notes: i'm sorta obsessed with mafia aus right now. that's my bad.

notes2: yea so the boys' last name is salvatore because neither jojo or johnson really screams 'omg, they're part of the mafia!' to me.

disclaimer: assuredly i do not.

i.

[ someone told the stars that you weren't coming out tonight,

so they all found a place to hide ]

He presses her roughly against the wall, and she has nowhere to go. Of course he's a strategist, even now. She pulls him close in an attempt to get some—any—leverage over him in the situation. He tenses under her touch, because she is so much more gentle than he could ever dream of being. His hands have taken more life than that of people she's met, most likely. They're stained with blood, and she is not.

Her fingers smooth the lines of his dress shirt, and his breath is hot against her skin.

"What have you done?" he mumbles lowly, eyes on fire. He's angry, she knows. Furious, perhaps. She remembers the legends and whispers around the alleyways and bars of this man's bloody eyes and his thousand degree temper. His wrath had been the downfall of many men.

Blossom wonders why he hasn't just killed her yet. That appears to be his way, after all. Or maybe he's just waiting to let someone else do the dirty work. "I just wanted answers," she replies, eyes lowered. "The detectives weren't doing their jobs." Here, she looks him straight in the eye, and he can see that she is not afraid. "So I did it for them. You're not as careful as you think, Mr. Salvatore."

This obviously strikes a nerve within him. "I could kill you," he grinds out, "right now. Nobody would ever find your body. I will make sure that no one will ever find out what the hell happened to you."

She leans forward, heart in her throat, because she is just a secretary and now she is going to die. "Do it," she dares him, hating herself because she is terrified. "Murder me like you've murdered all those other people who've gotten in your way—in the way of the Mafia. Slit my throat here, away from prying eyes. No one would hear my screams anyway. They're all too busy dancing."

Blossom doesn't even comprehend the words that are coming out her mouth. She knows that she is an absolute moron who probably deserves to die at this point, if she's perfectly honest, but she doesn't want to die.

The head of the Town Mafia sucks in a breath at her daring. She'd goddamned just challenged him to end her life, like a fool. She had given him the green light to slaughter her, and yet, he doesn't move. He just stares at the perplexing mystery girl who had shown up at this gala and danced with him and broken into the Mafia's record room and then into his personal room. Now, she had just dared him to kill her. Who the hell was she?

Blossom feels dizzy with the glamour of the gala and the small glass of champagne she'd had earlier. She's already made several bad decisions tonight, why stop now? If she's going to dig herself into a grave, she might as well start throwing the top soil onto it. Go big or go home, her sister always said. If only Buttercup could see her now.

Slowly, gently, she slides her fingers to the nape of his neck and leans up. Then, she kisses him. It is urgent and heaving and full of something. It causes him to stumble, fumbling for a better grasp of her, for a longer taste of her. But then she is gone, slipping out of his arms and away from his reach. Blossom had long since kicked off her heels, and runs uninhibited to the large windows across the room. She unlatches one and climbs up onto the ledge, closing her eyes in composure and sucking in a deep breath between her teeth.

Lord. I am actually insane.

Brick stumbles across the room for her.. Briefly, she turns to give him one last, sparing glance. Her eyes are alive and bright and he's never seen a girl so breathtaking in all his life. The feeling of her searing kiss is burned into his memory and he's so starving and she is about to jump from a three story window.

"I know who you are," she reveals, wind already greedily clawing at her hair and gown.

She steps into nothingness, and falls.

tbc