I was sitting face to face with the leader of an Italian mafia at my kitchen table. After having a bit of a panic attack when I realized my brother had been taken by the mafia, Francesco Bonano had suggested that we move to the dining room. While it had sounded like a suggestion, I really didn't think I'd had a choice in the matter.

"Your brother owes me a lot of money. Usually, if someone can't pay what they owe me, I make them pay with their life. I decided to make an exception when Gio here," he gestured to the man standing behind me, "told me that you might be of use to us."

"I'm a little confused. I don't understand why you would need my help." I admitted, still not sure what it was that Francesco wanted me to do for him.

"I need you to take care of someone for me." He leaned back in his seat and gave me a smile that made my blood run cold. "I could get someone else to do it, but I think it's poetic to have you do it in exchange for your brother's life. You know, a life for a life?"

"A life for a life?" I repeated. This had to be a joke. A really, really terrible joke with an even worse punchline.

"All you have to do is kill this man." He told me, sliding the picture of a man across the table to me.

I look down at the picture in front of me. The man was strikingly beautiful and I couldn't imagine this angelic man doing anything to piss off the Italian mafia. His brown hair was messy, almost as if he'd run his fingers through it many times and he had warm, brown eyes to match. He had a five o'clock shadow along his jaw, as if he'd been in a rush that morning and forgotten to shave. For some strange reason, he looked familiar to me, but I couldn't figure out why. I never thought I'd become a killer, but this is what it took to save my brother, and I didn't think I really had a choice in the matter.

"I don't think I can..." I whispered, choking on my words.

"You can and you will if you want to have your brother back." Francesco snapped.

"I just have to kill him? Then you'll let my brother go?" I asked, looking back up at Francesco.

He nodded slowly. "You have my word. Kill this man and we'll give you back your brother."

I glanced down at the picture again, already feeling guilty. It was crazy that I was having this conversation, let alone that I was even considering it. "What's his name?"

"Stefano Colombo."

'Why him? What'd he do?" I asked. I didn't want to kill someone without knowing why he'd been sentenced to death.

"He's a threat to my business." Francesco answered, his tone leaving no room for any more questions.

"So how am I even supposed to find him, how do I even get to him?"

"I'll take care of that. For now, you'll go on living your live like you normally would. When we're ready for you, we'll come find you." I blinked up at Francesco while he stood, buttoning his suit and adjusting the sleeves. "If you mention this meeting to anyone, I'll know and you'll meet a fate worse than death."

The second Francesco and Gio walked out the door, I started hyperventilating. This was insane! This whole situation was absolutely fucking insane! The idiot I call a brother had gotten mixed up in the Italian mafia and now I had to kill a man. How was that fair?

On top of that, the man was drop dead gorgeous and I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd seen him before. Maybe he was a model, he was definitely gorgeous enough to be one. I definitely wouldn't be able to get away with murdering a celebrity. It didn't make sense to me that they wanted me to kill him. They had people everywhere, couldn't someone else do it?

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts and decided to push the whole situation out of my mind. I was worried sick for Daniel, but there wasn't anything I could do right now and I was definitely too afraid to go to the police.

I didn't want us both to end up dead. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well that night. I was distracted and in my head at work the next day and Giulia noticed during my break.

"What's bothering you, tesoro?"

(Darling.)

I looked up at her over my tea and sighed. "It's my brother... I think he's in trouble." I was careful not to give to much detail, afraid that Francesco would come for Giulia if he found out I'd told her anything.

"What do you mean?" She looked at me with concern etched into her face, taking my hand in hers.

"I can't really talk about it, but I'm just worried about him. I think he's gotten in over his head with some stuff and now I don't know how to help him fix it."

Giulia squeezed my hand gently and offered me a sympathetic smile. "If there's anything I could do, just let me know."

I smiled back with a nod. "Thank you, Giulia."

"Of course."

That was the last time I saw Giulia because, when I got home, Gio was waiting for me in my kitchen. At this point, I was expecting people to randomly show up, so I spared him a glance and walked into my room. I made sure to lock the bedroom door before changing into a pair of leggings and a big shirt.

I had no idea what it was that Francesco wanted me to do in order to get close enough to the man to kill him and I was starting to freak out. If Gio was here, that meant that tonight was the night. I took a deep breath before walking back out into the kitchen.

"There's a car waiting for us downstairs, come." He said before heading towards the door.

"Where are we going?" I asked, hesitant to follow him anywhere.

Gio only smirked. "Come, Francesco doesn't like to be kept waiting." He subtly moved his suit jacket, revealing the gun tucked into his slacks. "Leave your phone and wallet here."

My heart dropped.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and followed Gio down to the front of the apartment building. The sun had begun to set and a slight breeze made me shiver and regret not grabbing a jacket. He opened the back door to a sleek black car with dark tinted windows. I climbed in and he shut the door behind me, getting into the passenger seat.

I kept my questions to myself the entire ride as the driver drove us into a more dangerous part of New York City that I hadn't dared to venture into. Women stood on street corners in skimpy outfits and men smoked cigarettes along graffiti covered walls. The car turned down a deserted alley and came to a slow stop in front of a door. Gio stepped out and opened my door, gesturing for me to do the same. I glanced down the street warily before stepping out.

Wordlessly, Gio knocked on the door and another man in a suit opened the door. He motioned for us to come in with his gun. Jesus Christ, everyone was packing heat and all I had to defend myself with was a shirt that said "World's Okayest Dad." Gio led me down a hallway with a bunch of doors and, from what I could tell based on the noises, I was in some type of brothel.

I was almost afraid to step inside of the room Gio disappeared into, but the man who had answered the door ushered me in, leaving me no choice. I was relieved because everyone in the room was clothed, but I couldn't help but feel on edge when my eyes landed on Francesco Bonano. The mafia boss was sitting in a chair behind a desk covered in papers with a cigar hanging from his lips.

"I see you dressed up for this, World's Okayest Dad." He mocked me and I cringed. "If you're going to seduce Stefano Colombo, you're going to have to put a little more effort into your appearance."

"Seduce?" I echoed, sitting down in the chair across from him.

Francesco lazily took a drag of his cigar. "How else are you going to get him alone with his guard down?"

I only blinked at him in response. His plan was becoming a little bit clearer to me, but I was still a little confused. So he wanted me to seduce the man, get him alone and kill him. "How am I supposed to, uh, do it?"

Francesco smiled at me and opened a drawer behind his desk. From it, he retrieved a six inch dagger and he placed it on his desk, between us. I raised my eyebrows at the blade, unsure of myself.

"You're going to stab him with this. It's poisoned, so even if you don't hit anything important, he'll die within a few days."

"He's not just gonna let me walk away after I stab him!" I argue.

"Then hit something important." He said in the deadliest tone I'd ever heard.

I found myself nodding my head. "Can I see my brother first?"

"You can see your brother once you've killed him." Francesco said with finality. "Rose!" He snapped, and the door immediately opened and a short red head scurried into the room. "Take her into one of the rooms and dress her." Francesco waved a hand at me. "Go with her." He dismissed me.

I stood and followed Rose out the door. She turned into a room a little further down and shut the door behind us. "I have some dresses that might fit you." She said quickly, opening a closet door and disappearing inside. A few seconds later, she stepped out with three dresses in her hands, each one more revealing than the last. "There is some makeup in the bathroom for you to use." She looked up at me, finally revealing the black eye she was sporting.

"Thank you, Rose." I said with a sympathetic smile.

She gave me a tight lipped smile and rushed out of the room, leaving me alone with the dresses. I quickly went through the options and immediately eliminated the first two. I ended up going with a short, black bodycon dress with an open back. I looked around the room and, after failing to spot any cameras, I stripped out of my clothes and tugged the dress on. It hugged my curves and showed more cleavage than I would have liked, but it was better than the other two dresses.

The makeup in the bathroom was a myriad of brands that I didn't recognize and, after trying to read the labels, I realized they were Italian. Giving up, I applied a quick layer of mascara and some bright red lipstick. Just as I came out of the bathroom, the door to the room open and Rose poked her head in. "Francesco says it's time for you to go."

I followed her back into Francesco's office, where he seemed to have been waiting for me. I tugged the hem of the dress down before sitting in front of him again. I hated the way his eyes roamed my body before meeting mine. "Put these on."

I took the heeled boots from him and did as he told me. I tensed when Francesco picked up the dagger and walked around his desk to me. "I had them adjusted so you could hide the knife in your right shoe."

Leaning down, he grabbed my ankle and slid the blade into my shoe. I shivered as the cold metal touched my skin and disappeared completely into my shoe. "What if I cut myself on accident? You said it was poisoned." It was more of an afterthought, but it felt like a damn important question to ask.

"You'll be fine." He said before turning to Gio. "Lasciarla al casinò dove dovrebbe essere."

(Leave her at the casino where he's supposed to be.)

"Wait!" I said as Gio grabbed my arm, pulling me up. "I wanna know what kind of poison is on the dagger! If I cut myself on accident, I want to know what to tell the paramedics when they come and save my ass!"

"You will not cut yourself."

"Is it really that hard to just tell me? I'm literally murdering someone for you." I argued. "Please."

Francesco sighed. "It is venom from a Black Mamba snake. If you do happen to cut yourself, you'll only have a few hours to find an antidote. Don't cut yourself."

Before I could say anything else, Gio pulled me out of the room and back down the hallway we came from. I didn't realize how claustrophobic I'd felt in that building until the cool night air hit my body. Gio quickly ushered me into the waiting car and, like before, sat in the passenger seat.

"Where are we going?" I asked him.

"To a casino. He's supposed to be there tonight."

"How do you know?"

"We have sources."

I quickly realized I wasn't going to get any information from Gio, so I sat back in my seat and stared out the window. To my surprise, we seemed to drive out of the sketchy area and kept driving until the streets got nicer and nicer. When the car finally stopped in front of a casino, my jaw dropped. It was a grande building that immediately intimidated me. It was huge and looked way classier than I felt.

"You're going to walk inside and sit at the bar. Order yourself a drink so you don't look suspicious." Gio said, handing me a few twenties and a fake ID. "Stay there until you spot him. Once you do, approach him and try and get him alone. You know what you have to do."

His words reminded me of the blade hidden in my shoe. "Okay." I said, robotically stepping out of the car. I took a deep breath before walking inside. I had a bad feeling about this and something told me I was in for a long night.

What do you think is going to happen next?

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-Emma🎶