Date = 19 April
Place = San Francisco (Inferno)
POV – Aria
“Mm, these are sooo frickin good,” Mel mumbles with a mouth full, wiping some sugar from her lips. I think she stuffed a whole year’s supply of donuts down her throat by now.
She takes another big bite and chew slowly, letting out some soft moans. I actually feel kind of nauseous for her part. But, she’s not wrong, I’ve had one of those donuts and it is absolutely divine. I wipe the counter where the previous customer spilled some of his beer. Luckily the club is not overly busy tonight, cause it’s the first time I’m running it solo. I’m actually surprised that Enrique trust me enough to let me do this … or maybe he just didn’t have a choice. I’m the only left.
Ilkay is in Switzerland, Logan’s team went to some kind of fitness facility, Damion is in Spain, the Sharks are playing in Colorado tonight, Enrique is in New York, Axel is on duty and Alejandro is at Grimms. So us girls are managing everything here … well, Kiara and I are. She’s handling the bar downstairs and I’m in the VIP section. I look at the blonde pigging out on the other side of the counter. Except for keeping my mind occupied with her endless talking, and eating most of the pastries in this place, she hasn’t been much help so far.
“Can I have another one?” An older sexy black man sitting alone at the bar points to his empty glass. He’s been here for a while, drinking silently, playing with his wedding ring as if he has a lot on his mind. I fill him up and for the first time it seems as if he notices us. He stares at the plates filled with desserts on the counter and his face expresses a hint of a smile.
“Damn, girl, you’re so tiny … where do you put all those food?” he asks Mel. She leans forward and wiggle her finger, gesturing for him to come closer. He moves to the chair next to her.
“I’m gonna tell you a little secret … but you can’t tell anyone, capeesh?” He nods with a warm smile so she continues, “You see … here inside my tummy,” her hand moves over her stomach and his eyes follows suit, “I have this tiny human that’s like a black hole … I just can’t seem to fill him up.” The man keep staring at her stomach for a while, his brain probably processing what he just heard and then he suddenly catches on.
“You’re pregnant?” he whimpers surprised, giving Mel a smile that does not reach his eyes.
“Well, congrats, girl.” The man holds up his glass, but Mel snorts and swing her finger in front of his face.
“No, no, no … you see, this little bean is already acting like his stupid bloody father … he just can’t be still for a moment … keeping me awake the whole night … it’s as if he’s using my womb as a fucking punching bag … and then he goes kicking up a storm as if he’s running a frickin marathon in there … ” Mel complains and now the man actually do smile.
“Yeah, and feeding him this much sugar is gonna calm him down,” I give her my sarcastic point of view. She pulls a face at me and drinks some of her milk.
“Do you have kids?” I ask the man and for a moment he looks dejected. Not at all the reaction I was expecting. I’m starting to think that maybe his child died or something.
“I have a little girl.” Mel now also seem to pick up on his sorrowful response.
“Hey, want to talk … I promise we are pretty good listeners … and the good thing about talking to strangers is that you never have to see them again. And who knows, maybe we can even help.”
“Today was just a bad day.” The man stares at me as if contemplating his next move. Then he scratches the back of his neck.
“Have you girls ever seen someone die?” He stares into his glass and I’m not sure if he’s expecting an answer. I look at Mel over his head. “That moment when the life leaves their pleading eyes … ” He sniffs and wipes his sleeve over his eyes. Mel puts her hand on his shoulder and turns his head to her.
“I have … I’ve seen my father die. Heard him take his last breath.” She gives him a reassuring smile. Thank goodness I haven’t experienced anything like that before. For a moment there’s silence between us. Then the man sniffs again, but without tears.
“I’m an advocate … a pretty good one and this huge company hired me full time. At first it was great … big money, lots of prestige, important clients … you know. I thought I was the luckiest man in the world. I had a dream job, the best wife and the prettiest baby girl.” He shifts his glass around for a bit before he continues. “But, seems luck comes with a price. Turned out I unknowingly sold my soul to the mafia. And now, I’m doing things I really don’t want to do. Bad things.” He downs his whiskey and tap on the glass for a refill. He looks so down in the mouth, I don’t know what to say … and judging by Mel’s unnatural silence, neither does she.
“And you know what the worst part is … I can’t talk to anybody about it … not my wife, not my colleagues, not a shrink and for certain, not the police. Even talking to you now is a risk.”
“Why don’t you just quit?” I mean, that’s what I would do. I’ll find another job.
“The only way you can quit The Circle is to stop breathing. If it was only me, I would consider it, but they would kill my family.” The Circle? Where have I heard that before?
“Fuck, that’s bad,” Mel gushes, tears forming in her eyes. Oh, I got it … I know now …
“Eh, do you know about the Old Man?” If he knows about The Circle … maybe he can tell us why they’re after us. He frowns, looking warily at me.
“Why do you want to know about him?”
“Eh, we think that he’s after us for some reason. Maybe if we know more about him we can figure out why.” I try to regain his trust.
“It can’t be the Old Man … he’s been retired for years … lives somewhere in South Africa. He’s got nothing to do with anything anymore. Yes, he’s still extremely powerful, but he doesn’t interfere with any of this business … haven’t for a long time.”
“But the people we caught said they’re working for him,” Mel tries to explain. The man snorts a little laugh.
“Well, if they talked, they’re definitely lying. It’s the most sacred rule … you can never ever say who you work for. So people associated with The Circle will never talk … not to anyone … not even if you cut out their tongues. They know the consequences. And the Old Man’s people are the most loyal … he doesn’t trust easily.” I get this twisted feeling in my gut, hoping that he’s wrong but knowing that he’s right.
“If they said they’re working for him, either they’re throwing his name around cause of the power associated with it. Or more likely, they’re forced to said that to protect their real boss. Anyway … their graves have already been dug.” I’m shocked. What did we get ourselves into?
“What I can promise you is that it’s not the Old Man. It’s just not his style to do things like this. He’s old school … trustworthy, decent, respectable, powerful … all and all actually a great man.” Mel looks at me, her eyes the same what-the-fuck-expression.
The man clears the last whiskey from his glass and gets up. He drops some money on the counter.
“Keep the change. You know, this talk did me some good. Thanks for that.” He nods his head.
“Anytime,” I say putting the money in the cash register. He looks around as if checking that nobody can hear him. Then he speaks softly.
“And girls … I don’t know what shit you gotten yourself into, but a little advise that you didn’t hear from me … forget about the Old Man, you’re barking up the wrong tree. The people you have to look out for is the Romano family … especially Mattia Romano.” He winks at us, turns around and walks away.
I look at Mel and she looks back. I have no words.
“Oh, holy fucking frozen desert sand.” Mel found some. Not a surprise there. She always has something to say. Even if it don’t make much sense. I don’t know if this confused blob of overstimulated craziness is Mel’s normal nature, or if it’s because of the little bean … cause I don’t know her in an unpregnant state. But my gut tells me that pregnancy has nothing to do with it. She stares at the entrance, storms forming in those blue eyes. Well, at least she stopped eating … a forgotten bite still clutched in her right hand.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around what the man told us, when in walks Brian Cruise.
Mel now puts all her attention on him. This is not good. Knowing my fake little sister-in-law, she’s not far from going full out Jackson crazy. And she’s riding a sugar-high.
“Hi, girls, nice to see you again,” Brian stops to stand next to Mel. We don’t greet back.
“What do you want Brian?” Mel asks in a cold voice.
“I want to talk to Aria alone.” He stares at me and I don’t like the confident look in his eyes.
“And I want to kick you in the balls,” Mel gets down from her chair, “but we don’t always get what we want.”
She swings her left hand and launches a punch into Brian’s abdomen. He huffs, bends over a little and moves a step back.
“Sometimes you have to settle for less.” I giggle in panic. What if he attacks her? Is he that cruel? I’m not sure … but after everything he did, I would not put it past him. Mel sits down and continues to drink her milk as if nothing happened.
Brian looks pissed, but he doesn’t counteract.
“Aria, I need to talk to you.” Let’s just get this over and done with. Maybe I can figure out what he’s planning.
“Mel, give us a minute. I’ve got this.” I walk to the end of the bar, Brian follows on the other side.
“Okay, let’s hear it.” I turn to face him.
“You’re time is up. I need an answer.” He doesn’t know that everybody knows about Logan. I have to ask the right questions here.
“So you decided to frame Enrique by using his twin?” He stares at me, his dark eyes looks sad.
“Yes, Enrique doesn’t easily get into fights, but that psycho, on the other hand, loves using his fists. And the plan worked. It’s a win-win … either Enrique payed or he had to blab out his brother.”
“But why do it?”
“Well, it was just a warning, showing you what can happen. That’s why I dropped the charges. I don’t want him to go to jail, but you know what you must do for me to stop harassing Enrique. If you don’t, worse things can happen.”
“And what if the police investigated and found out that Enrique was admitted into hospital at the time of your video?” Judging by the shock and confusion in his eyes, I’ll take a wild guess that he did not know about that.
“Hospital? What for?” Suddenly his confidence is cracking.
“He and Damion was drugged that night. Damion almost died. The police are investigating as we speak … and you just supplied them with a very promising suspect.”
“It wasn’t me.”
“Oh no? You better hope not, cause the same people attacked Mel and me … they wanted me to abort my baby. So the charges are attempted murder … times two.” He goes white.
“Someone attacked you? Are you hurt?” He grabs my arms; his eyes doing a scan over my body. Again, he seriously looks surprised. But then, on the other side … he is an actor.
“You don’t know about that?” I pull away from him and he drops his arms to his sides. He seriously looks dejected.
“Aria, I promise, I would never do anything to hurt you. I can’t. I love you.”
“Well, you have a strange way of showing that,” I snap and he looks genuinely glum. He bends his head and casts his eyes down.
“Is Mel’s baby alright?” And it’s as if I get hit with a wet cloth in the face. Shit. I forgot that he knew I wasn’t pregnant. So it seems he truly had nothing to do with the attack.
“Yes.” I try to sound less hateful. But I’ve just cleared our biggest suspect, putting us back to the beginning. So who wants to hurt us then?
“Hey, Brian,” my voice is softer. He looks up. “Do you know anything about The Old Man?” He shakes his head but does not answer.
“Aria, I’m really sorry.” He walks away, but turns back, looking over his shoulder.
“I know you won’t believe me, but I need to warn you … your boyfriend is screwing around behind your back.” He disappears down the stairs, leaving me feeling as if my heart is being pulverized as I go back to where Axel now joined Mel. His shift must be over.
I wipe down the counter to keep my hands busy. He’s lying. Please, please, he must be lying. Enrique promised. And he’ll keep his promise … won’t he? But what if it’s true … how will I survive that?
“Aria!” Mel yells and grabs my arm, drawing my overthinking mind to focus on her. “What did he want?” She swings the same forgotten chunk of pastry in front of my nose. I swear she’s going to pick up 200 pounds if she continues eating like this.
“Oh, the usual,” I try to smile despite the worry inside, “but I’m 99% sure he wasn’t involved in neither our attack nor the drug case.”
“What the fuck?” Mel’s face droops into a frown. Then she looks at the half-eaten donut in her hand, as if seeing it now for the first time, and gags, putting her other hand over her mouth. She looks around and then her gaze lands on Axel and before he can react she stuffs the piece whole into his mouth without warning. He stands there, stunned.
“Chew, dimwit,” Mel orders, and he eats it.
“That’s not bad,” he swallows before he speaks. “So, why would you think he’s not involved?” I need to distract myself from Enrique and what he’s doing … so let’s rather focus on what we’ve learned tonight. I take a deep breath.
“Oh, you better sit down while I get us some drinks.”