"What the hell were you thinking? Luca, I told you... I told you I didn't want your fucking help." Valerie snarled into the phone.

This was her seventh voicemail she'd left on his direct line at work.

"What happened to you saying you were gonna win me over with hearts and flowers? With kindness and decency? Literally anything but your money. It went out down the drain with a big shit, obviously."

She was livid, she didn't understand why he continued to try and buy her. She didn't take his gesture as kind or sweet. She was insulted.

"Honestly, I... thank you for the money, but please. Please don't contact me anymore. Stop helping me."

And as she paced angrily around her room, she ended the call then threw her phone on the bed. Her pride was in shambles. Rather than pay off her apartment she would've much rather have had a shoulder to cry on as she carted her stuff back to her parents' house.

She just wanted Luca to be regular. She wanted regular, and she wanted love.

And he was bringing her money and lust.

Sliding dramatically down her wall, Valerie put her face in her hands and took a deep breath. She knew having looming eviction over head was great burden to get rid of, but the new thing choking her was the guilt around her neck for even needing help; and now being responsible to pay Luca back.

She felt bound to him, and not even by a contract, but definitely by blood. Her own blood, sweat, and tears would be the only things she had to make enough money to amount to what he just carelessly gave Lucinda.

Tomorrow was Tuesday, and she'd meet with KJ and Colton tomorrow, sing like a canary, and get two hundred and fifty thousand. She'd need two hundred fifty thousand more to pay off what Luca gave her landlord. He grossly overpaid. The thought made her head hurt.

Valerie hated being indebted to people. She moved out of her parents house in order to pay them back for paying for her schooling. She just never took gifts well.

Getting up from the wall, she made her way into her bed and closed her eyes.

All I wanted was hearts and flowers. He gave me cold hard cash and a half a million dollar debt.

***

The next day Valerie threw herself into her work. She was gonna get the money one way or another.

Nothing new was happening at the restaurant, the same nasty old geezers came and ate their same greasy cheeseburgers and soggy salty French fries. It was as if the world was gray for a second in Valerie's life, she was just upset at the world.

She hated her job, she hated why she had to work it, and she hated Luca... or at the moment she felt like she did.

The door of the establishment jingled, signaling the arrival of a new patron entering. Off instinct, Valerie's eyes flickered towards the sound just to appraise the new customer.

It was the balding man she'd followed the night she ran into Luca.

Except now, his face was gaunt and a nasty purple-green bruise adorned his cheek. He was not the neatly kept man she'd initially followed, his clothes still showed wealth, but obviously the money KJ and Colton were alluding to had doubled, maybe even tripled.

Taking this chance to get more info of course before her two hirers came in, Valerie sauntered over to the balding man at the bar. She gave him her routine dazzling smile, he did not return it.

"Hi, I'm Val, I'll be taking your order today, what can I get you—"

"Where's Lacey? She serves me." He inquired dryly, not really giving Valerie the time of day. Valerie glanced over at Lacey who was serving a table at the moment and the thought passed to just pass the man onto her, but she wanted more time with him. So, she decided against it.

"Lacey is busy right now. I'm more than capable to handle whatever she makes for you." Valerie assured the man, and he warily took her in. He audibly withdrew a shaky breath, and gave a small nod.

"Alright, vodka tonic, equal parts. Please bring me the other part of my order... discretely." He waved her off after that, pulling out his cellphone to make a call.

What the hell is the other part of his order?

Valerie racked her brain as she began to make his drink, as she reached for the vodka and a piece of paper caught her eye, it was an envelope. She grabbed it and stashed it away in her dress pocket quickly before returning to pouring the drink and stirring it.

Smoothly sliding the drink to the patron, Valerie smiled at him again, normally by the second smile Valerie was at least assured a tip, but this man just vacantly stared back. "I'll be right back with the other part of your order!" She chirped.

If I can find out what the hell it is...

Dashing into the employees only room, Valerie whipped out the envelope and palmed it to feel for anything peculiar. She even shook it by her ear to see if anything jingled around. As she was doing so, Lacey waltzed in.

"I knew you were the one who stole Mr.Patterson from me. Do you even know what his godforsaken order is?" Lacey stood at the door, amusement in her eyes and both hands sassily on her hips.

I just know I look like a dumbass right now...

Shaking her head no, Valerie admitted to her cluelessness and Lacey chuckled and walked over to the stupefied girl and snatched the envelope from her, only to tear it open and reveal VIP tickets for a gentlemen's club.

A strip club.

The rest of Patterson's order was tickets to a strip club.

Lacey held the cards out in front of Valerie's face tauntingly, "Thought you could sneak these out from under me! Ha! Luckily... I don't give a fuck who serves that nasty old man. Good riddance." After dramatically drawing out the reveal, Lacey dropped the VIP placards in Valerie's dress pocket and was gone just as quick as she came.

Valerie examined the tickets, The Red Room was in bold cursive script above a woman who you can probably guess was showing her goods on display. She was dressed like a pirate laying on a bunch of gold coins.

Boy, do I wish to be her. I bet if the gold was real she could help me with my fucking debt.

Going back out into the patron serving part of the restaurant Valerie went back to Mr.Patterson and slid him the tickets which he quickly snatched off the table and put inside his suit jacket.

He looked like he could finally relax. His shoulders were finally lower than his ears. "Thank you for being so quick. The drink was lovely. Here's your tip." Patterson coolly slid three hundred dollar bills Valerie's way which she greedily picked off the table.

That, Patterson did smile at. His teeth were slightly yellowed. Valerie returned the smile ten fold, "Thank you for your generosity, sir. I look forward to serving you again." She rattled of her regular thanks for a good tipper.

"Of course you do." The man smugly replied and Valerie felt her stomach drop. It was time for her to make her way to the next customer. With another short grin, Valerie snatched up his cup and any trash he had made and ran it into the trash room before darting back out and scanning for new faces.

That's when she finally spotted KJ and Colton in that same back booth.

Taking a deep breath, she walked as calmly as she could over to them. Colton noticed her first and gave her a warm smile that reminded her of her father; she shook the thought away quickly.

This man was dangerous. My father is not.

Pulling up a chair from another table, she sat down and scooted closer to the men. "Hey guys, do you want to order anything before we get started?" Valerie asked nervously. She hoped they liked the things she had to tell them and was internally panicking that they'd just use her for the info and not pay her anything. She really was going out on a limb here, and she was just now realizing it.

KJ shook his head as he leaned back on the cracked leather booth seat, he reached for a toothpick in the middle of the table and smoothly placed the wooden stick between his teeth, one of his canines was encased in silver.

"I think we're good, beautiful. Just tell us what we came here to hear." He spoke up for him and Colton who just seemed to nod along with what was said. Valerie's cheeks flamed from his adjective for her even though she knew it was offhand flirting. KJ wasn't even looking at her when he said it, his eyes were turned towards the window, watching closely for something it seemed.

Clearing her throat, Valerie smoothed her dress skirt with her sweaty palms, "So, I followed the guy you guys asked me to at around six thirty. He went deeper into the slums and into an abandoned apartment complex. There were a lot of Italians in the building?" She began squeakily.

KJ chucked softly at the mention of Italian people. It didn't seem to surprise him at all.

"Go on, Valerie." Colton urged her, he was intently listening. His thick brow was creased in thought.

With a deep breath, Valerie began again, "Yes. A lot of Italian seeming men. I snuck inside the building and it gave way to a fully renovated inside and a bunch of other men were there. All of them were rich. Billionaires even..."

Luca's face flashed in her mind and she couldn't help but physically cringe. She hadn't thought of him all day.

"Did you recognize any of them?" Colton asked, snapping her out of her mournful disgust. This question peaked KJ's interest, his idle chewing on the toothpick had stopped and he was looking at Valerie, his crystal blue eyes intrigued.

And for some reason, she had a very strong feeling to not let the men know she knew Luca Giovanni personally.

Or at all.

Quickly she shook her head no, which caused both men to squint at her.

Think, Val. Think.

She willed herself. She couldn't seem suspicious now! "Yeah, I only knew they were wealthy because of the eligible bachelor column in one of the magazines I read," Purposefully awkwardly laughing and putting a strand of hair behind her ear. Colton relaxed, but KJ still regarded her carefully. Valerie felt as if "LIAR" had suddenly spelled out on her forehead.

"A blonde woman who introduced herself as Margaret began to speak about a society called the American Affluence Assurance..." She paused there to gage their reaction to her name dropping finally.

The men didn't flinch which was weird, but Valerie kept that to herself.

"The man you had me follow was one of the new recruits. After one of the new inductees spoke about his happiness for being accepted into the association, Margaret came back and started this awful auction with these scared looking girls—"

Instead of matching Valerie's sickened expression, Colton seemed amused by the mention of the auction. "I think we've heard enough." He silenced her recall of the night there. Valerie was so confused. She hadn't even explained the auction, but suddenly they seemed to know exactly what was going on.

She hadn't even relayed what she'd learned today yet. However, Valerie stopped still. If they had enough, they had enough.

"KJ, give her the money." Colton spoke as he began to type something on his phone. KJ reached into his jacket briefly before producing two huge bands of cash. "This is only fifteen. Like we promised if we deemed you gave us a good enough amount. However, it wasn't enough..." KJ grinned devilishly as he explained to her.

Valerie wanted to argue. They didn't even let her finish! How could they tell her what she gave wasn't enough?! But she was mute, she was scared of these men. There was a glint in KJ's eyes that chilled her to her core.

"We need you to go to a club and meet with one of our girls, she'll make sure no one suspects you. Once you're there, you'll meet with a man named Michael. Make him happy. Let him be nice to you, then slip him this," KJ placed a packet of something on top of the money he'd given her.

"Be sure he drinks it. Leave him wherever you make him drink it at, just don't leave the club with him." KJ stresses as he finishes. Valerie's heart is beating wildly. She'll be accessory to something if she goes through with this.

She rolls the packet between her fingers, it's liquid.

"Will this kill him?" Was her next question.

"No." KJ and Colton answered in unison, which set her even more on edge.

She couldn't live with herself if she knew she'd killed someone.

"Okay." Valerie agreed breathlessly. Grabbing the money and putting everything in her apron pocket. "When do I have to do all of this?" She asked next, running her hands through her hair and thinking of another speech to tell Nicki in a couple days when she disappears for a night again to calm her nerves.

"Tonight. You'll go to The Red Room and meet with a woman named Sweetness and do exactly as we've told you. We'll get you another fifteen thousand the next day if everything goes as planned. Trust us."

Trust the mobsters. Definitely.

Valerie internally rolled her eyes.

Before she could even truly agree to the tasks, the men got up from the table to leave. Sliding past her, KJ toyed with a lock of her hair as he passed. It made shivers go down her spine. He noticed and smiled broadly.

Whatever sick, but hot and bothered felt like together... that's how she felt from that. Valerie was a ball of emotion right now.

"We'll be in touch." Was Colton's curt goodbye before being followed by KJ out of the restaurant.

"I don't pay you to sit on your ass and talk to guys, Val!" Lacey singsonged before bumping Valerie's chair harshly and slapping a wash bucket on the table she was sitting at.

Valerie sighed and put her head on the table briefly before standing up and putting the chair back where she got it from and wiping down the table KJ and Colton were at. The money in her apron pocket swayed heavily, and just the weight of it made Valerie feel like she was already a criminal. Like she was already an accessory.

Fifteen thousand down, four hundred eighty five thousand to go.

***

When Valerie arrived home, she arrived to a flustered Nicki who tossed a ringing phone at her as soon as Valerie closed their front door and could catch it.

"Please answer it! It's that man!" She tiredly pleaded.

Without another word, Valerie answered the call, "Hello?"

"Valerie." Luca's voice flooded through the phone and she promptly hung up the call.

"Don't do that!" Nicki screeched, "He'll just keep calling."

Just like she said, the phone began to buzz again with the same number calling.

"Don't hang up on me again, Valerie. Just listen—"

"No, you listen. Since you can't take the hint that me blocking you means don't call from anywhere else, and don't fucking call my roommate you stalker." Valerie growled into the phone's microphone.

"When you're insisting on being a child, I have to do things rather alternatively. I paid your housing and utilities off for a good amount of time so you could focus on us and not working yourself into an early grave." He matched her tone evenly.

"What about me literally begging you to stay out of my finances? I have this. I don't need you telling me what I'm doing. Obviously, taking you seriously is me signing up to be babysat. I don't want it. I don't want you." She clarified, attitude still dripping from her tone even though her mind's eye was flashing her with memories of his handsome face and all too dreamy brown eyes.

She ached to feel his body pressed against hers like when he had her against the wall the night she was spying.

To let his warmth seep into her skin and his mouth—

"I want you, Valerie. But, I want you. One of these days you're going to have to face reason and realize all I've done was try to help you. I want to be here for you."

His words moved her, but his actions always did the opposite. They repulsed her. He didn't know his boundaries.

"Don't."

Was her harsh reply, before she ended the call once more. Silence filled the room as the girls waited to see if the phone would ring again.

It didn't, and although her heart sank, her throat cleared and she felt like she could breathe again.

"He's not giving up. Not after all that." Nicki grumbled, giving Valerie a resigned pitiful look before returning to her room.

"I know..." Valerie softly replied, more to herself than to Nicki. Setting Nicki's phone on the kitchen counter, Valerie went into her room and stripped off her work uniform and dove into her duvet.

Oh how she wanted to let Luca love her, but his red flags with control and manipulation just screamed at her to stay away. She wouldn't let herself be persuaded and bought into an unhealthy relationship. Look how hard it is for him to let go now and all she did was come in for a job interview...

She didn't need this.

Luca Giovanni was a force to be reckoned with. That's why the hell she had to pay him off.