Seductive Salvation (Book One of The Mafia Heiress Series)

Chapter Eleven

Giovanni

I started to get the feeling that Valeria wasn't ever going to speak to me again. I'd spent months calling her cell and leaving voicemails to the point that her voicemail inbox was full. I'd tried my best to search for her and despite my hardest efforts, she was nowhere to be found. I had talked myself into trying one last time to call her, hoping and praying that she'd answer and at least tell me that she didn't want to speak to me. I dug my cell out of my suit jacket pocket and dialed her number that was now engraved into my memory. I took a deep breath as it started to ring.

"I thought by not answering your calls that you would kind of get the point. I guess I underestimated your intelligence." I almost dropped the phone when her attitude laced voice spoke.

"I-I'm sorry. I was just worried after the way you got out of my car and just dropped off the face of the earth. You could have answered one of the first five times and told me off. I wouldn't have spent my nights trying to find you. I guess I underestimated your innocence and just thought that you weren't one of those girls who enjoyed one night stands and then ghosted the guy." I didn't mean for it to come out as harshly as it sounded.

"You really don't understand how hard I'm trying to protect you from my shithole of a life. You don't belong in my world and I just can't let myself pretend that what we had could ever become a reality. My whole world just dramatically changed and you will never be able to fit into again. So, stop calling, please. I am trying to cover for the massive amounts of times you've called and left voicemails with the begging and pleading. I can only keep it under wraps for so long, G. You have to stop. Please, this time I'm the one begging and pleading."

"Tell me why I don't belong in your world and I'm pretty sure it isn't as bad as your making it out to be." I just wanted to hear her voice for a little while longer even if I was torturing myself. What could be going on that's so bad that she feels like she has to protect me? Shouldn't I be the one protecting her from my world?

"G, please, I really wish I could explain it but I can't. I can't have you calling or leaving voicemails anymore. I wish I could explain in person but I'm not even in the States right now and I might not ever be again. I wish things could be easy and that falling in love and having a life was that simply but it isn't. I wish things were different but they won't ever be the way we want them to be-" she was cut off by a loud knocking on the door.

"Valeria, who're you talking to? I thought you were trying to rest and take it easy after training today?" A thick Russian accent laced the guys voice. The call ended after I heard the door open and then close. Why was she talking to some Russian? What was she training for? I knew she was a dancer but it didn't sound like he did ballet. I knew what I had to do and that was figure out exactly who she was.

I sent a quick text to my second in command to do some digging into records while I went out for a bit. I was going back to the very spot I first met Val and I was going to figure out why she was so hell bent on keeping me out of her life. I rounded up some of my closest soldiers and we left for the bar. The car was silent as we drove to the other side of town.

I had them stay in the car while I went inside to talk to the owner. "Giovanni, it's a pleasure to see you. What can I do for you today?" He knew me as a simple regular customer but today that would change.

"I have some questions about one of your dancers." I sat down at the bar as he poured a glass of bourbon for me, he knew me well.

"I see, which one?" He looked at me curiously as I tipped the glass against my lips.

"Valeria." His face seemed to loose all color. He nervously chuckled.

"She's not my dancer anymore, hasn't been for a year or so and I wouldn't go poking my head around her club. Her boss, who's also her boyfriend, well, he's not very fond of other men asking or even looking at her. It's best to stay away from her, she's with an extremely powerful guy." He was actually scared of this guy he spoke of. So, Valeria has a boyfriend. That must of been why she had me leave right after dropping her off.

"Who is he? I'm sure I wouldn't be scared of him. I'm a pretty powerful guy myself if truth be told." I took a long sip of the cool liquid.

"I try to stay out of her business but when she left here to dance at his club, I was worried for her. So, I did a little digging and that guy is very skilled in killing people or at least getting his people to kill people. He's a big time crime boss for the Russian Mafia. I don't think she knew that before he brought her to dance for him but when she showed up here the night you all met, she seemed free and happy, not like her usual self when he's around. I think she's scared of him to be honest." There was no way that she could have willingly been with that vile man. He must of threatened her.

"What about her family? Do they not care?" I was getting more worried about her the more he told me.

"Her family, that's an extremely sore subject with her. I got a little bit of background when she got comfortable here but not very much. Her mom died when she was young, I always suspected that her dad did it by the way she flinched when he was around. That man was cruel to her and allowed his friends to touch her. I couldn't say anything because he owned this place and where she works now, well before I bough this place from him and that guy of hers bought the other place. Her dad made her dance here and at the other club. I think he even made her do private dances for his friends and clients at the other club. She never disobeyed him and it seemed to transfer over to her boyfriend when he came into the picture. Something dark and creepy is going on behind the scenes but she never said anything."

It twisted my heart to hear the things he was saying about her father. How could a man knowingly do those things to his own daughter? It was disgusting and vile. I had to do some digging and I had to find out what kind of hold that guy had on her. "Does she often disappear without telling anyone? Or go silent for months and then suddenly reappear?"

"Oh yeah, she did that a lot before she left here. That guy came here once and told me she was out of town for the next couple of months on vacation and then three months later she came back and acted differently. She didn't smiled and seemed really guarded around everyone. She had lost her spark of fire that everyone around here loved. That's when she quit, when I'd asked where she had been and if she was okay. She told me it was none of business and that her dad wanted her to move to the other club and stop dancing here. I bought this place after she left, hoping she would come back if her old man wasn't running it. Word from one of my other dancers was that her boyfriend bought the other club and that he controlled everything she did and that allowed him to do some pretty terrible things to her without prying eyes. Val had called her a couple of weeks ago crying and telling her some pretty awful stuff." There were hints of tears in his eyes, he really did care about Valeria.

"If you don't mind me asking, what kind of things did he do to her?" He poured me another round as we continued to talk.

"He'd almost killed her. He had sent her away for going home with you ironically and that she wasn't allowed to have her phone but she had managed to get one and called her. He had beat her to the point where she decided to try and kill her self because he kept repeating how worthless she was. It had confirmed my suspicions about him. Val said she was doing a bit better since the incident and that she was going to be away for a while but she wanted her old job back if she came back to this side of the world, her words not mine. She said she was safe now and we haven't heard from her since. That was a month ago."

"I see, thanks for your time. I'll see you later this week." I put two one hundred dollar bills on the bar and walked out of the door. I had to find her and bring her home. She would be safe with me and I could get her the hell away from that fucked up situation was in.