Mafia Match

Wiping sweat from her brow; Elena checked her phone. It was past midnight and everyone in her group were definitely drunk. They had been celebrating her and her friend’s birthday pretty hard tonight. She rubbed her forehead; the room began to spin and the air felt hot and heavy. The loud, ground shaking music sent tremors through her body. She turned to her boyfriend and best friend.

“Jean, Matt, I’m going to get air.” Jean smiled and nodded.

“Do you want company?” Matt asked, wiggling his eyebrows. She shook her head and playfully pushed him.

“Matt, that wasn’t code for sex. I need air. Can you even make it out there?” He chuckled and nodded, taking a wobbly step forward and tumbling into Elena. She laughed and led him to a bench on the side of the dance floor. He plopped down on it, resting against the wall. She bent down and pecked his lips.

“Be back in a few minutes. Come looking for me if I’m not,” she joked. She stumbled out of the front entrance. There was a long line to the right of the doors so she passed by the bouncers and make her way to a small, empty smoker’s area on the left.

The air was sticky and the smell of alcohol and garbage burned her nostrils, making Elena nauseous. Then a strong breeze whipped past her and brought cool, clean air. Elena leaned her forearm against the rough gritty wall. She rested her forehead on top of her arm and shifted her body’s weight to the balls of her feet for a minute to alleviate her throbbing feet. She sighed happily. Elena closed her eyes to stop the spinning and took a few deep breaths. When she opened them, she noticed there was a piece of fence missing from the corner, close to a dark alleyway. A flicker of fear ran through her so she lifted and turned her head; the bouncers were only a few feet away from her.

Her phone began to buzz in her clutch. As she moved to grab it, two strong arms hooked around her neck and chest and dragged her into the alleyway. It is almost pitch black as the person continued to drag Elena towards the opposite end of the alley. She opened her mouth to scream, but a calloused hand covered it. She frantically whipped her head from side to side to get free. Her hazel eyes bulged out of her head, looking around for help. Another man punched her in the stomach and she fell to the floor, gasping for air. Elena opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. She rolled onto her side and curled up into a ball. The short, black cocktail dress didn’t protect much of her body; little black rocks scraped and dug into her arms and legs.

“Let’s have fun before we meet Luca. He won’t be here for 20 minutes,” one man commented, looking at the other man and then down at Elena. Elena squinted, trying to see their faces, but it was no use. The other man nodded and knelt beside her. He intertwined his hand in her thick, red locks and roughly pushed her face into the asphalt. Her head and heart were pounding furiously. Elena’s cheek was on fire; blood began to pool on the asphalt and tears soon joined it. He roughly grabbed her hands, placing them on small of her back. The man sat down on top of them as she struggled underneath him.

He licked his lips and lowered his head to Elena’s face. Yanking on her hair, he whispered in her ear, “You’re a dead bitch if you move or scream.” She cringed as his foul breath wafted to her nose; it smelt of cigarettes and liquor. With his free hand, he pulled out a gun and pointed it at her head. She could barely breathe because he felt like boulder on top of her body. She forced tiny breaths into her body in order to stay conscious. Darkness started to edge her vision and Elena knew she didn’t have long. The man sat back up; keeping the gun pointed at her temple and her red mane tightly wrapped in the fingers of his other hand. Sharp pains traveled up her neck as he pinned her to the ground.

The second man straddled her legs. She flailed them to get him off, but the first man pushed the gun harder into the side of her forehead. Then Elena heard the sound of a zipper being undone. She gasped and her hazel eyes widened with fear. The man holding the gun smacked his lips together. The sound of her heartbeat was all she could hear. Twisting her head, she squinted, trying to see if anyone was walking by the alley that could help her. They had dragged her so far; she couldn’t see the street. Did she scream and risk being killed? She could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins, her body humming, but what could she do?

The man on her legs shifted his weight to one leg. She took the opportunity to jerk up her right leg. He lost his balance and toppled over. Elena grabbed at the other man’s pants, grabbing onto his private parts, and pulled as hard as she could while wiggling her body. He yelled, gabbing for his dick, and dropping the gun. Without thinking, Elena jumped up and grabbed the gun off the floor. She pointed it at the two pathetic men who were on the ground. They looked up nervously at her.

Elena heard footsteps behind her and then a headlight lit up the alleyway. The two men before her were disgusting and bile threatened to push up through her throat. Before she could turn around, the gun was taken out of her shaky hands. Two huge men walk past her and stopped in front of the men on the ground. Elena stumbled backwards into a chain link fence. Beads of sweat trickled down her face onto her neck and chest. She grabbed onto the chain link fence to steady her shaky body. She watched the scene unfold before her enlarged eyes. The man on the right had short, dark hair. He was tall and broad; his body looked like it was made of rock. She couldn’t see his face, but going by the stiffness of his posture she was sure he was angry. The man on the left had lighter colored hair, tied in a small bun. He was an inch shorter than the dark-haired man, but still looked intimidating.

“So, you thought you could just kill me? Did you think I wouldn’t know you betrayed me? We knew the moment you decided to betray us!” snarled the dark-haired man, crossing his arms in front of him. A minute ago, they looked so strong trying to rape the tiny girl that he was sure was still behind them; now they were cowering at his feet. Fucking pigs. He was thankful they showed up early, but impressed by her ability to get away from them.

Elena knew she had to run, to get far away from here. She tried to move, but her whole body was frozen like an ice sculpture. She couldn’t let go of the fence. Her fingers were wrapped around it painfully tight. The sound of deep, wheezing breaths distracted her and then she realized it was coming from her. She tried to calm down, but she was so frightened that the two men would notice and hurt her.

“You’re pathetic. You try to rape this innocent girl. Can’t get a willing girl?” The dark-haired man laughed and then glanced back at Elena. “Good save by the way. We were about to swoop in, but you apparently didn’t need assistance, piccola leonessa.” He winked and turned back around to the men. Elena continued to stare at the scene in front of her, wondering what the man had called her. When he looked back at her, she caught a quick peek at his face. It looked like it was chiseled out of stone with a striking jaw line and high cheek bones, covered in short, black hair. He had a traditional Italian nose, large and prominent, but it seemed to compliment his other strong features.

The men on the floor were on their knees now. They were looking down at the pavement.

“Tie them up and bring them back to the warehouse. We will find out what we need, but I am sure we know more than they do.” The light-haired man, whom had been silent during this whole exchange, nodded. He got on his phone and said a few hushed words. When he closed the phone, four darkly clad men entered the alleyway.

“Luca Moretti, you will be dead soon and the great Sicilian Mafia will fall. You have no heir and we will take over. Red Forever!” yelled one of the kneeling men. The dark-haired man hissed. One of the darkly clad men knocked the man who yelled on the side of the head with a gun and his body crumpled to the ground. The same was repeated with the other man. They were bound with rope and put into the trunk of a car. The car peeled away and the alleyway was quiet and dark again.

Elena pieced together what just happened. After hearing the dark-haired man’s name, she knew exactly what she just witnessed. She had to leave before she was caught in the middle. Elena didn’t want to die in this dark, dirty alleyway. She squeezed her eyes closed, hoping this was just a nightmare. She focused on moving her legs. Her heart was slamming loudly against her ribcage. A ringing sound grew louder in her ears. Finally, her fingers let go of the fence and she immediately dropped on ground. She tried to break her fall, but her arms were like Jell-O and she crashed to the hard ground. Elena groaned as the side of her head hit the pavement. She sucked in a deep breath, but it wasn’t enough and her world went black.

There was a thump behind the two men and they spun around, guns ready. The girl had fainted. Luca and Sal moved closer to her.

“Shit, boss, I forgot about the girl. What do you want to do with her?” Sal asked, looking over at Luca. He ran his hand through his dark hair and sighed. He knew this girl had a shitty night, but sadly, it was not over for her.

“Why the fuck didn’t she leave? Now, we have to take her. We don’t know who she is or what she heard. Take her wallet but leave the phone. I don’t want that shit traced back to the compound.”

“You want to take her to the compound, boss?”

Luca groaned. He would rather shoot her in the head and be done with this potential problem. That’s how he usually tied up loose ends, but when he looked down at her something inside of him made him stop. She was an innocent who shouldn’t be involved them, but now, she had no choice. “Yes, she’s innocent. She doesn’t deserve to wake up in a basement tied to a chair. It will be less scary to wake up in a bedroom.” Sal looked over at Luca, debating what to say next. He eventually shrugged and collected the girl’s belongings.

Luca bent down and picked her up. Her body was limp and fragile in his arms. She was a small, little thing. Her long, red curls tickled him as he carried her to the car. Her heart shaped face was covered in scrapes. She had a sizable bump on her forehead. Luca made a mental note to call the doctor when he got in the car. Her thin pink lips were pulled down in a frown and her skin was pale and clammy. Looking at her outfit, a short black dress and silver heels, suggested she was at his club earlier this evening. Luca shook his head, not happy about this complication. Those men were fucking pathetic assholes!

He gently laid her down in the back seat. He prayed that she didn’t wake up on the ride to the compound. That would make this even worse, but, for some reason, he couldn’t find it in him to put her in the trunk. Maybe it was the fact that she was almost raped tonight or that she was doll sized, he didn’t know and he didn’t want to dwell on this disturbing fact. He quietly closed the door and walked around the car to the passenger side. Sal was already in the car. Once Luca sat down, he turned the key and sped off into the night.