14

"I'm not in trouble, am I?" I asked as I shut the door of the car and strapped in my seat belt.

"Why would you think that?" Lorenzo asked as the car purred to life and he drove off.

"Because you could have sent someone else to come to pick me up, but you didn't. Were you afraid that I would have run away and you lost the deal, or did you just miss me?" I grinned.

"The deal was you and Clara escaping; if only you left, it doesn't count. And why would I miss you? You've been a thorn in my side since we met." He said, completely focused on the road.

"Come on, don't be shy. According to a certain someone, you've been talking quite fondly about me." I wiggled my brows at him.

"What nonsense has Pablo been spewing now?" He groaned.

How did he know I had spoken with Pablo? Didn't know, didn't care. He probably had cameras watching me, or Sylvia had reported my every move to him.

"Well, it's not nonsense if he was saying the truth. Was he right? Did you really talk about me?" I queried and nudged his arm.

"Don't nudge me unless you're hungry to die." He hissed, glaring at me for a brief millisecond. "So, I might have mentioned you once, but for barely a second."

"Are you sure it was for a few seconds? Pablo said he came to see me because he was curious about who caught your attention." I taunted, my smile growing almost as large as my face.

"As if Pablo has a reason to go to the club. He's a regular. And you seem so desperate to know if I spoke to others about you. If I didn't know better, I would have thought you were craving my validation and attention." He teased.

"Not happening, sir. I'm just glad to know I left such a strong impression on you. Not surprising though; I have that effect on people. No one can resist my charm." I boasted, flipping my hair over my shoulder.

"Narcissist." Lorenzo joked.

"Takes one to know one. Besides, it doesn't matter if you don't think I am; Pablo said I was, and I trust him to say the truth about my dazzling nature more than you." I giggled.

"So, how was Pablo? Was he good to you? Did he make you uncomfortable?" He asked, and I scrunched my brow at the tiny, bitter growl in his words.

"I think you're supposed to be asking if I was good to him, and yes, I was, and no, he didn't make me uncomfortable. He was polite and a gentleman."

"That snake!" He scoffed and I tilted my head to the side.

“That’s not a nice thing to say.”

"But it’s the truth. It was all a façade. There's a reason he's called the Brute." He explained.

"The Brute?" I echoed. That didn't seem like the nice older man I spent hours talking to.

"Pablo is the Don of the Vipers. He's known to end those that cross him in the most diabolical and, well, brutal way possible. That's why he's called the Brute."

"Good for him. At least he gives good tips." I shrugged and patted my purse.

"You don't seem surprised to know he's a Don." Lorenzo eyed me as he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Why would I? Sylvia already said a few people that came to the club were part of the mafioso, so it wasn't surprising. And I'm already involved with one Don; what were the chances that I wouldn't meet another one?" I shrugged and stifled my yawn.

"Tired?" he asked.

"A little bit. I stayed up the whole night doing that annoying assignment. It was so difficult that even AI had problems with it." I complained and rubbed my eyes.

"Go to sleep. I'll wake you up when we get home." He said softly.

"Ok." I mumbled, and my eyes fluttered shut the next second.

#Day 8#

I felt a small tap on my arm, and my eyes flung open to see Clara hovering over me.

“It’s time,” she said.

"Sh*t, I can't believe I dozed off. I knew I shouldn't have lain down." I mumbled as I sat up from my bed.

"It's alright. If I had come back home an hour ago, I would have been knocked out too." She gave me a small smile and helped me to my feet.

"Are you sure Lorenzo won't be home soon?" I whispered to her, and she nodded.

"The party hasn't even started yet. If everything goes according to plan, we'll be out of Sinclair before he realises we are gone." She said, and she handed me a backpack identical to hers.

"It has to. Where's your phone? Did you leave it in your room?" I grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room.

"Yup." She nodded.

Perfect. We couldn't have him tracking our move when he noticed that we were gone.

I held my breath as Clara and I slipped through the large building, and thanks to the layout we had literally carved into our brains, we evaded all the cameras and security alarms scattered all over.

In a few heart pounding minutes, we were out of the Raimondo mansion.

"No one is following us." She sighed, looking over her shoulder as we jogged through the empty streets. "I can't believe we did it."

"I can, but it's not over yet. Until we're in and out of the subway, I'm not letting my guard down." I mumbled.

~•~•~•~•~•~

"How do I look?" Clara said, taking my attention from the dirty mirror of the club's dingy bathroom we had snuck into to change our clothes.

Incognito was the best way to travel if we wanted to get out of the devil's city.

"Who are you, beautiful stranger, and what did you do with my friend?" I teased, eyeing her from top to bottom.

She had changed from her former clothes to a pair of black baggy pants, a crop top, and a hoodie. Her brown hair was tucked into a blonde wig, and her eyes were hidden under a pair of thick lenses.

It wasn't a ten out of ten disguise, but she did look different. Hopefully enough to stay under the radar in case Lorenzo discovered that we were gone before we were out of the city.

"You're so silly." She giggled and ogled at me. "You look different too."

"And good. I look good with red hair. Maybe I should dye my hair." I grinned, twirling a strand of my red wig. Just like her, I was in a disguise, and damn, I looked good too.

"Let's focus on getting out first, then you can do whatever you want with your hair." She said and walked to the door.

Clara and I blended into the crowd of gyrating bodies and alcohol, making our way to the exit and into the street.

My eyes darted around, searching for anything out of the unusual as we neared the subway.

Nothing.

Almost there. Almost there. Once we turned right...

I held Clara's hand as our pace increased. I could taste our freedom already, and yum, it tasted like a shocked Lorenzo and ten million.

Three.

Two.

one.

We turned right, and all my excitement withered.

For f*ck's sake, not this bastard!