SWNOVELS Chapter 1
I fall to my knees in front of the armed men holding my little sister Laura and my mother. Both their eyes are awash with tears, just like mine.
I just returned from my six-hour shift to find our home ransacked and these strange men holding my badly beaten mother and sister.
“I’ll pay what we owe you. I promise,” I say through the tears, “just don’t hurt them anymore, I beg you.” I can feel my body shaking violently as I sob my heart out.
The men look at each other, and they all laugh.
“What does she think this is? A soap opera?” One of the men with a clean-shaven head asks.
“I told you this was a fucking waste of time. Let’s just tidy things up and get going. I don’t have time for all this,” the man holding Laura says.
He cocks his gun and aims it at her head. My mother and I let out a cry of horror in tandem.
I clasp my hands together. “Please, don’t! I have a job,” I sob desperately. “I’ll pay every penny!”
The clean-shaven man looks at the other men, and they all laugh at me.
“You’ll pay three hundred thousand dollars back? You must have a fucking amazing job.”
My heart sinks to the pit of my stomach.
“Please, I’ll do anything,” I gasp.
The men seem to stop and look at each other. And then they grin. The clean-shaven man scans my body and I feel his gaze land on my chest.
He licks his lips, walks up to me, and lowers himself to get close to me. He smells like cigarettes and sweat. I pull away, but he grabs my long, reddish chestnut hair and pulls me back by my ponytail.
“You say you’ll do anything, huh?” he says. He raises his hands to my face and moves his fingers over my skin.
My blood runs cold. My mother starts to sob louder.
“Enoch, Giovanni is on the phone,” one of the men calls out suddenly. The man sighs and tosses me away from him. I gasp as my body hits the floor with a thud.
“Yes, boss, all right, boss,” the man says. There is silence as he listens to the person on the other end. “Of course, boss,” he says.
He returns the phone to the man and turns to me with a grin.
“It turns out you’re just a piece of ass to the boss,” he says, attracting groans from the other men.
“As much as we would have loved a taste, the boss wants you. You’ll be coming with us to meet him.”
I inhale as I try to wrap my mind around everything that is happening.
“Will—will you let them go?” I ask. I nod toward my mother and sister.
The man with the clean shave shrugs.
“The boss owns you now, so your debt is paid.”
“No, no, please, no!” my mother cries. The man holding her lifts his hands to strike her, and Laura screams in fear.
“I’ll go, I’ll go! Please, please don’t hurt them!” I scream in hysteria.
The men look at each other as if there is an unspoken agreement passing between them. The man holding Laura and my mother lets them both drop to the floor.
The clean-shaven man lets out a smile. “I’ll be back to take you to the boss in three days. Pleasure doing business with you,” he says.
The men walk to the door as I crawl to my mother and sister, blinded with tears.
“Also,” the man says, stopping in his tracks, “don’t think of running away. We have eyes on you, so don’t even think about it.”
As soon as they leave, I crawl to my bleeding mother and sister, scooping them up into my arms as we weep.
“I am so sorry, I tried to pay them,” my mother says. “I really did,” she groans.
“Shhh, it’s okay, mama, it’s all right,” I say softly, holding back my tears.
I manage to guide my mother to the bathroom and I help her to wash up first. I take her to my bedroom in the attic, the only part of the house that isn’t in ruins.
When she finally falls asleep, I run Laura’s bath and make her tea.
“You’re not thinking of going with them, are you?” she asks as I sweep up the shards from the broken furniture.
I swallow and smile. “You don’t have to worry about that. What’s important is that you’re strong enough to take care of Mama.”
“Alyssa, you can’t go with them. Heaven knows what they’ll do to you,” Laura cries. I can hear the sorrow caught in her throat.
I don’t dare look at her, because I know that I’ll break, and I can’t let her see me cry.
“Laura, finish your tea. You have to rest and try to take a nap so you can be up to make dinner before Mama wakes up,” I reply instead.
“What about you? Are you going somewhere?” she asks.
I nod. “I have to clock in for my shift,” I say.
“You just got back,” she says.
I turn to her. “Can you just stop asking questions and do as I say?”
She purses her lips shut quickly, and I feel guilt sting in my chest as I watch the tears build up in her eyes again.
“I’m sorry, Laura. I didn’t mean to yell,” I say softly.
She swallows. “You’ll be back for dinner, won’t you?”
I force a smile and nod. She shrugs and returns to her tea.
It takes an hour of cleaning to get the house back to what it looked like before the men broke in.
I go to the attic to check on Mama, and I see that Laura has crawled into bed with her. They have their arms wrapped around each other, fast asleep.
I smile through my tears as I look at them. I have to protect them, but I barely know how. I hate that I am going to have to leave them, but there’s nothing else that I can do to keep them safe.
I go downstairs and change clothes, my mind full of plans that I’m not sure will work. The only step I’m sure about is the one that I will take before I head to work.
“Hey, Ray,” I call out to the man standing in the corridor as I lock our door.
A tall, scrawny man covered in tattoos turns to me. I knew he would be there. He’s often just hanging around, as he doesn’t have anything else to do. I’m not sure what Ray does to earn his keep, but he’s always up for an odd job when there’s money to be earned.
“Alyssa baby, I haven’t seen you in a while,” he says, smiling. He’s missing a couple of teeth, and he looks far older than his real age.
I smile. “The club’s been busy these days,” I reply.
“That’s good news for you,” he says.
I look around the hall, and then back at Ray.
“I need your help, Ray,” I say.
“Anything for you, baby,” he says.
“I need you to keep an eye on my mother and Laura,” I say.
He looks at me curiously and pulls out a cigarette.
“Does this have anything to do with the thugs who were here a couple of hours ago?” he asks.
I don’t reply, and he gets his answer from that.
“You’re a darling, Alyssa, but you’ve got to know that requests like this cost a little something,” he says.
I nod. “I’ll give you everything that I earn from my shift, tips included. I’ll be going away for a while and I just need you to keep an eye on them.”
A rat scurries past us, and Ray sighs.
“You know I’ll do anything for you, Alyssa. You’ve got a deal,” he remarks, but he then pauses. “You owe Giovanni, don’t you?”
I look down. “How did you know?”
He lights his cigarette and takes a puff. “I’ve lived in this dump since I was a little boy. Of course, I know Giovanni,” he replies. He cracks another bitter smile. “And I know that almost everyone around here owes him money.”
“My father owed him a huge amount of money. I think my mother tried to pay him, but it wasn’t enough,” I say.
“How much?” Ray asks.
“Three hundred thousand,” I reply.
He pauses and offers me the cigarette. I shake my head, and he moves it back to his lips.
“It’s a miracle that they left you untouched. What does he want in return?” he asks.
A lump forms in my throat. “Me,” I say quietly.
Ray laughs bitterly. “Of course. Fuckin’ asshole.”
“As long as Laura and Mama are safe, I don’t mind going to him,” I say.
I see the pity in Ray’s eyes as he looks at me. “I’ll keep an eye on your mother and sister, but I know they’ll be safe. It’s Giovanni wanting you that I’m worried about,” he answers.
I smile. “Don’t worry about me, Ray.”
He doesn’t respond, but the pity doesn’t leave his eyes.
I walk into the club at exactly eight. The night is just getting started. There are girls already dancing on the stage for the early crowd and I blink as a spotlight snaps on to focus on the girl currently working the pole.
I notice that most of the tables near the dancefloor are filled with customers who already look wasted, but that the rest of the venue is still empty.
“You’re back again for a shift? You just left,” Gracie, the head waitress, remarks as I walk into the dressing room to change for my shift.
“You’ll never believe why if I tell you,” I sigh, putting up my hair.
“Anyone who chooses to work here has a crazy life already, that’s for sure. I’m glad you’re here now. Antonio is here and he has guests with him. I need a server ASAP.”
My heart skips in my chest a little when I hear his name. Antonio. People also call him Viper. But I’ve never learned why. I can only imagine it’s because he’s a savage beast in his dangerous world.
Gracie grins. “I know you’re the right girl for the job, so titty up and have some champagne taken down there,” she says.
I inhale, and she searches my face.
“C’mon, Alyssa. I thought you got over your crush on him. I need you down there,” she says.
I look around in alarm. “Are you out of your mind? Someone could hear you!”
She chuckles. “He’s the Antonio Russo. He makes every woman in the world wet at the sight of him. You’re not the only one with a crushy-crush on him,” she says.
She’s right. Antonio Russo is the owner of the club, and so much more. And in my current situation, I shouldn’t be having a crush on him…or anyone. It’s not safe or wise.
“You’re right,” I sigh. Waiting on Viper’s table will get me larger tips, which is exactly what I need.
“So?” she asks, looking at me. I smile. “Can you handle it?”
She smiles and blows me a kiss. I love working with her for the most part. I wonder how she’ll take it when she hears that this will be my last shift.
“Yeah,” I tell her with a long sigh. “You can count on me.”
I watch her walk away, then look in the mirror and cringe. I need to fix my makeup. I nearly forgot all the crying I had done at home.
I lean forward toward the smudged mirror in the dressing room and line my bright green eyes with more dark liner. I also pat some blush onto my cheeks. I’m still pale from my fear and worry, but I doubt anyone will notice in the dim lights of the club.
I take a step back and turn back and forth, looking at myself. I still look like the young, curvy, red-haired girl that Gracie hired. Inside, however, I feel like a dead woman walking, my life already over before it really began.