"It's not against the rules, is it?" the middle man asks.
Not that I know of. "It is, if I have more customers to deal with, which I do."
"They'll be fine," he says a moment before I feel someone tug my wrist. I go falling forward, letting out a small yelp as I land across the laps of a couple of the men. I wiggle, trying to get back to my feet but instead I'm pulled forward before being abruptly righted.
I let out a gasp as I found myself face to face with the middle man. Not only face to face, I realize. I'm sitting in his lap, his hand wrapped around my waist. His brown eyes stare into mine and I catch another flash of gold as he opens his mouth. "Now that's better," he says.
I try to pull away from him but he only tightens his hold. "Sorry to break it to you, doll, but you're not going anywhere."
My heart is pounding in my chest. I turn my head, searching for Enzo before my jaw is clutched roughly and I'm forced to stare back at the stranger. "All eyes on me, doll." His grip tightens as his eyes narrow. "Now tell me who you really are and why in the hell are you in this shit hole?"
"She's in this shit hole, because she's my property and you’ve got five seconds to take your hands off of her before I blow your brains right through the back of the booth." I don't think I've ever been more relieved to hear Giovanni's voice than in this moment.
I inhale a deep breath, trying to turn to look at him, but the man is still holding onto my jaw and as his grip tightens, I'm starting to think that he's going to actually break my jaw.
"You won't. You have a treaty with my father and killing his son certainly isn't the way to go if you want any type of peace."
His grip tightens further. I let out a whimper, wincing in pain.
A bang vibrates through the room and wetness covers my face. I blink, catching a glimpse of red.
"You can play with my brother and talk about treaties, but frankly I don't give a fuck. That was your one and only warning shot. The next one is in your head and not one of your goons." My biggest torment turned into my savior, for the moment.
If I didn't know that cruel voice by heart, I would doubt it. But my jaw is suddenly let go of and I'm once again being pulled, this time it's over the table. Shot glasses spilling and crashing to the floor. I'm lifted from the top of table and I inhale a sharp breath, recognizing the smell of Enzo's cologne. I glance up into his face but he's staring across the table at the man whose lap I was just sitting in. I turn my gaze next to him, my mouth falling open.
The man who had been sitting next to him is leaning backward. It looks as if half of his face has been blown off, his skull exposed as blood and other things I don't want to think about drip out.
Blood is covering the side of the middle man's face and I already know it's exactly what is covering me as well. I'm so relieved that I can't care as much as I would have if it were under different circumstances. Still, I want to hop into a hot shower immediately and never leave my room again, prison or not.
"What are you doing in my club?" Giovanni asks, his posture stiller than I've ever seen a person stand. Maximo still has a gun raised and I know from the dark look in his eyes, he'll fire it again without batting an eye.
The man doesn't seem to care though, remaining calm as he stares down the brothers. "I just thought I would pay a visit. We're friends after all, right?" He seems to find the situation funny even with his friend’s blood all over him. The rest of the men at the table don't look quite as comfortable, exchanging looks with each other.
"Diamond, you know damn well you have no right to be here. I ought to let Maximo go ahead and put a round in you."
"But you won't," he says, popping his toothpick back into his mouth. He gestures to his friends and they slide out of the booth. Much to my surprise, Giovanni just lets them fan out, leaving the club. The middle man is the only one who remains, moving to step in front of Giovanni. They're standing toe to toe, nearly the exact same height.
And even though Giovanni is wearing his usual expensive suit, it doesn't make him look any less badass in comparison to the other man, Diamond.
Enzo's grip on me tightens, pulling me closer to his chest.
"Are you openly challenging me? Because if you are, you won't like how it ends. Ask your uncle. Oh wait, I forgot, my brother shot him down in the middle of the street like the piece of useless shit that he was."
Diamond's lips twitch slightly but he doesn't back off. "Yeah, well, don't forget that my father's time is ticking and a power change is coming."
Giovanni steps forward until their noses are practically changing. "And when it does, I'll deal with it and you accordingly."
Diamond only smiles before he takes a step back. "We'll see about that." He turns, offering me a look before he takes a step forward, only to meet the end of the barrel of Maximo's gone as it presses against his chest. I watch as the freshly fired gun burns a whole into the man's shirt. He glances up at Maximo before glancing over his shoulder at me. He takes a step back, wiggling his fingers before blowing me a kiss.
And then he's gone, disappearing into the crowd that has stopped to stare at us.
Giovanni turns, his eyes only running over me briefly before he looks at Enzo. "Get Vito here, make sure everyone knows to keep their mouth shut. Find out how they got in here. Get her home." He looks at the dead body before looking at Maximo. "And clean up the mess you made."