She hesitates, then I notice the realization in her face that I’m not going to rape her, but also that I’m not going to turn around—this ain’t the time to be a gentleman.
“Do it!”
Apparently fuming, she gives me a challenging glare as she reaches for the clothes she’d left hanging over a chair next to her bed. I watch her try and hide her body, turning her back to me as she drops the towel and bends down to slip her panties on. Jesus Christ, I can’t help but watch her ass push out towards me. If not for the circumstances, I’d take that as an invitation. With her lacy white panties sitting snugly over her luscious ass, she stands up straight and hastily picks up her bra. Before she can slide it over her arms, I notice the rounded shapes of her tits, peeking out at me on either side of her torso. My eyes keep surveying her body, noticing the tan lines of a bikini that left a streak of paler skin across her back.
For a moment, I think she’d do fantastically on the stage at my brother’s club. The girls there don’t go fully nude, so she’d be just fine. But then, as she pulls her t-shirt over her head, I take in her room. The walls are lilac, her bed covers patterned, and colorful books are stacked up on her bookshelf. It’s young, girly. She might be feisty and throw challenging looks my way, but she’s still innocent.
With one last look at her ass popping into her jeans, the show is over. She turns around, fastening the button against her tummy.
“What are you going to do?”
“Oh, you’ll find out soon enough,” I huff. “Come on. Back downstairs. I wouldn’t want to give your papa the wrong impression.”
When we walk back into the living room, Mia moves her face in a way to comfort her father, to tell him that I didn’t hurt her.
“Sit back down,” I tell her, then turn my attention to the accountant who thought he could steal from us. “Stefano, you say that you don’t have the money to pay us back. Right?”
“I… I…”
“So,” I interrupt him, give him a handkerchief from my pocket so that he can wipe the blood from his nose, “we’re left with a couple of options. Either I can end this story here and now by shooting the both of you, get rid of your bodies, and move on.”
He starts to panic, sputtering over his words.
“Or,” I hold up my hand to silence him, “being the kind of guy I am, we can come to some kind of arrangement.”
“Arrangement?” Vinnie looks at me questioningly. He wants the accountant to pay for what he did as much as any of us.
“That’s right, Vin, being the generous enterprise we are, how about we put you on a payment plan?”
The old man lifts his head, not sure where I’m headed with my suggestion.
“This is what I’m going to do. You’re going to start paying us back on a weekly basis. I don’t care how you do it, but I’m sure a cunning man such as yourself can figure something out.”
His face lightens, shifts slightly toward an expression of opportunism, one of hope.
“In the meantime, we’ll take your daughter.” My last sentence slaps the brief feeling of hope away from his ugly mug. “Think of it as collateral until your debt is clear.”
In other words, he will never see her again, because there ain’t a chance in hell he’s going to come up with that sort of cash.
The man’s face tightens into a blank expression, then changes into one of anger. “Forget it! There’s not a chance in hell of you taking my—”
“It’s okay,” his daughter interrupts, breath hitching.
“Mia?” He looks at her in disbelief, eyes going wide.
“Papa, It’s okay.” Her upper lip quivers as she talks to her father. “I’ll do it.”
“You have a clever daughter there, Mr. Gallo.” I smile, to let the fucker know that I hold no remorse.
Huxley and Vinnie look at each other with confusion. I already know they’re going to give me a heap of shit later, but fuck it—once we have his daughter, there’s no way he’s not going to do all he can to get that money back. At the very least, we’ll have him back in our pocket.
I let the father and daughter hug one last time, then I take her from him. She leaves all her things and her poor excuse of a father behind. I don’t have to force her anymore, and she gets into the car by herself, looking silently out the window as we leave her life behind.