Kiera's Secret

Chapter One

I panted heavily as I hefted my large duffel bag over my shoulder and started forward. Glancing up and down the crumbling alley way I went to make my move when I was confident that there was no one lurking in the shadows. I stopped short just as I was about to head to the door as a dark form leered over the pavement across the street but of course it was only a silhouette of the light post down the block. Chuckling at my skittishness, I pushed the back door open to The Diamond and walked inside, shutting it behind me. Gio had promised me that this mission would be a quick in and out but something in the back of my mind was telling me that this would not be as easy as he had thought it would be.

Considering my surroundings, I took note of all of the possible exits and entrances into this part of the building in case I needed to make a run for it. Just as he had said it would be, the back of the club was eerily empty and quiet despite there being a party going on only a few feet away. Must be soundproof, I thought to myself. Great, no one to hear me scream when I piss myself and beg for my life to be spared.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I took a step further into the hallway. The back of the club was much more boring compared to the rave happening in the other room where I could hear the DJ playing mixtapes, probably their own, and the faint cheers of partygoers. The walls were a dull gray, the wood flooring in the early stages of splintering from daily ware and tare that has gone untreated. To the left and right of where I stood were several hooks holding someone's coat or purse. They hung still so I felt confident that no one had been back here recently messing with them.

I tilted my head to the side and tucked a stray piece of hair that fell from my bun as I tried to block out the blaring music and laughter, and instead focused on listening for any signs of approaching footsteps. Now would be the best time for them to show up. I hadn't set my bag down and I wasn't too far away from the door if I needed to high tail it out of here, paycheck and Gio's wrath be damned. Once I was comfortable that no one was heading my way, I scurried into a slight opening that led to what looked to be a storage room.

Dropping my bag, I looked around for any source of light. The light from the hallway shined through enough to show me vaguely what was around me, but I would feel much more comfortable if there was a light switch that I could flick on. Analyzing the opening again I concluded that there must have been a door there at some point in the history of this business, for making such bank they must be cheap.

I felt around the walls, yanking my hand back as I felt the tiny legs of a spider dart across. Wiping my hand harshly against my jeans I prayed that nothing else would touch me as I continued to look for a switch or a string of some sort to give me a source of brighter light. I shuffled all throughout the small area with my hand searching wildly but found nothing.

"Focus Kiera," I whispered. My eyes darted to the opening of the storage closet, and I craned my neck to peer around the corner and was relieved to find nobody standing there. Crouching down beside my bag I began to rifle through its contents, hoping to God that Gio had been a kind enough soul to throw in a flashlight before sending me here. He had.

Gio, my boss, was a mystery to me. I have worked with him for nearly two years now and still have yet to see him in person let alone a picture of him. Sometimes I find myself thinking about him and what he may look like. Was his eyes and hair as dark as his soul? Did he have a baby face? Was he a stumpy old man with a receding hairline? Hell, I have never even spoken to the man directly. I remember when I was first told about him. I had just graduated from university, top of my class mind you, and still found myself homeless in New York City despite everyone saying I would be highly competitive with my skill set.

Every company that I applied to told me that I was too pretty to work behind a computer screen running programs all day and only offered me positions that would allow me to be the face of the company. No thank you. So, I had picked up the one job that I felt comfortable enough doing even though it was not programming nor had anything to do at all with electronics – bar tending. Yogi's Bar was a small hole in the wall place, yet all of the drunks still found us day after day despite not being able to find the phones that they held against their ears. One night I had a particularly horrible shift and had decided to stay and drink away my sorrows after I had clocked out.