Chapter 2 Chapter 2
BRIDGET
I have landed in Las Vegas and I am already in a taxi heading toward the Bellagio Hotel. I arrive exactly as the clock strikes nine. I take out my suitcase, step out of the taxi, pay the driver, and walk straight into the hotel toward the reception desk.
The hotel is enormous and breathtakingly luxurious. A five star palace that is definitely far beyond my budget.
“Hey, ma’am. I’m Sara, the hostess of the Bellagio Hotel, and we are pleased to welcome you to Las Vegas. Have you already made a booking? If not, I can guide you further,” she says, her voice overly energetic, like she had batteries for breakfast.
I smile politely. “Hi. No, I’m here for a meeting.” My nerves show despite my effort to sound calm.
She smiles brightly. “Alright then. I’ll send your suitcase to the luggage room. You can collect it after your meeting.”
I hand her my suitcase. “Thank you, Sara, but I have a question.”
“Of course. How can I help you?”
“I have a meeting with Adriano De Costa. Where can I find him?”
Her smile vanishes instantly, and something in the air shifts.
“Oh,” she says slowly. “Then you must be Bridget Rossi.” Her eyes widen. “Mr. De Costa has been waiting for you since eight this morning. You’re over an hour late.”
Oh shoot.
“Uh… oh.”
She cuts me off. “Take the private elevator and press D19. It will lead you directly to Mr. De Costa.”
“Okay. Thank you, Sara.”
“You’re welcome,” she says, forcing a smile. “And… good luck.”
I hurry toward the elevator wing and find the private one guarded by two large men in black suits. They stop me immediately.
“Who are you here to see?” one of them asks flatly.
“Adriano De Costa,” I mutter.
“And you are?”
“Bridget Rossi.”
He nods once and steps aside. “You may go.”
I enter the elevator and press D19. It is the longest one minute of my life. When the doors finally open, I step into what looks like a presidential suite, easily the most expensive space I have ever seen.
“Hello?” I call softly, clutching my handbag.
The marble floors are so pristine that I feel like my heels might stain them.
“One hour and eight minutes late,” a deep voice says as footsteps approach.
I turn to my right and freeze.
He looks unreal. Like a Greek god carved in flesh. Long dark hair, a thick beard, piercing dark eyes, broad shoulders. On his knuckles is a rose tattoo with the number nineteen etched beside a skull.
His gaze travels over me slowly, deliberately.
My hand trembles, and my legs feel weak.
“I’m very sorry for being late, Mr. De Costa,” I say quickly, extending my hand to shake his.
He glances at my hand, then chuckles darkly. “Follow me.”
His voice is low and commanding.
I follow him up a short staircase into a study. A large desk sits in the center, cluttered with papers. A gun rests openly on the surface. He takes his seat, and I sit across from him.
He flips through documents before selecting a file and opening it.
“So, Ms. Rossi,” he says calmly, “your father, Rafael Rossi, owed me twenty five million dollars.”
My lips part as I stare at the papers scattered across the desk. Twenty five million. My mind races. I own a piece of land, but even if I sold it, it wouldn’t come close. I could get a job, but that amount is impossible.
“How would you like to repay it?” he asks. “Cash, or do I take you instead?”
My eyes snap to his. “Take me? What do you mean?”
“I mean I own your debt,” he says coldly. “I can make you work for me. As my personal assistant, my cook, my maid. You will work until the debt is repaid.”
“Mr. De Costa,” I say carefully, my voice shaking, “I don’t have this kind of money. But before I make any decision, I want proof that my father really owed you twenty five million dollars.”
He picks up his tablet and plays a video. My father stands across from Adriano, accepting bags filled with cash. Three men stand beside my father, all bald, all intimidating. My father signs a document and leaves.
“These are the papers,” Adriano says, showing me the contract. I’m too shaken to read it properly.
“So what happens if I can’t repay you?” I ask quietly.
He picks up the gun and places it in my hand. “Then you’d better kill yourself before I do.”
My breath catches as I lift the gun to my temple.
I don’t have twenty five million dollars. I can’t ask anyone for help. I have no job, no protection, and I’m far from home. Still, I can’t give my life away to Adriano De Costa.
I pull the trigger.
Click.
I stare at him in disbelief. The gun is empty.
“So you’d rather die than work for me?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.
Tears spill down my cheeks as I nod. “Do I have a choice?” my voice cracks.
He slides a contract across the desk toward me.
“Read,” he says.
My hands shake as I pick it up and begin to read.
CONFIDENTIAL BINDING AGREEMENT
This agreement is entered into by Adriano De Costa
, Don of the Corrupted Royals Crime
Famiglia
, hereafter referred to as the Principal
, and Bridget Rossi
, hereafter referred to as the Bound Party
.
By affixing her name to this document, the Bound Party acknowledges that this contract is absolute, irrevocable, and enforceable under the authority of the Corrupted Royals Crime
Famiglia
.
1. Scope of Service
The Bound Party shall serve the Principal in a personal and professional capacity, including but not limited to the following duties:
• Maintaining and cleaning the Principal’s presidential private suite at the Bellagio Hotel, Suite D19
• Preparing all meals exclusively for the Principal, according to his standards and preferences
• Maintaining the Principal’s private mansion, offices, casino properties, clubs, and affiliated establishments
• Managing wardrobe care, including ironing, packing, and preparation for travel
• Accompanying the Principal during business travel when required
• Keeping the Principal informed of schedules, meetings, and obligations
• Acting as Personal Assistant at the Principal’s discretion, without prior notice or limitation
The Bound Party understands that her role may change at any time according to the Principal’s needs.
2. Authority and Control
The Principal reserves full authority to appoint the Bound Party to any subsidiary operation, affiliate, or allied
famiglia
under the Corrupted Royals network. Refusal is not permitted.
Orders are to be followed without delay, question, or negotiation.
3. Exclusivity
The
Bound Party shall not accept employment, favors, protection, or allegiance from any other individual or organization without the Principal’s explicit consent.
Her time, labor, and loyalty belong solely to the Principal.
4. Term and Debt
This
agreement remains in effect until the full sum of twenty five million dollars
is repaid in its entirety.
There is no early termination.
There is no withdrawal.
There is no escape clause.
5. Conduct and Presence
The Bound Party shall remain available to the Principal whenever summoned. Her presence is required when demanded, whether for business, travel, or personal matters deemed necessary by the Principal.
Disobedience will be considered a breach of contract.
6. Confidentiality
All information seen, heard, or learned in service of the Principal is classified. Disclosure will be treated as betrayal.
7. Final Clause
By
signing below, the Bound Party acknowledges that this contract binds her life, labor, and future to the Principal until the debt is paid in full.
Once entered, this agreement cannot be undone.
Signed,
Adriano De Costa
Don of the Corrupted Royals Crime
Famiglia
Signed,
Bridget Rossi
He hands me a parker pen and I take it, without saying a word I sign it. It can’t be that worst to be a maid. Right?
I lift my head to look at Adriano.
“You’ll have to take an oath before starting.” He says coldly.
“What oath?”
“Come with me.” He orders.
Adriano stands before me, the room heavy with silence. The curtains are drawn, the city lights bleeding through the glass like distant embers. On the table between us lies a blade, polished which is waiting. It looks more like an ancestral blade.
“An oath is not a promise,” Adriano says calmly. “It is a burial. You bury who you were, and you rise as something that belongs to us.”
He takes my hand, steady and unyielding, and presses the blade just enough for a single drop of blood to surface. He does the same to himself. No hesitation. No mercy.
“Repeat after me,” he commands.
I swallow and nod.
“I, Bridget Rossi, stand before the Corrupted Royals Crime Famiglia of my own will.”
My voice trembles, but I speak the words.
“I surrender my former name, my former loyalties, and the life I lived before this moment.”
Adriano’s eyes never leave mine.
“I swear obedience to the Don, Adriano De Costa, and to the bloodline he represents.”
The words feel heavier as they leave my mouth, as if they are carving themselves into my bones.
“I swear silence over truth, loyalty over fear, and duty over desire.”
Adriano steps closer.
“I accept that my service is not measured in hours, but in devotion. That I may be called at any time, for any purpose deemed necessary by the Famiglia.”
The room feels smaller. Warmer. Inescapable.
“I understand that betrayal is not forgiven, that departure is not permitted, and that death is preferable to disloyalty.”
He places his palm over mine, blood mixing, sealing.
“From this moment forward,” he says, his voice low, almost reverent, “you do not walk alone. You walk under us. You breathe by our mercy.”
I finish the oath, my voice steady now.
“I am bound by blood, debt, and honor. Until released by death or decree, I belong to the Corrupted Royals Crime Famiglia.”
Adriano nods once.
“It is done,” he says. “Rise.”
When I stand, I know something irreversible has happened.
I did not just swear an oath.
I crossed a line there is no returning from.
This was a one way ticket…
