Debt To The Mafia King

Chapter 3

I tapped my foot against the ground impatiently, anxious to see the bar, my bar. Nico has agreed to take me to see it because Michele is too busy this afternoon with Marcelo and his business meetings. He promised he would come with me tomorrow so I couldn’t complain. 

It only took us roughly five minutes to arrive by car. We pulled up to a stony building detached from the long high street that wound down the hill. The brickwork was freshly painted white which made the dark oak door and window frames stand out. Across the middle of the building was ‘Il Grande Leone’ in big, cherry red bold lettering, along with a picture of a proud lion below. I sat there staring in awe of the building which I legally own. 

“Are you coming?” Nico snapped me from my daze. I smiled at him and hopped out of the SUV. 

I followed him to the front door and entered as he held it open for me. The first thing I noticed was the white marbled bar with a mahogany wooden base. It was delicately lit from underneath the lip of the counter top and the rows of glass shelves behind were filled with a variety of different beverages. Wines, beers, soft drinks, liquor, spirits and small cans. Each shelf had a row of lights running along to illuminate the multicoloured drinks. 

The bar was placed on the right hand side of the room, to the left were white fabric covered tables with leathered chairs tucked underneath. On top of each table was a neat pile of napkins along with a single candle in middle. 

The mahogany floor boards matched the bar and the walls had been painted pristine white. It was beautiful, but it wasn’t what I had expected. Nico has been staring at me since we pulled up outside and I think he got a sense of what I was thinking.

“Don’t you like it?” He asked with a hint of panic in his tone. 

“No, I love it. I just didn’t expect it to be so beautiful and...” I paused as I tried to think of the right word. 

“Clean?” Nico sniggered. 

“Not that, I just half expected there to be a pool table with dull neon lights and a dirty bar” I said, letting the words spill out without thinking. 

“Jesus, you must think pretty low of us then” Nico said facing the ground. My jaw dropped when I realised how rude I sounded and I turned to him, desperately trying to save the impression I was giving off. 

“No! I didn’t mean that at all, I just meant that when you think of a bar, you think of testosterone and beer and...” I paused when I noticed Nico’s smirk begin to flicker in the corner of his mouth. I sighed and nudged his arm.

“Arsehole” I muttered. 

“You’re so easy to wind up” he chuckled. I rolled my eyes at his childish remark and noticed a familiar face behind the bar.

“Mario?!” I called out, my feet already stepping towards him. Mario greeted me with a warm smile and placed his arms onto the counter. 

“Finally! I was getting fed up with all of the female attention!” He joked. 

“Please, the only female attention you will ever get is from the maid that you pay to clean your room” Nico laughed. I sniggered to myself and watched Mario turn a shade of pink. 

“I’ll have you know, I’ve been asked for my number loads of times thank you very much” he raised his chin with pride.

“What are you doing behind there anyway?” I asked him, still chuckling at his cocky comment.

“Just keeping your seat warm” he said metaphorically. 

“Want me to show you around?” He asked and I nodded, following him up the three steps to the higher level at the back of the building. 

It opened into a spacious room with a blue, felted pool table lit by a spotlight above it. Round wooden tables with stools were placed around the room and there was an old juke box in the corner that caught my eye. I headed over to it and inspected the songs that were already programmed in. They are all old songs from the 80’s, I am going to have to get some newer tunes imprinted at some point. The bar led round joining the two separate rooms and I noticed in that in every corner was a CCTV camera already set up.

“I bet you can guess who’s idea that was” Mario laughed, implying that Michele had set up the CCTV after buying the place. 

“Now there is a big store cupboard out the back with more stock should you run out. When it comes to ordering in new stock, you don’t need to worry about that because we have already hired someone to sort all of the boring stuff out for you” he smiled.

“Oh really? Who’s that then?” 

“No one really, you’ll get to meet her tomorrow” Mario avoided the question. 

“So what do you think?” Nico asked. 

“I love it!” I exclaimed. 

“When do I get started?” I asked ambitiously. 

“Tomorrow, we’ve got a few more security measures to sort out before you can be left in here by yourself” Nico said, ruining my ecstatic mood. 

“What do you mean?”

“We can’t just give you a business and leave you to it Amelia, there are dangerous people after you and if we don’t have the proper security measures in place then anything could happen to you” he explained.

“I thought the training was for those kinds of situations?” I questioned him.

“The training is for if you encounter one or two guys when you’re on your own. If you’re in this bar without protection and a group of guys come hurtling towards you, then you’re f****d” Nico pointed out. I rolled my eyes at the feeling of being a damsel in distress yet again but I got his point. 

“Mario is going to keep the bar running until you take over tomorrow, Michele will show you where the CCTV footage is and the panic button”

“Panic button?!” I repeated with concern. 

“It’s not been wired up yet, but yes Amelia. There is a button behind the bar which is connected to mine, Ricco’s, Michele’s, Mario’s and Gino’s personal phones and will send us an alert. It will also set off an alarm at the house to let us know you’re in trouble. Because you’re so close to the house, we will be able to get to you within minutes” he explained.

Although Michele said he bought this place for a bit of freedom for me, he has still managed to make me feel like a prisoner. I can handle myself and I’m going to prove that to him. I turned to Nico and smiled.

“Bit much don’t you think?” I raised my brow.

“Not when there is a price as high as the one on your head it isn’t” he chuckled and I rolled my eyes.

“When you’re ready, we will head back to the house” he finished.