CHAPTER 4

The morning came slow but heavy. My body was stiff from sleeping in a weird position but my mind didn’t feel like it had rested at all.

I blinked a few times trying to make sense of where I was. With the desk under my head, papers still open, I immediately figured out where I was.

That cold empty feeling in my chest hadn’t gone away, it had only grown overnight. The light was still on, a soft orange glow in the corner of the room making everything look more fragile than it actually was.

I sat up, rubbed my eyes and looked around the door to find the door creaked open. I didn’t flinch. It was Marco walking in carrying a steaming cup.

He didn’t smile. Neither did he ask me how I slept. He just placed the cup in front of me and said “you didn’t move all night.”

I looked at him. “I didn’t sleep, that's why I didn’t move.”

He nodded like he expected that answer and leaned against the wall sipping from his own cup.

His eyes didn’t leave mine for a second. It was like he was trying to figure me out. I reached for the cup and drank the coffee. It was bitter and strong exactly what I needed to push through the weight in my chest.

“Luciano wants you downstairs in ten minutes.”, he said and then turned around and walked out without waiting for a reply.

I stood up slowly, stretched my back and walked to my room.

When I got there, I splashed cold water on my face to wash away the tension. Then I changed into jeans and a plain shirt.

I made my way downstairs, my footsteps echoing through the hallway. When I reached the bottom step I saw him.

He wasn’t alone. Two tall men stood with him both covered in ink muscles built from something more dangerous than gym hours.

One of them had a cigarette in his mouth and even though we were inside he didn’t put it out.

“This is her”, Luciano said when I stopped near them. They both looked at me like I was some tiny object in a glass box, something to be examined but not touched.

“She’s coming with us today.”

“With you where?” I asked before I could stop myself.

Luciano didn’t answer. He just turned and started walking and somehow that was my cue.

I followed him out to the SUV. Marco was already inside the passenger seat. I climbed in the back next to Luciano and one of the inked men drove while the other followed in another car.

We didn’t speak the entire ride the silence was thick not tense just loaded like there were things to say but no point in saying them.

We left the main streets, took narrow alleys roads that twisted through forgotten parts of the city and then pulled up outside a warehouse.

From the outside it looked abandoned. It had broken windows and rusted walls. It was a place no one would look twice at but I knew it was a lie.

Inside was another world. Bright light crates, stacked like puzzles, men moving fast and sharp.

Orders were being shouted and obeyed without hesitation. There was no confusion. Everything was running smoothly like a machine, and at the center of it was Luciano.

He walked through the chaos and people moved for him like the sea parting for a storm.

No one questioned him. No one dared. I followed him closely, not wanting to be left behind.

He led me upstairs to a glass room that overlooked the floor below, and from there he simply said “watch.”

So I did. I watched everything. I saw the way men bowed their heads when they spoke to him. How they only spoke when they were spoken to. How money moved from one hand to another with barely a glance. How crates were opened, checked, and resealed. How information was passed in folded papers, or quick whispers.

I watched him run an empire without raising his voice, without showing emotion.

“What am I supposed to do?” I asked finally and turned to him.

“Learn”, he said “understand how this works. Who answers to who. Who controls what and most importantly, who doesn’t hesitate.”

“And what about me?”, I asked. “ what do I control?”

“Right now nothing.” he said bluntly “But if you’re smart and you last, maybe one day, something but first you have to prove yourself.”

“How do I do that?” I asked.

“By not dying.” he said with a straight face and walked out of the room.

I followed him again, my thoughts racing. We visited another place later that afternoon. It was a quiet building that looked like a bar.

But inside it was something else. It was filled with velvet chairs, dim lighting, music that didn’t play too loud, and a backroom full of cash being counted like it was candy.

“This is clean money from dirty pockets.” Luciano told me. “They spend big to feel powerful and we take a piece of that power in return.”

It wasn’t a lecture. It was information. Raw and real.

By the time we got back to the mansion, night had settled in. The sky was dark. The air was colder than I remembered and my legs felt like they’d walked a hundred miles.

I climbed the stairs slowly and when I reached the hallway Marco was there again leaning against the wall, arms crossed, eyes on me, like he was waiting for me.

“You survived today.”, he said “not bad.”

“Well, it didn’t feel like I did.” I replied and for a second his lips almost twitched into a smile but it didn’t last. He just nodded and walked away again.

At the top of the stairs Luciano stopped, turned and looked at me.

“You did better than I expected. Make sure not to ruin it tomorrow.”

Then he disappeared into his room like the day hadn’t happened at all. I stood there for a moment unsure what to feel.

Then I walked into my room, closed the door and leaned against it. Everything felt different. I wasn’t the same girl who walked into this mansion a few days ago.

Something had shifted inside me.

And whether that was good or bad I had no idea yet.