Please favorite and review! Especially review! I want to know what you guys think!

The next morning I woke up in the soft, comfy sheets of an unfamiliar bed. As the satin covers were wrapped around my tired body and my head lay on the cozy pillow beneath me, my eyes fluttered open due to the rays of the sun kissing my tired eyes. Letting out a quiet yawn as I gently glided my right hand over the smooth mattress next to me and ran my left hand through my knotty, morning hair. 'So where was I again?' I asked myself mentally as my brain hadn't fully awaken yet from its blissful night's sleep. As the sun still kissed my eyes, giving them a friendly 'good morning', I put my arms above my head and arched my back to stretch. Smiling to myself I thought to myself, "I feel so beautiful today, it must be this bed. I have got to be dreaming still.' Just as I was about to swing my legs off the edge of the bed to get up but a man busted through the bedroom door and says, "Bonjour jolie dame! Time to arise!"

The memories start to slowly come back to me as the man who I remember as Baba leans against the bedroom door frame with a pile of clothes in his hand. 'Great, so this wasn't a dream' I thought to myself, 'the auctions were real, I've really been sold and now I'm here. Great." I slowly sit up in the large, snug bed, crossing my legs and resting my elbow on my knee so I could rest my cheek on the palm of my hand. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?" I say to him coldly, I've never been a morning person.

"Well, it's time to get up and get dressed. Sor told me that your stuff got delivered here this morning so I picked out an outfit for you to wear today. He also wants me to show you around the hotel so you know your way around. We'll be spending the whole day together beautiful." He gave me a seductive smirk and a very flirtatious wink after he spoke. I just decided to ignore the last part as I looked around the room I was given. My luggage was everywhere around the room, but that's not what caught my eye. This place was huge and well-designed too. Everything blended together perfectly, from the curtains to the bedsheets and the paint color of the walls, this room was lovely. The wood of the nightstand, dressers, and end table gave a dazzling shine from the sun rays, there was no need for the lights to be turned on. I turned my attention back to Baba as he was still standing there with my clothes in his hand patiently waiting for an answer. "Just leave them on the edge of my bed, I'll be out soon." And with that Baba walked over to the edge of my bed and placed the clothes down in a neat pile and walked out, closing the door behind him.

I got up and picked up the pile of clothes off the bed and made my way to the bathroom. Striping down to only my bra and underwear I peered at myself in the mirror. "Remember what you are Catrina," I began to mutter to myself as I gazed into the green eyes of my reflection, "you are a killer, nothing more nothing less. You'll make it through this, you are strong enough to." I slowly turned my back to face the mirror as I still gazed into it, but now staring at the scars on my back. I moved my brown wavy hair out of the way so I could see the slash marks of whips and gashes from stabs that made my back into a canvas of sorrowful art. They're a reminder of stories I never tell. They're dents in me, though healed, contain the truth of my past mistakes and just show the fucked up punishment I got in return for messing up. I was "in the wrong" if I didn't want to give my ex-boss pleasure, it was all my fault that I said no, it was my fault that I never returned the lust he had for me. I stared into my shining olive colored eyes again and I remembered back to all the times I turned to drugs to cope with the pain of another one of his punishments. Cocaine, kept me energized throughout the day when I got no sleep the night prior. Weed, helped me relax when I would get panic attacks do to the memories and nightmares I got because of this lifestyle I live. Acid, helped my feel happiness because I lost that emotion long ago and I don't think I'll ever get it back. Alcohol, helped me temporally forget about all that needed to be forgotten until it was remembered again. Sighing I look around before putting my clothes on and notice that my toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, shaver, and makeup have been placed in here. Smiling to myself I think of what my cozy little apartment must look like now that all my things are gone. Nothing in my bathroom or draws, the place probably looks like no one lives there. Laughing to myself I make eye contact with my reflection in the mirror again as I say, "How does it feel that you're gonna be living in the Tres Spades, do you feel fancy yet? Nah." I giggled to myself as I pulled on the navy blue dress that Baba had given me, it was gorgeous but I have never seen it before in my life. 'Maybe Baba got it for me?' I thought to myself. The dress was tight around my torso and started to flow after it met my hips. After I had put that on I slipped on a pair of black heels and put on a diamond necklace that I had found on top of the dress before I put it on along with a set of diamond earrings. I finished off by putting my makeup on, simple yet sophisticated because by the looks of what I'm wearing I'm guessing Baba is taking me somewhere fancy. As I looked into the mirror as I began to brush my teeth, I smile as I was proud that my cat wing matched the one on the other eye. I thought to myself as the minty freshness swirled around my mouth, 'I wonder if Russo knows about what has happened to me, he literally has sources everywhere.' I spit and competed my look with red lipstick.

Leaving the bedroom, I headed over to where is Baba is and noticed that the second he laid eyes on me he was shocked. "Cat, you look beautiful!" He said as he couldn't take his eyes off me. I thought that I'd start blushing but then I remembered that he probably says that to about a million other women, he defiantly came off as a flirt when I met him yesterday. Spinning around once I felt my dress twirl beneath me, I actually felt like a princess today. "I know Baba," I said with a little chuckle. "Now let's go" I proclaimed as Baba and I headed out of the hotel room and down the hall to the elevator to begin my tour around the hotel.

After about an hour and a half of exploring this place Baba finally said we covered it all and I can truly see why this place has a 5 star rating now. This hotel was magnificent, a vast tower of exquisiteness from the lobby to the top floor. The rich reside here and it was defiantly noticeable. Every half an hour or so a limousine would pull up out front, each one different from the last and new guests always exited out of them. Considering there were so many rich guests who stayed here for a while, a lot of rich people parties happen. Baba and I heard at least five maids complain about cleaning up rooms with the leftovers from strippers in them or drugs, but at least they stated that they were satisfied with the tip they got. We even over heard a maid complain about walking in on one of her guest sleeping with someone and she said that she got paid to let them stay and hour after they were supposed to leave. Learning about all the wild parties that happen here got me wondering about what the bidders do in their free time. My curiosity got the best of me so I decided to ask Baba, "Ay Babe, what do ya guys do when you guys don't have anything to do?"

Baba looked and me and smiled as he replied, "Well sometimes we all go to the penthouse lounge and invite women up there as we all play poker and drink or we go to the casino. Afterwards some of us return to our rooms with a girl, you know how that story goes." Baba giggled as he finished his answer. "What do you mean only some? Is someone gay in your group?" I asked as I raised a brow.

Baba bursted out laughing before he said, "No ones gay pretty lady, it's just Mamo is just lazy sometimes and Sor hates women. He isn't gay, he just thinks they're smelly and obnoxious." Baba wiped a tear from his eye as he looked over at me as I sighed and smiled. We were still walking around the hotel and considering I believed I'd be suck in this mess for a while I'd take this as an opportunity to learn some stuff about Baba. "So Baba," I began "tell me something about yourself."

He stared right into my eyes as he said "Well, I'm thirty five, single, and ready to mingle." I giggled at his lame statement and responded "Baba, come on, tell me something about you."

"Well pretty lady I'm one hundred percent French, I'm from Paris, France, and speak English and French fluently. Now you tell me something." He winked at me before I replied, "I'll say the same thing you said. I'm twenty four, happily single, and I don't mingle." He chuckled as he realized what I did. "I'm from Boston, Massachusetts, and am Irish and Puerto Rican. I speak fluent English and Spanish." Baba appalled at my response as he said "Well done, but do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Nah, go right ahead." I answered.

"Why did you become an assassin when you had everything in place for you to become a successful business woman, Catrina?" Baba's soothing French accent didn't help the fact that that was a painful question. Clearly, he and probably the other bidders too, did a background check on me. I can't believe they found anything though. Russo must have taken down the firewalls protecting all my information. I looked down to the ground as I tried to prepare what I was about to say in my head. 'Should I lie or tell the truth?' I thought to myself. 'I have no reason to not be honest to these men, but then again I don't even know if I can trust them yet. I trusted Russo and look at how all of that went. I'll just be honest, it doesn't matter if it goes around. I could honestly care less.' "I had a full scholarship to Boston University," I started to confess "and then I was gonna go to Harvard Business school for graduate school, but before I found all that out I had already gotten into some deep shit. I killed one of Russo's men when I was trying to protect my friend from her getting raped by him. I had lost it, I completely blacked out, I know I knew how to fight but I didn't know I could kill. Russo eventually contacted me and laid down a deal to me that basically said that I can either join his crew as a replacement for his loss or die. So, I joined and he had me trained to become an assassin for him but he also wanted me to be his personal whore. Each time I completed a mission I'd get paid fifty grant or more, I only had to give ten percent of my earnings to him. I ended up banking 3 million my first year so I told myself that I defiantly had enough money for college now. Russo wouldn't let me leave though, he cancelled my scholarships and increased my training. Soon later more crews wanted to do business with Russo because they had jobs for me. I made a ton of money so I don't really think much of it now, well at least I try not to." The second I finished confessing a bit of my past to Baba my pager went off, it was Soryu. He told me to meet him in the Casino and to bring Baba with me. I began to stand up but Baba quickly pulled me into his arms for a tight embrace as he whispered "You're strong enough to conquer anything pretty lady. I can already tell. À vaillant coeur rien d'impossible. You made it through a rough time and thought it doesn't seem like it, you are in a better place." He broke the embrace and his light brown eyes stared into mine before he started walking towards the casino. He looked back over his shoulder covered by his red suit jacket as he said "Venez sur jolie dame! The other bidders are waiting for us!"

Hoping whatever he said in French meant hurry up I jogged up next to him and continued on our way to the casino. For some reason though I couldn't get Baba's words outa my head, it's like his words warmed me up inside. Maybe this was happiness, but I'm not sure because I've forgotten how happiness feels years ago. Still, his words made me feel cared for, in a different way though, not the Russo way where he'd say he cared but torture you. Baba's is the warmer feeling that someone is actual there with and for you.

Baba and I enter the casino and see all the bidders except Soryu surrounding Eisuke at the poker table, who is clearly winning with the number of chips he has in front of him. Baba walks over to where they are as I spot Soryu at a bar off to this side of the casino talking to some man who looks like another mob boss. He looks over at me and gestures for me to come over to where he and the man are sitting at the bar. As I start heading over the closer I get the more I can hear of their conversation and notice that they are both speaking in Italian. When I get over to them I take a seat on the stool next to Soryu as he turns to me and says, "Woman this is Simon Romano, he is the boss of the Bell Crickets." I look past Soryu and right to Simon as I give him a warm smile and say, "Hello sir it is an honor to meet you."

Simon nods his head and says "Ciao." Soryu then says to me in a serious tone " 's daughter, May, will be coming to New York in search of a husband. You will accompany me in protecting to and from her arranged marriage meetings. I will inform you when she arrives. Do you understand?" I nodded my head as Soryu turned back to Mr. Romano and says, "Ella ha un combattente sir, ci si può fidare che lei e mi proteggerà il tuo figlia con la nostra vita."

Simon nodded and replied, "Ho fiducia che voi Soryu. Sto mettendo la sua vita nelle tue mani. Non deludete me." And with that Simon got up and left Soryu and I alone at the bar. I really wish I knew Italian so I could understand what they were talking about. Soryu and I sit at the bar in an awkward silence before the bartender came up to us and asked for our orders. "I'll have a Sgroppino." The bartender nodded his head and then looked at me, "And you miss?"

"You can get something, if you'd like." Soryu told me without looking at me.

"Oh okay, I'll have a Mojito." The bartender nodded and walked away to go make our drinks. We weren't the only ones at the bar so I knew it might be a little wait. Out of nowhere Soryu sighed softly and prompted his elbow on the bar so he could rest his head on his palm. "Are you alright?" I asked as I raised a brow. Soryu just nodded and closed his eyes, clearly something was bothering him. I know how mobsters are though, show no emotion, ever. They should just have that tattooed onto their foreheads, it's like one of their creeds. We sat in silence until our drinks came, and Soryu immediately took a sip of his but I took a chance to say, "Look, I know no man is the same, but I've been around mobsters long enough to understand how they function. On the outside all mobsters are fearless, brave, and strong, we both know that those who show fear, the cowards, get killed. But theirs two different kind of mobsters, those who are insane, blood thirsty, power and money hungry, and those who are broken, suck in this life all alone, carry regrets on their shoulders secretly, and actually only want to do good. You don't need to act like toughest man alive around me. I don't judge." I didn't look at him but I could feel gaze on me, internally questioning me. I took a sip of my drink than turned to face him and meet his gaze. "Which one do you think I am?" Soryu asked me as he took a sip from his drink, his eyes strong, gray eyes still locked onto mine.

I smiled and answered him, "I don't know Soryu, I only just met you. But I'm sure that in time, I will be able to answer. No es tan bravo el león como lo pintan. I tell myself that everything I encounter an mobster."

Soryu remains quiet for a second like he is thinking to himself about what I just said. He takes a sip from his drink and was about to say something than took another sip and said, "I didn't know you speak Spanish?"

I smiled, he totally backed out of saying something else. I softly respond by saying, "Si, I do. And you speak Italian."

Soryu and I finished our drinks just in time because Eisuke came up to us and said that they were having a meeting in the penthouse lounge. Soryu told me that I could come if I wanted to but I decided that I was going to explore the hotel a little more. After the bidders left the casino and headed to the lounge I had one more drink and left the casino to go upstairs and join them.

As I walked my way out of the casino heard a woman scream, "He has a gun!" So, by instinct I immediately turn around to see where the woman in danger was so I can help her only to hear a man yell "Trader!"

A loud bang rang out through the room and everyone was in a panic. Everyone was running out of the casino and I was knocked to the ground but for some reason I couldn't move. I started to feel an intense burning sensation in me near my shoulder as a man wearing a mask comes over to me and kneels down in front of me. "You've betrayed Antonio Russo, after all he's done for ya. Ya better feel ashamed of yourself these last couple of seconds before you die" he said. I only now realized that I've been shot, my only blood is running down my torso out of this hole in my chest. I started to feel so weak and my vision began to blurred, I couldn't focus on the concealed man. The disguised man holds a knife against my neck and before I know it blood is going everywhere. My eyes are still open though, I'm feeling very tired. I'm not dead? I'm still feeling the pain of the gunshot wound as well. The last thing I remember is seeing Soryu picking me up and running out of the casino, yelling over and over again words in Italian that I couldn't make out.

"Affrettati! Chiamare un medico ha lo spurgo fuori! Chiamare un medico! Chiamare un medico! Stiamo esaurendo il tempo!"