey Grace, you okay?" Pietro asks snapping me back into focus, the same song still play out around us but there are only two dancer left on the stage or so I thought before I turn around quickly, " Yeah," I blurt out and rush back into the table where I left my Manhattan glass and take it within seconds.
Pietro stares at me as soon as I turn around, he looks at me as if he's making sure that I wasn't lying,
" Where's your sister?" I ask instead as I try to pull his concern away from me," Where do you think," He says as he shrug a shoulder," Slip through with the waiters after she told me to watch on you, she's on position," He continue, I look over my shoulder as the song starts to slow down before a hand come over my left shoulder.
" Not so fast there," Pietro says with his concerning voice," I don't wanna talk about it," I sigh out a breath, moving myself slightly away from him, He looks at me for a good five seconds before he nods,
" Okay, but breath in first," Pietro says quickly with a nod, I look up over him and take a deep breath in,
" All good now?" He asks," If it's gonna make you drop the question then yes," I say looking away from him," Suits yourself," He says, offering a hand toward me," Don't even try, Pietro," I murmur as I grab my purse that I left on the seat, quickly taking out the small earpiece off the lipstick cap.
" So what's the full play?" He asks, standing next to me with hands crossing over his chest," Your sister will do the work on their website to make sure the jewels really are included in tonight's auction," I mutter, " Then we walked in before someone else bought them off," I continue as I switch on the earpiece.
" All set?" I ask under my breath," No," Wanda says through her line, I straighten my back by the tone she's using, " What is it?" I ask quickly,
" I can't get through the server," She says," Where are you?" Pietro asks as he looks over me," Third floor booth," Wanda mutters before Pietro chuckles, I glare at him for a seconds before we both hear Wanda curse from her line.
" You two better move and get close, signal too weak to get through their double server from here." She says quickly," Lead the way," I nod my head slightly at him before he let out a rush of breath and take step forward, " Stay close," He says in whispers. I stop short by the stairs, stealing a glance over the stage as soon as the lights return to its crimsons red, and the next act on the stage is just two woman with what I can assume is a sheer of silk fabric.
The lights dim again, switching from red into dark blue before silence falls on the crowd- another nearly naked girl with a mask is lowered from the ceiling on a suspended silver hoop, " Seriously, what is this place?" I mutter under my breath toward Pietro as we continue walking to the opposite direction, away from the stage." You'll find out soon enough," Pietro whispers," Honestly the longer I stay here the more it seems impossible that my jewelry are even ended up here," I mutters under my breath.
" Well, it's the one out of the three that have auction going on, trust me if anywhere your diamond should definitely be here," He says before I roll my eyes on him but pleased to hear about the diamond, at least Wanda didn't mention anything about the deal, or at least who's we have a deal with.
" What makes you so sure the other two don't have any underground auction to begin with?" I ask as I look over him," I've checked the one on the fifth earlier today, you're welcome by the way," Pietro shrug a shoulder as be says it," And the other club?" I ask bitterly," Still working on the access, it involved with me texting an ex for it, so things a little complicated," He mutters, looking away as I chuckle, " The amount of exes you have around Manhattan would get you into trouble eventually, Pietro," I shake my head slightly as I look anywhere but his direction.
" Careful now, Wanda warned me to watch our six," He whispers as he put a hand behind my back before he push open a small glass door behind silver curtains with his free hand, I do what he says, taking small, sly glances behind me before we walk through the door.
I notice a series of booths hidden in the shadows, each occupants shield from view by velvet curtains as we continue to walk down the hallway. Every so often someones leaves and enter which I starting to notice it always seems to be men, all of similar type and age- elegant, suited, masked and most likely have millions dollars just laying around in their car dashboard.
" How far is the auction room?" I whispers, Pietro leans over as if she's going to tell me some sweet secret but instead I follow the direction of his gaze.
An usher walks toward us with two small devices in his hand," Come on-" Pietro murmurs as he turns to look at me before the man walks closer," We're set," I say to Pietro but really I'm just trying to give Wanda signal," Welcome," says the ushers as he opens the slide doors.
There are at least twenty people inside the room, all well-dressed and some even masked for the occasion, sitting on a circle form seating layout. Pietro take me by the arm, sending electric shock on my skin before I flinch," Relax," He says, motioning his head to two empty seat on the second row, I pull my hand off him as I walk ahead.
" What's the matter with you tonight?" Pietro murmur once we're on our seat, it's not like it's the first time Pietro joined in our night hustle but something about tonight and this place just slightly got me on edge, slightly," Nothing," I say bitterly, straighten my back as I turn my head to look ahead.
A red spotlight flashes on the small stage by the center of the room, illuminating a round glass dome sitting on top of black fabricated table not more than fiver minutes after we seated, " Here we go," Pietro whispers in the same time a male voice saying welcome and walk into the small stage.
" Did you get in yet? I ask in whispers," Working on it, give me a sec," Wanda says before the lights changes which draws everyone's attention to the small items on the stage." I'm in alright," Wanda says excitedly in the same time the stage lit up.
The first items being a pair of red diamonds earrings starting at $12,000 actually taking me aback, everyone around are quickly bickering while typing their bits on the device. " I'm gonna bid on that," Wanda chuckles on my ear piece, I let out a subtle of grin by her words, knowing exactly what she meant just made it funnier under different circumstances.
" We've got bidder on seat A6 for $25,000," Says the man on the stage as soon as the assistant walks in with a tablet screen on hand, I look over my left to a man removing his mask," No, there has to be some mistakes because I did not do that," He says nervously before the host on the stage walks to the front," I'm sorry sir but you're currently our highest bidder," says the host with a nod before an usher walks to A6.
" Are you kidding me," Pietro says, leaning closer next to my shoulder, " Did they just dragged him out?" I shift on the seat as I try to hack into the device the ushers handed us before, Pietro nods slightly before I try to focus the selection on the auction but screen is lock specifically just for bidding," Nothing's up here, how's on your end?" I ask in whispers," The same, seems like they only showing live items," Wanda says through my ear piece, Shit.
" So I guess we just have to sit through it," Pietro says leaning slightly to my shoulder in the same time the man on the stage moves one item to the next one that's definitely not my stolen jewelry.
The lights begin to dim just in the same time a tall figure walks to the small stage, " That question you've been asking about what this place is," Pietro says in whispers as he nods slightly, I clench the inside of my cheek as I look away from the stage, trying to hold my wall up.
I try to run my head over a new plan, sitting through the whole auction won't get me anywhere, not when there's no telling if my jewelry are even here.
" This is a waste of time," I sigh out a rush of breath as I shift on my seat," Where are you going?" Pietro says as he takes my hand," I'm not here to just sit and watch, you stay here and make sure no one's bidding on my jewelry when they shows up," I pull my hand off him as I let out a bitter grin," I'll scouting out front, see if I can find something else," I say impatiently as I leave Pietro with the auction, I turn off my earpiece and shove it back into my purse in one hand as I walk away, leaving the dark room behind and back to the center of the club.
_____________________
I hurry down the winding steps and slip my way through the mass of bodies on the main dance floor before I can finally reach the bar, " I take it the auction seems pretty boring for your liking?" asks the bartender in front of me," First time?" She nods her head, I climb to the stool chair and let out an inviting grin," What give it away?" I ask," Most folks at least stay another thirty minutes in that room," She chuckle," Well, maybe I would have if there's anything worth the wait but sadly they don't even hand out what's on the list," I say baiting for any intel," Too bad, no one can't get into their catalog unless you're a regular," She chuckles.
" What can I get you?" She asks before I can say a word, I sigh out a breath as I try to gather myself up,
" Macallan, on the rock," I say as I look up at her,
" What else I can help you with sweetheart?" asks the bartender as she put the glass in front of me, I look away from her and try to consider her offer for a few seconds, trying to carefully calculating my next move in case she just baiting me for being new around here.
" Well, what do you have up your sleeve?" I ask in whisper, " Pleasure, business, pleasure for business," She says with a wink by the last sentence as she leans closer on the table, I let out a subtle grin as I take the glass in my hand," Sadly that's not what I'm here for," I say baiting on her," Do tell," She nods with an intense yet exciting look in her expression.
" I'm more of jewelry person," I say under my breath before she cock an eyebrow, bitting the side of her bottom lips and nods so subtlety,
" What kind," She whispers,
" Diamond, gold ring- slightly out the date on the styling," I say pulling on the corner of my lips," And a short gold length necklace with an odd-shaped charm at the end," I continue before I take a sip on the drink, leaving it just a drop of it left.
" That's very a specific description," She says, taking a step backward from the bar," You're looking for stolen jewel are you? thinking it might ended up at the auction," She says in whispers," My friend's brother think so," I chuckle as I continue playing my card," Yeah? what about what you think," She asks, crossing her hands over her chest, watching me.
" I don't, I just know he's wrong," I pull the corner of my lips before she chuckles,
" Well, you're right, you're definitely in a wrong place," She says as she hands me a napkin, I look down and notice there a number along with an address on it," Stolen jewel don't make it past the Baron," She says with a wink before she starts walking to another customer on the other side of the bar, leaving me without giving her name.
I turn back to look over the stage, shoving the napkin into my purse before I look up and watch the current performance dancing with a hoop, one of them smiles out at the audience, taking us all in in a sweeping glance.
For a moment I let myself stare at it, forcing myself to get past it, but of course I fail miserably, something about stages still giving me a creeping sense of cold on the back of my spine, down to the old injuries and scars left on my skin no matter how long time has passed.
" Somebody call the ambulance," I heard the screaming voices not far from where I laid down, rough pavement underneath my cheek separated only by the thick sticky liquid, blood.
" She's still under the car," I heard the other voice, thick blood pooling underneath my chest, all over my hand, I can't move.
" Your accident have caused several fractured on your hips, of course with multiple therapy you will soon walk again but I'm sorry with your condition-"
" What happened?"
" What's the last thing you remembered?"
Blood, pooling underneath my chest, someone screaming on the top of her lungs in the distance.
I blink and they disappeared all at once, the blood, the screams, the memories I used to have which now have turned into a haze.
" We need to leave," Wanda says in hurry as she takes me by surprise," What's going on?" I say in the same time I snatch my clutch off the bar as Wanda takes a hold of my upper arm," Someone just hacked into my device, come on-" Wanda says as I try to pull away," How did-" I try to ask some questions before my words got cut off when my eyes meets Pietro on the second floor, signaling us to meet him outside.
Fuck
Wanda and I hurry through the crowds, up the stairs without a backward glance, we keep going until we reach a more quiet corridor before frustration get the hold on me," Okay what's going on?" I ask stopping Wanda halfway the second I feel like we're on a safe distance.
" Well, I tried to tracked down the server source," Wanda says as she let out a rush of breath," Because apparently whoever runs it, none of them are even here," She say with a grin," I got locked out trying to access their address before they hacked me," Wanda continues before she shows me her wrist," The Baron," I say in whisper,
" How do you know?" Wanda asks in the same time I glance up at her," A woman at the bar told me about this, says any stolen jewels won't be get past The Baron," I sigh, digging into my purse and hand her the napkin.
It takes me a good ten seconds before I notice we aren't walking on the same direction we walked in before," Please tell me you know where the exit are," I say, closing my eyes for a second," Have I failed you with escape route before?" Wanda chuckles as she leads the way.
We walk down on a quiet corridor for at least two minutes before Wanda leads us to an elevator to the old hotel above, " I'll get my car around assuming you don't drive yours?" I walk out the elevator before her as I say it," What? Grace you're not thinking to get there tonight are you," She chuckles hesitantly,
" The sooner we find out whose these Barons are the quicker I get my jewel back," I ask as I look over her, Wanda walks toward me and grab me by the arm before she leans closer," That's a real quick no considering I just got hacked back tells me enough they are not an typical target." Wanda chuckles as she turns to me, I look over her as I try to consider what she's saying.
" Gracelyn?" A tall, side brown fringe with a tidy hairdo woman in a dark leather coat calls my name as she walks toward us, the height, even the little subtle scar on the side of her lip which I can make out mow under the hotel lobby light, is really not something you can easily forget.
It's her, the white swan performance from the stage earlier, the same one who stood tall during the auction," I'm sorry do I know you?" I ask as soon as I gather myself up, realizing I've been holding my breath. She looks at me like I'm some kind of puzzle that got her confuses within seconds before her face goes white," I'm sorry, I must've mistake you to someone else," She says hesitantly before taking a step backward, turn around and begins walking.
" What was that?" Wanda turns to me before I have the slightest idea on what the hell just happened myself, " Who's Gracelyn?" Wanda asks, I turn my eyes away as soon as the woman take a turn left and finally out off my sight," My stage name," I say more to myself, Grace Marelyn- Gracelyn, no one has called me that name for over eight years now.
" How did she know that?" Wanda asks as she takes me by the arm and we start walking to the opposite direction," No idea," I try to mask up all the questions I had in mind," Let's just call your brother," I say instead, shoving whatever just happened out of head," We're done here." I say with a subtle exhale as I steal a quick glance over my shoulder.