Gio

Rule number one of robberies, don’t carry any identifying information.

She’s an amateur, that much is clear to me.

I memorize every detail about her I can. From her address, eye color, height, spelling of her name, to the details I see on her person. She has shoulder-length wavy blond hair that’s darker at the roots, a heart-shaped face with pouty lips, and a slim body with the only curve belonging to her ass. I learn every tangible thing about Annie Byrne as I lead her to my car.

She was colder now than she was in the bar. I think she may be regretting her decision. I posed it as a choice but we both know there was no option there. If she would have turned me down the Irish thugs harassing her wouldn’t even get the chance to collect. They’d be gone by the afternoon.

There is a general rule in la Famiglia that we don’t kill women and children, but there are exceptions to every rule.

As much as I don’t want to hurt this girl, for no other reason than she intrigues me, you can’t let a thief go. Even this, making a deal with her is wrong, I know. The look on Frank face verifies it, letting them go could be really fucking stupid for me. But there is something about Annie Byrne, and I need to let this play out.

Knowing Frank and Tony, the boys she was with will learn their lesson. Hell, they probably won’t even be able to walk for a few days. That’ll teach them.

She leads me up to her apartment on the second floor of an old building. She lives in an okay area of downtown Providence. It’s not a bad area per se, but I would never let my sister live here.

She opens the door to the place and enters, letting me follow her. The sight hits me like a ton of bricks.

“Damn,” I mutter. The Irish are brutal, this I know from experience. Her place looks like a bomb went off. Pictures are scattered on the floor, the walls are scuffed, furniture overturned. There’s a garbage bag laying on the living room carpet half filled. It looks like she started to clean up but then threw in the towel halfway through.

“Yeah,” she sighs. “It’s bad.”

Bad doesn’t even begin to describe it. I scoop a book off the floor, Nursing Basics. “You said you’re going to school?” I asked, flipping through the textbook.

“Yep.” she pops the P when she says the word. “Nursing, obviously.” She looks at the book I’m holding.

So my little thief is a nurse.

She’s been less chatty since we left the bar. I know I shouldn’t blame her. What did I expect her to say? Thank you, maybe. That would be nice, but logically I know I can’t expect her to thank me when I just fucked up her life.

She still saw me as the enemy.

Maybe that was a good thing.

She’s sitting on her couch with her phone glued to her hand, continuously checking it and typing on it. My guess is she’s trying to get a hold of her brother. What she doesn’t realize is he’s not available right now.

I’m about to open my mouth again, say something else that will probably piss her off when someone knocks on her door.

She looks surprised at the intrusion, clearly not expecting anyone, I know because it’s Charlie.

“Thank god.” I practically moan when I open the door for Charlie. He’s carrying a suit bag with fresh clothes for me and fifty grand in cash tucked into the pocket.

“Damn, skip.” Charlie whistles looking around and the mess of an apartment. “Big Frank told me, but honestly I didn’t believe him.” He hands over the bag.

“Yeah, yeah,” I mutter. I know this place is shocking, plus the idea of me being lenient is a surprise to my men. They’re used to me being… more violent.

I gesture over to Annie, who is still sitting on the couch with her knees curled into her chest. She’s still wearing the tight black leggings and oversized hoodie she wore to rob me.

There's a part of me that wants her to take that hoodie off so I can see what’s underneath, but I stop myself from traumatizing her further.

“This is Annie, she’s going to be working with us.”

“Us?” Charlie’s voice did little to hide his surprise. It was unusual for new people to join our crew, let alone a woman, and especially not a woman who tried to steal from me.

The whole situation was fucked.

“You said you needed someone small, so I got you someone small.”

Charlie looks over Annie realizing what I had the moment I saw her. She was going to fit through the door for the Pearce job.