Mafia Queen

Chapter Seven

Luca

My first meeting with Serena hadn't exactly been productive. After I finally convinced her to work with me, she broke down and revealed all the terror that Niko put her through over the last several years. I tried to comfort her as she sobbed on my shoulder, but it was hard to contain my anger at the horrific things she was describing. She was crying so much that I had to go home and change my shirt after because it was so wet and stained from her tears. I hadn't held another woman like that since I'd known Charlotte, but I didn't feel comfortable just letting her cry without some kind of comfort.

Violence against women had always been something that I didn't tolerate, but now, with Charlotte and Layla in my life, it was magnified. I still had nightmares about what I put Charlotte through in the first few weeks she was back. It was a miracle that she stuck it out, and not a day went by that I didn't realize how lucky I was that I didn't run her off for good. Listening to what Serena went through was like opening old wounds.

Her parents died when she was just a child and her uncle was her only living relative in the area. She lived with him until he decided she was old enough to start working, and at thirteen, he started turning her out for money. At sixteen, she got pregnant and he pretty much disowned her, forcing her into the brothel. She wasn't there long when Niko showed up, making a lot of shiny promises he had no intention of keeping. He told her he wanted to get her to America and marry her so she could become a citizen and then they would bring her son over. That was seven years ago, and she hadn't even seen a picture of her son in the last five.

She was only twenty-four now, the same age that Charlotte was when I met her. The differences between the two were glaring, and it was painfully obvious that Serena hdn't experienced the same luxuries that Charlotte had growing up. All of her life, Charlotte had been loved and adored by Josh and Elena, and they went to the ends of the earth to protect her. No one cared about Serena that way, and she'd been forced to fend for herself early on.

When I met Charlotte, she had this sparkling light in her eyes, like she was so confident and full of dreams. Serena's eyes were dark and dim, like she didn't even have hope she would be alive tomorrow. While Charlotte's boldness came across as fun and cheeky, Serena's was only bitter. Not that I could blame her. She was dealt a horrible hand in life, and I felt compelled to help in whatever way I could.

I should have just done this my own way and taken Nico out without using Serena. I could already feel myself developing a soft spot for her. Nothing romantic, of course, but more so that I needed to show her that there were still good people in the world. If I was focused on that, my judgment with Niko could be clouded. Unfortunately, there was no going back now, and I had to work with what I had. And what I had right now was his terrified wife, who only trusted me slightly more than she trusted her husband, which was next to nothing.

This meeting was vastly different from our first. Serena swore the only way Niko would let her out of the house would be if he thought she was working. So on days that we met, I put her up in a penthouse at a downtown hotel and posed as a high-profile client. We'd spend most of the day up there going through details of Niko's operation, and then I'd send her on her way with $4000.

It only worked because Niko was shit at doing his homework. There wasn't another gang or mafia boss in the world that I could pull the wool over their eyes so easily. His arrogance made him reckless, and I was going to take advantage of every opportunity that presented itself.

"Where does he get the girls?" I asked, taking a gulp out of my coffee cup. I didn't want this to go on longer than it had to, which meant I needed to start getting concrete information out of Serena. Without knowing what I was dealing with, I couldn't get her, or anyone else, out of danger.