*** PICTURED IS SEAMUS. This was the closest I could find for visuals. Just imagine him with longer, messier hair. Or imagine him however you'd like!!

When I opened the door, it revealed none other than Pretty Boy himself. He rested one forearm on the doorway, slouched over so he was closer to my height. The week seemed to have been not so kind to him as well, the light bruise on his cheek bone an obvious indicator.

"So... Where to, Pretty Boy?" I said it so softly, it as almost a whisper. I was afraid he didn't hear me at first.

"It's a sorpresa, Fiorella."He had a wicked smirk grace his lips and he held his arm out to me.

I roll my eyes, and with a little smirk of my own, I laced my arm through his, allowing him to guide me to the garage.

The car we stopped at was a red 2020 corvette. I lightly trailed my fingers on the hood in awe, mouth agape.

"This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen..." I gushed, unable to take my eyes from the red beast. I almost didn't feel Sebastiano's gaze burning holes in the side of my face. Almost.

"Eh, I've seen better, Principessa." His response made my body stiffen. I sucked in a short breath and tried my best to ignore the effect his deep, gruff voice had on my body.

"Um, so, are you sure you don't want to tell me where were going?" I gulped, my eyes remained on the car.

"Nope, now get in." He gave a short laugh and opened the door for me, then shut it behind me once my legs safely made it in the car. He made his way around the the driver's side as the smell of new leather enveloped me. A girl could get used to this.

We tore out of the garage attached to Al's home and I felt my back press into to plush leather seats. The trees became a blur and moments later- or at least, that's what it felt like- we were parked at a familiar run down dive bar. 

You've probably seen at least one place like this before. It looked like any other cesspool. Dark, dirty, crawling with big hulking men who looked in desperate for a shower. The floors were sticky with old beer and possibly bodily fluids, too. And everyone always knew something shady was happening here.

It just so happens that this specific bar was home to an under ground fighting ring. Sebastiano and I waltzed right through the front door, the tall man accompanying me tilted his head in silent greeting to "Dragon", the owner of this fine establishment. 

That's not his 'government name' as he so endearingly calls it, but the name he got for the large tattoo that covered his neck and crawled halfway up his face, it's tail ending near his unseeing eye. His dark stringy hair was tied back in its usual low pony tail, gathered at the base of his neck with a cord of leather, a white feather dangled from the end with two off white beads on either side of it. The same color as his dingy almost white tank top, discolored from smoke and sweat. As intimidating as this man sounded, he was the sweetest old man you'd ever meet. 

Dragon's good eye traveled to Seb, then followed his arm that was applying gentle pressure to the small of my back to both guide me and, I assume, give me some reassurance. 

The gruff voice of the man across from me greeted my companion, then turned to me. I gave him a short shake of my head, and he just stared blankly at me before turning his head back to the man next to me. 

"So, what brings you here, Mr. Fafalla?" Dragon clears his throat, cigarette still perched in his hand, itching to take another drag.

"I'm looking for La Tana, Dragon." I stiffened. 'The Lair' is the code word for the underground business. 

"Down the hall and to the right. Across from the bathrooms. If you hit the kitchen you've gone too far." Dragon gestures down the hallway, towards Hell itself. 

"Grazie." And with that, Sebastiano was strutting down the hall. My blood ran cold. He was the last person who I trusted to keep my secret. The only person who did happened to know was Cara. And that's only because I swore her to secrecy. 

If you thought the basement of this shit hole, and I mean that as nicely as I can, would be any better than its facade, you'd be dead wrong. What do you think this is, a fairy tale? Did you think that the further down stairs you traveled, the nicer the appearance? That there would be a nice, clean, state of the art ring?

If so, you'd be dead wrong. This place is built on blood money. No one cares what it looks like, they just care if the poor kid they bet on survives. We are lucky if there's a lone mat on the cold concrete floor.

Yes, you read correctly, Dear Reader. I said "we". You see, there is only one fighter that is undefeated. That would be Bella Morte, the beautiful masked fighter with a killer right hook and a bad temper. At least that's what Dragon would say when he would announce me to the crowd of old creepy men. 

Honestly, I don't know where I would be without this club. Probably broke and angry. But that's besides the point. 

Although I still wasn't comfortable risking my secret, I felt better knowing Dragon wouldn't let it slip. Not on purpose, at least.

"You're quiet, Ayla." It wasn't a question.

"I'm just taking everything in. Why are we here?" The lie slipped past my lips easily enough.

"I've got some work to do for my father. I figured some arm candy wouldn't hurt." 

I'm not going to lie, that hurt more than it should have. This is my problem. I get too attached, too quickly. Not that I like Seb. What a joke.

While my mind spun, trying to grasp into one coherent thought at a time, I let out a little "oh," and lowered my gaze to my glossy boots.

After a moment of peering over the growing crowed, Sebastian must have found who he was looking for at the circular booth in the corner. Sat there was O'Conner and a petite female.

"Mr. O'Conner!" Sebastiano raised his arms wide in greeting.

"Fafalla! Just the man I wanted to see!" The Irish man rose from his seat, coming to greet us. 

Instead of shaking hands, the instead accessed each other. I took the opportunity to check out the tall man, too.

Like I said, he was tall, though not as tall as Pretty Boy. He had his ginger hair swept up in a pompadour, a few piece of hair fell down across his forehead in a purposely mess kind of way. He was dress similarly to Seb, in a black suit, his tie was loosened and the top two buttons were undone. The most distinguishable difference between these two fine specimen was the O'Conner's suit just didn't fit quite as nicely as Sebs's did.

I didn't personally know Seamus O'Conner, but I knew of him and his family. The O'Conner's were know as the Irish family, second to no one. I had also accidentally on purpose overheard one of Al's phone calls in his office with who I could only assume was his brother. Apparently, the O'Conner family wanted to branch out their sales.

"And who might this ravishing young lady be?" Seamus' wicked grin then turned to me.

"Oh, no one, just one of Al's girls." Sebastiano grinned back, his wasn't as friendly. In fact it was just shy of a threat.

"I'm Ayla, Mr. O'Conner. Ayla Guerriero. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir."  I turned up my friendliness, making the arm that had traveled down to my waist tighten. I just gave the red head across from me a sly, seductive smile and held out my hand.

"Oh, did you say 'Guerriero'?" He took my hand and laid a gentle kiss on the back of my knuckles. 

"Oh, yes. She-" Sebastiano stumbled over his words.

"Yes, sir." A blush creeped it's way up my cheeks at the gesture. 

"I am so deeply sorry to hear about your family, Miss Guerriero. You have an older brother, don't you? What was his name... Dante? Right?"

"Thank you, sir. You can just call me Ayla if you'd like. And yes, his name was, is, Dante Mateo. And I'm not exactly sure where he is at the moment but I would like to think he's doing okay."

"You mean to tell me he left his beautiful sister behind?" He gave a little laugh of disbelief.

"I'm afraid so," I gave a little half hearted laugh myself. Fuck Dante, that little piece of shit. Abandoning me. Leaving me to fend for myself. "Mi scusi, but I should let you get back to business. Shall we?" I felt the arm tighten around my waist in warning once again. I gave a tight lipped smile and gestured to the table where Seamus' date was left.

"Oh! Yes, of course. My apologizes, Mr. Fafalla."

"No need, Seamus. Now what would you like to discuss tonight?" 

***** 

HELLO FRIENDS!

So, If you hadn't noticed, I'm back! I'm sorry I fell of the face of the earth, it was a rough time for awhile! Anyway, please *LIKE*COMMENT*VOTE* or whatever wattpad asks you to do these days!

And thank you guys for reading!