Chapter 6 Never Forget

• ~ Violet ~
• Damon stretched out his hand and Violet took a second to think before she shook it politely. Violet was about to pull her hand away, but Damon held it there a second longer. Violet looked up instinctively and suddenly Damon was standing so close in front of her. She almost gasped in shock, but Damon only smirked. And not just that, there was a spark in his eyes. Violet didn’t know if she should run or scream, but she quickly pulled her composure and pulled her hand away.
• With his hand off the wall, Violet saw a space for her to walk away. But just before she was about to slip past him, he said, “So what’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?”
• Violet turned back around instinctively.
• “A girl like me?” she asked.
• “Beautiful, smart, and…” he paused for a beat before adding, “Clearly inexperienced,”
• The sentence started out great, but Violet was offended by the end of it. She prided herself in her work. She hated it when people looked down on her just because she was young or she didn’t look the part.
• “For your information, I’m well-qualified for this job,” Violet stated matter-of-factly. “I’ve been working here since—”
• “I wasn’t talking about the job,” Damon cut her off.
• Violet fell silent. If he wasn’t talking about the job, what was he talking about?
• Damon let out another one of that devilish smirk and a low chuckle. He motioned a little wave before turning around, muttering, “Have a good night, Violet,”
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• Thirty minutes later, Violet found herself sitting in Dylan’s car in the parking lot, unsure of what to do. If this were just another one of Dylan’s stupid private parties, Violet wouldn’t think twice before leaving. But this was different. Something didn’t sit well with her. Hosting a party for the mafia could mean trouble. She heard stories and watched a lot of movies about these people.
• Like, what if they start killing people?
• Aside from her mom, Dylan was the only family she had left. Violet wouldn’t know what to do with herself if something bad happens to him. She glanced at the clock again, it was a little over 1 AM. This kind of party would probably be over in a few hours. Violet thought maybe she should wait and take Dylan home with her.
• But suddenly, on the corner of her eye, Violet noticed a black car driving by from the rearview mirror. She had seen the same car driving by for the past fifteen minutes. Something was clearly wrong here.
• The black car stopped in front of the entrance to the bar. Violet could feel the tension in the air rising. She slumped down to her seat and continued watching from the rearview mirror. She noticed two guys were in that car. They weren’t dressed in black suits. One of them picked up something that looked like a walkie-talkie and started talking. And not long after that, Violet saw another black car pulling up behind it. This time, the car had a police siren on the top.
• This is a cop car!
• Violet immediately understood what was happening. The cops probably got tipped off about this meeting and they were about to bust through the doors. This would be really bad, especially for Dylan who was hosting and facilitating this party. There were girls and drugs involved, and Dylan would go to prison.
• No, no, no!
• Without a second thought, Violet stealthily slipped out of the car and made her way back inside. She had to warn Dylan and make sure he got out of here before the cops came in.
• “Dylan! Dylan!”
• Violet was racing through the back corridor and screaming for Dylan, but when she got to the main room, she saw that it was empty except for the stripper girls. The girls were shoving wads of money into their underwear, and some were already changing into their normal clothes.
• “What? Where did everyone go?” Violet demanded.
• One of the stripper girls pointed to the staff room’s door. Violet quickly made her way over. She pushed the door back to find the group of guys, all twenty of them, rummaging and looking for something all around the staff room.
• “What are you guys doing in here?” she demanded. “It’s staff only—”
• “The only staff here has passed out,” one of the guys pointed to a blacked-out Dylan. He was lying flat on the floor.
• “Dylan!” Violet quickly bent down for him. He was still breathing. He was just asleep.
• “They’re coming in,” one of the guys said as she peered from the window. “We got company,”
• All the other guys suddenly took out their guns and pointed the mouths to the door. Violet’s jaw dropped in shock. She had never seen so many guns in one place at a time.
• “Guys, they’re cops,” another guy said, trying to diffuse the situation. He was one of the young guys that sat next to Damon the entire night.
• “The consigliere’s right, you can’t just shoot at cops,” an older man said.
• “So what do you suggest? We just bend over and surrender ourselves?” another guy said. He was the biggest out of everyone, and he looked the angriest.
• “Liam, calm down,” Violet heard Damon’s voice spoke. He was in here too. “There’s an exit around here somewhere, we just gotta find it,”
• The guys began looking around the room, moving around furniture, and tapping on the walls.
• “This is fúcking stupid. The only dude that knows the exit is out cold!” Liam roared again.
• Violet realized Dylan must have told them about the secret exit from the staff room, but he passed out before he could tell them where.
• “Hey,” Violet found herself saying. “If you’re looking for the exit, you’re looking in the wrong place,”
• Everyone stopped moving and turned to Violet. She got up to her feet and walked to the large painting hanging on one side of the wall. She lifted the painting down and revealed a secret door behind it. The door was small, almost like a window, and it would lead them straight to the backside of the parking lot. This was something Danny installed years ago when he was buying into the whole apocalypse bullshit.
• Not wasting another minute, the guys opened the door and one by one they slipped right out. Violet stepped aside and watched everyone piling out of the room. Damon was one of the last ones to leave, and he stopped his tracks to talk to her like he wasn’t in a hurry.
• “I’ll be sure to return the favor,” he said.
• “Don’t worry about it, just go,” she said.
• “Oh, no. Damon Van Zandt never forgets,”
• Damon left her one last smirk and a nod before finally exiting the room. Once the door was closed behind him, Violet hung the painting back, making sure the exit was completely covered.
• * CRASH! *
• And suddenly, the door to the staff room was busted open. A half dozen policeman in uniform held their guns up at Violet and she gasped in terror.
• “Police! Put your hands up!”
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• - - - - - To Be Continued - - - - -