“Hey Dad” I greeted as I walked into his office.
“Lexi...” Dad started greeting before he looked up from his papers and saw me.
“What the hell happened to you!? Are you alright?” Dad asked as he got out of his chair and came directly in front of me to see if I was hurt.
I had dried blood smudged on my face and arms and also specks of blood on the front of my shirt.
“I'm fine Dad, there was just this incident,” I told him. “Don't worry I took care of it”.
“Lexi where?” Dad asked with a groan. Over the months he had learned that whenever I said I had an incident, it usually meant he had to send some guys to do cleanup.
It was something that had happened twice already
“In my trunk” I replied sheepishly.
“What!? Did you bring it here? Are you crazy, what if you got caught along the way?” Dad asked furiously.
“I know, I know. I'm sorry, but I couldn't just leave him there” I replied guiltily “You know I'm not exactly trained in the cleaning up department. I'm still new to all of this”
“You're killing me Lexi” Dad shook his head as he took up his phone and dialed a number then brought it to his ears. “Jim there is a cleanup job for you and Hal... Yeah, it's Lexi's car... The trunk... Okay, good”.
“Jim and Hal are taking care of it,” Dad told me. “Lexi, you need to be more careful”.
“I know I'm sorry,” I told him honestly. “But at least I got this” I smiled as I pulled out the flash drive from my pocket and gave it to him.
“What's this?” Dad asked confused as he spun the flash drive in his palm.
“You know how I overheard you and Dominic discussing someone being a threat to the group and gathering and leaking information?” I asked sheepishly.
“Lexi, you know how I feel about you getting involved more with the Mafia's business. And you know how Dominic feels about it as well. Now that he is in charge, he will be super mad about you sticking your nose in places it doesn't belong” Dad replied seriously.
“Wow, gee Dad, you're welcome. I wasn't exactly looking for a good job Lexi, you did well anyway” I replied sarcastically.
“Lexi” Dad warned.
“It's just that I happened to figure out who that person was, got back information that could've ruined all of you, and could've possibly put myself in trouble. A little thank you would be nice” I huffed out.
“What?” Dad asked surprised. “What... When? How?”
“Doesn't matter” I replied. “I did it for you. And next time you guys should be careful about whom you let close to you”.
“Lexi, I appreciated what you did, but I don't want you getting hurt okay. I'm satisfied with you being just you, you don't owe me anything. You don't need to be daddy's little assassin” Dad said.
“Okay, Dad” I replied. “I'm going to get cleaned up. And by the way, don't expect to see your new 'friend' Hilton around anymore. He was the traitor”.
I had recently finished and returned from college a few months ago. I had studied business administration as well as accounting and as promised, Dad gave me a restaurant of my own to manage. That was his way of helping me to start with becoming my own boss. Dominic too had become CEO for his chain of hotels and restaurant businesses and Dad had decided to step down and handed over the position of leader of the Mafia to him. In what seemed to me like a short time, a lot had happened and changed.
Things had started changing years ago when I was kidnapped and almost killed by my so-called boyfriend and his stupid uncle. Things changed when both of them lost their lives to me as a result. That was my first time killing anyone, and it almost affected me intensely for a while if it weren't for the help of mom who had acted as my personal therapist/ psychologist, as well as the antidepressants that helped me to remained calm in times I would have probably freaked out.
Years had passed before I had killed again. It was never something I had planned on doing or thought that I would have ever done again, but I was pushed to do so. The second time was when two guys tried to violate me that night at the gas station — I called it self-defense. There was no way I could've sat still and allowed myself to be raped by creeps. After that, I had eventually started accepting that my life would never be the same again. I had learned that acceptance was the best way to cope with everything, denial and guilt were the two main things that kept you down and destroyed you. I didn't want to fall into that dark place once again like I had when I refused to accept what had happened to my parents. Even though it wasn't easy, I was determined to push through. Not many young adults would've ever been able to deal with the things I had dealt with but living with the Luciano's made me strong. They had taught me how to fight to survive every possible hardship in life.
The third time I had killed, was about four and a half months following the second. I had visited home in April and attended a business event with my family. We were on our way back from the business party when we were hijacked by six guys. They were a part of another rival Mafia group and were apparently set up. Our regular driver was knocked unconscious in the front of our limousine and one of the guys had pretended to be our driver. He had brought us where the others were where we were supposed to be ambushed. Fortunately, Dad had caught on to the ploy and shoved a gun in my hand.
'Protect yourself as good as possible, He had said to me 'Shoot anyone on the opposite side of those doors'
When the car stopped we were surrounded but the second the doors opened, no questions were asked- a shoot-out ensued. Killing wasn't something I enjoyed, but I knew that at a moment like that, I had no choice once again. It was either kill or be killed. I had managed to shot one of the guys- the fake driver, Dad had shot three of them, Mom shot another while the sixth one, unfortunately, got away. That was the first time my family had ever seen me in action and the first time I saw them in action. I didn't even know Mom had it in her but from what I had seen, I knew it was not her first. I looked up at her and I thought, if she could get through things like this each day, then I could too.
After that third time, it was like all my inhibition went out the window. I knew that the old me was gone because I had felt nothing when I made those shots. I had noticed that each time a new kill had been made, strangely enough, I felt a sense of... strength and power and I loved the feeling it gave me... The feeling of being in control. I had become numb to the thought of death. It wasn't like I had started to enjoy killing without a reason but when I thought about it, I had lost my biological family because of some heartless bastards. There was no way I would sit back and allowed my new family to be taken away from me in the same manner.
~|~|~
I was sitting at my desk in my office at the restaurant when there was a knock at my door.
“Come in” I answered.
“Hey” Dominic greeted as he entered my office.
“Hi, what are you doing here?” I asked surprised.
I suddenly wondered, 'why on earth was Dominic visiting me, at my office at that? What did I do now?'
“Just thought that I'd stop by and take a look around. You know, just to see the place, I haven't been here since you've been in charge” Dominic replied.
“Oh,” I replied. I still thought that he had another hidden agenda for visiting.
Even though Dominic and I had become civil towards each other, and he had finally accepted me as his sister, I still didn't think he was the type who would just come in for a social visit just like that.
“The place looks great. Also seems to be progressing.” Dominic said casually as he took a seat on the sofa that was in the office.
“Yeah, it is” I smiled.
“So...?” Dominic began.
“I knew it” I announced.
“What? Knew what?” Dominic looked at me with raised brows.
“I knew you had a hidden agenda visiting. You're just not the type to pay a visit to me 'just to see the place' no” I used my fingers to do air quotes.
“Come on Lexi, I don't have a 'hidden agenda'” Dominic mimicked my air quotes from before.
“Alright then” I replied as I looked back down on my paperwork still not believing him.
We stayed silent for at least two or so minutes before Dominic broke the silence.
“Dad told me about you getting back information and dealing with Hilton who was being a threat to the group,” Dominic said.
“Oh” I looked up at him. “So you came here to yell at me? Tell me to stay out of matters that don't concern me?”
“You know I don't like you interfering with things that have to do with the Mafia” Dominic replied seriously.
“I know, I'm sorry, but I only did what any normal girl would do for her family. I know Dad was getting riled up about it” I replied.
“ No normal girl would've practically beaten a guy's face-off with... What was it?”
“My pumps... Five inches pumps,” I reminisced, “I loved those shoes, too bad he ruined it.”
“See? A normal girl wouldn't beat a guy's face off with five inches heels, put a bullet in his head then only be upset about her ruined shoes.” Dominic replied.
“Well maybe I'm not a normal girl, but a normal girl would try to protect their family and that was what I did,” I said to him “But believe me, I was pushed into reacting like that. I was suspicious about Hilton so I followed him. And you know what, he literally just attacked me and tried hurting me when he saw me. I mean wasn't that a dead giveaway about how guilty he was. I had to do something, so my shoe became handy.”
“I really underestimated you, Lexi. I know better now.” Dominic shook his head with an amused look on his face.
“Ok, so with that settled. If you didn't come here to yell at me and tell me to stay out of your business, why are you here?” I folded my hands on my desk, “Have you decided to finally swallow your pride and thank me?”
“Oh, I am going to swallow my pride and ask you something I normally wouldn't,” Dominic finally confessed, “I need your help.”
“See? Hidden agenda.”
I chuckled which caused him to rolled his eyes.
“There is this new club that recently opened in town. I have reason to believed that the owner is also involved with a mafia group which could be a potential threat to us.” Dominic stated.
“So what do you want me to do? Go beat the guy's face off with my heels then put a bullet through his skull?” I asked playfully.
“I'm serious Lexi,” Dominic replied, “I need someone who could attend the club a couple of times to see if they can gather some information.”
“Wait, what about your guys? Can't they do that?” I asked.
“That's the thing, I can't risk exposing us by sending anyone who is involved in the mafia less they be recognized and hell breaks loose,” Dominic replied.
“So you want someone discreet.” I guessed.
“Yeah, exactly. We can't just ask anyone else without giving away information about us. So we need someone close, someone, who knows what they're about.” Dominic said.
“Someone like me?” I replied, fully understanding where he was going with this.
“Yeah. I mean you'd be in less danger and cause fewer risks of exposure.”
“Okay, I guess I could do that,” I replied.
“Really?” Dominic asked surprised.
“Sure, why not?” I replied. “I haven't gone clubbing in a while since Zena flew back to Vegas”
“Are you taking this serious or not?” Dominic asked annoyed.
“You need a sense of humor,” I rolled my eyes, “Anyway like I said before, I'd do anything to protect my family plus I do need a night out anyway.”
“Great. Thanks. Marc will be watching your back in case anything goes wrong.” Dominic replied.
“Wait, Marc? As in your friend Marc?” I asked surprised. I didn't know Marc was back moreover a part of the mafia now but why was I surprised about things like this anymore?
“Yeah” Dominic looked at me curiously. “And no, before even considering it, I do not approve of you and him getting in any form of relationship or hooking up. So don't even think about it.”
“Oh,” I feigned being disappointed “I was really looking forward to that”
Dominic glared at me.
“ How on earth did you even jump to that conclusion? Marc was more like a brother to me.” I rolled my eyes at him.
“Better be so,” Dominic replied, “Here is where the club's name and address.”
Dominic stretched me a piece of paper that he took from his shirt pocket, with the address and name of the club written on it.
“Mm, INFERNO. That name is hot.” I smirked as I took the paper, reading it. “See what I did there? Inferno-hot... never mind.”
Dominic continued to look at me with that expressionless face that he had mastered over the years.
“You seriously need to develop a sense of humor. Being so serious all the time is going to give you stress.”
“Marc will call, you guys work out the details on when you'll be going,” Dominic replied.
“Aye aye captain” I had teased one more time.
Club Inferno, here we go.