23 - Hopeless

Federico's POV.

I saw Mia waving my sister goodbye as my car rolled to a stop outside the club she was at.

"Mia!" I called out her name, making her look around until her eyes landed on me, my sister's gaze following hers as she stood with the car door open, just about to get in.

Angela gave me the middle finger and made an 'I am watching you' motion with her hands before giving Mia a hug and getting into the car. The car was one of ours, which meant she was going back home.

Then, Mia made her way towards me, opening the passenger side door and getting inside.

"Why did my sister look like she wanted to skin me alive?" I asked, confused.

Mia laughed at my question. "Because she thinks you did something to upset me. Now you've finally realized your mistake and are here to beg and grovel."

I raised a brow at her explanation. The girl sure was creative. "Already turning my family against me."

She shrugged. "Not my fault I'm way cooler than you could ever be."

I shook my head, a reluctant smile pulling at my lips. God, I'd missed her and that smart mouth of hers. I'd been so busy taking care of a weapons trade gone wrong since last night that I hadn't had the time to do much else. But she had been a constant thought in my head all the damn time.

When Luca had called and told me that his wife and my girlfriend were going to a No Man's Land Club, we had both mutually decided on sending a few men over to guard them. Sure, none of the mafia families in the city owned that place, but I was still worried about her going to a club without me there to protect her in case something went wrong.

A sudden panic had gripped me when she had called and said that she needed help. I'd left the meeting I was in at once, stating an emergency, had gotten into the car and was on my way to get her before I could actually process what I was doing. Turns out I cared about her much more than I'd thought I did.

"Right. Now, what exactly did you see that made you think the Russian mafia is in there?" I asked her, ready to get to the bottom of it at once.

My question sobered her up instantly and she sat up straightener in her seat, giving me a quick rundown of what she had seen and heard.

My brows raised as I took her words in. She might be on to something here. The man I'd asked to get me the information in regards to finding her sister hadn't been able to give me much yet. But he was still looking. Until he got me some information, we could go and investigate whatever this was.

"Okay. Could you see something below? Where did the staircase lead to?"

She shook her head. "No, it was too dark for me to see anything beyond the first few steps."

I nodded. Going in there without knowing where that staircase led to or how many men were down there was dangerous. We had to figure out how many of them were there and get some sort of a map of the outline of the area down there.

"You said you saw a girl walking out of there, right? Is there any chance we might be able to find her? She can tell us about what's down there and then we can prepare accordingly before we go inside," I offered. I knew it was going to be super difficult to find a woman like that but it was better than going in completely clueless and unprepared. For all we knew, she could've gone back inside already.

Mia shot me a skeptical look. "The club is packed full of people. I have no idea how we're going to find her."

I ran a hand through my hair, feeling frustrated. "I know. But it's our only hope if we don't want to go down there completely unprepared."

She sighed, knowing I was right. "Fine. What if we don't find her, though?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," I muttered, starting the car and driving it over to the parking lot. Once I had parked it, the two of us hopped out of the vehicle before making our way inside the club.

Like she had said, the place was bursting with people, not to mention loud. "Let's go to the bar, first," I said to Mia, shouting a little to be heard over the music.

She nodded, grabbing my hand and expertly weaving her way through the crowds until we were at the bar.

Mia looked at all the patrons sitting on the bar stools or standing around the bar carefully. I let her take her time looking at each face, not saying anything so as to not distract her.

Some fifteen minutes later, she turned to me with a dejected look on her face. "She's not here."

I sighed, looking at the dance floor which was packed full of people. How were we ever going to find that woman among so many people?

"There are booths at the back. Let's check there first?" Mia offered, making me look at her.

I nodded. Sure beats looking for her on the crowded dance floor.

Again, she wrapped her hand around mine, guiding me through the crowd to the back where the booths were littered around a small section, with people eating and drinking happily.

We stood at the edge as Mia looked at each booth, carefully examining all the people seated there.

A few minutes passed, and just when I thought she hadn't found anyone here either, she squeezed my hand that was in hers tightly. "There!" She all but shouted, pointing to a booth in the far corner where I could just about make out a girl sitting alone with her eyes closed, clad in what looked like a bikini top and shorts.

"Are you sure that's her?" I asked Mia and she nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Look at her dress. She's the only one wearing a fucking bra of all things," Mia explained, already walking towards the girl, dragging me along.

She slipped into the empty seat in front of the girl while I took the one next to Mia. The girl did not show much emotion as she looked at us, seemingly not bothered that two strangers had just joined her without taking her permission or anything like that.

"What?" The woman bit out, her pale lips pulled into a thin line. It hadn't been apparent from afar, but now that I was sitting close to her, I could see how malnourished she was. Her skin looked ashy and thin, her eyes hollow and her cheeks gaunt. She looked like someone who had been starved for far too long. An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach.

"You've come from down there," Mia began. "We want to know what it's like down there. How many men are there? How many women? What's the floor plan like?"

The girl looked annoyed at her questions. "Why?"

Mia sighed in exasperation but answered all the same. "My sister might be down there. We need to go see if she is and get her out."

This time, the girl laughed out loud. "Get her out? You're delusional if you think you can get her out if she's down there."

I frowned. "Why not? You're sitting out here alone, aren't you?"

The smile she gave us sent chills down my spine. It was hollow, hopeless, the smile of someone who had given up on life. She pulled her hair to one side, grabbing it all in one hand while pointing to her bare shoulder with the other. "There's a chip in my shoulder. I can't take it out or I'll be electrocuted. And the moment I go more than a one-kilometer radius away from them, I'll be electrocuted as well. The only reason I'm sitting here is because I'm one of the old ones. I know the rules and follow them well so they let me out into the open sometimes."

Fuck.

I looked at Mia, her expression mirroring my own, one full of shock, anger and disgust all at once. These people, they weren't human. This was no way to treat anyone, let alone women.

"I'm so sorry you have to go through this," Mia said to the woman, her tone sympathetic. "But I need to find out if my sister is down there. And I need your help. Please help us," she pleaded, her desperation to find and save her sister clear as day on her face.

The woman let out a long, drawn-out sigh. "I'm not sure how much help I can be, or how much help you can be to your sister if she's down there, but sure," she shrugged, sipping on her drink.

I nodded, sharing a look with Mia.

And even though I wanted to find her sister for her, I sure as hell hoped her sister wasn't down there.