Chapter 7: The Devil's Deal
I punched the wall as soon as I got back to my apartment.
Pain exploded through my knuckles, but I didn't care. I punched it again. And again. Until Tony grabbed my arm and pulled me away.
"Stop," he said firmly. "You'll break your hand."
"Get out!" I screamed at him. "Get out of my apartment!"
"It's not your apartment anymore, remember?" But his voice was gentler than before. "Look, I know you're upset—"
"Upset?" I laughed, and it sounded crazy even to me. "I just sold myself to a criminal. I'm going to spend the next two years of my life working in a nightclub, spying on people who might kill me if they find out. And if I mess up even once, my mother dies. So yeah, Tony, I'm a little upset!"
He let go of my arm. "You want some advice?"
"No."
"I'm giving it anyway." He leaned against the counter. "Don't think of it as selling yourself. Think of it as surviving. That's what people like us do. We survive."
"People like us?" I turned on him. "You chose this life. I didn't choose anything. I just wanted to save my mother!"
"And you did. She's alive, isn't she? The treatment is working, isn't it?"
I hated that he was right.
"Mr. Cross isn't as bad as you think," Tony continued. "He could have done a lot worse to you. Trust me."
"He's blackmailing me with my mother's life!"
"He's giving you a way to pay off your debt while keeping your mother alive. Some bosses would have just taken everything and left you with nothing." Tony headed for the door. "Be at Diamond Heart at 8 PM. Don't be late."
He left, locking the door behind him with my keys.
I stood in my tiny apartment, shaking with rage and fear and helplessness.
Then I looked at the clock. 10:30 AM.
I had to call my jobs. Had to quit. Had to throw away the only thing I'd had left—my independence.
My hands were still shaking as I dialed the diner.
"Maria?" My voice cracked. "It's Lucia. I need to talk to you."
---
Twenty minutes later, Maria was at my door.
I told her everything. The loan. The missed payment. The men who came to my apartment. Dante Cross and his warehouse and his offer that wasn't really an offer at all.
Maria's face went pale.
"Oh, honey," she whispered. "Oh, Lucia, I'm so sorry."
"You said he was a businessman!" Anger flared in my chest. "You said your cousin paid him back and everything was fine!"
"My cousin makes good money. She could afford the payments." Maria grabbed my hands. "I thought you understood what you were getting into. I thought you knew—"
"I didn't know anything!" I pulled away from her. "I was desperate and scared and I just signed the papers without reading them because I thought I was saving my mother. But all I did was trade her life for mine!"
Maria was crying now. "What do you need? How can I help?"
"You can't." I sank onto the couch. "Nobody can. I'm trapped."
"What did he say you have to do? At the nightclub?"
I couldn't tell her the truth. That I was supposed to spy. That I was supposed to find a traitor. If word got back to Dante that I'd told someone, he'd think I was already betraying him.
And Mom would die.
"Just serve drinks," I lied. "That's all."
Maria looked like she didn't believe me, but she didn't push. "Will you at least be safe?"
"I don't know." That part was true.
We sat in silence for a minute. Then Maria pulled out her phone.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Calling the diner. Telling them you quit. You shouldn't have to do that yourself." She started typing. "I'll call the grocery store and the cleaning company too."
"Maria, you don't have to—"
"Yes, I do. This is my fault. I sent you to him." She wiped her eyes. "The least I can do is make this one part easier."
While she made the calls, I went to the bathroom and stared at myself in the mirror.
I looked like a ghost. Pale. Hollow-eyed. Already half-dead.
Is this what the next two years would do to me? Turn me into something I didn't recognize?
I splashed water on my face and tried to think clearly.
Dante Cross wanted me to spy for him. To find out who was betraying him to this Rossi family.
But I didn't know anything about his world. Didn't know what to look for or who to trust or how to tell if someone was lying.
How was I supposed to do this?
And more importantly—what happened if I failed?
My phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number: *Sophia will give you a uniform when you arrive. Wear comfortable shoes. You'll be on your feet all night. - D.C.*
Dante Cross. Texting me like this was a normal job. Like I was a normal employee instead of someone he was forcing to work for him.
I wanted to throw my phone across the room.
Instead, I texted back: *What if I see something? How do I contact you?*
The response came quickly: *You have my number now. Use it. But be smart about when and where you text me. Assume someone is always watching.*
Someone is always watching.
Great. Just great.
Maria poked her head into the bathroom. "All done. I told them you had a family emergency and needed to quit immediately." She paused. "Are you going to be okay?"
No. I was definitely not going to be okay.
"I have to be," I said. "For Mom."
"Does she know? About any of this?"
I shook my head. "She thinks I'm just working extra shifts. That the hospital bills are getting paid through some kind of payment plan."
"Maybe that's better. Less for her to worry about while she's recovering."
Maybe. Or maybe I was just a coward who couldn't face telling her the truth.
Maria left around noon, making me promise to call her if I needed anything. As if there was anything she could do.
I tried to sleep but couldn't. My mind kept spinning, replaying the morning over and over. Dante's face when he'd circled me like a predator. The way his eyes had looked when he'd threatened my mother. The electricity I'd felt when our eyes met.
Wait. Why was I thinking about that last part?
I sat up in bed, angry at myself. Dante Cross was a monster. A criminal. A man who was forcing me to work for him by holding my mother hostage.
I should hate him.
I did hate him.
So why did some small, stupid part of me remember the way he'd looked at me? Like I was interesting? Like I mattered?
"Stop it," I told myself out loud. "He's the enemy. He's the reason you're in this mess."
At 6 PM, I forced myself to eat something—crackers and peanut butter, because it was all I had. Then I took a shower and tried to make myself look presentable.
Comfortable shoes, Dante had said.
I only had one pair—my old sneakers from high school. They were worn out and ugly, but they'd have to do.
At 7:30, I locked my apartment and walked to the bus stop. Tony had offered to drive me, but I'd refused. I needed these last few minutes of freedom before I walked into my new life.
The bus ride downtown took forty-five minutes. I watched the neighborhoods change through the window. From poor to middle-class to rich. Buildings got taller. Cars got nicer. People on the sidewalks looked like they belonged in magazines.
And I looked like exactly what I was—a scared teenager who didn't belong here.
Diamond Heart was impossible to miss. Even though it wasn't open yet, the neon sign glowed against the darkening sky. A heart made of diamonds. How fitting.
I stood outside for a moment, staring up at it.
This was it. My new prison.
I walked to the front door and knocked.
A woman answered. She was beautiful—the kind of beautiful that made me feel even smaller and plainer than usual. Tall, perfect makeup, hair styled like she'd just left a salon.
"You must be Lucia," she said. Her voice was cold. "I'm Sophia. Come in."
I followed her inside. The nightclub was huge. A massive bar along one wall. Tables and booths everywhere. A dance floor in the center. A stage at the far end.
"The uniform is in the back," Sophia said, walking fast. I had to almost run to keep up with her. "You'll wear it every shift. Keep it clean. If you damage it, you pay for a replacement."
She led me to a small room full of lockers. She pulled out a black dress and heels from one of them.
"Try this on. It should fit."
The dress was short. Really short. And tight.
"I can't wear this," I said.
Sophia's eyes went cold. "Mr. Cross said you'd be working here. This is the uniform. If you have a problem with it, take it up with him."
I thought about texting Dante. Complaining. Fighting this.
But then I remembered Mom in her hospital bed.
I took the dress into the bathroom and changed.
It fit perfectly. Which somehow made it worse.
When I came back out, Sophia looked me up and down.
"You'll do," she said. "Let me show you the floor."
She walked me through the nightclub, explaining everything fast. Where to pick up drinks. How to take orders. Which tables were VIP and which were regular. The rules about touching customers (don't) and accepting tips (do).
My head was spinning.
"Questions?" Sophia asked.
About a million. But I shook my head.
"Good. We open in an hour. You'll shadow me tonight and start on your own tomorrow." She started to walk away, then stopped. "One more thing."
"What?"
"I don't know what you did to get Mr. Cross's attention, and I don't care. But if you cause problems, if you mess up, if you make him look bad..." She smiled, and it wasn't friendly. "You'll answer to me first. Understand?"
I nodded.
"Welcome to Diamond Heart, Lucia. Try not to die."
She walked away, leaving me standing alone in the middle of the empty nightclub.
The neon lights flickered on above me. The music system started playing something low and pulsing.
And I realized something terrifying.
I had no idea who the traitor was.
I had no idea what to look for.
I had no idea how to do what Dante wanted me to do.
And in about fifty-nine minutes, this place would fill with people—some of them criminals, some of them dangerous, some of them maybe working for the Rossi family.
Any one of them could kill me if they figured out what I was really doing here.
My phone buzzed.
A text from Dante: *Remember. Watch. Listen. Trust no one.*
I looked around the empty nightclub and felt the weight of what I'd agreed to finally, truly hit me.
I wasn't just working here.
I was walking into a war zone.
And I had absolutely no idea how to survive it.