"Got any brilliant ideas now, Mr. Mafia?" I panicked.

Angelo reached into one of the pockets in his slacks and pulled out his cell phone, quickly dialing a number. I raced over to the window and looked outside. Definitely too far for me to jump and not break something.

I saw Dom right outside looking up, and speaking into his cell phone. Probably to Angelo. A few seconds later two oddly familiar men came running up to Dom with a ladder. Hmm, déjà vu? I immediately recognized the two guys as Guido and Nico.

I guess the D'Amico Devil didn't get rid of them.

The pounding on the door only got louder and now it sounded like there were more people waiting outside. "Angelo," I whispered, just as he had gotten off the phone, "I'm scared."

He came over and opened up the window just as the ladder came into view, "Don't be. Now climb down. Dom's going to take you back to the apartment."

"What about you? What are you going to do?" I asked while slowly climbing out the window and carefully planting my feet on the ladder.

"Just go, Chloe," he took my hands off the window ledge and placed them on the ladder so he could shut the window with ease and disappear from my sight in seconds.

I stood there for a minute, a little confused before climbing down to be somewhat at level with Dom. He was always going to be taller than me though. We had an epic staring contest before he lost and grabbed my arm, "No time to waste, Chloe. We have to get you out of here," he ushered me to a car and surprisingly it wasn't black. It was a light blue actually...but that hardly mattered.

I got into the passenger side as he hopped into the drivers seat and we were speeding away from the mafia house shortly after. "Ok, so why is this just now becoming a problem in your guys' eyes?" I asked. "Why would Luca take me back here if I was obviously on Mr. D'Amico's killer radar?"

"We didn't know, Chloe. Half of us didn't even know he was out of prison. That caught almost all of us by complete and total surprise. And then someone, no one knows who yet, spilled the beans on you. You're a threat."

I scoffed, "I'm a threat? The girl everyone calls criceto is a threat? What else are you guys threatened by? Maybe I can use it to my advantage."

"You're not understanding me, gattina. Mr. D'Amico will stop at nothing until you are nothing. Whatever goes down in the days to come, no matter how odd they may seem, you're gonna need to play along with."

"What do you mean?"

"The mafia is no stranger to lies. I think you of all people know that by now...Mrs. D'Amico," he laughed. Haha, so freaking funny. Not. "Maybe lying is the only way we're going to get you out of this. I don't know yet, but you need to play along no matter how odd it may seem. Got it?"

"I guess."

What lie could be so bad though?

+

+

+

"So what now?" I asked while impatiently tapping my foot on the ground. Dom and I had been standing in the hallway of the apartment building for nearly an hour without saying even a word to each other. I never got a key, Angelo had it and he didn't think to give it to either Dom or me. So we wait.

"We wait for Angelo to finally show up," Dom grumbled.

I sighed, "I'm actually surprised we haven't heard anything from these guys yet," I said while pointing towards the neighbors door. Last time I saw them we were all supposed to be heading to a restaurant, but fate took a weird turn and that never ended up happening. I wonder if they snitched?

Maybe they did and the mafia already took care of them. Maybe that's why I haven't heard from them yet.

"Who are they?" Dom asked.

"The neighbors. Smith and Eleanor. You've never heard about them?"

"No? Should I have?"

I shook my head, "I guess not."

"What. The. Hell!" The utmost familiar voice boomed down the hallway. I shifted my gaze from the wall in front of me down to the staircase all the way down the hallway and saw Luca miserably pulling himself up. Angelo walked around him, not fazed by the stairs at all.

I was in Luca's position not too long ago, so I was definitely feeling his pain right now. I didn't think him of all people would have a problem with ascending a couple flights of stairs though.

"Fucking finally," Dom once again grumbled as Angelo approached us.

Luca was a couple of steps behind, almost gasping for air, "How convenient is it that the goddamn elevator is still broken? Last time I was here, it was having the same problem."

"I should get you and Chloe a gym membership for Christmas," Dom laughed and nudged Luca's side. "You both look the same after going up any stairs. Fatties."

"Rude."

"Why are you here?" Dom asked Luca. "Aren't you supposed to be supervising the rookie runs today?"

Rookie runs?

Sounded sinister in a weird way.

Luca shook his head, "Well I thought so, until Jello Shot, over here," he motioned towards Angelo and I couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculously hilarious name he had been given, "Said I was being reassigned. I'm only reassigned when I'm going to be the one doing all the dirty work."

Dom and Angelo totally brushed off everything Luca had just said, "So what now?" Dom asked.

"We have to talk to the neighbors," Angelo walked passed all of us and over to Smith and Eleanor's apartment. He took me by total surprise when he pulled his gun out. What surprised me even more was that Dom and Luca were next to him in seconds, their guns now drawn too.

I kept a safe distance away from them as they all approached the neighbor's apartment. Angelo knocked and seconds later Smith opened the door a crack, just so that he could barely see who was standing in front of him.

Angelo held up his gun so that Smith could see it and quickly blocked the closing door with his foot before Smith had a chance to fully close it. Dom, Luca and Angelo were all entering their apartment before I could even blink and I was left here wondering what I was supposed to do.

I decided that I should probably follow them, so I did. Once I had walked inside, I saw that the situation had already taken a creepy turn and Luca and Dom had their guns pressing harshly against seated Smith and Eleanor's heads. Angelo's gun was out of sight and he stood in front of them, his arms crossed over his chest, "I need to know everything you know about us," he said calmly, but I could see a hidden frustration between those dark eyes of his.

Eleanor cried quietly and I couldn't help but feel bad for her. I knew how this felt not too long ago, and now here I was making a new mafia friend each and every day. Where there are friends though, there are also enemies.

Smith's eyes kept going between the floor and Angelo for awhile before finally meeting them both in the middle and keeping his gaze firmly on the coffee table, "What do you mean us? Who's us?" He asked. His lying was bad even to me, and I was known for being gullible...sometimes.

Angelo scoffed, his anger now being at the forefront of the conversation, "You know who I'm talking about. Me! What do you know about me? I know who you are, which means that I know who you work for. How else were the cops supposed to know that I was going to be at a restaurant with your boss' daughter? You're a bad liar, neighbor, and you are not getting out of this one."

Smith works for my dad?! Man, how did I not see that one coming? He dresses like he would work for my dad. Silver Enterprises just had the New York Marketing Building grand opening like...sixth months ago.

"Who are you?" Eleanor choked out and then turned to Smith angrily, "And what did you do?!" She snapped.

"These men are kidnappers," he whispered to her as if no one else could hear him. "That's Mr. Cruise's daughter. Chloe. I heard someone at work talking about how she went missing one day, and then what do you know, she shows up in our apartment complex. I called Mr. Cruise and told him that she was here and in return, he gave me a cash reward. I used that money to find out more about..." he turned his attention back to a fuming Angelo, "him."

"And what exactly did you find out?"

"I didn't find anything on you, that's the scary part. You have a dad though. A dad who was in the mafia and you are too, aren't you? Your dad, Rafael D'Amico. He's on death row-"

Angelo cut him off mid sentence, "Actually, he's not. He escaped and now he's running about as he pleases. Instead of killing you..." Angelo paused for a brief moment, "You're going to help me."

Eleanor and Smith looked at each other, seeming a little bit worried and a tad thrilled all at the same time. "How am I going to help you?"

"You're ordained," Dom jumped into the conversation.

Ordained? As in qualified to marry people?

Oh God.