I woke up the next morning to the sound of someone(s) shuffling through the room. Not thinking much of it, I rolled over and proceeded to welcome my drowsy state. It was probably just Angelo anyway.

"Shit," someone muttered after something dropped onto the wood floor.

That was not Angelo.

I shot up, my eyes meeting with two unfamiliar sets. I screamed as loud as humanly possible and darted off the bed, "Who are you?" I screeched while taking in the sight of the intruders.

They were both dressed nicely in suits. One was skinny and tall with short brown hair, and the other was of average height, an extremely muscly build and his head was totally shaved. He looked like a club bouncer kind of guy.

Were they in the mafia? Where's Angelo?!

"Relax, fiore," the skinny guy said. "We work for Angelo. We're just here to install some security cameras."

"Security cameras?" I repeated, "What for?"

"Uh..." He looked at me like I was a complete idiot. "Security reasons? Probably so that the boss can keep tabs on you at all times to make sure you don't escape or bring anyone over while he's not here," the way he said that sounded like he was just replaying a message like a robot.

"And where exactly is Angelo?" I asked, noting that he was not anywhere to be seen.

"Can't vacation forever," the bouncer looking dude said. "He's gotta get back to The Family and run some things. It doesn't run itself, ya know?"

I nodded once, giving the both of them an unpleased look, "Right. So as soon as you two leave, I'm gonna be all alone?"

"Ha," skinny dude laughed, "Who do you think the boss is? He's not stupid, fiore. Not even a little bit. He's definitely not ever going to leave you unsupervised. Guido here was told to watch you whenever the boss can't," he tilted his head in the big guy's direction.

"Why can't I have Luca or Dom?" I asked. I've grown to actually like them...well at least more than these two hooligans in front of me.

"It's either Nico or me, or a cage in the mafia house," Guido said, sounding utterly proud of himself.

"A cage?" I asked. Well, I sure was a hamster, wasn't I? "In the mafia house? I thought that place was under investigation by the NYPD."

"It is. That's why we moved," Guido said, Nico immediately elbowing his gut.

"Boss said not to tell her that, dumb ass! She ruined the last one, who's to say she won't mess this one up to?" He paused to give me a once over, a disgusting smile coming into play across his lips, "If you don't mind me asking, what are you to the boss? Why aren't you dead yet? Are you his puttana? She must be good," he turned to Guido, "'Cause she sure is a hell of a lot of trouble."

Puttana?

Dom told me that meant whore, awhile back. It was a word I heard from the mafia men a lot.

I was completely offended at this point.

"Hey Nico," Guido looked a little scared, "I don't think the boss is gonna like you calling her that. She's probably gonna tell on us. You know he said she has a bad temper."

"Oh, I'm definitely going to tell on you," I said in a low tone, "I'm not anyone's whore!" I ran towards Nico, my arms out in front of me waiting to strangle his tiny little neck. Guido stepped in between the two of us just as I was about to get my hands around Nico.

"You are mean, aren't you?" He held me firmly in place after realizing that I wasn't going to stop until I had at least slapped Nico across the face.

Someone cleared their throat, and it wasn't Nico, or Guido. He let go of me and we both turned to face the bedroom door.

Angelo was standing there, looking extra angry. His muscly arms were folded over his chest and he stood as straight as a line, "What are you doing, criceto?" He asked.

Really? He was going to try and pin this on me? I don't think so, "What did I do? I think you meant to ask them what they did. It's ok, I forgive you."

His eyes moved away from me and onto Nico and Guido, raising a questioning eyebrow in the process, "What happened?"

"She totally lashed out for no good fucking reason at all," Nico snapped. "She was gonna try to rip my throat out, did you see that, boss?" He sounded scared, without a doubt in my mind he was just doing it for show though. I know I didn't scare him. I mean, I'm just a pathetic little criceto after all.

"Is he lying to me?" Angelo asked Guido who looked beyond terrified. How was such a big dude afraid? He nodded nonetheless, earning himself one big Chloe point. I'm kind of offended how Angelo didn't believe me at first anyway though.

"He called her your puttana and then she charged him, or tried to at least."

Ooh, a bitch is gonna get killed. I've known Angelo long enough to know that he absolutely despises liars. You need trust to work in this industry, is what he says. And lies don't earn trust.

"Get out. Both of you," Angelo unfolded his arms and stepped aside so that Nico and Guido could walk out. As soon as they were gone, he closed the bedroom door behind them and took long strides over to me, stopping only a few small inches away. "I'm sorry, criceto. About them."

I nodded, unsure of what to say next. Him being close had never effected me before and now suddenly it sent my mind into a fit of hysteria, "It's fine. I just never want to see Nico ever again. It'll be me trying to strangle you, if we ever cross paths again. I am not a whore."

"I know you're not, Chloe. And I can assure you, he's the only one that thinks that. Even after all that you've done to the mafia house, most people still talk about you...in good ways," he reached into a pocket in his black slacks and handed me a phone. The phone's case was like a wallet too, with cards and even a few pieces of cash in it. I looked up at Angelo, confused. He was giving me two things I never ever expected from him directly. Money and a phone. "Do whatever you want today-"

I cut him off, his craziness making my mind explode, "Aren't you worried that I'll like call the cops or something?! Buy a plane ticket back to Los Angeles?"

"I'm not worried about that because I'm going to have Luca come and pick you up. I have two idiots to deal with. And you can't call the cops on that phone, it'll shut off if you try to."

Clever.

"When are you going to be back?"

"Late."

+

+

+

I sat and watched tv in Angelo's bedroom, ready and waiting for Luca to arrive. Someone, my guess was Luca, knocked on the front door.

I quickly turned the tv off and ran for the front door. I swung it open only to be slightly let down. Eleanor, the neighbor girl, stood right in front of me, some casserole dish in her hands, "Hi," she chirped. "Smith and I cooked you guys some food. It's a pasta bake. We thought you might like it," she thrusted the dish out to me.

I grabbed it and smiled kindly, "Thank you. This is probably a good thing because we don't really have food at the moment." I hated to admit it, but it was a fact.

I was starving.

"Oh. Are you going shopping?" Her eyes wandered down to the phone in my hand. The only part visible to her being the money cards sticking out.

I nodded, "Yeah." It looked as though she was waiting for an invitation, and I was ok with that because I had never in my life gone grocery shopping by myself. "Do you wanna come with?"

She nodded, "Yeah I do. I have to get a few things myself." I stepped out of the apartment and looked down the hallway to see Luca approaching. "Are we going to take my car or yours?" She asked.

"Um...actually," I pointed down the hallway at Luca. "My friend is going to be driving."

Eleanor looked terrified after looking at Luca, but nodded nonetheless. "O-ok."