No, please, God. Lake could only hope he couldn’t see she was no different than the screaming woman who had just left. The only thing keeping her together was that Dante had just proved she had no other option.
She dug down to any bit of courage she had left. “Hopefully, I can change your mind.”
“How the hell do you think you can do that?” Dante became amused for once, confusing Lake by showing his not-so-dark side. If there even is one.
Lake slowly took the bag off her shoulder. There is no other way. Walking over to his desk, she dumped its contents out along with any of her hopes and dreams.
“Lake, no! What are you thinking?” her father screamed.
Dante held up his hand to silence him. “Where did you get this?”
“It’s my … Well, it was my college fund,” she confessed.
She watched the blonde man who stood behind Dante come over and stack up the money.
“Twenty,” he said after every bundle was stacked to perfection.
Dante picked up one stack of bills from the top and flipped through it with his thumb, revealing each one was a hundred dollar bill. “Your father owes me fifty, sorry.”
Lake blinked her eyes, unable to think. “Fifty thousand?” She wasn’t expecting he would get in debt with the boss to that degree, but she had to think of something. Their lives depended on it. “Okay … well … There must be something I can do. I can work for you. I’m sure there’s a job here in the casino hotel I can do. I can clean.” Glancing at Dante’s unconvinced face, she quickly blurted the rest out. “You can keep my whole paycheck. I’ll work for free till it’s paid.”
Dante was silent for a few moments. “What do you think, Vinny?”
The blonde man shrugged. “We are short a girl now, and she’ll do.”
“No, she’s still seventeen. She can’t,” her father insisted.
Lake’s eyes grew big. Seventeen?
“How old are you, Lake?” Dante asked.
Lake stared at her father’s pleading face. Then, closing her eyes, she answered the question she feared would seal her fate. “Eighteen.”
Dante smiled, making goose bumps cover her body. “Good. You will work for me as a cocktail waitress till your father’s debt is paid. Any tips you make, I will allow you to keep. I will advise you to keep your mouth shut about the legalities of where you will be working, but I am sure you already know that.”
Paul started shaking his head. “Please, don’t make her work ther—”
“Quiet.” Dante paused, looking at him. “As for you, I believe this will be a greater punishment than what I was going to give. You will continue working for me, Paul, and I will make sure you only get the shit jobs. You will still get your cut, but anything you pay me will also come off your debt. The more you work for me, the more you can pay me back and the less she will be stuck down there. If I so much as catch you drop a quarter in my fucking slot machines, however, I will kill you. How does this sound to you, Vinny?”
Vinny gave a quick nod in agreement.
Dante looked Lake over. “You will need some work, but you’ll start immediately.”
Some work? She didn’t like the way he had just looked at her.
“Joe, come in.” Dante’s voice had risen higher without even needing to yell, although Lake figured a man like Dante didn’t need to yell to get his point across. A second later, the guard who had showed her up entered the room. “Take her to Sadie, and tell her she will be filling that bitch’s place.”
Joe nodded and opened the door for her to leave.
“Don’t disappoint me, Lake,” Dante gave his final warning.
Lake looked the boss in the eyes one last time. “I won’t. Thank you, Mr. Caruso.” Her gaze moved over to the blonde who was the boss’ Consigliere. His close, trusted friend and confidant, as Lucca liked to call it. Her father had at least taught her the names of the ones to stay the hell away from. “And thank you, Mr. Vitale.”
Chapter Twenty
Just Because You’re in the Itty-Bitty-Titty Committee, It Doesn’t Mean You Ain’t Got Great Tits
Lake entered the elevator once more with the guard, in shock that she and her father had escaped with their lives. When the doors came to a close, it hit her that the only way she had thought she was going to come down the elevator was in a body bag.
She watched the guard punch in a different series of buttons, and the elevator took off. Looking up at him, she saw the wariness in his eyes.
“Thank you,” she whispered to him. That was the third time she had thanked someone that day, but it was the first time she had actually meant it. If it wasn’t for him, she didn’t know if she would have had the strength to keep going.