Lena trudged up and down the casino pit, serving drinks to the men who were there to gamble. She had served four times now.
As she went to get the last glass of wine, she halted at the bar counter, hand perched on her side. With bloodshot eyes, she glared at the man who poured the drink at the bar and questioned. "Where are the other hostesses?"
"I should ask you that, I am not one of you." The big man roared, his voice sounding like a sharp machete forcefully cutting irons.
"Whatever!" She stretched her neck and jerked a middle finger at the man before moving away with the glass of liqueur.
She muttered some cuss words audible only to her hearing as she went on to serve the drink, she dropped the glass in front of the white-beard man that sat at the far edge of the table and faked a smile.
Lena was moving away from the old man who was in the process of harassing her. She warned him but the man persisted. He was about to grab her butt when a loud voice stopped him.
She heard footsteps echoing through the room, all eyes turned to the man coming toward them. He looked at Lena and signaled to her to come to his side.
"She's Don's wife, you can't molest her," Judson growled.
The white-beard man rose to his feet and apologized to Lena. She nodded her head in acceptance. He sat back, resuming the baccarat game he was playing with his colleagues.
Lena scurried to the hallway. She lazily walked down the hallway. Judson grabbed her arms and pinned her to the wall.
"What are you doing?" She fought to free herself from his tight grip, but he held on tighter. "Let go of me. I swear, I'd report to Darian if you don't let me go this minute."
Judson chuckled, and he let go of her. She almost lost her balance, she took a look at her arms, and redness already formed on her skin. She grimaced, holding in the hateful words she so badly wanted to utter.
"This is the first time I am this close to you." Judson scanned the hallway with his eyes. "How are you, Lena?" He smiled harmlessly.
Lena scoffed, "What do you want from me?" She demanded.
"Aww, that's not how to say thank you to someone who just saved you from those bastards." He said in a mockery tone. "Who knows what they would have done to you if I didn't show up in time?" He took a step closer to her.
"I didn't ask for your help. I would have helped myself if you didn't show up." She fired at him.
"I see, you are fierce, just as they spoke of you. Was this the reason Darian chose you to be his wife?" His lips quirked into a frown.
"You can ask him whenever you see him," she responded in a bored tone. "I have things to attend to."
"Lena, I came here to warn you though." His voice had changed from the cool one. It was now frigid with a bit of lethality in it.
"Warn me?" She was befuddled. "What have I done that warrants your warning?"
"Things were going on smoothly here in the casino before you showed up to shove your mouth into the women's affairs. Who gave you the right to confuse our women about what to do? Who said you could go about telling them to change their minds about working here at the casino?"
Lena laughed, "oh, that's it?" She asked, unperturbed.
"What do you mean by that's it?" Judson squinted his brows.
Lena took a step closer to where Judson stood, she stopped right in front of him, looking directly into his orbs. "Is there something you are scared of? That your woman would find her purpose, work towards it and become someone great?"
"You are spewing nonsense. The women of the Dawson family are to work at the casino. They become submissive to their men from the moment they are married into the family, and they do all that we want them to do! I am here to pass some words to you, Lena." She could almost hear his erratic breaths, "stop going around teaching the women how to do things they shouldn't do. Let them continue the jobs that they were assigned to them to do here. Quit the rubbish you are doing." He looked intently into her eyes.
"I am not doing anything bad. I am just dishing out the things that I believe in. I have never told them to disrespect their husbands. I am only educating them about life. And not every woman is interested in the things I teach. Your wife just wants to learn, and there is nothing wrong with that."
"I will discuss this nonsense with your husband. But what can he even do about it?" Judson puffed his cheeks. "I wonder how a man who calls himself the Don of a mafia would be under the influence of a tiny woman like you."
"Darian isn't under my influence. He does the things he wants and he does them well because he's a good boss." Lena defended her husband.
"He doesn't know how to act right, and you are taking sides with him?"
"He's my husband. Besides that, he's the best you'd ever see. Fair and diligent and a thousand times better than you'd ever be if you were to be the Don of the Dawson family mafia." She blurted angrily.
Her words hit him like stray bullets, pierced into his chest, sinking to the deepest part of his bone marrow. His legs stayed glued to the floor, unmoving.
Lena drooped her head low. Maybe she had talked out of line but he heckled her, he asked for it. She wanted to apologize for her words but her ego didn't let her.
When Judson didn't say a word to her, she took a step forward and walked out on him.
Judson veered around, his eyes not leaving her silhouette as it retreated from his sight. He smiled a smile that indicated danger.
~
~
The elevator stopped, and Lena slipped out with some other women who worked with her at the casino.
She had refused to engage in a conversation with them while they were being conveyed up there.
Judson's warning rang in her ears. She wasn't scared but she just wanted to stay away from them in the meantime. She had caused enough havoc already and didn't want to add more salt to the injury that was yet to dry up.
Immediately after she stepped out, she burst into Gaby, who quickly grabbed her arm and hauled her down to Talia's office.
"I didn't know you were here." Lena chuckled nervously when Gaby slammed the door shut.
"I didn't know I'd be here too. Mom insisted that I come over to help her with some things here." She led Lena to the couch in the office. "She's having a couple's moment with her husband and she wants me to come to stand in for her today. Those two are head over heels with each other." Gaby kissed her teeth and smiled.
"The best kind of love," Lena muttered.
"Maybe," Gaby nodded her head. "You look pale, are you pregnant?" She asked teasingly.
"What? Do I look pregnant?" Lena assessed herself from up to down.
Gaby chuckled, "I was joking, you don't look pregnant." She patted Lena's shoulders. "I can't believe Darian let you work as a hostess in the casino."
"No, he didn't. I chose to work as a hostess." She quickly cut in.
"Why?"
"I like it," Lena said.
She didn't like it, she only insisted on working as a hostess because she wanted to get back at Amy for berating her the first time they met. She hated the job so much but she liked the fact that the women at the casino respected her and listened to her words of wisdom, as she always called the advice she gave them in their leisure time.
"I see." Gaby nodded her head. "I called Darian and he said you could go with me."
"Go with you to where?" Lena narrowed her eyes on Gaby, who seemed excited as she scrolled through her phone.
She stopped scrolling and turned the screen to Lena. "There is this cinema in town. It's new, I want us to go see a movie by the weekend and maybe we get to know each other better."
Lena wasn't comfortable with her request, but she didn't want to disappoint her.
"It's okay if you don't want to come with me. I was just thinking that we could hang around and you get to know some things about my uncle, but it's fine if you don't want to come with me." Gaby shoved her phone back into the pocket of her shirt.
Hearing about Darian made Lena change her mind. She would do anything to know everything about her husband.
"I don't have much to do on Sunday. Sure, we can go together." Lena snapped her fingers heartily. "We will meet up," she assured Gaby.
"Yeah, that's the spirit?" She rolled her fist and matched it with Lena's.
"I have to get back to work. Most of these hostesses are running away from doing their jobs." Lena stood up. "I will see you before I go home. Work well and do not stress yourself." She patted Gaby's back and slowly took a turn out of the office.
Gaby watched her as she left. She smiled and headed back to sit on her mother's armchair.
She wasn't the type to easily make friends with people, but there was something about Lena that she liked.