Marco looked at his watch, then at his staff members who were slowly leaving, then at the back door, “Daphnée is taking her time,” he muttered under his breath.

Gerald walked through the kitchen doors and saw Marco standing at the counter and asked, “Where is Daphnée?”

Marco did not answer him and instead, he walked over to the back door and called after opening it, “Daphnée, it’s time to lock up. What are you still doing out here? Daphnée?”

He looked around in the back alley and saw no one. “Daphnée?” He called again, but there was still no answer from her. 

Gerald came out back after hearing Marco call her name and also looked around. It was dark and quiet, and Daphnée was not one to play around. Gerald thought of calling her, thinking she might have left, but her phone was ringing in her bag in the lockers.

Charlie heard the ringing and saw that it was her locker. He frowned and opened it with the universal pin. He pulled it out of her purse and saw Gerald’s face on it and walked with the phone to the kitchen.

It was still ringing when he walked in and he held it up. “Why are you calling Daphnée?”

“Why do you have her phone?” He questioned him.

Marco heard the talking inside as he was still outside searching for her and turned around and felt something under his foot. He looked down at it and saw that it was shining. Reaching down, he picked it up and because it was too dark outside, he couldn’t make out what it was.

He walked through the kitchen door as Gerald turned to look at him, thinking it was Daphnée, but saw the necklace in Marco’s hand and said, “That belongs to Daphnée.”

Marco frowned, and so did Charlie. Gerald’s eyes watered, worried because he knew Daphnée went nowhere without her necklace. Gerald turned to Charlie and said, “I think we need to call the cops.”

“On it,” Charlie answered and pulled out his phone, calling the police.

*Where Daphnée is*

Daphnée groaned awake feeling thirsty and could tell that her nose was dry inside. Her eyes struggled to open, but when they did, the sound and smells around her registered.

The engines of the aircraft she was in were noisy but silent, and the leather she was sitting on smelled rich.

She looked around and saw the air hostess serving whisky to the two men on board with her. She listened to them closely and picked up that they had thick accents and were speaking in a language spoken by the Italians that visited the restaurant. Charlie, the head chef Marco and their boss, Guiseppe Russo, sounded similar.

She tried to open her mouth to speak, but her lips never moved. Thinking that there was something on it, she tried reaching for it but her hands were stuck! Looking down at her hands, she saw they were tied down with silk together and the silk ran down to her feet, which were tied together at the ankles.

She glared over at the men, baffled with why they were doing this, and started struggling and made muffled sounds.

One man, with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, looked in her direction and said to his partner, which she did not understand, “She’s awake”. He placed his glass of whiskey down and got up. When he reached her, he said, “Miss Daphnée, I am going to need you to calm down.”

Daphnée stopped moving and glared up at him. He sat down opposite her and said as he looked at her, “I am Lorenzo Ricci of the Italian Mafia.” He pointed to the back of him at his partner, who got up and sat down to her left. “This is my partner, Tommaso Greco. We have been assigned to you by our boss to bring you to Italy to pay back the debt that your family owes us.”

Daphnée looked at him confused and shook her head as she mumbled something inaudible. Lorenzo looked at his partner and they must have agreed to something and he said as he looked back at her, “I will remove the tape from your mouth and I hope you will not scream or else you will not be fed for the rest of this flight, do we have a deal?”

Daphnée stared at him and hearing food, she suddenly felt hungry and nodded her head in agreement. Lorenzo stood up and removed the duct tape gently. Daphnée licked her lips and stretched her mouth that was numb and asked, “C, can I have water, please?”

Tommaso got up and fetched her the glass of water while Lorenzo untied her hands, leaving her feet tied together. Tommaso brought back the glass of water and she thanked him for it.

She observed them while she drank the water and so did they. “What debt does my family owe the Italian mafia? I do not remember any of this from when I grew up. In fact, I lost contact with my extended family.”

Lorenzo licked his lips and said, “Your mother is the one who owes us.”

“But my mother is dead,” Daphnée said baffled, “I even stopped speaking with her, so how is this my problem?”

Lorenzo smirked and said, “Even if she is dead or you lost contact with her, you still have to pay us what she owes. You are her blood.”

“Listen to me. Why did you kidnap me? We could have spoken about this over a cup of coffee or Italian food. I have a job and I am pretty sure I can pay you back what she owes you, as a matter of fact? How much does she owe you that you need to kidnap me for?” Daphnée went on a rant.

Lorenzo smirked as he scratched his nose and said, “Your mother owes us seven and a half million euros and with that little job you had, you cannot afford it and so, you will be delivered to our boss and there he will inform you on how you will pay it back.”

Daphnée’s heart dropped to the pits of her stomach after she heard that. She never saw that much money in her life and now she had to pay it back? Her head dropped in defeat and angry tears welled in her eyes.

She looked up at Lorenzo and asked, “What did she need so much money for?”

“I am sure that you are aware of your mother’s circumstances in the casino?” Lorenzo asked her, and it was news to her.

She shook her head, confusing Lorenzo, who looked at his partner.

“Miss Daphnée, your mother used to count cards in one of our casinos in New York. Once we caught her, we banned her until she was found in one of our casinos in Los Angeles. When she found out we owned the casino, she begged for mercy and stayed away, but she needed money and came to us. That money was used to put you through school and while you were away studying, she gambled the rest away and got herself killed,” Tommaso explained to her.

Daphnée looked at him confused and said, “I thought my mother was in a car accident because she was drunk?”

“Unfortunately, that is not the case. Our rivals, the Russians, found her counting cards and, unlike us who showed her mercy, they killed her as compensation. We only recently found out about that and you, but you still need to pay back her debt,” Lorenzo explained.

Daphnée gritted her teeth and looked out of the window. Her tears fell, and she asked, “Will I be asked to whore myself out?”

Lorenzo smirked. “That would make money quickly, but no, we do not own a whorehouse, although our partners do. Only if you wish to pay your debt back to us in that way you can choose it. Our boss has already decided what your job will be and I advise you to stay calm and listen to him. Your life in Italy will either be hard or easy.”

Daphnée turned to him and asked, “How much longer before the plane lands?”

“We are in a private jet and that will be two more hours until we land in Naples and from there we will take the second jet to Florence,” Lorenzo answered.

Daphnée sighed and said, “I’m hungry. Can I eat?”

“Of course,” Lorenzo said, and called over the air hostess.