Page 11 of Stolen Kisses
I pulled in a breath and nodded. “Thank you, I will.”
On that note I left.
Moving on to the next mission.
Chapter 4
Maria
* * *
As I stepped outside the cool night air caressed my cheeks.
I glanced over at the brothel’s entrance and my heart squeezed. I couldn’t believe that I had to come back here. It was the best day ever when I had escaped at nineteen. I never went to college and didn’t plan to. My apartment had been my freedom.
Being back here was a massive slap in the face. Showing how far I’d gone in life. So far backwards and now I had a child to worry about too.
My child I had just left with my evil aunt.
I made a move to go. I just had to keep my focus and keep moving. I couldn’t afford to waste a second, not even to think.
I had two grand left and that wouldn’t be enough.
I hoped this would be a quick thing, but not over too quickly as in them saying the job wasn’t available anymore or that they didn’t think I was suited to the role.
I hated looking for work. The last time I had to do it was when Franco went to prison. Looking for work as a single woman with no kids was hard enough, but looking for work with a then eighteen month baby was horrible. It felt the same now.
We’d had a wonderful house and money galore back in Florida. All of that was seized by the feds when Franco was taken into custody. The investigation unveiled where our money was coming from—fraud, scams, and drugs. Drugs big time.
The drug part was something I found out about the year prior to his imprisonment.
I’d overheard a conversation I shouldn’t have heard. Him making a deal with a man I saw on the news and knew to be wanted for drug trafficking with the Cartel. I made the mistake of asking Franco about it and he beat me senseless. He had threatened to kill me and take the baby if I asked any more questions I shouldn’t be asking or if I spoke to anyone about it.
The year that followed was pure abuse. That one incident opened the door to who he was. What he was.
An animal. A monster.
I walked down main street keeping my focus, head straight, mission on my mind.
The bar was just ahead of me. I was glad that it was so near to Vira’s place, because if I started work immediately it meant I wasn’t too far from Flynn.
Speeding up, I joined a group of trendy people who were just going inside.
This place was around when I had last lived here. It was called Pot Luck back then and it closed down a year before I left, because someone found a human finger in a meat pie.
Terrible and devastating as that was, it didn’t surprise me with the heavy mafia influence on the town.
It wouldn’t have been the good mafia guys who were responsible for that. No, that was from their enemies.
Back then Chicago was owned by Raphael Rossi. His boys didn’t need to do shit like that to send a message. One look and you knew they weren’t the kind to fuck with.
It was all in the look, signifying it all. That’s what Luc used to say.
Luc.
Luc … Lucian Morientz.
Back then people knew him as the big bad. As one of the capos for the Rossi family the man was ruthless. Compared to Franco, however, Luc was a softie.
