>>>-M-A-T-T-E-O->

Already knowing where Aletta was, I hopped into the car and drove to one of Il Bisbiglio's club. The one she worked at was close to the mafia's house, a 20-minute drive. I stepped out of the car. The music coming from the nightclub was so loud it can be heard from the parking lot. The electronic beats progressed as I walked to the back entrance.

The security guard noticed me and stepped aside. Chase nodded at me in acknowledgment as I passed. Staffs were the only ones that were allowed access to the back entrance. It led to the main hall where all the dressing and break rooms were.

I made my way to Aletta's dressing room and leaned against the wall as I took my phone out. I dialed her number. Behind the door that was next to me, I could hear her phone ringing. On the sixth ring, she answered.

"Matteo?" Her voice can be heard through both the wall and the phone.

"We have to talk."

"About what?" She asked, pretending to be innocent.

"You know exactly what."

"About us?" Aletta asked, sounding hopeful.

"No, about what you did to Ila."

Through the phone, I heard her sigh.

"I'm busy right now." Aletta said, "You know I have work."

Leaving me no room to say anything, she hung up to phone. I got off the wall and knocked on Aletta's dressing room door.

"I also know that you are on break," I told her as the door swung open.

She was surprised to see me but recovered fast. However, not quick enough. Before she could shut the door in my face, I wedged my foot between and forced myself into the room.

"What are you doing here?' Aletta said, crossing her arms.

I noticed her movement caused her breast to push closer together, making them look perky. Aletta was still in her exotic dancing attire. Her clothes matched her dark red hair that was currently up in a high ponytail.

I looked past her and saw a robe hanging on the chair in front of her desk she used to get ready.

"Put on the bathrobe," I ordered.

She stood still, not making any progress in covering herself. Instead, she leaned forward to show off her boobs even more.

"Is there something that you want?" She asked, seductively.

"Like I said, we need to talk," I told her as I looked away.

"I don't like to talk." Aletta had dropped her voice down into a whisper, making her sound irritable.

"Indossare l'accappatoio," I ordered again, but in Italian to make sure she knew I was serious.

She quickly dropped her act and got the robe. I didn't look back until I heard her tie the belt that held the robes together.

"What you did to Ila was uncalled for."

"It doesn't involve you."

"Now, it does." I said, "I had to replace all her stuff. She's out shopping for stuff with my card right now."

"That sounds like your problem." Aletta said, "You didn't have to give her your card."

Reasoning with Aletta was no use. Instead of wasting any more time, I got to the point.

"Don't bother Ila again."

"Why does it disturb you so much? Why do you care?" She argued. "If she's just Il Bisbiglio's doctor to you then why do you worry so much about her?"

I exhaled harshly to cover up my cluelessness. I found myself unable to answer Aletta's questions.

"I didn't come here to answer you," I said, avoiding what she had questioned, "I came to warn you."

I turned around and opened the door. I took a step forward and she called out to me.

"Matteo."

I hesitated for a moment and chose to face her. Aletta's eyes were watering as she lightly shook with anger.

"Go suck a dick." She said furiously.

Then, Aletta pushed me out of her room and slammed the door shut in my face. I fixed the collar of my shirt, unfazed.

Since I was already in the club, I chose to look around to see how things are going. I walked down the hall which led me to a door. I opened the door and walked through. I was no longer in the back of the club, but at the life of the party. By the looks of it, people were really enjoying themselves on the dance floor.

I spotted Louis, the manager of the club, helping out behind the bar. He saw me and signaled me over to sit down in front of him.

"How's your papà?" Louis asked. Louis was a close friend of my father. He was like an uncle to me.

"He's in Italy," I said.

"Already?"

"Yeah, he left yesterday," I told him

"Avevo intenzione di parlare con il tuo papà."

"What did you need to talk to my father about?"

"There's a problem." He said, wiping a shot glass with a towel.

I raised my eyebrow, interested.

"I was going through the security tapes of the parking lot and around the building and found something."

"What is it?"

"There was a couple of GIganti di Droga scouting out the area."

"That's no good," I told him.

"Yeah, no shit." Louis said, "They can shoot up this building at any moment."

If Riccardo Stollo's men were scouting the area in plans of a shooting, they are asking for trouble.

"I'll tell my father." I assured him, "In the meantime, I'll call more security."

I said my goodbyes to Louis and left with a lot of things on my mind. We had a meet coming up in a few weeks with the Furfante. I'm unsure if I wanted to work them for they have a reputation for being sketchy. Then there's Stollo and his claim for vengeance over the killings of his members in which we didn't take part of.

During my drive back home, I received an incoming call from Marcella that interrupted my thoughts.

"Where are you?" She asked.

"I'm almost to the house, why?"

"We just got here. Hurry so you can help us carry the bags into Ila's room."

"How much did you spend?"

"Um, let me check," Marcella said. In the background, I heard rummaging and the sounds of paper being torn "Oh, no! I must have lost all the receipts! What should I do? I guess there is no way to return all these items if Ila doesn't want them."

I frowned. I didn't have to see Marcella in order to know she was lying. She was a bad performing actor and voice actor.

Seven minutes after the call, I arrived at the mafia's house and was amused as to what I saw.

From the opened back of Marcella's car to inside the house and, assuming, to Ila's room was a straight line of Il Bisbiglio's men. They passed shopping bags to one another, sending the newly bought items into the house and to Ila's room.

Obviously, this was Marcella's idea of an efficient way of unloading the car without her doing any work.

I got out of the car and made my way to Marcella's. The guys moved out of my way for me to peer into the back. There were shopping bags of brand name items, ranging from Gucci to Sephora.

The money behind the card was fake, but spending so much in one day can make things look suspicious.

Not wanting to take any part of this, I turned around and walked to my car. Unfortunately, Marcella had gotten out of the house and saw me.

"Matteo!" Marcella yelled out as she ran me to. "Good, you're here. You can fill in spot 147. The guy decided to take a potty break."

<-I-L-A-<<< Giovanni stood in my room. He was the last guy at the end of the receiving line. He was handed a Victoria's Secret bag from the guy before him and took a peek inside.

"Nice choice." He commented.

I snatched the bag from him, setting it next to the bags that arrived before it.

Marcella walked into my room and said, "Matteo is here. I successfully put him to work."

"Oh, that's where you went," I said. A few minutes ago, Marcella jumped off the bed after peering into out my window that had the view of the front yard of the house and ran out of my room without explanation. She must have seen Matteo arriving.

The control Marcella had over the men that were helping me get the bags into my room was crazy. All she did was dial a couple of numbers and within a few minutes, a bunch of men that was in Il Bisbiglio arrived.

Marcella jumped onto my bed, "I'm exhausted."

I chuckled as Giovanni rolled his eyes at her statement while handing me more bags.

<•••>

"What is that you do?" I asked of Marcella's role.

"I deal." She answered and then asked, "Where do you want me to put these?"

She held up a pair of golden heels and I pointed to the corner. In the time span of two hours, we managed to get all the bags in my room. Marcella and I were putting the items away in my walk-in closet.

"What exactly do you deal?" I asked.

"Unicorns." She replied.

I heard Giovanni giggle from outside the closet at something unrelated to what Marcella had said.

"Stop," Aiden grunted, sounding as far as Giovanni was, "It's too tight. Stop forcing me in."

I ignored what was going on beyond the closet and scowled at her sarcasm, "I noticed that they're people dealing drugs but they aren't a high-rank member."

"I deal drugs with important people, a mass amount of it, while others sell to people on the streets."

Aiden and Giovanni burst into the closet, making us flinch out of surprise. The biggest shock was that they each wore one of my dresses over their clothes. How did they manage to fit? They twirled, doing the impressions of feminine ladies. Giovanni and Aiden caught a glimpse of themselves in the mirrored wall and burst into laughter, breaking their female characters.

"Honestly, I'd fuck," Giovanni said as he looked at himself.

He was in a black spaghetti strapped dress that, on his long body, reached just below his crotch. Aiden went through the whole nine yards. He was not only was he in a strapless tan dress, he had on matching tan wedges.

"What do Giovanni and Aiden do?" I asked Marcella. There was no way they were mature enough to take part in anything.

"They work with money." She told me their occupation as we watch them strike poses in the mirror. "They give loans and get the people that don't pay us back."

"How about Matteo?"

"He runs the whole thing with his dad. He makes decisions on who were allies with, how to use the money we profit off of, and other stuff like that."

"And Aletta?" I questioned. I might as well ask about what she does since we were going through a whole list of them.

"Aletta used to be a stripper when she and Matteo had a thing together. After their split, she became an escort."

"They had a thing?" I asked.

"It was friends with benefits." She explained, "He wanted sex and she wanted a relationship. Matteo also noticed that she was acting like his girlfriend -"

"I hate when that happens." Giovanni chimed as he and Aiden took off the dresses.

"and she even started to give commands and treat us like shit as if she has authority just because she was fucking our boss. Matteo wasn't down for that and he broke off what they had. Clearly, Aletta is still attached to him."

"So, Matteo didn't have feelings for Aletta?" I asked a little too eagerly.

"Ooo, what's this?" Giovanni asked as he strutted towards me, "Is Ila interested in Matteo?"

"Isn't that Stockholm syndrome?" Aiden asked. "Falling in love with your kidnapper?"

"No," I said. "I'm here now on my free will."

"So you're falling for Matteo on your free will?" Aiden asked.

"No, I'm not falling for anyone."

"Matteo and Ila sitting in a tree, F-U-C-K-I-N-G." Giovanni sang.

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