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This was all my doing. This was all my fault.
30 years ago…
“Congratulazioni CeCe!” my friend Nadia raised her champagne flute in the air and clinked her glass with mine as I beamed back at her. I had just secured my very job at a new law firm and I have to admit, I had never been prouder of myself!
“Grazie!” I took a sip of my champagne as my eyes scanned the packed club that Nadia had dragged me to celebrate. The fluorescent beams were showering the bodies that were grinding and jumping about on the dance floor and I felt suddenly over dressed in my work suit while all these other twenty-something girls strutted around in their skimpy dresses.
“You should have let me go home and change first!” I shouted over the music to my friend who was also dressed in suitable clubwear.
“No! You look great! Sexy and sophisticated! I wish I could wear suits at work,” she whined.
I chuckled and shook my head. Nadia worked in a little corner coffee shop and had done since we finished university. She was a bit of a wanderer and still didn’t know which direction to take her life. Unlike me, who had always had a carefully mapped out plan since I was five.
I placed my hand over the top of my glass as Nadia attempted to top it up. I was in a good mood today. No, I was feeling incredible! And when I feel this way, I tend to go a little crazy after a few drinks. It’s like a button on me is pressed and I think to hell with everything and just go for it. Which is a lot of fun but can also get me in a lot of trouble which I really do not need now. I was trying to be taken seriously as a newly qualified lawyer.
“Come on! At least finish the bottle with me,” she pleaded and I tilted my head.
“Urgh. Fine.”
She whooped with glee as she poured more champagne into my glass. That was the moment my night changed. Over her shoulder, I could see a swarm of people suddenly acting quite bizarrely, as if a celebrity had just walked in or something. When they all parted, I saw what all the fuss was about. A group of very attractive and sexy men all dressed in black with bulky bodies were pushing through the crowd with serious expressions. They were clearly protecting someone important. As they came closer to our table, my eyes fixed on a striking man with jet black hair, high cheekbones and dark eyes between them all. He looked dangerous. He looked like the ultimate bad boy. Just my type. No. I was trying to change. After all the terrible failed relationships of my past, I had promised myself to stay away from the bad boys. But I have to admit, this one was pretty tempting.
He was wearing a very well fitted, tailored suit and rings on every finger. As he walked past our table, his eyes locked with mine and my stomach flipped. Yes. Sexy as hell. He never took his eyes off me as he walked past with an arrogant swagger, until he disappeared with all those men behind a black curtain at the corner of the room. I turned my attention back to Nadia, who was watching me with an amused expression, wriggling her eyebrows.
“What?” I feigned innocence as I took off my suit jacket and threw it over the back of the chair.
“I saw the eye fucking that was just going on. Don’t even try to deny it!”
I rolled my eyes and downed my champagne.
“Let’s dance!” I shouted, pulling her off her chair by her arm to change the subject. We spent the next hour or so dancing to upbeat music and drinking. I could feel myself getting looser and I was past the point of trying to be my best version of myself. I was having a good time and so I should! I had earned it. Wearing my grey, tight pencil skirt, cream silk shirt and heels, I stood out like a saw thumb in this crowd, but I didn’t care. I had freed my long blonde hair from its bun and undid some of my buttons on my shirt to give a little glimpse of cleavage in my lacy white bra. That would have to do.
“Signorina, per favore, vieni con me, (Miss, please, come with me)” A deep voice from behind me on the dance floor caused me to turn around. There was one of those huge, muscular men all dressed in black with a stern expression.
“Come mai? Chi sei? (Why? Who are you?)” I snapped back, looking him up and down while I carried on dancing to the music.
“Il mio capo vorrebbe parlare con te.” He told me his boss wanted to speak to me and I quickly made the connection that the sexy stranger I had been ogling was who he was referring to. Excitement bubbled inside me mixed with the alcohol and I knew my new good girl act had gone out the window.
“Bene. Portami da lui. (Okay. Take me to him.)”
Waving Nadia goodbye, which she barely noticed, with her arms wrapped around some guy, I followed the beefcake towards the black curtain I’d seen them disappear behind earlier. As he pushed it aside, I found myself in a private room with casino tables, a bar, dancers on poles and lots of little booths with sofas and tables. There weren’t many people there. Maybe around twenty, all men apart from the dancers.
As I walked towards the end booth with my guide, I felt a lot of provocative eyes on me but I held my chin up higher. Stopping in front of a table, there were two men leaning back on the sofa in the booth, smoking cigars. One I didn’t recognise and the other was Mr dark and dangerous. His brown eyes raked down my body hungrily until they came back to my face. He didn’t smile or show any emotion as he continued to stare, taking deep drags from his cigar.
I became impatient. He was the one who called me here after all. “Your friend here said you wanted to talk to me. So, are you going to speak or shall I go back to enjoying my night?” I snapped, folding my arms across my chest.
Amusement danced across his molten eyes as he studied me for a little longer. I huffed loudly, about to walk away when he boomed, “Tutti fuori! (Everyone out!)”
I stood still as I watched every single person in the private boudoir leave immediately. Wow. This guy had some power or at least authority over these men.
“Me included?” I asked, curving my eyebrow up at him once we were alone.
He placed his cigar down in the ashtray and stood up swiftly, taking a few menacing steps towards me, so he was towering over me. He wasn’t extremely tall but was at least a head above me. I stood my ground, showing he didn’t intimidate me even though he kind of did. A small smile played on his lips when I didn’t move or break his penetrating gaze.
“Donna grintosa (feisty woman),” he smirked as he picked up a strand of my blonde hair in his fingers and flicked it over my shoulder. “What is your name?”
“CeCe. What is yours?”
He licked his lips slowly as he made me wait with anticipation. “Salvatore, but you can call me Sal.”
