Chapter 32

October 30th, 2016.

Today was Sunday, the eve of Halloween. Aubrey and Jessie stopped over at the shop every day, so I always had things wrapped up at the Piacere house and rushed to pick them up at the ice cream shop, other times I met them at home.

We walked home in the cool night air, Jessie had recovered to an almost 'back to normal state'. As we walked down the street, Halloween decorations were everywhere to be seen.

Aubrey ran out of my grasp.

"Aubrey, come back!"

I tried calling her but her attention was diverted to a shop that had Halloween costumes on display.

I led Jessie to the display window where Aubrey was standing.

"Aubrey, come on, let's go home." I tried to lead her away from the window but she wouldn't budge.

"Tomorrow is Halloween, Ophelia and I don't have a costume to put on."

I thought quickly. "I'm sure we can find something for you to wear at home, last year’s costume maybe? No one will notice."

"Mum made costumes for us and I've outgrown last year's clothes." She looked at the ground, kicking dirt with her shoes. When she was done talking, she looked wistfully at the window, then looked back at me with huge, sorrowful and hopeful eyes.

I sighed deeply.

Luke's mum never taught me how to sew. I didn't need it, all my clothes were custom made by the best designers, plus dad would throw a fit if he found out, he didn't know about other house chores I could do but if he found me making my own clothes, he would lose it. After all, the money he made was to keep his princess comfortable.

I was now regretting why I didn't strive to learn from her.

I had no choice in this, if I wanted to get the kids home, I had to get Aubrey a costume.

"Alright Aubrey, we'll get you a new costume." I said.

She squealed and dragged me into the shop, straight to the big bumble bee costume that caught her eye.

The shop assistant walked towards us. "Can I help you?" She asked.

"Yes. Do you mind helping her change into that costume?"

"Have a seat." She pointed to a couch. Then she led Aubrey to the dressing room, while Jessie and I sat down looking the place over. The shop was stocked with the latest items for Halloween, Wonder Woman costumes, Star Wars, Harley Quinn and Joker, since the suicide squad movie had just aired two months ago, Saw, Anime characters, as well as the classic costumes.

Aubrey hopped in. The look on her face, accompanied with the cute bumble bee costume was enough for me to swallow any regrets I might have about this.

"How do I look?" She spun around and ran to give me a hug.

"Adorable Aubrey, as cute as a bee. How much does it cost?" I directed my attention to the shop assistant.

She named a price that had me swearing heavily in Italian. I might as well go for overkill.

"Great! Get her a costume too." I pointed to Jessie.

"What?" Jessie asked softly but alarm showed on her features. "I-I don't need a costume."

I rolled my eyes at her. "You do, and I'm not taking no for an answer." I pushed her towards the shop assistant. "Run along now and while you're at it, don't forget to pick a costume for Anabelle."

Aubrey followed her sister.

A few minutes later, Jessie was displayed in her outfit. She was dressed as a mad scientist, complete with the wig and everything, a crazier version of Einstein.

I smiled. I'm not sure about the crazy part but Einstein part was definitely Jessie's thing and there was no doubt she would achieve more things than he did.

"Perfect!" I clapped my hands. "Bag everything and round it up." I told the assistant.

"You like it?" Jessie asked, stunned.

"Of course, Jessie, its definitely you. Besides, you liked it and you picked it. Who am I to say no?"

"Don't you want to see the third costume?" The shop assistant asked.

"I'm sure they picked the best for their sister."

She rounded everything up and my ears bled at the final figure. I'm officially broke.

".....but you're lucky, we have a Halloween discount running. Buy three dresses and get fifty percent off two. So, you'll pay in full for the bumble bee costume and get the other two off." She continued.

Thank God for small mercies.

I led the kids out the store. Aubrey skipped happily beside me. When we got home, I fed them and put them in bed. I didn't wait for Anabelle today, Desmonda had fixed a curfew and I couldn't afford to miss that, so as not to get in trouble.

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When I got back to the Piacere house, preparations were still going on. Girls were putting up decorations, learning dance moves for tomorrow's performance and some were out doing last minute shopping.

They had an old custom they practiced here and Arabella told me about it. The girls never revealed their costumes until it was time for the party, to avoid fights of who found what costume first and who stole whose attire. If by coincidence, they wore the same costume then so be it.

I walked up to Arabella who was barking out orders to the interior decorators and coordinating the dancers at the same time. Desmonda made her head coordinator of the Halloween party and she was doing a damn fine job.

"Get up there, you're up for tomorrow's performance." She pushed me towards one of the empty small round tables that occupied the lounge, serving as mini dance stages.

I climbed on before arguing. "Arabella I....."

"I don't want to hear it Ophelia, you're performing tomorrow whether you want to or not. Have you forgotten who you belong to? The Empire's underboss. You've got to show him something new tomorrow, explore that wild side that you keep hidden so well..."

Maybe I should burst her little bubble and tell her he's not coming over.

"....besides, I'm doing this to help you, so you won't sneak off to your mystery guy and incur Valentino's wrath. I'm glad he let you off early today.”

Maybe I should just sneak off tomorrow to stay with the kids but I stopped to think for a moment, what if Luke arrived unannounced? After all, he said the line was to go dormant but that wouldn't stop him from coming over tomorrow.

Pole dancing was easy, I performed the basic moves but learning Arabella's crazy and sensual stunts was a different ball game altogether, the girl was nuts.

"You're a natural sweetie, but we don't want you tired and stressed out for tomorrow, run along and catch some sleep, tomorrow's going to be a big day." She said.

Following her order, I climbed up the stairs, got into my room, performed my night routine and crawled into bed.

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October 31st, 2016.

It wasn't the sun that woke me up, it was the extra weight on my bed.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty."

"Go away, Arabella." I buried my face in my pillow.

"No can't do sweetheart, you and I have got a secret collaboration to do at tonight's party." She yanked the pillow away.

I sat up. "What do you want?" I gave her my undivided attention so she would leave faster.

"I want us to do this." She showed me a video on her phone. It showed her on a stage with another female I couldn't recognize dancing to a hypnotic sound and the cheers of drunk patrons.

Halfway through the video, I pushed her phone away.

"No way Arabella, this will only bring the wrong kind of attention."

"No, it won’t." Her eyes gleamed with mischief. "What are you scared of? Your man will be there to protect you and whenever he's not, I'll be there."

"No." I said, plainly.

"Oh, come on Ophelia. Don't be such a spoil sport. There are other girls around but I chose you, do you know why?"

"Why?" I asked, curiously.

"Well, first of all you dance better than anyone I've seen, including Teddy." She pointed to her phone. "Secondly, you've got something within you that's natural for this kind of thing, you flow with the music."

"No."

"No?" She tapped on her phone. "Well then, you leave me no choice."

A song came on, slow at first but with just the right tempo.

She circled the room, her hand around an invisible pole. She got down at the right time, moving her body to the rhythm of the song I soon recognized as the hypnotic tune from the video.

I raised an eyebrow, silently asking her what she was getting at.

"Just wait for it...." She continued dancing.

As the tempo increased and the rhythm came at faster intervals, a delicious feeling crawled up my spine, I wanted to dance along, I wasn't content with just tapping my feet to the beat. I fought the feeling, suppressed it but as the song got to another level, I shivered and goosebumps appeared on my skin.

I got up and joined Arabella, letting the rhythm move me, swaying my hips to the enticing song. I closed my eyes.

When my eyes shot open a minute later, I saw Arabella sitting on my bed, watching me with a smug look on her face.

I mentally slapped myself. "I'm going to regret this."

"No, you're not. With the skills you've just displayed, you're going to be basking in everyone's attention, the girls will be envious of you. You're not going to learn much, just a few coordinated moves, the rest is freestyle."

I let her teach me her crazy moves and by midday we had perfected our routine. Arabella left to finish work downstairs while I cleaned up and prepared for the party.

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