Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Cassie POV

I swallowed hard as Damian Costa’s eyes seemed to pierce into my very soul. If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn that this man was my mate. But no, I had a mate, and the feeling I felt when the mate bond between Vasilios and myself had been revealed still reverberated in my soul. I was just undeniably attracted to my new boss.

“I would like to thank you all for such a warm welcome,” he said, his voice rough and deep. “It will take me some time to get to know everyone’s names, so please bear with me.”

One by one, Boss introduced all fifteen employees to him. By the time he reached employee number ten, I was pretty sure Mr. Costa had zoned out.

“Greg, he's one of the bouncers but is also the general handyman around here. Jessie, she's a bartender, and so is Cassie.”

Costa’s lips twitched slightly at the mention of our names, before his gaze swept across his new employees. “Mr. Maretti has kindly taken up my offer and will continue to manage this club. I will make changes as and where I feel is necessary, but in all regards, you report to him.”

There was a chorus of “yes, sir” before we were dismissed and went our separate ways.

“So dreamy,” Jessie sighed as she leaned against the bar and shot glances at Costa.

“He's probably married, or gay,” Greg grumbled as he placed a case of vodka on the bar beside me.

“Or so vain that he can't carry out a relationship with anyone beside his bathroom mirror,” I added with a laugh, unpacking the case.

Greg chuckled and shook his head, “who needs a mirror when any shiny surface will do?”

Jessie let out a huff and pouted slightly, “you guys are mean.”

Greg and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes before we heard Boss clap his hands and announce that it was five minutes to “showtime”.

“Check you later,” Greg said, putting out his fist for me to fistbump as he moved to his place with the other bouncer on duty.

The club quickly filled up, although it definitely wasn't as busy as the night before. There was a rowdy bachelorette party in one of the private booths, and a pair of twins who were celebrating their twenty second birthday, but other than that, there wasn't anything overly crazy.

I'd just passed a tray to one of the hostesses to take to the bachelorette table when Boss came up to the bar. “Cassie, one bottle of whiskey, two glasses with ice, in my office,” came the order and I immediately complied.

I grabbed a full bottle of whiskey from the rack below the counter and set it on the tray along with the tumblers and the mini bucket with ice. With everything I needed on the tray, I made my way up the stairs to the office which overlooked the entire club, expecting to find the Boss waiting for me.

The door was open, so I didn't bother knocking. Mr. Costa stood at the floor length glass window and looked out over the club, his eyes sweeping across the floor.

“I have brought the drinks which were ordered, Mr. Costa,” I announced as I set down the tray on the coffee table which stood between the two sofas which faced each other.

“Thank you, Cassie,” came his reply. “It is Cassie, isn't it?”

I nodded, a bit taken aback that he had remembered my name. “Yes, sir,” I responded.

He laughed darkly and shook his head, “call me Damian.” He stepped closer to me, sniffing in a way which would have been completely weird to humans. “What we have in common would probably cause all those people down there to have nightmares.”

I couldn't help it. I giggled like a stupid preteen girl.

“Yeah, I guess it would - although I'm only a hybrid.”

He shrugged and picked up the bottle of whiskey, pouring a substantial amount into the glass before he lifted it to his lips with a smile. “That doesn't matter to me.”

I found myself blushing before I made the stupid excuse that I had to get back to work, and practically ran from the room, passing a bewildered Boss on the stairs.

Jessie was MIA when I got back to the bar, and one if the other bartenders said she was having a smoke break - code for hooking up with a guy in the back alley.

Only, when she came back in she was looking a bit worried, her eyebrows knitted together as she chewed on the inside of her cheek.

“What's wrong?” I asked, wiping the bar with a cloth.

“I've just had the weirdest encounter,” Jessie replied, darting a glance toward the door which led out into the alley. “There was this pretty cute guy who said he wanted to chat with me, so I went out into the alley with him to… you know… chat.”

She was quiet for a moment and chewed on the inside of her cheek again.

“Well? What happened?” I urged, setting down my cloth and facing her.

“He just wanted to talk.” I could tell by the confusion on her face that she hadn't expected the man to talk to her at all. “He asked me if I knew of a girl called Cassandra who might work here.”

“So what did you tell him?” I asked quickly, feeling a knot form in my throat.

She shrugged, “I said I didn't know of a Cassandra. I said we call you Cassie, but your real name is Cassidy-Louise, so it's no wonder why we call you by your nickname. He didn't say anything after that, not even a goodbye. He just left.”

I breathed out slowly, trying to control my frazzled nerves. My hand shook slightly as I reached for an empty bottle, and I quickly dropped it to my side in an effort to keep Jessie from noticing my unease.

“Was it the same hot guy from last night? The big guy?”

She didn't hear the quiver in my voice as she shook her head and shrugged again, “No, it wasn't him. This guy had a sexy Italian accent… I think he said his name was Endo or Elso or something.”

Enzo.

If Luca's brother was here, it was pretty clear that I had been found. Vasilios knew that I worked at the nightclub, and it was only a matter of time before he would come for me.