CHAPTER THREE

Ricci Marino had only been promoted from Associate to Soldier for a short time. He had been part of the De Luca family since he was a baby. His parents and the parents of the De Luca brothers were always in close contact. Although Ricci enjoyed and appreciated the privilege of being an Associate of the crew for many years he eventually outgrew the ranks and proved himself loyal enough to step up to more important tasks. Tasks such as bailing the brothers out of lockup.

John O'Connor let out a small sigh of frustration the moment Ricci stepped towards the desk. He knew very well why he was here and who he was here to bail out. "Always the same story with you punks". John stated practically throwing a pen at Ricci before he even had a chance to speak. "I know why you're here" he continued in an aggravated manor, "no need to even explain it. Just sign the paper work and pay the amount stated. As usual I'm sure you're paying cash tonight?" Ricci smiled, "yes Sir. Cash it is"

As Ricci nonchalantly signed the appropriate paper work a guard proceeded to unlock the male holding cell and released Giovanni. "Hey Ricci" Giovanni called out to him with a cheeky smirk on his face, "ask O'Connor for this lovely ladies paperwork, Rosalia. We're bailing her out". Ricci raised an eyebrow breaking his attention from the paperwork and over to Rosalia whose jaw was practically hitting the floor.

To say she was stunned could not even describe the look on her face at that moment. She had practically no idea who this man was and why he had suddenly taken quite an interest in her.

Officer John O'Connor on the other hand had suddenly felt as though he had had all he could take from Giovanni and his crew for the night. "I don't think so" he chimed in abruptly immediately refusing to organise the paperwork. He looked over at Rosalia who was still in the women's holding cell. "Listen honey you have no idea who this guy is, I mean it when I say it's safer for you to stay in that cell than leave with him" he pointed to Giovanni with a look of utter disgust. If it wasn't clear to Giovanni yet that John absolutely despised him, it would be now.

"Right" Giovanni laughed, "she would be safer getting sexually harassed by your boys than leaving with me?" John could not believe the colourful accusation suddenly escaping his mouth. "Sexually harassed?" He repeated angrily, "you've got quite an imagination on you!" He looked back at Rosalia who was now holding onto the cell bars tightly intently watching the men.

She really had no idea who she could trust or not, she did recognize though that there was no way she could continue to stay in this cell. This was no place for her; she had never been arrested, especially over a crime she did not commit. Her faith in these particular police officers was simply shattered, they hadn't even allowed her the decency to explain herself or speak to the many witnesses outside the bar. They identified her and a gun and had immediately come to their conclusions.

"I want to leave". Rosalia who was now standing right next to Ricci smiled as he collected his few belonging from the desk and placed them in his pocket. "Looks like the lady has made her decision" he looked over at John who was shaking his head in dismay.

"Rosalia, you have no idea what you're doing, if you would just wait it out-"

"No", she cut him off abruptly. "Let me out now, I'm leaving". The moment Ricci finalised the paperwork the guard was instructed to let Rosalia Bernardi out of the holding cell as John gathered her belongings and placed them before her on the desk. "My gun?" She asked with curiosity wondering why it was not being returned to her. "Gun?" Giovanni and Ricci asked simultaneously with a hint of shock in their voices.

"Miss Bernardi once we have conducted the appropriate checks on your firearm and checked on your registration details we will give you a call to come and collect it". John stated explaining the protocol to her. "I'm sure you'll come to the conclusion that it was never fired seeing though as I explained there were no bullets in it but anyway..." Her voice trailing off not wanting to revisit the anger building up in her once again.

Once the three of them walked a few meters away from the building, Rosalia suddenly stopped and sighed an immense sigh of relief. "Thank you" she said quietly yet with a large amount of gratitude. "I will absolutely pay you back" Giovanni smiled and shook his head as if she were speaking total nonsense. Where he came from women did not pay men back, at least that's what his mum told him. "Absolutely not Rosalia" he replied almost offended, "I can most definitely afford it".

'Arrogant much?' Rosalia thought to herself noticing the smirk on his face. "I have no doubt you can Giovanni" she stated back, "that doesn't mean you get to do it without repayment".

"Let me drive you home", Giovanni a stated now changing the subject. He found there was no point arguing about something so minimal, he knew he would never let her win as he simply was not going to take any cash she offered. "I have to get back to work, I don't even know if the cops had the decency to close up, I was practically dragged out" he nodded and motioned to Ricci. "Ricci go get the car and bring it around" Ricci nodded obediently taking the hint to get lost quickly.

"I'll drop you off at work then" Giovanni stated drawing his attention back to her. He was suddenly very aware of her nervousness. She was no longer walking next to him and had stopped dead in her tracks after she had thanked him. "That's really not necessary" she said back almost in a whisper, she was very nervous. "Look Rosalia" as he spoke and as he stepped forward, she took two steps back.

"I'm not going to hurt you" he assured her quickly stopping his advances towards her. "I can't leave you here on the street, it's late and dark and I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving a woman out here. If you would just let me take you to your work place I'd feel much better about it". She looked down nervously at her hands; she didn't even notice she was spinning one of the rings on her left middle finger in a nervous manner.

"I'm not leaving you here" Giovanni continued authoritatively, "I'll either wait here with you for a cab or you can let me drive you back to work, either way I can't walk away Rosalia". She nodded understanding where he was coming from, she didn't necessarily trust him, but she could understand his reasoning and felt as though he was being genuine about the current safety situation.