I took Kieran’s huge palm, allowing him to help me get out of the car, carefully holding my black, floor-length dress, giving him a small smile and a “thank you”, earning a simple nod from him.

My brother soon joined me, holding out his arm for me to take, showing his million dollar dazzling smile.

“Shall we?”

I nodded in response, tangling my thin, fragile arm with his strong, muscular one, together walking towards the classy restaurant, following Kieran’s lead.

He opened the big, floor-length glass door, waiting for us to get inside, and as soon as we did, my brother stopped for a brief moment, giving him precise instructions while I looked around, gazing at the opulent, lavish styled room.

Golden yellow wallpapers with intricate designs and swirls, neatly polished wooden floors, round, white fabric covered tables with symmetrically placed golden fabric covered comfy chairs and dimly-lit crystal chandeliers, all that giving a very relaxing vibe.

“Come, Blake,” My brother’s deep voice pulled me out of my daze, his warm hand grabbing my own, gently tugging it, leading me towards our table.

I kept glancing around while we walked, ultimately noticing the whole place was fairly empty, the three males sitting at the farthest table being the only customers beside us.

Once we reached our designated table, I now noticed Gio, one of my brother’s associates, sitting beside a younger guy, around my age, his big brown eyes the same shade as Gio’s, shamelessly roaming all over my feminine curves.

However, what intrigued me the most, was the other guy’s powerful, leader-like presence, sitting across Gio and his son, his stormy grey eyes attentively watching the whole scene unfold in front of him before they landed on me, sparkling with obvious interest.

“Erick, Blake, I’d like you to meet my beloved and only son, Ricardo,” Gio’s thick italian accent pulled me out of my daze, drawing my attention towards the young guy beside him, the guy getting up from his seat, bending forward to place a small kiss on the back of my hand as soon as I reached to shake his.

“Ciao, bella,” He sweetly greeted, smirking.

“And this is my associate, Lucifer,” Gio spoke again, this time drawing our attention towards the other, much more interesting guy.

Wait, Lucifer? Seriously?

This is like, the second weird name I’ve heard of in the span of like, what? Two days?

What’s next? Meeting the whole hell?

I mentally shook my head, clearing out my silly thoughts, focusing on being as nice as possible, so I moved closer, stretching my hand out, giving him a light smile.

“Hi, I’m Blake. Erick’s sister.”

He got up from his seat, curtly bowing like a veritable royalty, placing a chaste kiss on my hand.

Hmm...I like him already.

I then made room for my brother to also shake his hand, and walked around the table, sitting right in between Ricardo and Lucifer, facing him.

After we were done with introductions, soon we ordered and I made myself comfortable, listening to their discussions about guns, drugs selling and other boring stuff like that, until I suddenly felt a foreign hand roaming on my thigh. I intuitively snapped my head in Ricardo’s direction, noticing the disgusting smirk etched on his face, changing into a frown as soon as I slapped his hand off, throwing him a murderous glare.

Asshole.

He tried a few more times, each time getting the same thing, until I got bored and got up from my seat, turning around, intending to go find the bathroom, but suddenly froze in my spot once I felt a hard slap, right over my ass.

What the fuck?

“Gio, will you be kind and tell your beloved son that if he does that one more time, I’ll FUCKING RIP HIS ARMS OUT OF THEIR SOCKETS?” My brother’s already enraged tone echoed through the whole place, followed by Gio’s much milder one, repeatedly excusing his son’s inappropriate behavior, then started scolding his annoying brat in their native language.

I however, didn’t bothered to turn around and watch them bicker, instead, I walked away, finding the bathroom by myself, thanks to my very intuitive mind, then went in and did my lady business.

Once I got back at the table, I gave them a light smile, acting like nothing happened, deciding to give the brat a second chance to behave.

I sat in my chair and took the glass of red wine between my fingers, totally oblivious at their boring conversation, inhaling the sweet aroma of cherry combined with grapes, taking a small sip, savoring the flavor, until I suddenly felt, AGAIN, that idiot’s hand roaming on my thigh.

That’s it, I’m tired of this sick pervert’s bullshit!

I angrily slammed the glass back on the table then stood up, dragging my chair as far away as possible from that idiot, closer to Lucifer’s.

“Ei bella, dove vai?” (Hey beautiful, where are you going?) The bastard’s clearly unsatisfied tone shouted after me, followed by my quick reply,

“Ma va fanculo, stronzo!” (Go fuck yourself, asshole!)

I suddenly heard Lucifer snigger beside me, so I snapped my head in his direction, staring at his amused expression.

“You know italian?” I asked, taking a seat beside him, ignoring the brat’s murderous glare.

He nodded, giving me a small, dazzling smile,

“Among other languages,” He added, his deep smooth voice ringing like a sensual melody in my ears.

He then moved his tall, lean frame to the side, trying to make some room for me.

I mouthed a small “thank you”, then took a brief glance in both Rick and Gio’s directions, noticing the deep frown plastered on my brother’s face and the visibly embarrassed expression etched on Gio’s, courtesy of that disgraceful moment between Ricardo and I earlier.

“So, do tell, is your name really Lucifer?” I then asked like a curious child, trying to open a conversation, urging the others to resume to their previous conversation, earning an amused chuckle from him.

“Yes, yes it is. Why? You don’t like it?” He pouted, looking like a saddened kid, playing along.

“Um...I don’t know...I think it sounds kinda dark, you know?” I replied, thoughtfully, making a grimace, earning another deep, soft chuckle from him.

“Well then, you can call me however you please,” He shrugged, taking a sip from his wine while I just sat there, thinking, searching for a more adequate name for him, until I came with the final solution.

“I know! How about Luc? It’s just a short abbreviation from your real name, plus it sounds more like, you know, you.”

“Sounds perfect,” He gave me another dazzling smile, approving, making me feel totally satisfied with my choice.

We then continued our conversation, soon discovering that we actually had a lot in common, like food and music tastes, among the passion for reading and learning foreign languages. He occasionally also talked with my brother and Gio as well, careful enough not to leave me aside, sometimes making me simply stare in awe at his exceptional multi-tasking skills.

However, I didn’t fail to also notice Ricardo’s constant envious glaring at the both of us, accompanied by angrily drinking, glass after glass, bottle after bottle, making me feel more and more anxious, feeling like something was definitely wrong.

Something was about to happen.

“Blake, would you like to order some food?” I heard Lucifer’s deep voice ringing in my ears, but unfortunately I failed to answer, freezing in my spot once I noticed Ricardo’s FUCKING REVOLVER, pointing straight at my face.

Shit.

“Whoa, no need for violence now gentlemen do we?” Lucifer’s calm but straightly serious tone was briefly cut off by Ricardo’s menacing, enraged one.

“Alzati!” (Get up!) He shouted, making me tremble in fear, motioning for me to get up from my chair, so I complied, too scared for my life to make a wrong move.

“Ricardo, ma che cosa fai, figlio, sei pazzo?” (Ricardo, what are you doing, son, are you crazy?) Gio’s pleading tone went obviously, totally unnoticed by his twisted asshole of a son, his hand holding the gun not moving an inch away from me.

“Gio, tell your idiot of a son to take that gun away from her face, or this will downright turn into a fucking bloodbath, this I promise,” Rick’s deadly serious tone cut through the silence, followed by Gio’s insistent pleadings towards his son while I just stood there, shaking in fear, not really knowing if I’ll live to see another day...

Things escalated real quickly, their bicker soon turning into a downright argue, shouting at each other like a bunch of lunatics, until I suddenly heard him pull the trigger, so I closed my eyes in the last second, waiting for the darkness to come.

This is it.

I’m so sorry, Ricky...

Bang!

A loud, sharp noise cut through the air then nothing followed. No pain, no nothing. Just silence.