0.3

"you'll move your stuff over as soon as possible," decided karla. "we should have an extra room somewhere at the house, no?"

ezra nodded his head. "i cleared one out not too long ago."

"bien. if all goes well you'll be able to start tomorrow. they should welcome you with open arms."

awkwardly sitting in front of the beautiful mafia boss, gwen felt her heart twist. how was it that a couple of hours ago she was at work, and now she was in a completely unknown and different place, and still didn't know where she was.

"uhm, what about school? i mean i—" karla held her hand up, glaring gwen in the eyes.

"i'll have one of my employees drop you off," stated karla, crossing her arms over her chest. "if that's all of your concerns, i'll get someone to take you to your room."

gwendolyn gave an awkward chuckle. "do I ever get to leave?

a humorless laugh came from karla. "oh, dear. une fois que vous avez adhéré, il est difficile de partir."
(once you join, it's hard to leave.)

"huh?" blurted gwen. "what did you—"

"oh, nothing." karla aimlessly tossed her hand. "i don't like to repeat myself, chéri." (darling)

with a heavy groan from the wooden door entered a tall red-headed woman, one gwen knew fairly well.

"scarlett?" from hearing her name called, the said woman's eyes widened.

shock forming in her brown eyes, scarlet hurried towards gwendolyn. "gwen, what are you doing here? i thought you—"

gwendolyn smiled slightly. "well uh, it's a long story," she said.

scarlett sighed and shifted her gaze towards karla. "if she's one of your victims, then i'll never forgive you, karla."

gwen felt her face flush as scarlett defended her from the mafia boss' eyes.

karla rolled her eyes. "she's not, stop shitting your pants. she'll be working with the medical side of things, anyways. i just gave her a room."

squinting her eyes at karla, she sighed. "i'll take her there. clearly, you haven't been treating her well around here." a light sneer came under her breath as she pointed towards gwen's bright red wrists.

though no words were said, the heavy tension in the room almost smothered gwendolyn as she watched the two women stare straight into each other's eyes.

scarlett gently guided Gwen out of the room, slamming the door behind her. "shit. i didn't want you seeing me here."

"oh..." mumbled gwen. "i didn't mean to, i swear!"

"it's fine, i know you didn't mean to. it's just a bad mix-up," she responded.

the two walked through seemingly endless hallways in silence. gwen cleared her throat, attempting to start a conversation.

"so, uh... what is this place?"

scarlett shifted her eyes towards the walls. "depends on who you ask. to us, this is our home from home, outsiders call it a successful business, the police call it hell."

"then... well... who's right?" stammered gwen.

"no one," scarlett deadpanned. "it's a mafia; more specifically, the valentin mafia."

gwen stared at scarlett with her mouth propped open. "a mafia? you work at a mafia? i can't beliv—"

scarlett quickly covered gwendolyn's mouth. "shh! not everyone needs to know this. besides, how are you more concerned about me working in a mafia than your safety?"

"ah, yeah. you have a point..." gwen admitted, rolling her sleeve over her hand.

"from what i've heard," resumed scarlett, "there was a mistake with something. they were supposed to catch the person who took money from us, and teach her a... lesson. that's how you got here in the first place."

gwen's eyes widened at the information. "wait— don't tell me you... kill them?"

scarlett hesitated. "well, this is a mafia, isn't it?" she looked at gwen, spotting her face pale. "don't worry about it. i doubt you'd ever be in a situation like that."

finally, they reached an empty, tall white door with wispy coloring marks in the corner.

"here, the only room available," stated scarlett.

"oh, okay. thanks for taking me here and the... information." thanked gwendolyn, her eyes meeting scarlett's.

"no problem. 'night," scarlett said.

before gwen opened the door, she turned to scarlett and hugged her. "i don't really know what's going on or what's gonna happen, but it's nice to know you'll be here. s-so thanks, blurted gwen.

"oh," sounded scarlett, clumsily returning the hug. "i'll be here with you. we're friends after all, right?"

gwendolyn felt her smile spread from ear to ear. "yeah, we are!"

with a brief goodbye, they went separate ways for the night, not knowing a silent mafia boss had witnessed the whole exchange.

▢▢▢

the next morning, gwen felt oddly calm. she didn't wake up with the usual loud music blasting from her next-door neighbor or the suffocating sound of her alarm. instead, she woke up to the sound of pure silence and a plush bed under her body.

"i feel too calm," she under her breath, eyes full of sleep. "something isn't right."

after her eyes focused, she looked around her. a wide mirror on the other side of the room faced the large bed in the middle of the white and pristine room. sunshine poured through the balcony door window and onto the bed, slowly warming gwen up. to the right of the room was a door leading to the bathroom, and on the other side was another door to the closet.

she sighed as she examined her surroundings. "this is not my room." she remembered yesterday's events: the kidnapping,  a knife against her throat, and suddenly being in a mafia. 

"oh, right. i'm in a mafia," she dumbly realized.

oh crap, she thought. this is really bad. i gotta do something about this, don't i? she laid back down on the bed. but this bed is so comfortable... a couple more minutes wouldn't hurt—

right as she was about to fall back asleep, three steady knocks were heard on the door. painstakingly dragging herself out of the bed, she opened the door.

greeting gwen with a blank look on her face was karla, her black hair pulled back in a ponytail, held with a dark blue scrunchie. sharp eyeliner was drawn on her eyes paired with a dark brown lip-liner around her plump lips, covered in clear lip gloss.

while gwen was wearing an oversized shirt, karla was wearing a black coat, turtleneck, dress pants, and gold jewelry. as she looked at the tall woman, she felt terribly underdressed.

"good morning, gwendolyn." karla blankly greeted, looking down at the shorter girl.

"oh, good morning!" gwendolyn smiled at the woman in front of her, but it came out as a grimace.

"i'll show you where you'll be stationed. i expect you to be a good addition and help them out well," karla instructed. "i'll give you a moment to get ready. you should have some clothes in the closet for you."

"okay! just... give me a second," the freckled girl uttered, dragging her body back into the room.

while waiting, karla thought back on what she saw between scarlett and gwen last night. from what she had gathered, they had met when scarlett was out on a task, working at a 'shop,' and the relationship started from there.

they must be close if scarlett was so concerned about her safety. karla concluded. they couldn't be dating anyways. that's impossible. especially someone like scarlett. she's such a fucking—

"done!" cheered gwen, opening the door.

she came out wearing a green and white striped sweater with a pretty white tennis skirt. her light brown, wavy hair reached to her shoulders and was adorned with a white headband. a gold pendant necklace rested on her chest with her lips faintly tinted pink.

"jolie," karla whispered under her breath, so low gwen couldn't hear it. (pretty)

"this will do for the day, right? i hope it's not too much or—"

karla raised her hand. "i'm sure they won't mind."

while walking, karla's mind wandered back to scarlett and gwendolyn together again.

there's no way scarlett could go for a girl like gwendolyn. she's just so— karla felt her eyes wander back to gwendolyn's small frame. sweet-looking. besides, i'm much better looking than her anyways.

karla stopped her train of thought. why am i thinking of her in the first place?

eventually, after the defending silence, they stopped and reached tall white door.

"here it is," declared karla.

and there was the start of a new beginning.

┈┈┈┈․°🌹°․┈┈┈┈

she's officially part of the mafia now! 🙌

i swear in a couple more chapters her and karla will interact... if you know what i mean 😏

are you enjoying so far?