Double pov
The universe sure didn’t hide her particular dislike for me because everything single time I think things are going to work out find in my life, something that fuck it all up happens.
I ran through the direction Diana had explained, feeling Sergio and Nino and probably the entire men in the break room catching up with me even after my attempt at losing them. I put my highschool track training to use and ran like my life depended on it, because it did-literally. Once my bodyguard caught up with me, it was game over. I’d never find another chance to go to the loan shark.
I was so focused on getting to my destination, my highschool coach’s voice telling me to step on it bizarrely echoing in my head. And boy did I step on it, I got to the corridor intersection, curved to my right and bam! I rammed full force into another human body.
“Ow!” A female voice yelled, falling to the floor.
“Oh my God!” I paused when I recognized the musty chef coat, “Dee! I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.”
“What are you doing running like you’re competing in the Olympics sprint?” Diana whined.
The effects of my heavy running kicked in, my breaths came out in heavy pants. “Sergio my bodyguards they’d soon catch up. The diversion didn’t work.” I pulled her up, my body restless as I kept glancing behind. “I tried to lose them but it’s only a matter of time”
“What diversion?”
My eyes returned to Diana with the speed of light. “The mafia men… that wasn’t it?”
Diana rubbed her shoulders where I’d barreled into her. She winced. “No, I was on my way to set off the fire alarm. Have everyone in pandemonium like the bomb scare at Rico’s, find you and we escape during the chaos. Very textbook ish.”
I stared at her, seeing a whole different being. “You know that would definitely get you fired right? Disrupting business and all. Even I won’t be able to get Luca to pardon you.”
Diana rolled her shoulder. “Don’t pretend like it doesn’t sound fun.” She grabbed my arm, “anyways, I’d have to save my top notch espionage skills for later. Now, we get out of here before your pack of hounds catch up with us.”
We successfully sprinted our way to the kitchen, paused for me to put on my chef coat before busting inside. Just like in the movies, the kitchen was one hell of a busy place. Chefs shouted instructions at each other over loud clanging and banging and chopping and sizzling sounds. The chaos of the art of cooking.
We easily blended in with the rest of the white wearing culinary crew. Nobody noticed us as we weaved our way to the back door, one even barked at me to bring him more soy sauce, his bushy brows knitted into a concentrated frown as he glared at his stir fry. I nodded, startled before continuing in my direction.
Once we were out the back door and into the open air, I doubled over in relief. “That was- wow.”
“Wow indeed.” Diana said then sneezed loudly, “God, all that spicy smell is messing with my fragile nose.”
I slowly straightened. “Where do we go now? I didn’t mention but some of my bodyguards are probably out here, keeping watch.”
Diana did a quick scan of the area. “First, we need to find cover then get to the next street. I called a cab not too long ago, we should meet the ride there.”
“Ride to where?”
“West Garfield Park.” She said with zero inflection and grabbed my arm.
***
Diana’s neighborhood was just as dingy as I remembered. Not that I expected to bloom into a fancy place with pretty duplexes and cute front lawns in the short time I’d visited it last.
Homeless people huddled around, hookers loitered about and not so subtle junkie dealers lurked in the shadows. Luca would kill me if he realized where I was and I really began to regret not bringing the gun I stole from him. To think about it, I never did. In my defense, I didn’t know I’d be going from seeking Diana to visiting loan sharks that probably traded humans as a side gig.
Again, Luca was going to tear my head off if he somehow found out.
Our cab driver was wiser than us because he had the better sense to speed off as soon as Diana handed him his pay.
She faced me and I could see the apprehension I felt mirroring in her eyes. She might live in this neighborhood but her end was way better. At least I didn’t have to deal with a putrid smell stuck in the air during my time with her. We were about to do something that we never dreamed of doing before now.
“Ready?” She asked.
I hesitated before nodding. “Ready.” I wasn’t.
The trip down to the loan shark was deserted and full of suspicious glances. The locals seemed to be following our every step with their eyes like magnets to metal. We probably looked a sight to them with our shabby chef uniforms. Diana and I remained alert, trying out best to appear calm.
“Try not to look directly at them.” Diana had warned in a whisper. I didn’t know what she meant by that exactly but I had a few ideas. People like this saw direct eye contact as some type of challenge for some barbaric reason-I mean, it’s not like we were gorillas-and it also gave the impression that you were carrying something valuable to thieves.
We arrived at a fairly decent two storey building which obviously stood out against the shabbiness of the rest of the building lining the street. A washed up sign board that read HAPPY LENDERS AGENCY hung proudly above the first storey.
“This is it.” Diana announced. “I guess.”
We were intercepted by three tatted men in worn jackets when we approached the entrance. My heart lurched in my chest.
“What business brings pretty ladies like you two here?” The middle one asked, his friends eyeing us with interest. It made me want to scratch every inch of my skin.
I straightened my spine and looked him in the eye, mustering the boldness I didn’t feel. “We need a loan.”
“Do you now?” The one on the left smiled creepily, his teeth yellow.
Diana stepped closer to me. “Yes, we’d also like to get it today if it’s possible.”
“How much?” Middle guy asked.
“Twenty five thousand.”
The shake of his head was instant. “Go back home princesses.”
Diana and I turned to each other then back to the scary guys. “But we-”
“If you don’t want to leave we can get to another kind of business.” Yellow teeth said, licking his cracked lips like a lizard. He stepped closer.
And we stepped back. Twice.
“That won’t be necessary,” Diana said, “Thank you for your time.”
“Nah, don’t be all difficult now.” The guy on the right spoke for the first time. He had a jarring scar that slashed across his nose and all the way to his eye, permanently leaving it closed. His good eye ran down my body. “If we get along well, we can reconsider.”
What I wanted was to reconfigure his face but I responded instead, “No need,” I took Diana’s arm, “we are leaving.”
Yellow teeth grabbed her second arm and one eye caught me by my waist.
“Get your fucking hand off me!” Diana snarled while I struggled against the disgusting feeling of one eye’s touch.
“Never expected to have a good time but I guess today is our lucky day.” Middle guy said and the other two hooted.
“I want to take her first.” One eye whispered in my ear and I recoiled.
“No, we’re sharing,” middle guy said.
One eye pulled me tighter to him and I growled, fighting against his hold. “No, I’m going-” his words were caught off by a loud impact of fist connecting with bone. He let go of me immediately, dropping to the ground with a curse.
I turned around to meet the faces of Sergio and all my bodyguards and-
Middle guy dropped to the ground as well.
“Dominic,” I gasped. “What are you…”
The glare he was giving me was almost as scary as the predicament he’d just saved me from. My eyes darted around, some of the panic leaving me when I saw no sign of Luca.
Yellow teeth backed away with Diana, a knife at her throat. “Who the fuck-” a gunshot rung out and he joined his friends on the floor.
Dominic tucked his gun back into his holster. His body oozed off rage. “You just cannot be a nuisance, can’t you?” His gaze could freeze lava.
“I…” What was I going to say? I couldn’t even ask how they found us because that would sound off and the expression of every single one of them deterred me even more. Nino was also giving me a furious look, same with the other guys. Sergio on the other hand, well, I’d prefer if he also glared instead of the look of disappointment on his face.
Diana, sensing my despair, stepped in front. “It’s not Cara’s fault,” she said to Dominic. “I made her come here.”
Dominic glanced at yellow teeth’s unmoving body. “And what a wonderful plan that was.” He growled. “Imagine if we hadn’t arrived when we did, what the case would have been.”
Diana inhaled tensely. “I know you’re angry and I thank you for saving us but-”
“I didn’t do it for you.” He crudely cut in, shooting me another furious glare. “Any of you.”
Diana’s tone was harsh and bitter. “Well, thank you regardless oh savior.”
Dominic looked like he wanted to strangle her and there was something else and before I could identify what it was, it was gone and I wondered if I imagined it.
“Look,” I started, stepping back in front of my brave friend. “Like Diana said, we appreciate your coming to save us and I’m so sorry to have inconvenienced you-”
“Sorry doesn’t even begin to cut it,” Sergio said in a stern voice. “You don’t know the trouble you’ve put us in, if not for boss Dominic here,” he gestured to his men, “all of us would have been done for.”
I lowered my head. Shit. “I… I’m sorry.”
“I’m not going to ask what the fuck brought you here,” Dominic said. “There are much more important matters than your miniscule affairs.”
Diana hissed under her breath and I squeezed her hand before she could say anything scathing.
Dominic went on. “While you are here playing hooky, Luca is dealing with a whole lot of shit. He’s going out of his mind with worry for you and I don’t care if you consent or not but you’re coming with me to his penthouse like he instructed.”
I didn’t catch the rest of his rant, my mind stuck on the part where he said Luca was going through something. “Wait, what happened?” I asked, worry and something greater like panic filling me.
Dominic glanced at Diana first-he’s been doing it a lot-before saying, “The old Don was kidnapped.”
It was as if I was smacked across the face. “What?”
“Alexei has him. Wants to trade him for you. So let’s just say, Luca is caught between the devil and the blue sea.” Came Dominic’s brilliant explanation. “We need to get you to safety.”
Panic pinged off the walls of my chest. Why? Why would the Russian boss want me? What was he going to do to Manuel if Luca refused? If I refused? A playback of what was done to Luca’s late business partner went off in my head and dread skittered up my spine. I knew the Russian boss was capable of doing worse to Manuel.
I shot Diana an alarmed glance and she took my hands in hers. “Cara, you should go. You need to be with Luca, and it’d be fine, I’m sure he has it under control.”
I nodded repeatedly, forcing myself to believe her, unable to speak.
She cupped my face. “I’d see what I can do about…” she trailed, side eyeing Dominic. “Well, I’d check out other loan sharks around.”
“The hell you will.” Dominic growled. “You’re coming with us.”
Diana’s glare hardened even more. “On whose order?”
Dominic’s stare was equally hard. “Mine. Your friend needs you more than ever right now. You’ll stay with her.”
Diana’s “you will not tell me what to do” angry outlash stopped before it even began when I said, “I’m sorry Dee, but he’s right. I want you with me.”
Her eyes softened. “What about”
I shook my head. “Doesn’t matter right now.”
She paused for a moment, shooting Dominic a dirty look before conceding with a nod. “Okay, I’m coming along.” She shot Dominic another dirty look. “And it’s not because of you.”
Dominic didn’t design to respond, instead he turned away and started a list of instructions on what to do with the knocked out and probably dead bodies on the ground.
Diana started hissing on how much she hates him but I barely registered her words, my mind consumed by the devastating news I’d just been informed of. I feared for Manuel’s safety. Feared for Luca’s decision. I refused to think that he’d consider giving me up instead. If he didn’t, well, I’d never ever be able to live with myself knowing I was picked over his father.