22 - Help

Mia's POV.

As tipsy as I was, I was sure I hadn't just hallucinated any of that. But I also wasn't suicidal, not by any means. I was smart enough to know that if I walked down those stairs, dressed the way I was, without anything or anyone to protect me, not to mention no one knowing where I was, there was little to no chance I'd ever make it out of there alive.

But then, I also couldn't miss this opportunity I had accidentally stumbled upon. Based on the girl I had seen exiting the door I had come in through, and the screams I could still occasionally hear coming from down there, there was a huge possibility that I could find something related to my sister here.

I needed to clear my head and think. Running a hand through my hair, I pulled the door open, entering the loud, sticky heat of the club again, realizing with a jolt that the room I had just been inside was soundproof because none of the music outside could be heard inside.

Which meant none of those screams would be heard outside either. The people down there could do anything they wanted, and no one would know.

Holy shit.

I needed help. Fast. Half stumbling, I made my way toward the bar, ordering an iced water bottle and gulping down half of it one go in an attempt to sober up.

Then, I called Federico. He picked up on the third ring. "I need you to come here. Now," I said into the phone as soon as he picked up.

"Hello to you, too, cara," came his velvety smooth voice over the phone. We had exchanged numbers back when we were in NYC but this was the first time I'd called him and hearing his deep voice on the phone had a weirdly calming effect on me, the adrenaline wearing off a little.

"I need you to come here," I reiterated myself, cupping the phone's receiver so he could hear me better over the loud music around me. "I need your help."

That seemed to have caught his attention. I heard some shuffling on the other side, a few garbled words, the sound of a car door shutting, then his voice again, "I'm on my way to the club you're at. It'll take me fifteen minutes to get there. What's wrong? I have a few men disguised as partygoers in there watching over the two of you but they've not reported anything going wrong. So, what is it?"

My brows raised at his words and I looked around me, as if I could somehow figure out who these men were. "How... how do you know where we are? And why did you send these men?"

"Just because I was busy with work doesn't mean I don't know where you are. And those men are there for your protection," he explained quickly, sounding almost offended that I thought he didn't know where I was or that he'd let us go out alone without any protection like that. It touched something deep within me to know that he cared about me so much.

"Now, what, is, wrong?" He asked again when I didn't reply immediately, pausing after each word to let me know he was clearly getting agitated at my lack of response.

"Nothing's wrong per se. We're both fine. But I came across this hidden basement of sorts here that I think the Russian mafia is using to carry out something illegal. I need your help in investigating that," I explained.

A long pause. Then, "So, you're not hurt or anything?"

"No. I'm fine."

"Right. I'll be there soon. Do not go in there alone. Not until I get there," he warned, making me roll my eyes. Well, duh. If I'd wanted to do that, I wouldn't be calling him.

"I'm not crazy, or suicidal."

"I don't know about suicidal, but I'm pretty sure you're as crazy as they come," came his reply, and I could picture him smirking as he did so.

"Beware, Mancini. I bite, too," I replied with a smirk of my own.

His deep chuckle sent a shiver down my spine. "You can bite me all you want, cara. There's nothing stopping you."

An image of his corded neck, that sharp jawbone and those delectable lips came to my mind. I didn't want to just bite him, I wanted to fucking consume every inch of that delicious body of his. I crossed my legs together in an effort to relieve some of the sudden ache in between them. "Get your ass in here soon. We've got some work to do," I said into the phone instead before hanging up.

Then, armed with my water bottle, I made my way towards the booth I'd left Angela at.

She was busy wolfing down her burger and fries when I arrived. She quickly chewed her bite before giving me a sheepish grin. "I'm sorry I didn't wait for you to get back but I was starving."

I waved her apology away. "Oh, it's completely alright. And I'm sorry, too but I just got a call from Federico. He's coming here as we speak so we're gonna have to cut our girls' night short."

Angela frowned at me. "But why?"

I scrambled to find an excuse. "He, uh, he wants to apologize to me after his stupid behavior yesterday," I said, coming up with the story on the spot, mentally patting my back when Angela nodded at my reply.

"Ah, what fun it is to be young again," Angela said with a small giggle. "It's okay. I'll just call the driver to come pick me up and be out of your hair at once."

I nodded at her, feeling only slightly guilty that I was cutting our night short like that. "You talk about being young as if you're a hundred years old already," I said as she pulled her phone out of her clutch.

Angela laughed. "I'm older than Federico by six years. And I've been through the phase you're in right now already, so that makes me qualified enough to use that phrase."

If she thought her brother and I were crazy in love with each other, then what phase was she talking about? "But you're still very much in love," I pointed out.

"I am, yes. But it's not as new as it was when we were your age. The phase you're in right now, it's all fairly new. You'd get angry at each other, you'll both try and sort things out because you're scared of losing each other," she began. "The point I'm at right now, sure we fight and then make up, but I know for a fact neither one of us is leaving the other. Where is Luca even going to go if not come back to me? And vice versa. So, a lot of stuff changes with time. You can claim to be old, too, when you get to where I am in my relationship now."

Wow. To have someone have your back always. To have someone be there for you. To know they'll never leave, no matter what. I'd thought that was something you saw only in mushy, romantic movies. That it was all fiction. To see that kind of love in real life seemed like a miracle come true.

"And you think I can reach that point with your brother?" I cocked my head to the side, curious as to what she thought of my relationship with her brother.

"If you both put in the efforts required to make this work, I don't see why not." She shrugged, a goofy grin on her face. "My brother's on the right path, though. He's coming over just to make things up to you, that counts as effort in my book."

Oh. If only she knew the truth. I nodded at her, not saying anything as she finally made the call to the driver to come pick her up.

I hoped I could find love like that someday in my life as well.