I can't believe my day today, so today is my day off, and instead of relaxing and having a spa day after working all damn week. I'm on a plane, first class seating on the way to Las Vegas. And why am I going to Las Vegas you ask me, because some stupid dumbass screwed up something in Italy, and Marco took most of his higher ups, which is stupid if you ask me. So I have to go re-finalize this damn deal with one of Marco's newest associate. But my gut is telling me that something bad is about to happen. And living in this lifestyle and in this world, since I was thirteen, I knew to trust and listen to my gut.

"Alright passengers we're now descending into McCarran International Airport, please turn everything into the upright position, turn electronics off, and buckle up." The pilot said.

Finally I can get off this plane, check into my hotel and get through this business deal and relax, maybe even go to the spa here in Vegas. I step of the terminal and see my driver waiting for me, I grab the only bag I carried with me which is full of the necessaries items, you know clothes toothbrush and paste, and my guns of course. Don't even ask me how I was allowed to bring them on the plane, I might just have to kill you. I'm glad my stepfather took care of my driver, my hotel, and where the meeting takes place. It's too bad that I got this uneasy feeling about this meeting while I was on the plane, if I had told my stepfather about this feeling he either wouldn't have let me go or send some bodyguards with me.

The drive to my hotel, The Venetian, from the airport took about eleven to thirteen minutes according to maps on my phone. I had just enough minutes to go over, review and remember what Marco told me. I'm meeting Ashton Black, one of Marco's newest associate that I have yet to meet. Ashton owns a few small businesses ranging from coffee shops to to nightclubs. Marco has been using Ashton's business to counting money, illegal gambling casinos, to giving his merchandise a once over to make sure it's in good shape. Ashton gets ten percent of the money for letting Marco use his business. But lately our men have been tailing Ashton, and spotting Luca Baccari and his men talking to Ashton and his workers. So I will be meeting Ashton in a neutral place, the Vice Versa Bar.

When I pulled myself out of my thoughts, I noticed we had arrived at The Venetian. This was one of my favorite hotel to stay at when I'm in Vegas, and my step dad knew that. I guess he was making up for the fact that I'm working on my day off and had to cancel the spa appointment my mom had set up for me. The Venetian hotel is like heaven on earth for me, it reminds me so much of Italy. I just don't know how to describe it. It has architectural replicas of landmarks in Venice. The Palazzo Ducale, Piazza San Marco, the Lion of Venice, St Mark's Campanile, and my favorite the Rialto Bridge.

"Enjoy your stay Miss Benson." my driver said to me.

"Thank you, I'll try. I'll have the hotel call you when it's time to leave for the meeting." I stated.

"Yes ma'am." the driver said, and drove the car away.

After I checked into my room, I picked up my cell phone and called my mom. It went to her voicemail, so I left a message; "Hey mom, I just wanted to let you and Alanzo know that I arrived to the hotel safely and that I should be arriving home sometime tomorrow hopefully, and please tell Marco that when he gets home, he owes me big time."

I looked around the room, and saw it was what I expected from this hotel. I was placed in the Rialto Suite, the suite has Italian marble, queen sized bed with Egyptian cotton sheets. A forty-six inch flat screen in the living room, that has a dining table and a fully stocked refreshment center,and the living room is sunken. Now the bathroom is one hundred and thirty square feet, it's got a Roman tub with a separate enclosed shower. I looked at my watch and saw I had thirty minutes till the meeting.

"Hi this is Ariabelle Benson in the Rialto Suite, would you please call my driver and have him at the front entrance in about fifteen minutes? Thank you so much." I told the concierge.

I had plenty of time to take a quick shower and change of clothes in that glorious bathroom. As I stepped into the shower I instantly felt my muscles relax from sitting on a plane for four and a half hours. When I stepped out of the shower, I had fifteen minutes until the meeting began. I changed into a fitted black suit with a red top underneath, that works well for both business and casual. I walked to the elevator on my floor and pressed the 'L' button, to go down to the lobby. When I got down to the lobby I saw that my car was waiting for me outside and my driver was waiting on me. I checked my watch and saw I had fourteen minutes left till the meeting. Checking the maps application on my phone and noticed that from the hotel to VIce Versa Bar was a six minute drive.

"This meeting should hopeful take about half an hour. I want you here in case the meeting ends early or if something should go wrong. And in case something does go wrong I want you to call my father immediately, you should have his number on speed dial. Got it?" I questioned the driver.

"I got it ma'am." he said.

I handed him a picture of Luca Baccari, "If you see this man hide immediately and call my father at once."

"Yes ma'am, is everything okay miss?" he asked.

"Let's hope." I said. When I finished telling him what to do, it was time for the meeting. I walked confidently into the bar and immediately noticed Ashton Black. Ashton Black was five foot nine. He had blonde hair and green eyes, besides those features, there's nothing really special about him. He looks like a sleeze ball, he's only been working for Marco for a month and already he's working for Luca. It didn't take a lot to figure out that Luca had flipped him, especially since Luca's men are in the club as well.

"Mr.Black, we finally meet. I'm Ariabelle Benson, Marco's sister. He apologizes for not making the meeting today, there was a situation that needed his attention." I explained to him.

He stood up and shook my hand. "Ms.Benson, such a pleasure to meet the princess of the mafia family. And of course Marco couldn't make the meeting, I'm sure he has better things to do than have a boring meeting with me." Ashton said.

"Meeting, yes, but boring, never." I told Ashton, while he was talking to me, I noticed he kept shifting in his seat and shifting his eye. I knew then that Luca made him an offer he couldn't or wouldn't refuse. "So tell me something Mr.Black." I stated to him.

"And what is that Ms.Benson?" he questioned curiously.

"How much did Luca pay you to betray, one of the most dangerous mafia family there is?" I asked him pointing my gun in his face.

"Luca paid me twenty percent." Ashton said, eyeing my gun in fear for his life.

"I was hoping for your brother, but I can take the family princess instead." said a voice behind me.

I turned around, not surprised at all to see Luca entering the building. "Luca, I really expected to see you here sooner. And by the way, if you don't want your enemies to know you're coming, tell your men that they should disguise themselves better."

"Belle come now, how did you know that?" Luca asked bored.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that Ashton was trying to leave quietly and quickly. I pointed my gun at Ashton and shot him in the chest while looking at Luca. "Besides your men looking out of place here, it's simple because neither Marco nor I was stupid to not notice that you turned Ashton against us." I stated.

"Now why did you shoot Ashton?" Luca asked, but the look in his eyes says that he knows why I shot him.

"Come on Luca you're not stupid. If he betrayed my brother, just because you offered him more money than ten to one he would do the same to you." I simply stated, pointing my gun at Luca.

"That's true. He was a greedy bastard. Now Belle are you going to come freely or do we have to make you come the hard way.?" Luca asked.

"Now Luca when have I ever done anything that involves you freely?" I stated to him.

Luca shrugged, and his men turned their guns on me. But it didn't matter, being the better person I am, I shot at least four of Luca's men dead until something hit me over the head knocking me unconscious. When I came to I saw that I was in a basement of sorts. Maybe in an abandoned warehouse, I looked up and saw my wrist chained up by chains and handcuffs. Looking around for Luca, he was in front of a video camera. Sending a message to Marco, just like he did to Leo and Shane. Man can Shane beat Luca's ass, that girl is strong. Luca stopped mid sentence. I know he's going to do something to piss Marco off.

"Look who's finally woken up. About time princess." he sneered. "Marco will pay for not taking my side. His father too. Nine years ago your father should have said yes to my father's proposition, and you wouldn't be in this mess bella."

He shoved the camera in my face, I guess to make a point. But Luca isn't going to scare me or any of my family. Well maybe my mother, Alanzo would never let her see this though. I heard some sounds coming from behind me, but I couldn't look. All of a sudden one of Luca's men handed him a syringe. "Now Marco this could have been you in Belle's place. The contents in this syringe is nothing much. It will vanish from her blood stream in a couple of hours. Belle will basically be a guest in her own body, she will know and remember what she does during those hours her body is infected with this drug. She won't even be able to stop herself from doing anything wrong, illegal, or something that you disapprove of. Let's say eight hours, that the drug will be in her system." Luca explained.

Luca injected the contents of the syringe in my arm. I could feel it go through my body. In the next instant, when I was thinking about the drug, I could hear the sounds of a whip. Next I the could feel whip come down on my back. How many times will I get the whip on my back? One. I counted in my head. Two. Oh how I hate Luca. Three. I want to shoot Luca. Four. Marco will kill him. Five. Gabriel will kill him. Six. I will kill him. Seven. Alanzo will kill him. Eight. My mother will kill him. Nine. Luca will be killed sooner or later. But I prefer sooner.

Nine lashes. Nine lashes for the nine years that Alanzo wasn't on Luca's side. Nine years since my parents wedding. Nine years since Luca's father crashed the reception. Nine years since I met Luca. Nine years since my father said no. That's what the lashes were about. Making Alanzo and Marco pay for the nine years of being on Leo's side. I won't let myself be hurt anymore. When Luca was done with the lashing him and his men left.

When they shut the door closed, I somehow maneuvered my hand to grab a bobby pin from my hair. Somehow, someway I was able to get the bobby pin out of my hair and into the lock of the handcuffs. I was able to free myself before they returned. My phone was on the table that held the whip and the syringe. When I looked at my phone I saw that it was turned off, probably so Marco or Alanzo wouldn't track it, so they could have their little torture session. I couldn't think about the whip or the syringe right now. I could feel the blood dripping down my back, I picked up my phone and walked through that place as quietly as I could. It hurt to walk. Farther down the endless hallway I heard multiple voices, Luca's men. As I peered into the doorway, I noticed that my only way out was to go through Luca's men. The door was being guarded by three of Luca's men.

When I looked around the room, the men that wasn't guarding the door seems to be distracted by a sports game on the television. In the corner of my eye I noticed a gun on a table unguarded, with a silencer on it. I walked quickly and quietly towards the table trying not to be seen. I was on my hands and knees and started crawling towards the table, as soon as I started crawling I gasped, the pain in my back was just too much pain right now, but I knew that I needed to keep going. I looked up and saw that the sports game had concealed my gasp of pain. I crawled more quickly towards the table ignoring the pain. I finally reached the table, and grabbed the gun, one by one I took out Luca's men, the total of Luca's men that I have killed today is I think seventeen men. When the last man is killed, I walked out of that place, the location of where I was being held was an abandoned warehouse, and the warehouse is nowhere near anything. But where the warehouse was located at didn't matter right now, what did matter was my back and that I needed a doctor. A doctor that wouldn't open his mouth, not to Marco, Alanzo, or even Gabe. I needed Evan.

"This is Evan." Evan always answered the phone like that.

"Evan it's Ariabelle, I need you." I told him weakly.

"Alright meet me at the safehouse." Evan said to me.

"Okay, but Evan, Marco will not find out about this." I told him urgently.

I call four-one-one, and got the number for a cab company. It took the cab fifteen minutes to get to the warehouse and another forty minutes to get to the safehouse. Evan was standing outside the safehouse waiting for me, he gave the cab driver a hundred dollars, so he would be able to get the blood off his seats. The moment the cab drove away we headed inside the house, at this moment Evan was my hero, he had his medical kit and a change of clothes for me. He started to stitch up the lashes, given to me by Luca, as gently and quick as he could. I knew his mind was racing with questions, but I hoped he wouldn't ask right now. I wanted, no needed to forget this night.

"How?" Evan asked, but it sounded more like a demand.

"Don't worry about it Evan, I'll handle it on my own." I told him, but I knew he wouldn't like that answer.

"Damnit Belle, Don't be stupid. How did this happen? This is the first time, you've called me to stitch you up." Evan yelled.

"Luca." was all I told him.

"Damnit" was all I heard from Evan. When Evan was done stitching me up, I went to the bathroom and changed into the tight-fitted skinny jeans and a loose red jeweled dress top that covered my entire back. Evan knew red was my favorite color. When I got back into the living room Evan was gone, but left me some painkillers and directions onto when to take them and how many. I could feel the contents of the syringe take effect now. I walked from the safehouse to the Strip in my Louboutin Spike Pumps, Just like Luca said, I had no control. No control when I walked in a club. No control when I took a drink from a biker. No control when we danced for what seemed like hours. No control when we walked out of the club. No control when I got on his bike. No control when we walked into a chapel. No control when we got married by an Elvis look-a-like. No control when we went back to my hotel. No control when we consummated our marriage. No control when I let him pull me into his embrace. No control when he kissed me on the forehead and went to sleep. No control at all.

With my hotel door shut, my days in the mafia shut as well. My life is about to change, a lot more than I expected. The mafia won't be an important aspect in my life anymore. At least the biker is very attractive. The only thought going through my head when I fell asleep was, 'what is my mother going to say?'