DeLuca (Mafia Romance)

“Michael,” she said in stern tone, “Mia is a grown woman and from the looks of it she is the one running the show here. If you have something to discuss with her, you can do it in private later.” She didn’t as much as flinch when he glared at her for a full minute before taking his seat again. Go Pauline! “Now, who wants coffee?” I had been so distracted by her interruption I hadn’t even realized she was holding a tray when she walked in.

“Thank you,” I said to Pauline as she handed me a coffee, giving me a look that told me we would be having words later but she wasn’t going to say anything in front of my men. I returned her look with a wan smile and an appreciative nod.

“As I was saying, Ivan approached me that night and gave me his card. He told me the club was holding auditions for new dancers this Friday and to come in if I was interested. I was wearing a wig and hid most of my face but I’m sure with the video I sent he’s put two and two together and knows the girl in the elevator was me.”

“Does he know what you look like? Without the wig and all, I mean,” Antonio asked.

“I have no idea. Carlo kept me pretty well hidden but given what happened today I think it’s safe to say he’s probably gotten his hands on my picture.”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“Fuck,” Angelo exclaimed.

“I’ll do it,” Frankie said quickly.

“Like hell you will,” Enzo seethed.

“It’s not up to you,” she glared at him. “I can totally do this,” she said turning to me.

“Are you sure? You’d have to audition. We’ll need you to get us a count of how many are in the club and you’ll have to get us in through the back entrance. I doubt you’ll be left alone long enough to do that before the audition so you’ll have to gain access by actually getting hired on.”

“Pfft, that’s easy. I’ve been taking pole-dancing classes for the past three years. I’ve got this.”

“What the fuck?” Enzo growled next to her, his face turning a strange shade of reddish purple.

“What? Lots of women do it nowadays. It’s an awesome core workout,” she looked truly perplexed by his anger at her preferred form of exercise.

“You can’t be a stripper.”

“Wait, are you saying I’m not hot enough to be a stripper?” she asked her eyes nearly bugging out of her head.

“What, no, I just, shit!” he floundered, there was no way he was coming back from that one. It was almost funny watching him try to find the right answer to the question, finally resigning to the fact that he lost that round.

“Perfect,” I said quickly before anyone else could protest, “Frankie will go in and audition tomorrow. Ivan said the auditions were at seven and the club opens at nine. The question is, do we go in before it opens or after?” I asked pulling out a copy of the layout I had Frankie print out before we left the estate, smoothing it out on the coffee table.

“If we go in before the place opens we run the risk of getting caught without an excuse before we get to Carlo. We should wait until the club opens. At least that way if we run into someone we can explain ourselves without drawing too much attention.” Antonio spoke up.

“But the possibility of civilian casualties increases tenfold if we go in when it’s open.” Enzo reminded us.

“Enzo’s right, I’m not willing to risk more attention by getting an innocent bystander mixed up in this. We go in after Frankie auditions and before the club opens. From what I can tell, this is the dressing room here,” I said pointing to the room on the blue prints. “There’s an entrance just outside of it that leads to the side alleyway. That’s where Frankie will let our men in. My best guess would be that they’re holding Carlo in the basement. It’s the only space other than the office that isn’t used for the business.”

“Here, let me see that,” Antonio said reaching over to pull the paper towards him. “There’s a hallway right here. It looks like that will lead to the stairs down to the basement.”

Over the next hour we hashed out our plan. Sal would provide a distraction at the front entrance hopefully diverting the attention of the security team while Frankie sneaked Angelo, Antonio and myself in the back entrance. Enzo, Matteo, and Leo would stay back in the car with Mouse. As soon as she let us in, Frankie would go down to where Mouse and the others would be parked and wait for us. Once we confirmed we had Carlo they would meet us at the entry of the alleyway.

“She needs a fake ID,” Angelo said, “I’m sure that Ivan’s business isn’t on the up and up but she looks underage and they might ask for it.”

“Mouse can handle that,” I responded off handedly.

“He’s just going to whip up an ID? They have holograms now, it’s not that simple,” Frankie said.

I laughed, “That’s how Gina and I met Mouse. He makes the best IDs. That’s how he was able to get away without getting a job while we were in college,” I said offhandedly. It wasn’t until the words left my mouth that I realized I had just brought up Gina in front of her parents. I looked over at Michael and Pauline. His head was down but she was smiling softly at me, tears glistening in her eyes. Sadness washed over me. These were good people, they didn’t deserve to lose their daughter like that. Pauline cleared her throat, breaking the silence before I had a chance to wallow in my guilt.

“Okay, so tomorrow we’ll take Frankie to the salon and shopping while the guys get everything else set up,” she said smiling brightly.

I just stared at her like she had grown another head. How the fuck could she think of shopping at a time like this?

She rolled her eyes, “For such a smart girl, sometimes…” She trailed off shaking her head, “Did either of you bring clothes fit for an exotic dancer?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

I blinked a few times and glanced at Frankie, “Don’t look at me, I didn’t even pack a bag,” she said.

“That’s what I thought. Don’t worry, I know a place we can go to get an outfit and shoes. We’ll go to the salon and get you waxed and your nails done and probably a blowout. I’ll do your makeup when we get back,” she said simply. I was still stuck on the fact that she knew a place to buy a stripper outfit. She must have read my thoughts on my face because she sighed and gave me a condescending look, “I wasn’t always a wife and mother, Mia. I was young once too so stop giving me that look.”

“Sorry,” I rushed to apologize. “Let’s try to get some sleep. We can go over this again in the morning,” I said standing up and stretching out my back. The men followed suit and Pauline ushered everyone to their rooms.

I was exhausted but as I lay in bed that night I couldn’t get my brain to turn off. I kept running through the events of the day over and over. There wasn’t anything myself or anyone else could have done differently to change the outcome. I turned onto my back and stared at my ring, reflecting the moonlight coming in through the window, casting little beams of light across the ceiling. Glancing over to the nightstand, the clock read 2:37 am. I realized I had been separated from Carlo for just shy of fourteen hours and each moment felt worse than the last. Squeezing my eyes shut, I sent up a prayer that our plan would work and in less than twenty-four hours I would have him back.