Cruel Intentions Book 1: Fearing The Mafia

“Sale.” A word that makes most women’s hearts flutter. But not mine. To me, this simple term meant exhaustion and, often, chaos.

Women of all ages morphed into frenzied beasts, ready to fight tooth and nail for a coveted piece of clothing. Hair pulling, scratching, and shoving were all fair game in the pursuit of a particular blouse, skirt, or jacket.

To me, “sale” was a declaration of war. A war among women. A sale turned them into each other’s fiercest rivals.

“Would you hurry up with my items!” A woman, probably in her mid-twenties and clad in a beige dress, snapped at me in a thick Italian accent as I finished bagging her dresses.

“Here you go, ma’am. Have a nice day,” I responded, plastering on a fake smile.

She huffed and stormed out, making way for the next customer.

I quickly rang up her items, all fifteen of them, took her money, and wished her a good day.

The cycle continued. One woman after another, with what seemed like a hundred more still browsing the store.

The store was teeming with women eager to take advantage of the whopping seventy percent off sale.

“Ciao, sis,” a loud, grating voice rang out, making me wish I was anywhere else.

“What do you want, Kelsey? Can’t you see I’m swamped?” I turned to face my twin sister, a frown creasing my forehead.

“I just wanted to see my favorite person in the whole world,” Kelsey chirped, her blatant attempt to butter me up, making me roll my eyes.

“Kels, I’m not using my employee discount for you when everything’s already seventy percent off,” I told her, folding five dresses and sliding them into a bag.

“But Maril, I want that blue dress, and I can’t afford it because I’m saving for a car,” Kelsey whined.

“That’s not my problem, Kelsey,” I retorted, continuing to serve the customers as efficiently as I could.

“Please, Maril, please, for your only sister in the world, for your only family,” Kelsey pleaded, using the magic words that always got to me.

“Fine, go get the blue dress,” I conceded. “But don’t even think about cutting the line. You wait your turn.”

Kelsey punched the air, reveling in her small victory.

The rest of my afternoon was spent ringing up items and dealing with one customer after another.

All the while, Kelsey kept pestering me to buy her more clothes with my employee discount.

Finally, at two o’clock, the shop closed for lunch break.

I thanked my lucky stars for this one-hour respite, as I was on the verge of collapsing.

Despite being on my feet most of the day, standing in one spot for five straight hours was draining.

“Kelsey, get me something to eat,” I instructed my sister.

She dug into her bag and pulled out a clingwrapped chicken sandwich—my favorite.

Just the sight of the sandwich made my stomach growl in anticipation.

“Here you go, sis,” Kelsey said, placing the sandwich on the counter in front of me, making my stomach growl even louder.

I eagerly unwrapped the chicken sandwich and took a big bite.

I closed my eyes in bliss as the flavors of the delicious chicken sandwich danced on my tongue.

I wished I could savor this chicken sandwich forever.

After lunch break, the shop reopened, and a sense of dread washed over me as a swarm of women stormed into the shop, eager to grab as many clothes as they could.

Soon, the first customer of the afternoon approached, her arms laden with a mountain of clothes.

I rolled my eyes and began ringing up her items.

“Hello, Maril, how’s the crowd today?” Danielle, my boss, asked cheerfully as she emerged from the back room.

Her light blue eyes sparkled at the sight of hundreds of women scurrying around her store, vying for clothes.

“Horrible,” I replied honestly.

Danielle knew how much I despised sale days.

“It’s okay, just a few more hours,” Danielle said before walking away, leaving me wishing I could fast-forward time.

“Hey, Maril, what do you think about this dress?” Kelsey held up a black number, twirling it in front of her.

“It’s cute, but I’m not buying it for you, Kelsey,” I said, trying to sound firm.

“I think it would look good on you,” she countered.

“Fine, put it in the back. I might try it on later,” I told her, and she happily complied.

I continued to sift through the clothes, one piece at a time.

As the sun began to set, a grin spread across my face.

It was time to close up shop.

Not because it was the end of the day, but because we had sold out of everything.

After we locked the doors, Kelsey convinced me to try on a few dresses she had stashed away.

I ended up trying on eight dresses that Kelsey had sneakily hidden in the back room, a surprisingly thoughtful gesture from her.

Danielle chimed in with her opinions each time I stepped out of the dressing room.

She gave her stamp of approval to three of the dresses, while making hilariously exaggerated faces at the other five, which had me laughing.

After we ordered Chinese food, we all sat down to eat.

I was beat after a long, busy day and couldn’t wait to get home and collapse into bed.

All I wanted was to sleep for a week straight.

I was just grateful that today marked the end of the sale at Moda Passione here in Florence, Italy.

After saying our goodbyes to Danielle, Kelsey and I left the shop and started the trek back to our apartment.

I was so tired I could barely put one foot in front of the other. My legs were practically begging for a break, but I had to keep going.

I just wanted to get home and crash.

“Hey, do you want to call a cab?” Kelsey asked, and I groaned.

“I thought we were saving for a car, Kelsey,” I reminded her.

“I know, but it’s late and I don’t want to walk a mile just to save a few bucks,” she argued.

“Kelsey, we’re not getting a cab,” I insisted.

“Yes we are, because I’m the older sister,” she declared, puffing out her chest.

I rolled my eyes at her absurd logic.

“By fifty-eight seconds,” I shot back. She never let me forget that she was technically the older twin.

“Exactly, so as the older sister, I say we get a cab,” she announced.

But after walking a while, there were no cabs in sight.

The night was closing in, and we still had half a mile to go before I could sink into my bed. The area we were walking through was poorly lit, giving it a creepy vibe.

Every time we passed through here, I got chills that didn’t go away until we were safely home.

The voices were coming from a dark alley just ahead of us. We tiptoed over and tried to see who was talking.

It was too dark to make out any faces, just vague shapes.

“Dove sono i soldi?” a deep voice demanded.

Kelsey and I exchanged puzzled looks. We had only been in Italy for a week, and our Italian was limited to very basic phrases.

We had no idea what they were saying.

“Te lo giuro, non ce li ho,” another voice responded, sounding scared.

“Dacci i soldi o morirai.” The voice was rough, like the man had smoked too many cigarettes.

“No, ti prego, dammi un po’ di tempo, ti pagherò, lo giuro,” the scared man pleaded.

I knew what the first part meant—“No, please.”

“The boss gave you a month to pay; your time is up,” the smoker spat out, his voice laced with anger.

“Do you want to kill him, or should I?” a voice, rough and menacing, questioned.

“I don’t want you to have all the fun. Let me do it,” the smoker retorted, his tone chilling.

Kelsey and I were frozen, our eyes wide and fixed on the inky darkness before us.

“No, no, please don’t kill me. I beg you, please,” a voice whimpered, the desperation clear in his tone.

What was he begging for?

Suddenly, the quiet of the night was shattered by the deafening sound of a gunshot.

The noise left Kelsey and me paralyzed, unable to move or react.

The gunshot echoed through the dark alley, leaving a persistent ringing in my ears.

Then, silence fell again, only to be broken by a scream that sent chills down my spine.

Kelsey let out a terrified scream, the sound echoing off the walls of the alley.

I should have screamed too, but my throat was locked in fear, leaving me to stare into the darkness while Kelsey’s screams filled the air.

“Who was that?” the smoker’s voice cut through the fog in my mind, snapping me out of my shock.

“Shit,” I muttered, grabbing Kelsey’s arm and pulling her with me as I sprinted out of the alley.

I didn’t want us to end up like the man in the alley, with bullets in our heads for witnessing a crime.

“Stop, come back here,” the throaty voice yelled, but I ignored it.

I kept running, pulling Kelsey along with me, the sound of footsteps behind us fueling my adrenaline.

We ran as fast as we could, trying to lose the men who were now chasing us.

We took several turns, hoping to confuse our pursuers, but ended up lost instead.

But I wasn’t worried about that; I just wanted to get us back to our apartment safely.

After what felt like hours, Kelsey and I collapsed on a patch of grass, gasping for breath.

My legs felt like they were made of jelly, and I wondered if I’d be able to stand again.

“Wh-who were those guys?” Kelsey managed to ask between gasps.

“Killers,” was all I could manage to say as I tried to catch my breath.

“Did we lose them?” Kelsey asked, her voice shaky.

I sat up and looked around, scanning the park we had ended up in.

The park was dark, with only a few lamps providing some light.

I didn’t see anyone else around, and there was no sign of the men who had been chasing us.

“They’re gone,” I told Kelsey, who had also sat up.

She looked around, then turned to me.

“Where are we?” she asked, her gaze darting around the park.

“I don’t know, but we need to get home. I’m exhausted and just want to sleep,” I said, looking at my legs and hoping they would cooperate.

Kelsey stood up and offered me her hand, which I gratefully accepted.

With a surprising amount of strength, she pulled me to my feet.

I wobbled a bit, trying to regain my balance.

Once I was sure I wouldn’t fall over, we started to leave the park, constantly looking over our shoulders.

“Maybe we could ask someone for directions,” Kelsey suggested after a few minutes.

“Sure, but you’ll have to do the talking. I still can’t remember the name of our street,” I replied.

Kelsey nodded, and we fell into silence.

I had expected to see at least a few people out and about, but the streets were deserted.

The structures surrounding us were eerily quiet, a sure sign that everyone was tucked away safely in their homes. The storefronts were all shuttered, their signage dark.

A handful of street lamps provided a bit of light and reassurance, hinting that we could still navigate our way back home.

A shriek ripped from my throat when I spotted two burly men in black leather jackets blocking our path, their arms folded across their chests. The glow from the streetlights allowed me to see their faces. They were both towering, just over six feet, with bronzed skin and bald heads, looking ready for a fight.

There were only subtle differences between them. The one on the left had light brown eyes while the one on the right had blue. Both had matching black scorpion tattoos on their right cheeks, but the left one also sported a rose tattoo on the left side of his face.

“Wh-who are you guys?” Kelsey stammered.

“Scapare da noi è stato stupido, puttana,” one of them growled. His voice was low and gravelly, confirming my suspicion that these were the same men we were fleeing from.

“We don’t understand Italian, sir,” I retorted, proud of myself for not displaying any fear.

The men remained silent. I wondered if they might finally leave us be. But then, in unison, they reached behind them and drew out matching black guns. A surge of adrenaline coursed through me at the sight of the weapons now aimed directly at us.

“Hey, hey, no need for guns, we were just on our way out, right Mar?” Kelsey said, lifting her hands in surrender.

I knew it was time to make a run for it.

Kelsey and I began to back away slowly, never breaking eye contact with the two intimidating men. Every fiber of my being was screaming at me to turn and run, but I knew I had to handle this situation calmly. Otherwise, I could get us both killed, and that was the last thing I wanted.

I had plans to explore all of Italy before I left this world.

We had managed to put a decent distance between us and our potential killers—far enough to turn and make a run for it.

Just as Kelsey spun around, a soft click echoed.

Kelsey let out a shriek, clutching her waist with her left hand, and collapsed, unconscious.

I let out a scream and dropped to my knees, frantically searching for the bullet wound on Kelsey’s waist.

I was so focused on finding blood that I didn’t notice the burly men had closed the gap. A sudden, sharp pain shot up my leg, causing me to scream.

I looked down to see a dart protruding from my calf. My limbs started to feel heavy.

Gathering all the strength I had left, I reached down to where the dart was lodged and yanked it out. A wave of intense pain shot up my leg, but I was too far gone to react.

My head felt like a ton of bricks, and my vision started to blur. A sickening crack echoed at the edge of my consciousness.

Soon, everything went black.