Broken by the Mafia

Chapter 7

When Isabella got home, she saw Ashley sitting on the couch waiting for her. She knew she wanted to talk to her about last night and how it went with Jay. Yet, she knew she couldn't tell her the truth.

"Hey Ash," she waved getting Ashley's attention.

"Oh, hey,"

"You, ok? You seem distracted."

"Yea, I'm ok. I was just worried about how it went with Jay."

Isabella walked to the couch and sat down. "Oh, well he told me that he had someone look up where I lived, so he could see that I got home safe. He also told me about why left."

Ashely looked at her best friend and saw that she was struggling with the reason why he left. They met in college as roommates and became close after that, but Ashley was hiding something from her.

"Do you think you can tell me?" she asked softly not wanting to push her.

"He um, he's the head of the De Luca family."

Ashley took a deep breath and nodded. "Oh," was all she could say because she knew already. She was Isabella's personal bodyguard.

"You don't seem surprised," she gave Ashely a quizzical look.

"Well, his last name is De Luca, Iz. It makes sense to me."

"I guess I never thought about it like that."

Ashley hugged her friend, "Hey, I'm sure you're not the only one who didn't make the connection. There's plenty of people who are probably friends or work with people in the mafia and never know."

Isabella nodded her head. It did make sense what Ashley was saying, you never really know a person unless you ask them.

"So about last night, I know you went to the beach but who did you talk to?"

"Oh, I met this guy named Mark. I saw him today at work, he was with his sister."

Ashley nodded she knew Mark. She wasn't sure how it was going to play out between him and Isabella, but she wasn't going to stop it. They both worked for Jay so there was no immediate danger.

Ashley's phone started to ring, she glanced at it seeing it was work calling. "Hey Iz, I gotta take this call."

Isabella let her go and went into her room. She figured Ashley would have to go to work soon, so she took a shower to help herself think about her day. When she got out, she checked her phone and saw that Ashley texted her telling her that she had to go to work and would probably get back late. She texted her back saying ok. Ashley worked at the club that she went to last night. It was one of the places Ashley took her to when they first met. It was a high-end club, Isabella never thought to go there because she didn't think she belonged there.

Her family wasn't rich, but they also weren't poor. She was able to live a comfortable life, with some of the glitz and glam but not often. She was a very attractive girl. A lot of people told her that she should try modeling, she had tight black curls, a curvy body, and brown eyes. It wasn't the outward that made her feel like she belonged, Isabella is a sweet girl and stayed away from crowds. She isn't shy, she just has social anxiety and crowds make her nervous.

Ashley had begged her to come to the club with her one night to have fun and let loose. It wasn't the first time she asked, but it was the first time Isabella said yes. She borrowed one of Ashley's dresses since she didn't have any dresses suitable for the club. Once they got there, they danced and got drinks to let off steam. Isabella had more fun than she thought she would, so the next day they went shopping to get Isabella some clubbing clothes.