**DAMON CARBONE POV **
The flight to Paris was worse than any form or torture I could imagine. First class was completely full, so we had to fly economy. I was the unfortunate soul that was lodged between Angelo and Gio on the seven hour and fifteen minute flight.
Within the first hour, they managed to annoy me so badly, that I slammed their heads into each other, gaining the attention of an undercover Warden on the plane. So I spent the remaining six hours, with my hands zip tied behind my back sitting next to the Warden in the back of the plane.
I'm not sure which pissed me off more: The fact that this particular warden had no idea what personal hygiene meant, and smelled like shit, or the fact that Gio convinced the Warden that I was mentally challenged, and he believed him immediately.
We walked through the foreign airport, and I couldn't help but smile. We weren't in our home country of Italy, but we were in Europe, and it was the closest I've been to home since I was exiled five years ago. The food, the culture, the architecture, the woman, the cars, everything was better in Europe. The United States has nothing on this incredible continent.
We walked through the airport and grabbed our bags. It was difficult to smuggle guns, ammo, and the other weapons we needed through customs, so we were only able to grab one handgun, a knife, and a clip of ammo for each of us. I lifted my suitcase off the conveyer belt effortlessly while I made a mental note to pick up more weapons before we went to the bar, but Angelo's phone starting ringing loudly, bringing me out of my thoughts. He pulled it out of his pocket and unlocked it, and I watched as my friends brown eyes went wide.
"Boss, I just got alerted that our Fatale just walked into Trou de Glorie. She's alone." Angelo said seriously as he showed me his phone.
I looked down at it to see the blonde haired beauty opening the large red door to the bar, and looking directly at the street camera before slowly walking inside. It was as if her hazel eyes were staring right into my soul, making me sharply intake a breath.
"Do you think she was the one who tried to shut your system down?" Gio huffed as he struggled to carry his over packed bag off of the conveyer belt. He dropped it onto the smooth floor, and it landed with a loud thud before falling over.
"Most likely. In the footage from the police department, she avoided looking into the cameras, and now she's looking directly at it." Angelo said as his eyebrows furrowed.
"She's baiting us." I stated as I started to walk towards the exit, Angelo and Gio following closely behind.
"So what are we going to do?" Gio asked as we reached the side of the street. He flailed his arms in the air rapidly, trying to get the attention of some of the taxi's passing by. The drivers would look at him, and ignore the obnoxious gesture as they drove past him.
"Fuckers!" Gio growled in annoyance as he walked over to a tree, bent down, and picked up a large rock.
"We go to the bar, stay low-key, and have a conversation with her." I shrugged while Gio quickly walked over to us, and threw the rock across the street, aiming it at a taxi cab. The rock hit the windshield of a taxi driving by, shattering the glass, and causing the car to skid to a stop while honking their horn loudly, creating a scene.
"Low-key huh?" Angelo said as we looked at our best friend as he quickly walked over to the taxi.
"Besides, how are we going to convince her to help us?" Angelo said as we watched the taxi driver get out of the car and start yelling at Gio in French.
"It's not like we can just walk up to her and say, 'Hi, you don't know us and we don't know you, but can you pretty please help us gain control over one of the largest and most deadly Mafias in the world?'" Angelo said as he puffed his chest out and imitated my deep voice. We grabbed our bags and walked towards Gio and the screaming taxi driver.
"We'll play it by ear." I said calmly as we opened the trunk of the Taxi, and placed our bags inside as Gio continued to scream at the man.
"Such a marvelous plan." Angelo said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes and closed the truck of the car.
"ME. NO. UNDER. STAND. YOU!" Gio screamed in the face of the French driver as he gestured with his hands dramatically, trying to communicate to the driver.
"Speaking slower and louder won't make him understand you either, Gio." I said calmly as I walked over to them.
"Monsieur, je suis désolé pour mon frère. Il est mentalement défié. Nous allons payer pour le pare-brise et doubler notre tarif."(Translation: Sir, I'm sorry for my brother. He is mentally challenged. We will pay for the windshield and double our fare.) I said smoothly as I calmed down the furious taxi driver. It seemed to work, and the driver stomped towards the car and got in the drivers seat, slamming the door shut and making the car shake.
"What did you just say?" Gio asked as he opened the backseat of the car.
"Just that you're mentally challenged." I said as a shrugged and smirked while got in the front seat.
"Fucking asshole." Gio muttered as Angelo laughed as they slid into the leather seats.
We quickly dropped off our luggage to the hotel, grabbed our guns, and made our way to the bar which was conveniently located only fifteen minutes away from where we were staying. We paid the driver double the fare and gave him extra money to fix the windshield before we watched him speed off into the distance.
I looked at the familiar red door, and anticipation coursed through my body. It was midnight, and the streets of Paris were glistening underneath the moonlight. It was much to quiet for my liking, not a single soul occupied the streets.
I walked towards the large red door, and opened it to reveal a dark and smokey bar that looked much classier on the inside than it did on the outside. A piano player was situated towards the back of the bar, the spotlight on her as she played a smooth jazz melody that filled the air. Patrons crowded the room, making it difficult to locate our blonde beauty within the sea of people.
I slowly started to make my way to the bar, my eyes scanning the room for any sign of our Fatale. We finally reached the bar, and was greeted by a woman who wore more makeup than necessary. We sat down at the bar top, and placed an order for three whiskey neats as we continued to look through the crowd of people.
"Haven't seen you around here before." The woman sitting next to Gio said over the music. She had a thick Caribbean accent, and her hands and arms were covered with intricate tattoos.
"Come here often?" Gio said as he turned his full attention to the woman as he smirked at her. Angelo and I rolled our eyes, knowing that our friend is a sucker for bronze skinned women, and that it was now up to us to continue our search.
"Is that suposto be a pick up line?" The woman asked as she furrowed her eyebrows and sipped on her drink, which I assumed to be scotch on the rocks.
"Only if you want it to be." Gio said as she smiled at her, making me face palm myself at his nonexistent attention span. Throw a beautiful woman in front of him, and he's a goner.
"You really expect me to fall head over heels for that pathetic attempt of flirting?" The woman laughed as she threw her head back in amusement.
"Well that pathetic attempt made you laugh, so I guess I'm doing something right." Gio said as he raised his eyebrow at the woman.
"Alright, touché smooth guy. Where you from?" She asked as she turned over to face us.
"New York. I'm Gio by the way. These are my brothers, Damon and Angelo." Gio said as he pointed to us before he grabbed his drink and turned on his stool to face her.
"Rebel. Nice to meet ya." She said as she raised her drink slightly and took another sip.
"So what brings you to Paris, Gio?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow at us. Angelo and I paid no mind to their conversation as we continued to scan the room, with no luck.
"Business. We're here looking for someone, a regular here actually." Gio said as I shot him a glare. He could never keep his mouth fucking shut when it came to women.
"Really? I'm here quite a bit, maybe I can help ya. You got a picture?" The woman asked as she smiled and tilted her head.
Gio looked over at me, and I hesitated for a moment before I nodded at Angelo. Something about this woman made me feel uneasy, but if she brought us one step closer to finding our girl, then I had no choice. He quickly pulled out his phone out of his pocket, and found the picture of the blonde beauty. He held out his phone, showing the strange woman the picture as we watched her raise an eyebrow and tilt her head to the side.
"Hmm... I actually just saw her." Rebel said as she looked back up to us and Angelo put his phone away.
"Where?" I asked, my full attention on the woman who was sipping her drink again.
"She usually isn't out here in the main area. She always goes to the back, I saw her walk through that door a few minutes ago. If you hurry, you might still be able to catch her." Rebel said with a smile as she put her now empty drink down and pointed to a black door at the end of the bar.
"Thanks for your help." Angelo said as he looked at me and nodded.
"Well my dear, it was a pleasure." Gio said as he grabbed her hand gently, and attempted to kiss the back of it.
"Don't. Touch. Me." Rebel said slowly as she emphasized her words and quickly retracted her hand while giving Gio an annoyed look before turning around on her stool and walking away.
Gio stood up with a smirk on his face before he looked over at us. We all stared at the black door before I made the first move to walk towards it. I quickly maneuvered through the crowd of people, Angelo and Gio struggling to keep up behind me. I grasped the handle of the door and flung it open.
It led to the dimly lit alleyway behind the bar. I walked out, and looked around while I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. Angelo and Gio walked out behind me, and the door slammed closed behind us. I heard two loud grunts come from behind me, followed by two bodies hitting the floor. I turned around to see our blonde beauty looking at me with a smirk on her face.
"Looking for me?" Her silky and seductive voice said before she punched me in the face, making my spiral into the dark abyss of unconsciousness.