30. Luxtyn

30

LUXTYN

I zzy's plan couldn't have worked out more perfectly. The girl knows her guard like the back of her hand. As she said he would, Eddie got up from his seat on the couch in the living room, checked on Izzy and me, then proceeded to do his hourly walk through the penthouse. That's when we took advantage and headed straight for the elevator.

Somehow, someway, we pull it off. I would've put money down that Eddie would've caught us before the elevator doors shut, but that thought escapes my mind as Izzy and I run through the parking garage. The adrenaline has my heart feeling like it's going to explode out of my chest.

Izzy stands before the biometric scanner, placing her hand on the screen and widening her eyes so the retinal scanner can detect her before pulling me through the door of the parking garage.

She glances around before grabbing my wrist. "Come on," Izzy breathes out, dragging me toward the direction of a white Mercedes Benz sedan parked on the side of the street.

After opening the door, Izzy pushes me inside before sliding in on the dark leather seat beside me. "We did not just pull that off," I gasp out, trying to catch my breath.

"Piece of cake," Izzy laughs out, slamming the door shut behind her. "Thank you so much for getting us, Liana," she calls out to the woman in the driver's seat.

Liana glances back at us over her shoulder, and even under the dimmed lighting brought to us by her tablet-sized car display screen and the city lights, I can see the resemblance. She and Izzy look a lot alike, except where Izzy's hair is a dark-chocolate brown, Liana's is a little lighter, sunkissed by a caramel balayage.

"No problem, but are you going to tell me what's going on now? And why I needed to bring this particular choice of clothing, shoes, and wigs?" Sliding her gaze over to mine, she gives me a warm smile and continues speaking before Izzy can answer. "You must be Luxtyn. I'm Liana. It's so nice to finally meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too. And you can call me Lux." Another DiMaggio I find myself easily opening up to.

"Lux, now that's a cool name."

"Right?" Izzy chimes in from beside me. "It's edgy."

"Very edgy," Liana agrees, and I giggle at them.

"I want to apologize for not being at the store today, Lux. I assure you Ashley will never be a problem again. Teo already informed me of her disgusting behavior. I let her go immediately."

Heat flushes my cheeks, and I'm immediately thankful for the dimmed lighting as I think about how the inconvenience of having Ashley as my personal shopper led to the most amazing orgasm of my life, and for that, I can't be totally upset by it. I might be annoyed with Teo, but that man knows what to do with those fingers of his.

"It's really okay," I say.

"Alright, as much as I would love to chit-chat it up, we should really get going. Can you bring us to The Ruby Lounge, please?" Izzy says.

Liana narrows her gaze on her. "The Ruby Lounge?"

"You don't want to know," Izzy says.

Liana turns back around in her seat and puts her blinker on to pull out into the busy street. "Oh, yes I do. Start talking, babe."

As we change into the clothes, or should I say scraps of fabric Liana brought us, Izzy explains our plan to her.

We're almost to the club when Izzy finishes applying my makeup, going with a dark smokey-eyed look. Something I would've worn while working at the bar down in Florida. She even applied long fake lashes between the bumps and turns, only using the lights inside the car to see.

Liana brings her car to a stop in the parking lot when I finally get the short blonde balayage wig on she brought me, and Izzy gets her pastel-pink one on.

Turning back around, she gives Izzy and I each a concerned look. "Are you guys sure you should be doing this? I feel like I wouldn't be a very good friend leaving you both here."

"We'll be okay, Liana, I promise," Izzy says. "You know how good I can be at sneaking around."

They exchange a look, and I can tell there's a story there that if we had more time, I would inquire about more.

It's silent for a few moments as they hold each other's gazes before Liana relents with a sigh. "Fine, but I'm staying here in case you guys need me."

"Absolutely not," Izzy says. "If my brothers catch your car out here, we'll all be screwed."

Liana bites the inside of her cheek as she considers that. "Fine, I'll park a couple blocks away then."

"Liana— "

"I'm not leaving you both here like this, Izzy."

Now it's Izzy's turn to relent. "Fine. . . and thank you. That'll actually help us a lot."

Liana nods before we all say our goodbyes and head into the club.

After checking in for amateur night under the pseudonyms, Blondie and Pinky, Izzy and I are brought in the back with the other strippers and given our own vanity spots next to each other to put on the final touches to our looks.

I glance over at Izzy's reflection in the mirror next to mine. I'm still thrown off by the long pink waves cascading around her shoulders and the short blonde ones styled in a cute bob on mine. It gives me a modern Pretty Woman vibe that I'm surprised I can pull off.

"Blondie and Pinky?" I whisper to her. " Those are the stripper names you decided to go with?"

She shrugs, flashing her teeth in a straight line as she gives me an oops look. "I didn't know what else to say when he asked us what our stage names are. I panicked."

"Very original, Izzy."

"Stop calling me that," she hisses. "It's Pinky , remember?"

I snort out a chuckle while she glares back at me. "I'm sorry, I just keep thinking of Pinky and the Brain , and then I can't take this seriously. You really want me to call you Pinky?"

She turns to face me in the plastic folding chair and pinches my thigh. "Yes, Blondie . Now get it together. We need to get our heads in the game."

"Ouch," I say as I rub the tender spot. "Okay, okay. I have it together."

"Did you happen to see who was out there when we got here?"

" Pinky , I don't know anyone in the city. So no, I did not happen to see who was out there when we got here. "

Izzy pulls me up, and I almost trip over the six-inch black heels Liana brought. They're a tad bit too big for me, so it'll be a miracle if I make it through the rest of the night without eating shit at some point.

Dragging me to the curtains shielding us from the club, she points to a table in the front with three men relaxed in the loungers. " That is Giuseppe Silvestri."

Giuseppe Silvestri.

"He's the one in the middle, Mauricio is the one to his left, and then the one on his right is. . ." I turn to see what's caused her to stop in the middle of her sentence.

She's still focused on the table of men, but her dropped jaw and wide eyes have me questioning what's going on in that head of hers. Shaking her shoulder, I ask, "Are you okay?"

As if she's been pulled out of a trance, Izzy quickly averts her gaze to mine. "Yeah, sorry, I totally spaced out there for a second. Um, the other one, next to Giuseppe, that's his son, Niccolò Silvestri. But forget about that. Amateur night starts any minute now, and I bribed the guy to put you on first."

"You did what now?"

I glance back at Mauricio and notice he's being taken by one of the strippers somewhere.

The private room.

That means Matteo should be distracted with Mauricio for however long it takes for the stripper to do her thing back there.

"The faster you get on that stage, the quicker you get off it and onto the floor."

Right. Because I need to get on the floor to get close enough to the guys to talk. "Okay. I can do this," I say, talking myself up.

"Yes you can," Izzy cheers me on. "Now this might not be the best time to bring this up, but do you have any kind of dancing experience?" I can tell by her expression that she's expecting me to say no.

"Yes, I know how to work a stripper pole, Pinky."

Izzy's mouth falls open.

"What? Shocked?"

"Um, yes, absolutely."

"My mom introduced me to pole dancing class a few years ago. It's just this thing we do, and the only reason I'm in the shape I'm in."

Izzy checks me out and nods. "That makes sense because your body is phenomenal. Short but still banging," she adds with a giggle.

I playfully shove her arm. "I'll be fine out there, but what about you? What're you going to do?"

She waves me off and purses her lips. "Oh, girl. You didn't think you were the only one who's taken pole dancing classes, did you?"

"Seriously?"

"Oh yeah. We even have a pole in the gym at our house. It's the greatest workout of all time."

"I'm pretty sure you might be my spirit animal."

"Thanks," she says with a flattered smile. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"Blondie! Blondie! Has anyone seen Blondie?" a woman shouts from the hair and makeup room.

Izzy shakes my shoulders, reminding me. "That's you, Blondie ."

Oh shit.

"Right, right," I mutter. I completely forgot. "Um, yes. Coming!" I shout back.

Izzy grabs my face between her hands and pulls me to her. "Okay, focus. It's gametime. You have one shot not to mess this up, okay? Now get your hot little ass out there and start seducing those Silvestri men," she says, turning me and smacking me on the ass before pushing me toward the person calling my name.

My heart is thudding so loud as I follow the lady to the side of the stage. "The DJ is going to introduce you and then start the music. Once the music starts playing, I'll cue you, and that's when you can take the stage, got it?"

I nod, in a daze but focused enough to understand. "Got it."

I glance back out into the crowd and find the Silvestris easily. They're right in front of the stage. The pressure of what's about to happen finally hits me, and I do everything in my power to take deep breaths to steady my heart rate. I don't want to go out there and dance for these guys, but I have to find my mom. So, for what it's worth, this one's for you, Mom.