DeLuca (Mafia Romance)

It took me longer to reach the bathrooms than I thought it would and I was about to pee myself when it was finally my turn. I washed my hands and touched up my lipstick. My hair had held up pretty well throughout the night and I made a mental note to buy some more of that hairspray Elena bought me. I made the mistake of zipping up my clutch and not paying attention to my surroundings when I left the bathroom and I ran right into a hard wall of muscle. I looked up and was about to apologize to whoever I just tried to bulldoze when hands roughly grabbed my shoulders and pushed me back into the single stall bathroom.

I started to scream but a hand clamped over my mouth, and I saw through the space under his arm that the hallway that had been packed when I went into the bathroom was now completely deserted. My body was slammed against the wall opposite the door and my head smacked against the tile. I looked up to see Jackson’s face, but it was twisted with anger.

“You little cocktease!” he growled at me, “You’ve been flaunting that ass all night long. It’s time to pay up.”

I whimpered and slid to the floor trying to make myself as small as possible, I couldn’t reconcile the angry man in front of me with the nice guy I had spent the last few hours with. I had thought he was harmless and just out for a good time. Obviously I had made a massive error in judgment. When he started to unbuckle his belt I knew there was no way I was going to get out of this in one piece by cowering in a corner.

I will never be a victim again.

I had made a vow to myself and I was going to honor it. The smack to the back of the head coupled with the very real and extremely scary situation I was facing sobered me up quick. Think Mia, think! I tried to scream but Jackson backhanded me before my voice even left my mouth. “Don’t even think about screaming or I will fucking kill you, bitch,” Jackson said in an eerily calm voice.

“O-okay, I’m sorry,” I whispered, tonguing my lip that had been busted open. I felt blood drip down my chin.

“You aren’t yet but you will be, I’m going to teach you a lesson about being a fucking tease.” At that he unzipped his pants and started to pull them down along with his underwear.

Fuck! Think, Mia! No, no, no this can’t happen.

He grabbed a chunk of my hair and jerked my head back and I let out a yelp giving him the access he wanted to my mouth. He shoved his dick past my lips and I did the only think I could think to do, I bit down, hard. Jackson howled and punched me in the side of the head.

The force of the impact his fist made when he hurled it at my head caused me to fall sideways to the floor. My ears were ringing, but by some act of God I kept consciousness.

I have to get out of here.

I started to scramble across the floor towards the door on my hands and knees. I didn’t look back to see what Jackson was doing. He was still screaming at the top of his lungs and shouting obscenities. I reached the door, still on my hands and knees, and fumbled for the handle.

Just as I was pulling the handle down a hand clamped down on my ankle and pulled my leg from under me causing my chin to smack against the tile floor sending pain through my entire face. No, I am not a victim, I thought again. I kicked back with my other foot as hard as I could, and felt more than heard the sickening squish as my six inch heel sank into something soft. The hand that was holding my other foot slackened but I didn’t stop kicking. Over and over and over again I kicked with everything I had, making contact each time.

Once I was completely out of breath I let myself look down at Jackson. It was a gruesome sight, his face was unrecognizable and he wasn’t moving. My shoes, legs, and the bottom of my dress were covered in his blood which was pooling beneath his head. My stomach rolled and the alcohol I had drank throughout the night made a reappearance on the bathroom floor.

When my stomach was empty and the spasms had subsided, I heard pounding on the bathroom door. My body was spent and I used what little energy I had left to reach up and open the door. I was immediately pushed back into the room and, unfortunately, directly into the pool of Jackson’s blood.

Angelo appeared in the door with Gina right on his heels. “Oh my god!” she exclaimed before turning and puking in the hallway. I didn’t blame her, the inside of the bathroom was not a sight for the faint of heart.

He pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed dial, “Boss, we have a problem. We’re going to need a cleaner. Yes,” he said, his eyes scanning my body and the scene around me. “She’ll need to see a doctor but I don’t think she needs a hospital. The bathroom at the club. Sal is making sure no one gets through. Yes, Sir,” he said and disconnected the call. He turned to Gina, “Go out to Sal and tell him the Boss is on his way. Enzo will take you up to your room.”

When Gina didn’t respond he raised his voice, “Now!” Gina jumped and rushed down the hall. I was thankful to Angelo for making her go, she didn’t need to see this.

Angelo knelt down next to me and took my face in his hands, wiping away the tears that were streaming down my face with his thumbs. I wasn’t sobbing but tears were flowing from my eyes unchecked. I had killed someone, again. And yet, again I didn’t feel any remorse. Of course this was self-defense, but I didn’t have to keep kicking him after that first time. He had let me go, but I hadn’t just wanted him to let go, I wanted him to pay. Angelo scooped me up and set me on the counter. He started to clean me up but I took the paper towels away from him.

“I can do it, its fine.”

Angelo took a deep breath, “I am so sorry Mia, I was supposed to be watching you. This never should have happened.”

“Stop,” I said, my voice tired but firm, “This is not your fault, it’s mine. I should have been paying more attention, I know better than to let my guard down like that.”

“It was my job-” Angelo started, looking kind of pathetic and a lot sorry.

“That is enough! I don’t want to hear another word on the subject. It is done. All you need to worry about is how we’re going to clean it up.” I have no idea where that came from, I sounded like Carlo, but it worked. Angelo hung his head and started to turn away, at that same moment Carlo came bursting through the door and zeroed in on me. Angelo quickly got out of his way as he came straight for me.

Carlo took my head in his hands, much like Angelo had done, and looked me over. When he was satisfied that I would live he turned his head and took stock of the room. After a moment his eyes fell back to mine, “What happened?” he asked, his voice was hard but I could tell he was trying to stay calm for my sake.

“He caught me coming out of the bathroom and tried to force himself on me.” I said, my voice miraculously steady.

Who the hell is this girl? This isn’t me.

Although I suppose I had never been put in a situation like this before, so how was I supposed to know how I would react. The look that crossed Carlo’s face was positively terrifying, he looked murderous.

The hands that were holding me began to shake as he turned to take a closer look at Jackson’s prone body on the floor. It was at that point that I realized in my fit of rage I had kicked him onto his back exposing the front of his body and his open pants. His flaccid penis was on full display, bloody from when I had bit him. Carlo must have concluded what had happened from the grisly scene but he still turned back to me and demanded, “Tell me what happened.”

I cleared my throat and looked down at my lap. No, I thought, I will not be ashamed of this, I have no reason to be.

I raised my eyes and looked Carlo dead on, just like I had the day I killed my father. “He grabbed me and tried-” I took a deep breath, keeping eye contact with him and finished, “He forced his way in my mouth and I bit him. He hit me and I tried to get to the door but he grabbed me. I kicked him in the face with my heels, and I didn’t stop until he was dead.”

His jaw ticked with barely concealed anger and with sharp nod and kissed my forehead. “You did what you had to, I’m proud of you,” he said and in one swift movement he turned from me pulling his gun and aiming it at Angelo’s face. Angelo didn’t flinch, it’s as if he was expecting this to be his punishment.

“Stop!” I screamed and tugged at Carlo’s free arm that had dropped to my waist.

Carlo looked back at me, his face cold. “He was in charge of your safety and he failed. You were assaulted. You could have been killed or worse.”

My mind was spinning. I knew Carlo had a point, but I also knew that Angelo was the closest thing he had to a friend. He was the closest to Carlo out of all of his men, that’s why Carlo had trusted him to look after me so I blurted out the first thing that came to me. “I want Angelo moved to my personal security detail.”

“What?” Carlo asked incredulous. Angelo stayed stoic and silent.

“You heard me,” I said, my voice stronger than it had been before as I compiled my argument. It was going to have to be a good one if I was going to convince Carlo and spare Angelo. “He made a critical mistake tonight, and I guarantee you that he will die before he ever fails me again.” Carlo stared at me utterly dumbstruck. “Am I right, Angelo?” I asked.

“Yes, ma’am.”

I turned my attention back to Carlo, “See?” I asked.

“But, I have to make an example of him. My men cannot think that I would let this kind of disaster go unpunished.”

I was beginning to get angry now, this wasn’t about his men this was about me. “Your men don’t need to know what went on tonight, the only people that need to know are the people that were here. I don’t need everybody knowing my business.” My voice was starting to raise, “Do you understand me?” I couldn’t believe I was talking to him like this but I was enraged. This was my problem and I’d be damned if he was going to waltz in here thinking he could make it about him.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Carlo was silent for a moment, mulling over my words. “Fine,” he said, and turned to Angelo. “If you ever step one toe out of line again I will shoot you dead on the spot, cousin or not.”

He was his cousin?

“Understood, Boss. I’ll go check the ETA on the cleaner.” Angelo said and exited the bathroom quickly.

“Come on, we’ll go out the back way and use the service elevator,” I thought he was going to help me down off the counter but Carlo just scooped me up and carried me out of the club. I was thankful. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was get cleaned up and sleep. “Don’t fall asleep on me Mia, you need to stay awake until the doctor has a chance to check you out, you may have a concussion.”

“Okay,” I said sleepily.

When we got to the service elevator he produced a keycard, swiping it, the keypad beeped and turned green. Carlo punched in a code and the doors opened. I nodded off and when he jostled me again I lifted my head and looked around. We must have changed elevators because this one had mirrored walls and I caught my reflection.

I look like hell.

My hair was a knotted mess from when Jackson had grabbed me, my face swollen, a bruise already starting to show on my chin. To top it off make-up, blood and dried tears were smeared all over. I laid my head back on Carlo’s chest and breathed in his cologne, it calmed me down and lulled me back to sleep.