Chapter 32: Chapter 32: Dance

Bebe left the room shortly after telling me that the dance had to be original to me and leaving a few song choices.

As soon as she left, I changed into loose clothes before picking a song and making a dance to go with it.

“What are you doing?” Alessandro asked, barging into the room.

I froze and closed the door before explaining it to him. His eyes widened as he processed my words.

“You can’t tell Giovanni,” I pleaded.

“But—”

“He won’t understand. I know that they’ll take his title from him if I don’t do this,” I said softly.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before nodding. “I won’t tell him. I came to tell you that Alex is getting ready to leave.

“You need to leave in the next fifteen minutes,” he said, opening his eyes.

I nodded my head and kissed his cheek before running into the closet. I grabbed a duffle bag and put a dress and lingerie in it. I grabbed red lingerie and a mask to go with it.

I threw the bag on the bed before running into the bathroom and taking a shower.

By the time I’d finished and dressed and put my makeup on, I had two minutes to sneak out before getting caught. I put on the lingerie and a trench coat on top of it.

I ran back in the closet and grabbed two pairs of my tallest heels. I put one in the duffel bag and held the other one in my hand.

I took a deep breath before slinging the duffel bag over my shoulder and leaving the room as quietly as I could.

“When will you be doing the dance?” Bebe asked from behind me.

“I need to help Alex with this thing first, so in an hour,” I said softly.

“Okay, I’ll keep everybody distracted,” she said before gently kissing my cheek and walking away.

I snuck into the garage where my guards were waiting and cursed under my breath.

“Relax. Alessandro said to take you. He already explained everything to us,” Luciano said, taking the duffle bag from me and opening the door.

I nodded my head skeptically before getting into the car and greeting everybody.

“Okay, we’ll be there the whole time. We’ll be hidden in the crowd and we’ll wait a couple of minutes before going in,” Luciano explained, handing me a little microphone.

I slightly opened up the trench coat and attached the microphone to the inside of the lingerie.

“Why are you going as a dancer? If you don’t mind me asking,” Antonio asked, turning around to look at me.

I played with Giovanni’s ring on my finger before taking it off and handing it to Luciano.

“It’s something I picked up when I was with Johnathan—club owners pay more attention to their dancers than customers,” I said, shrugging.

“By the time we get there, you have two minutes to get on the stage before Alex gets here,” Dante explained.

“When you go inside, there’s a girl—she goes by Lightning. Find her. She’ll help you,” Antonio said as we came to a stop beside the club.

I nodded my head and thanked them before putting on my heels and getting out.

I took a deep breath as I walked around to the front. I ignored the line and walked straight up to the bouncer with a flirty smile.

“Name?” he asked, keeping his eyes on the list.

“Look up, love,” I said softly.

He looked up at me and frowned at the trench coat. I opened it and shrugged it off. I ignored the catcalls coming from the line and kept my eyes on the bouncer.

He nodded his head and pulled back the velvet rope, signaling for me to go in. I bent down and picked up the trench coat before slowly standing up straight.

I smiled at him before going inside and walking straight to the back where I knew the dancers stayed. All the dancers' eyes turned toward me and I released a slow breath.

“Where’s Lightning?” I asked confidently.

Nobody responded, but one of the girls stepped forward.

“That’s me. Come on, sugar, I need to do your makeup and hair before you go on,” she said, gesturing toward her chair.

I nodded my head and walked up to her before sitting down. She gave me tips on walking and dancing as she dolled me up.

“Do you have a song in mind?” she asked as she took my hand and led me to the DJ booth.

“‘Naughty Girl’ by Beyoncé,” I said, taking deep breaths to calm myself down.

She smiled proudly and nodded her head before telling the DJ.

“He’ll be watching you from up there. When you go onstage, make eye contact in the middle of the song and you’ll have him wrapped around your finger,” she said, pointing in his direction.

I thanked her under my breath and watched as the girl onstage finished her routine.

“You’re up,” she said, taking my hand and leading me to the curtain.

“Give it up for Angel,” the DJ said, dropping the beat.

The crowd started cheering and my nerves picked up.

“Angel?” I said, scrunching my nose.

“You have an innocence to you and they’ll adore that. Now, go out there and make me proud,” she said over the crowd.

I nodded my head and took a deep breath before closing my eyes. The curtains separated and I smiled seductively as I slowly walked out.

The crowd went crazy as I started dancing.

I did everything Lightning asked me to do and at the end I slowly crawled across the stage as I picked up the money, making most of the men stand up and cheer.

“That was amazing, especially for a first-timer,” Lightning said as I walked up to her.

I opened my mouth to tell her it actually wasn’t my first time when I suddenly decided against it and just thanked her.

A girl wearing a tight black-and-white suit walked up to me. She was wearing all-black heels and looked like a sexy bartender.

She had a tray in her hand with a glass and some type of drink in it.

“Mr. Carter wants to see you,” she said, handing me the glass.

I nodded and hugged Lightning goodbye as I followed behind the bartender. She opened the door for me and I thanked her before stepping in.

“I’ve never seen you before,” Mr. Carter said, leaving his back to me.

“I don’t like to be seen, Mr. Carter,” I said, taking a seat.

He chuckled and turned to face me. “Please, call me Damien,” he said, winking at me.

There was only one way to describe him: handsome. You could see the cockiness rolling off him in waves as I took him in.

He was wearing a tight-fitting purple suit that made his green eyes look intense. He smiled cheekily at me and gestured for me to come to his side.

I slowly walked up to him and stopped when I was beside him.

“Wow,” I said softly. The view from his office was amazing. You could see the whole club and could actually take the time to appreciate the beauty in it.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he whispered.

“It’s breathtaking,” I said softly. I could see a smile on his face out of the corner of my eye and I bit back an eye roll when I saw Luciano making kissy faces at me.

“Who are you?” he asked, turning my face to look at him.

“Nobody important,” I said, shrugging.

He smirked and gently took the mask off my face. “Says who?” he asked softly.

I bit my lip nervously and blushed. He chuckled as if he realized the effect on me and I bit my tongue as I tried not to tell him that he had zero effect on me and that I was faking it.

The door burst open and his eyes widened. He pushed me behind him and pulled his gun out. I looked past him to see Alex with his own gun out.

I took a step back before roundhouse kicking Damien. He fell to the ground and groaned in pain.

Alex walked into the room and the anger rolling off him made me take a step back.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he growled.

“Helping you,” I said softly.

“I told you I didn’t want your help,” he said, doing his best not to scream.

“But you needed it. Why the fuck can’t you just say thank you?” I asked, rolling my eyes.

He started to respond, but I left the room before he could get his words out. I pulled the microphone out and handed it to Luciano.

“You know where we’re going next, right?” I asked as he and the others escorted me outside.

“Yeah—everybody has been called to that location,” Luciano said, opening the car door for me.

“Everybody?” I asked as I stared at him wide-eyed.

“Yeah, but since we aren’t in Italy where there’s more of us, there’s only like one thousand people and some change,” he said, smiling.

“Dude, you’re not helping,” Antonio said, rolling his eyes.

“It’s okay, I can do this,” I said softly. I climbed into the back seat and Luciano pressed a button, putting up a divider.

I changed and put the trench coat back on before knocking on the divider. Luciano pressed the button again, making the divider go down, and I climbed back to his side.

“Your ring,” Luciano said, holding it out for me.

I smiled at him as I took it back and slipped it on my finger.

“We’re here,” Dante said softly.

I took a deep breath and climbed out of the car. The boys surrounded me as they led me toward the back entrance.

“Is Giovanni here?” I asked nervously.

“No, but I heard he found out and he’s beyond pissed,” Luciano said gently.

I closed my eyes tightly as I tried to calm myself down and nodded my head. They left me with the DJ who watched me expectantly.

“He’s here,” Luciano said, running back toward me.

“Where is he?” I asked softly.

“Coming here, so get out there,” he said before running back to the front.

“‘Baby Boy’ by Beyonce,” I told the DJ. He nodded his head in response.

He started to play the song. I took the headset microphone before putting it on me. The lights went off and I slowly walked onto the stage.

The stage light landed on me and I smiled as I walked up to the pole. I turned my back to the room and slowly opened the jacket. I turned to face the room and let it drop.

I started to dance and the music cut off. I smiled, knowing it was Giovanni. I felt him grab my arm and I spun in his arms. I started to grind against him and he growled in my ear.

I took a deep breath as I started to sing. I turned around to face Giovanni to see him staring at me wide-eyed. He opened his mouth and I put my finger on his lips.

I sat him down on the chair and smiled at him. I finished the rest of the song and dance and the room erupted into cheers.

Giovanni stood up and grabbed my arm before pulling me off the stage. I took off the microphone and handed it to the DJ who smiled at me.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?” Giovanni screamed, making me jump.

“I had to, Giovanni. They would’ve taken your title from you if I didn’t,” I said softly.

“FUCK THE TITLE. YOU WENT BEHIND MY BACK!” he screamed.

“If you would’ve talked to me about it instead of making a decision for me, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” I said, rolling my eyes. I looked down at my hands and bit my lip hard.

“WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU EVEN LEARN TO DANCE LIKE THAT?” he asked, still screaming.

“It’s not important. Can you stop yelling at me please?” I said, slowly looking up at him.

“Where?” he growled.

“That was great,” Bebe said, walking up to me.

I smiled and hugged her. “At least somebody thinks so,” I said softly.

“No Donna has ever danced with the Don on stage before,” she said excitedly. She grabbed my arm and pulled me to the front where I was surrounded by people.

They congratulated me and cheered as I walked up to Mr. Russo.

“Very nice,” he said, smiling at me.

I smiled back and nodded my head in thanks.

He handed me a box and I took it cautiously.

“Open it,” Bebe said, nudging me gently.

I smiled as I sat down and took the cover off. I gasped softly as my eyes filled with tears. I pulled out the leather jacket and turned it around.

It was exactly like Giovanni’s, except it had my name on it. I stood up and put it on. Everybody started clapping and I turned around as I modeled it.

We stayed for a while longer before we all left together. The car ride was silent but a comfortable one, especially considering I wasn’t in the same car as Giovanni who was still fuming.

I had taken off the leather jacket and we came to a stop in front of the house and Luciano opened the door for me. I smiled and thanked him before walking toward the entrance of the house.

“Where did you learn to dance like that?” Giovanni asked from behind me.

I froze and slowly turned to face him. Thunder rumbled in the distance and the sky crackled with lightning.

“Maybe we should go inside,” Bebe said gently.

“Ask what you really wanna know,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Which is what?” he asked, rolling his eyes.

“Did I ever dance like that for Johnathan,” I spat.

As soon as I said his name, it seemed like the whole world decided to weep. The wind picked up so it was howling and the clouds opened up, setting off pellets of rain.

“Did you?” he asked.

My throat tightened and I took a short intake of breath as the memories started to flood my mind. “Yes,” I croaked as my eyes filled with tears.