CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The next morning Rosalia received a call from John O'Connor. They had finally completed the appropriate checks at the police station and released her hand gun.

She walked into the building instantly ready for a fight. When she arrived at the desk however, Officer O'Connor was very pleasant. "Miss Bernardi" he announced with a smile, making her very suspicious. "Lovely to see you again" Rosalia rolled her eyes, "you can't be serious right?" He laughed while grabbing the gun and release papers and placing everything on the desk in front of him. "Oh come on Rosalia. No hard feelings right?"

"Err, you unlawfully arrested me, took my gun and let your colleague feel me up. I'd say we're not on good terms Officer O'Connor" she focused her attention on the paperwork signing in the appropriate places before looking back up at him. "I'm curious, what did the witnesses at the bar have to say?"

"Clearly you know they backed you up" he replied back stating the obvious. He knew she was asking out of complete spite. "I assume you didn't actually catch the gunman either?"

"Not yet, but we have some leads miss"

"Sure you do" she rolled her eyes and picked up her gun. "Oh and thanks for getting me fired by the way. Really nice touch" John shrugged not feeling guilty at all. "Nothing to do with us sweet heart. Your boss had a right to hear the facts and unfortunately he did not condone guns in this workplace so that was your mistake I'm afraid"

"Just goes to show, don't bother being a good Samaritan in this city. Gets you absolutely nowhere!"

"Speaking of good Samaritans Miss Bernardi - did Giovanni De Luca give you that?" He asked, pointing to the hickey she had tried to cover up miserably with liquid foundation. She gave him the finger without responding and walked out of the station.

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Alessia De Luca shook her husband once again trying to wake him. He wriggled around annoyed and let out a groan of disapproval. "Nick please get up!" She shook him again before hearing him swear and sit up. "What the fück Alessia?" She jumped back a little frightened of his mood. "I-I've called you a few times, my brothers called earlier saying they were on their way and now they're here. You have to get up".

In the last few months it was rare that Nico ever woke up in a good mood. He was drinking a lot more lately much to his wife's disappointment. He was frustrated that she had yet to give them a child. At first things were fine and the couple were happy just trying. However it was now a different story, fucking his wife was becoming a chore in his eyes, she had become obsessed with scheduling in intimate moments to conceive at the correct time. So far her plans just seemed pointless.

When Nico finally made his way downstairs the brothers were enjoying breakfast with their sister. She was smiling and feeding them contently acting like she did not have a care in the world. She had become a pro at faking it.

Nico greeted the brothers before sitting at the breakfast counter with them as his wife filled his plate with food and handed him a coffee. "We've got business to discuss" he discretely instructed after she was done. Alessia nodded and headed back upstairs to attend to a few things.

"So it's tonight then?" Nico asked as soon as they were alone. Antonio nodded, "I'm sending Dante with some of two of the street crew". Dante was another soldier who worked closely with Antonio specifically. They had decided it was best to send someone with experience to lead the inexperienced members to victory. "We're sure this guy was involved?"

"Positive" Matteo stated. "We just have to make sure this guy talks which is why we decided on Dante for that part. If he can tell us anything more it'll make our lives easier finding the rest of them".

"Besides this card game is something else we need to look into," Giovanni stated, continuing with the business matters while taking a sip of his cappuccino. "It stays between us and we are only to use Ricci for assistance ok?" They nodded curiously waiting for more information. "The woman I've been seeing, Rosalia, was attacked 2 years ago" he reached into his pocket for a piece of paper and set it on the counter pushing it towards Matteo. "I have written down the date, the hospital she was admitted to and the college name she used to attend. Someone she shared a business class with sexually assaulted her and I want to know who he is. " Matteo stared at his brother with concern, "does she know you're doing this?"

"Absolutely not. We are not to alert her in any way, understand? Just get the information and bring me a name. I'll take care of it from there"

"Gio I don't think-"

"Matteo, don't bother lecturing me about this. I've given you all a task now just do it. I want to deal with this fücker myself. She didn't go to the police so there is no report besides the medical examination. Obviously the card game is a priority. In the meantime though I expect answers on this subject and I expect complete discretion".

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Finding a job in Los Angeles was not an easy task. Even though Rosalia was fully qualified in Business Administration & Management as well as Interior Design, she was unable to land a proper job. For a short time she was able to work at an Interior Design firm who then unfortunately had no choice but to close their doors.

Rosalia now found herself without even her bar job. She decided after her visit to the station to walk around the city approaching business and dropping off her CV. As usual offices were not hiring so she expanded her searches to local cafés and bars to try her luck. She was most definitely over qualified to pour drinks and wait on tables but anything would do at this point. There was no way she was going to let Emilia pay all the apartment expenses.

Rosalia had finally given up for the day, frustrated at the constant rejection. She had given away all her CV's and finally stopped at a café for a snack and coffee.

The waitress behind the counter was frazzled and ran off her feet unsure of what to do first. She looked like she was having an extremely bad day so Rosalia made sure to be patient when she was not served for a good fifteen minutes.

"Hard day?" She asked as soon as it was her turn to wait for a coffee. "Oh like you wouldn't believe. We just had a walk out and my boss is busy with some personal matters and can't seem to find the time to come here and look after his business". She replied with extreme frustration while grinding some fresh beans for the coffee. "Oh really?" She nodded before tying her hair back, she was now sweating from her frantic behaviour. "I know this is pretty forward, but I'm actually looking for a job, even if it's just casual. I've also done a barista course and can make a pretty awesome coffee"

"Can you start right now?" Rosalia was taken back at the request, especially because this girl was just a worker, she didn't exactly have the power to hire people. "I can't make guarantees but if you help me out right now I'd give a really good to my boss when he finally shows up and I'm sure he'll hire you. None of us are actually trained to make these coffees properly and sometimes we get complaints about them. If you could impress people today it could work in your favour?" Rosalia smiled, she really had nowhere else to be so why not work for free for a few hours and see if this opened a door to another opportunity. "Absolutely!" Immediately she made her way behind the counter and took over the industrial coffee machine while the girl got back to taking orders.