There’s a soft knock on my door and I check on Aria to make sure she hasn’t woken yet. After setting my laptop down, I open the door to find Cecilia and Dr. Fox standing together. “Giovanni, I didn’t know Dr. Fox was needed.” Cecilia gives me a perplexed look then tries to peer around me to see who is in my room. I block her view, closing the door behind me and stepping out into the hallway.
“Thank you for coming, Dr. Fox. The woman I need you to take a look at is sleeping right now. I’m not sure when she’ll wake up. If you could wait inside, I just need to speak to Cecilia for a moment alone.” After letting Vivian into the room, I close the door. “I’m going to be occupied for a few days, so I am going to need you to be on your A-game with the club. Go to Johnny first, but if you need me, I’ll be here.”
“What’s going on, Giovanni?” she questions. Sooner or later, I’m going to need to tell Cecilia about Aria since she’ll be here for the foreseeable future, but at the same time, my business isn’t her business, and she needs to understand that.
“I’m helping a woman get well. She was drugged and beaten badly.”
Cecilia looks at me baffled. “At the club? How was I not aware?”
“No, not in the club. Elsewhere, but she’ll be staying here while she’s healing.”
Cecilia looks past me at my closed door. “In your room? You don’t let anyone in your room.” Her hand goes to her hip, angrily. Looks like I’m going to have to nip this shit in the bud right now.
“Who I let in my room isn’t any concern of yours. Your job is to take care of the escorts, that’s it. Nothing more.” Cecilia flinches before composing herself. She steps close to me, running her hand down my arm, flipping her switch from angry to sweet.
“Don’t act like that, Giovanni. You know I just want to help.” Her voice is meant to be seductive, but it doesn’t work on me because I’m immune to her fake-ass charm.
I remove her hand from my body. “You can help by making sure the front end is running smoothly and there are no issues with the women or members.” I turn my back on her and go into my room, closing the door on her face.
When I step inside, Aria is awake and in tears. Dr. Fox is holding her on the bed while she sobs in her arms. “I- I need something. Please. I-I’m in so m-much pain,” Aria hiccups through her gut-wrenching sobs.
“What do you need?” I ask, sitting on the edge of the bed next to the women.
Aria swipes away the falling tears, taking deep breaths until she composes herself. Then she narrows her glossy eyes at me, shooting me a glare like I’m the devil incarnated.
“Are you in the mob?” she seethes. I try to hide my smirk. This woman has some sass to her and she’s not stupid. She guessed right on the first try.
“What do you need?” I repeat, ignoring her question. I’m not going to give her drugs, but I need to know what she was on so we can help her kick that shit.
“Xanax or Oxy, please…or…” She contemplates what she’s going to say next, her bright red nose scrunching up like she’s not sure whether to say what she wants. After a moment of hesitation, she murmurs, “Since you’re in the mob, maybe you can get me something stronger. I’m sure you have access to the good stuff.”
Holy shit, this woman has no filter. Dr. Fox is quietly listening, her eyes volleying back and forth between Aria and me. “There are no drugs on this property,” I growl out. “Whatever the doctor says you can take is what you’ll get.”
Aria rolls her eyes and scoffs, “Fine. Give me whatever you can and then I need to get out of here.” I don’t bother to let her know she isn’t going anywhere. The doctor might have signed an NDA, but I can’t imagine her holding to it if she knew that technically Aria is being held here against her will.
“Sweetie, I’m here to check you out and then we’ll see what we can give you for the pain. Can you tell me what happened to you? How long you were in this condition?” Dr. Fox pushes Aria’s hair from her face and speaks soothingly to her.
“I’m not sure. I don’t even know what today is.” I tell her the date and her eyes go wide in shock.
“Oh my God! That asshole had me locked up for nine months! My mom was killed in an accident in May. He took me right before my finals, only a couple weeks after she died, and it’s already February! Nine goddamned months!”
Her head drops into her hands as she shakes her head back and forth, mumbling incoherent words through her hands as she chokes on her sobs. I’ve never felt so helpless in my life. My first thought is that I want to find that piece of shit and kill him. It’s the only way I know to try to right this wrong, consequences be damned. But realistically, I’m aware it’s not going to make Aria better. Only time will heal her, and even then, she’ll never truly be okay. Open wounds eventually heal, but wounds as deep as the ones she’s sporting will leave thick scars as a reminder of what she went through.
“Giovanni, can you give us some privacy so I can examine Aria, please?”
As much as I don’t want to leave her, I reluctantly get up and go to my sitting room, which is attached to the bedroom, to give them privacy without leaving.
Chapter Eight
ARIA
I wake up in a soft bed, one I’ve never seen before, and for a second I get lost in the comfort of the plush pillows and down comforter I’m wrapped up in, wondering how I ended up in this comfy bed. Then everything comes back to me. The basement. Giovanni taking me. Attempting to throw myself out of the moving vehicle. I try to sit up but the pain in my abdomen forces me to stay still.
“Careful, sweetie. I need you to tell me where it hurts.” I jump at the sound of a female’s voice and see a woman sitting on the edge of the bed next to me.
“Who are you?” I look around to see where I am. I’m in a large room, most likely a master bedroom. The entire room is decorated in dark browns and creams. I’m lying in a king-sized four-poster bed. All the furniture, including the bed, is made of what looks like real mahogany wood. The drapes are closed, leaving the room without light, save for a single lamp next to me. On the wall across from the bed is a roaring fireplace which spans from floor to ceiling with a flat screen television hanging over the mantle.
“My name is Vivian Fox. I am the on-call doctor here at the club. Giovanni asked for me to check you out. Can you tell me what hurts?” Something about the way this woman speaks and smiles softly at me, has me feeling suddenly at ease. She looks to be in her late forties, beautiful sandy blond hair pulled up into a low ponytail with comforting brown eyes that remind me of my mother. She patiently smiles at me and my heart craves the love of my mom.
Ignoring the pain, I sit up to give her a hug, hoping her touch will feel like my mom’s. Her being here is the first sense of hope I’ve had that I will finally be free…or at least safe. After a few minutes of crying in her arms while she simply hugs me without saying a word, I hear the door open, causing me to jump back.
Giovanni walks in, no longer in his suit but in a pair of sweatpants and a shirt that make him look just as alluring as the suit does but in a completely different way. This man screams power no matter what he’s wearing.