Beyond Forgiving: A Dark Mafia Captive Romance (The Underworld Book 2)

by Jolie Damman

  Basilio took me away from there, and it was all going well right now. We had a new home. It was in New York, but the city was huge and we could almost forget he was once a member of the Calabrese family.

  I thought I was going to marry him and become a member of his family. Everything turned out differently. Looking back at those days since coming here, I thought they were now nothing more than a combination of dreams and nightmares.

  I was relieved and happy my life had a new direction now. Something better to look for, and there was also another thing I had my eyes on.

  We were going to marry, and Basilio was already making all the preparations. He was going to call his sister and some more members of his family, but he was going to leave some of them out too. His father and brother weren’t going to come. Good riddance.

  I was never going to have my revenge. My brother said he would be alright, but I worried about him. I didn’t want him to have ideas he shouldn’t have. Basilio wasn’t part of the Calabrese family anymore, and he had me to be concerned about from now on.

  I was just more than enough for his past-Mafia life.

  The house we got wasn’t as big and expensive as the one he had, but it was more than good enough. It had a room just for the baby that one day we would have. He didn’t try to make me pregnant yet, but I knew that, one day, he would.

  Mom and aunt almost slapped me when I said I was going to marry Basilio and that I was in love with him for real. I thought they wouldn’t believe me. It took some trying and hard days, but I managed to convince them about me and Basilio. We just loved each other, and they were going to have to accept that.

  And now that things seemed to be taking a new, better direction, I could feel so at peace I could even hear the sound of my heart beating…

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Gloria

  Birds chirped, and the sun looked so stunning right now. I knew I shouldn’t be looking at it, and I wasn’t. I was only commenting on something that made me feel better right now. I hadn’t paid attention to the sun in a long time.

  It was only happening now because I felt at peace with my life. After everything that happened not only here in Sicily, but also in New York, I thought my life was never going to change for the better.

  But it did, and now I had something else to look for.

  Basilio said he had something very important to do here. He pulled over in front of my family’s former home. His father didn’t control it anymore. He made sure he wouldn’t. Despite being the head of the family, he did that one thing his son wanted.

  Barnaba was waiting for the chance to snatch him back. Wasn’t going to happen, though. Not ever. Basilio was my husband, even if we hadn’t married and made everything official quite yet. The captive ended up falling in love with the captor. If somebody had told me that would happen the day I was forced to move to America, I would have burst out laughing.

  He turned his head and asked, “You sure you want to do this?”

  “Yes, they need to know.”

  He sighed. “Alright. I believe you. Hopefully, they won’t kick me out.”

  “They won’t. I won’t allow them to.”

  He caressed my hand and then got out. We walked to the front door, and knocked on it. Footsteps approached us, and then my eyes laid on none other than my mom.

  Her eyes shot wide. The last thing she expected was to see me now. I didn’t tell anyone I was coming back to Italy. I just wanted to spend some time with them. It was the right thing to do at this moment. I had good memories of America, but for the time being, I wanted to do something else.

  “Gloria, what are you doing here?”

  Her eyes flickered to Basilio, who didn’t know what to do with his hands. I had never seen him look so uncomfortable. It was one thing to tell his soon-to-be parents in law we were going to marry, and another to meet them in person.

  “We have some things about the marriage we need to discuss.”

  The End

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  Ding. The door opened and another customer came in. Ding, and ding and then dig again. Customers were pouring into the room, and then finding their seats so that they could better appreciate the scene.

  Meanwhile, I was hiding. I pushed the curtain aside a little, creating a very tight gap to check out which customers were here now, and who they were. I had been working in this establishment for a long while now, and I knew some of them by face and name.

  I heard and felt a very rough slap on my ass. I spun around and smirked when I found none other than Francine, my best friend, who looked interested to get back into the action and make some more money.

  “You done for the day, Willie?” She asked, her voice a little high-pitched. She must have drunk a bit more than she should. I didn’t hold that against her. In our line of work, drinking was necessary.

  She had short black hair, and she wore heavy makeup. I wished she would stop using that black lipstick for work. I always said her lips were better without it. But she kept on insisting her customers liked it, and who was I to judge her?

  “Sure am. I need to make more money for you-know-what.”

  “Oh, the college thing.”

  “Yeah...”

  A bit of tension grew between us. She made her thoughts known to me a couple of days ago. We were pretty close before I started going to college. Thanks to my studies, I couldn’t have a lot of time anymore to have fun with her. She hated my new routine, but I needed my degree to have a proper chance to escape my current life.

  She sighed and said, “Well, good luck. Don’t take too long on the platform. You know the boss doesn’t like when one of the girls begins to monopolize it.”

  “I won’t do that. Don’t worry.”

  She winked and walked away to do God-knew-what. I kind of felt bad she wasn’t that close to me anymore. I wished to talk more to her and make her understand I didn’t have much of a choice, but maybe, either way, it just couldn’t be helped.

  I went to the changing room and checked myself out in the mirror. I had a lot of things regarding my body I wanted to change, but there was one I was proud of. My hair was stunning. I wasn’t narcissistic or anything of the sort, but I liked my hair quite a bit.

  It was short - ear-length - and it was red like fire. A lot of customers enjoyed mentioning how much they liked my hair. I attracted a lot of attention thanks to it, and I was combing and taking care of it right now to make sure it looked even sharper.

  The rest of my body was a bit more mundane. I did have an ass and breasts that also drew the attention of customers, but they weren’t as impactful as my fire-red hair. I checked out my makeup and was happy it wasn’t heavy like the one Francine was wearing.

  I had a very tight shirt on that showed my belly, and also a pair of very short shorts that allowed the customers to have a good view of my ass. The pole was waiting for me, and also the eyes of the customers. They wanted a show, and I was going to give it to them.

  This changing room with a desk, chairs and a mirror were all we had for privacy in here, other than some cubicles that we used to change our clothes. I found my backpack with my college stuff in it and reminded myself again that I needed to make enough money to pay my college’s expenses.

  I walked out of the changing room and found Francine again, and she had a purse and other things with her. With her jacket on and a new pair of pants, I knew she was going to head back home and enjoy a good night’s sleep.

  She came over to me and gave my cheek a kiss. “So, you heading out already?”

  “Yeah,” she began to say, “I don’t have to attend classes anymore and thus don’t need to pay for anything pricey again, like you.”

  She threw me a knowing look and
walked out of the room that separated us from the customers. I was left wondering if our friendship would deteriorate even more. I hoped not, but the future wasn’t something I could control.

  Ah, and I forgot one very important thing. My rabbit mask. I didn’t want the customers to find out who I was, and it was better that way. I needed to keep my identity secret so that my professors and classmates wouldn’t know I worked here.

  I had some close calls before. Some customers tried to take my mask off my face. Wearing a mask here wasn’t required (it depended on the worker’s choice), but the bouncers and other employees in the strip club enforced that rule when a customer was too drunk and couldn’t think straight anymore.

  The mask was a pink beauty and when I put it on, I felt safer and that I could do this one more night in this club. It was never an easy thing to continue this shift and show my almost fully naked body to those people once more, but a woman like me needed to grasp whatever opportunity presented itself. I didn’t want to end up as my parents did, who were so conservative they never achieved their full potential in life.

  They were still alive, but we didn’t talk often anymore. I was my own woman now.

  I headed to the curtain which separated the room from the platform where the customers sat close to in order to watch the show. I knew they were waiting for me. One of the girls, someone I didn’t like much and pretended I wasn’t here when she walked by, just left and gave me the chance I needed.

  I was going to make a lot of money tonight. I was feeling that tonight was going to be special. I didn’t know what got into me, but I felt happier than usual. Kind of odd, but the feeling was a welcoming one, and so I didn’t complain.

  I used my hands to push the curtains aside, creating and widening the gap, and then stepped through it, entering the platform. I heard some cheers and men whistling as their eyes feasted on the new girl stepping forward for them.

  I danced and did the best I could to impress them. It worked. I saw the dollar bills coming and flowing in the air. The ones who fell near me, I picked up, and then continued making my way to the central pole, where I had a more round portion of the platform I would be able to make even more money at.

  I was happy now. I liked all the attention and having so many men thinking I was hot.

  I got to the main portion of the platform and danced around the pole, picking up more and more dollar bills that fell near me. Doing that was so easy. I worked here for a couple of years now, and this place was an important part of my life, even if my parents didn’t want to admit that.

  I continued dancing for a good while, and then my eyes caught sight of a man sitting by himself. He wasn’t near the platform I was dancing on. He was a bit farther away from the guys who were smiling and giving me their money.

  There was something about him that made him stand out, and that was saying something. He wore a dark suit with a black tie, and he was sitting on a purple chair positioned in a darker spot of the main room of the strip club.

  His eyes caught mine, and it was like fireworks exploded in my mind. I continued dancing and moving my body around the thick pole like a wave, but I couldn't stop looking at that man every chance I got.

  He was stunning. His face was smooth, and he had a perfect stubble on his face. His eyes were rather cold and calculative. He was sitting with his legs spread wide open, and near his chair he had a table with a glass of wine on top of it.

  He sipped from said glass from time to time as he watched me. I was thankful I didn’t lose my attention while I continued to dance and pick up the dollar bills that fell near me.

  I never had a feeling about a customer like the one I was having right now, and the most interesting thing was that he wasn’t even a customer of mine per see. He wasn’t giving me his dollar bills like everyone else.

  I realized my time was up and that I needed to head back into the room I came from, and thus I made my way back there. I didn’t forget to dance and continue to pick up the dollar bills that were given to me.

  This was a very productive night. I headed back to the changing room and started to count how much money I made. 150 dollars. That was pretty good, and with the amount I made before doing that last round on the platform, I could say that today was one of my best days ever in this strip club.

  I took off my rabbit mask, put my dollar bills in my wallet, and was startled when I heard the sound of the door opening. My eyes flew toward it, and I caught sight of a man coming here.

  What the fuck.

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