I turned towards the annoying, high-pitched voice, where the question came from.

"Nothing." I answered as short as possible and turned around to walk away and hopefully hide in the crowd, but long manicured nails stuck in my forearm and I was harshly pulled back.

"Not so fast." Her icy blue eyes, decorated with fake lashes, threw daggers at me.

"Don't you have work to do, Emma? Leave me alone." I said desperately, wanting her to disappear.

That's Emma, the stripper and she's a bitch.

"I have a few minutes off, not that it's part of your business. But I assume you have heard the news."

I became confusion.

What was she talking about? I don't gossip, except..if she's talking about what Andre said. But how could she know?

"That you're a cow? That's no news." I said mockingly and crossed my arms over my chest.

Emma was taller than me, especially in those high heels, but I wasn't intimidated. Her red hair moved as she shook her head and the next thing I knew, she grabbed my face and jerked it upwards to meet hers.

"Shut up, so I won't have to beat up your baby face." She hissed at me and I pulled myself away from her claws. I felt a stinging feel on my jaw that her nails probably caused me when she grabbed me like that.

Baby face? I might not have her sharp womanlike lines, but I liked my face. It's youthful..?

"I would advice you to stay away from Caputo."

So that's what it was about? Her obsession with Manuel?

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes and made my way outside to calm my nerves.

There's no point to argue with Emma. She's too stubborn and blind to see that Manuel would never notice her the way she wanted him to.

While I was walking I slowed down. I was outside now and was about to turn around and search for a peaceful place to stand for couple of minutes and get some fresh air, but I bumped into someone.

"Whoops, I'm sorry."

"You're in my way." A deep voice said and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. My eyes shot up and met a pair of ocean blue ones.

Wait.

That's the guy from earlier today. He looked even more gorgeous from so close up. Piercing blue eyes that looked like there was storm fuming inside.

Suddenly he grumbled something that I couldn't catch and walked around me.

Oh, right. He told me to move. Gosh, I must have looked like some idiot. Staring like that and not saying anything.

Then another thing popped up to my mind. He didn't recognise me.

***

"What a coincidence, huh?"

I was just telling Andre about the accident with the car and how I met this guy again outside.

"He obviously has the memory of a goldfish." I said mockingly, still in disbelief that it's been less of a day and he already forgot about it. That shows how much he's paying attention on his surroundings.

"How did he look like?" Andre asked curiously and even if I wanted to keep this details secret, I had to tell him now. He's the only person that was nice to me in here and I liked our small talks.

"He had black hair and those bright blue eyes.." I started off and Andre grinned.

"Damn, I am already crushing on him." He wiggled his brows and I rolled my eyes.

He thinks every guy with blue eyes is hot. It's some fetish of him or something.

"He was tan and very tall. Maybe 6 feet or above." I continued and Andre's eyes flickered from me to something behind. "What?" I asked as he made a weird grimace and then out of sudden he chuckled and made me more confused.

"Um, this might seem weird, but a guy just passed by and he looked kind of like your description." He pointed behind me and I followed that direction with sight, till I saw him.

"Because it's him! Hell, what is he doing with Manuel?"

They were talking and heading over to the VIP table with some other people that had their backs to me.

"No freaking way. Ellie...that's Antonio." He interfered into my thoughts and my eyebrows came together in a frown.

"How do you know his name?"

Why did he seem so shocked out of sudden? It's just a guy.

Andre opened his mouth to speak, but he closed it again. He pointed with eyes behind me again and I turned around. Manuel was motioning for me to come over.

Well, just great.

Andre smiled and I could see he was nervous for me. But he went back to his work when a girl called him from the other side of the bar for a drink.

Just act casual, Ellie. If he doesn't remember me for real, then there's nothing to worry about.

When I went up the couple of steps leading to the VIP table, I noticed all kind of different people. Most of them dressed in black and looking intimidating.

The first familiar face was Caterina. I know that she's some relative to Manuel, but judging by their face features she could be his cousin.

"Ellie?" A voice snapped me back to reality and I noticed Nico. His expression went from surprised to amused. His voice took everyone's attention and they looked at me while I tried not to freak out.

"And who is that?" Caterina asked Nico and her amber eyes moved to him instead of me.

I guess I should keep my mouth silent for that. I mean, she knows I'm a server here so she probably wants to know how he knows me.

"This is the girl that Antonio almost ran over." He said with snort as he looked at someone.

Oh, there he is. Antonio.

He looked like he was about to punch Nico in the face while Nico himself was having fun with that.

There was some darkness surrounding this guy, that made him more frightening than the other two times we bumped into each other.

I wonder what's his deal.

His gaze flickered over to me and made me get goosebumps from that intense blue colour in his eyes. It's just the first thing that catches your sight in him, compared to the dark hair and clothes.

He narrowed his eyes at me, making his gaze seem even more intense and I tried to gulp down a lump forming in my throat.

"So, it was her fault you were late?" Caterina said back and I wanted to throw up.

What is my fault again? I don't even know what they're talking about.

"Well, I'm a true gentleman, cousin. I had to make sure she's fine since someone else didn't bother."

Nico was still having fun while Caterina was looking between us all weirdly and Antonio was simply over with this conversation.

Thankfully, Manuel appeared from somewhere and interrupted them.

"Ellie, bring a bottle of the best vodka." He said bossily, with no emotion in his voice and sat down. I nodded and made my way back to the bar before someone could speak anything to me and make this more embarrassing.

That was the most awkward situation I've been in.

"So, how did it go?" Andre appeared in front of me as I leaned against the bar.

"Who are those people?" I asked straight up and he raised his eyebrows.

"You don't know?" He looked at me like I grew two heads. Was I supposed to know?

"I have no idea, Andre." I said truthfully and sighed in frustration.

Now I understood why I should have listened more when people were gossiping in here.

"They're from the family Caputo. Manuel, Antonio, Nico, Caterina.."

My mind paid attention only on those names. So they're all blood related? Damn.

"..are the Italian Mafia." Then I caught those words and my breath hitched.

"What?" My eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. I guess that was news only to me. Andre shrugged and started cleaning the surface of the bar with a cloth.

"Antonio is the boss, as far as I know." He added up and I suddenly felt an urge to run away.

Aren't those people dangerous? He did seem scary though. But Nico? Not the slightest.

But maybe that's a mask. I have met him only twice and I knew nothing about him, except his name and that he's in a gang with all those people.

I didn't need trouble. But I felt like getting friendly with any of them would bring me just that.

"Good to know.." I muttered to myself and brushed my hair back. I gulped as he looked at me with hesitant smile and spoke up again.

"I wouldn't get involved if I was you." He said, as if sensing something off.

The chance that they were interested in me was not raising up even to fifty percents, so it would be only bad luck if I came up to them outside of that club.

My life wasn't that interesting anyways, so I doubted it.

***

After work I headed towards the bus station to go back home.

Apart from some charming smiles from Nico that I barely returned, nothing else happened.

Antonio disappeared somewhere half through the night and Andre kept swooning over how hot he was. He's a pain in the butt sometimes. It's easier when he talked about girls instead. 

Well it doesn't matter what he said, because I don't think he's that attractive.

"Wait, are you telling me he's a Mafia leader?" I heard Hazel on the other side of the call, interrupting me.

I tell her everything, so when she called, I decided to update her on what happened while I was heading home.

"Yes. He's dangerous."

"But that's so hot." She cut me off again and I rolled my eyes.

I don't see what's so attractive about that. I only see blood and danger.

"You're crazy, Hazel.." I trailed off with small chuckle, but it faded when a saw a figure coming out of the shadows.

— — — —
{ Hello, fellow readers! I wanted to put a small message in here to say some stuff.
First of all, this is just the start so if you're not enjoying the story or it's not interesting enough, I can guarantee that some stuff are going to happen and it will take a turn on the whole storyline. So bare with me, because I do have plans for the future chapters :)
Another thing - English is NOT my first language so there could be some mistakes and I'm sorry if you get easily triggered by that.
Thank you all who've read the story so far &
See you soon }