Emma Mia Ricci woke up to the same, empty apartment. She went into the bathroom and pied. She contemplated herself in the mirror. Her hair was a mess. She was still sleepy according to her yawns and momentary eyelids drop. She turned on the faucet and washed her face with water. That always did the trick. It woke her up to reality. She took a brush, a paste bar and squeezed it on the brush. Then, she brushed her teeth as usual. The cool mint flavor on her mouth was another aid to her awakening. Suddenly she was back in the outsides of the courthouse. The events just flashed right into her mind again. Mancinni was there with arrogant lawyer, Jimmy Nordak, the idiot reporter from channels 2, 4, 6 and 8 all the other reporters that were either from radio or independent.
"Look Miss Ricci, you're a beautiful young lady, but this shit isn't for you. Why don't you go find yourself another job like being a hairstylist or a model or something? You certainly don't know what the fuck you're doing," said Mr. Mancinni and everyone laughed again.
"Here's my card," Mr. Mancini said. He handed her the card. Emma grabbed it and looked at it.
Emma cupped her hand and placed it under the running water. She put it in her mouth to rinse off the mint toothpaste. She did this several times until she felt that her mouth was properly rinsed and clean. She took out the mint rinse and did the same, moving the cool liquid all over her mouth. She spit it out. It felt good. She grabbed a towel and dried herself. Then, coming out of the bathroom, she went straight to her room and put a t-shirt over her naked body and a pair of panties. She searched for the card that was in her purse. She found and it and gazed at it.
In the card was the name of his club, Steams. Then below that was the owner's name Nefri Mancinni and then below that the manager's name Tony Mancinni. Of course they were related, she thought, then below that was the address of the place and phone numbers. There was also a fax number, a webiste page and a social media page. Emma went to her kitchen, turned her laptop on and decided to search for this place called Steams.
On the website appeared Nefri Mancinni's smiling face. He was wearing a suit with tie. There was a small paragraph, like an invite to the club.
"Welcome. This is the Steams website. Here you'll see the club, its accommodations, entertainment and menu, plus a calendar with all of our special activities. If you want to hang out, this is the best and this club was made just for you because you deserve the best," the paragraph read. Emma pursed her lips with disbelief.
"What a crock of shit," she said, but she continued to surf the page. It seemed like any other expensive club. There was a brief bio of Mancinni, where he supposedly studied business and his supposedly vast experience and contacts including famous people. Emma scrolled the page and found a table of contents with the words in capital letter WELCOME, NEFRI MANCINNI "THE BOSS", ENTERTAINMENT, MENU, LOCALE, CALENDAR and HOW TO CONTACT US.
She started with the menu. It seemed pretty good, although the prices were too high. Then she wanted to check the entertainment area, GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS… There were strippers in cages although they also promised male strippers for women on Saturdays. All sorts of bands played, from rock, to jazz, to ballads, sometimes they showed magicians or acrobats, but those were for special occasions. They also did birthdays, but for that you had to contact them. Then, she pressed locale to see what she would find. Most of it talked about the space itself and the address of the club. There were photos of the large dinning areas, bar area, dance floor with overhead lights that looked like that looked like blue lasers and there was an upper area with balconies, meant for "couples". The bathrooms were downstairs, very large, spacious and luxurious. There were many waiters, dishwashers, bartenders and dancers that were all regular workers. There were also two janitors instead of one because according to the site, Mancinni liked everyone to enjoy a place that could remain as spotless as possible. She pressed the calendar button and there was a list that appeared with dates and events. Emma noticed that this Friday The Blazers was playing. That meant that she had like three days left to see them. She had no idea who they were and it didn't care, but it made her wonder if Mancinni was going to be there. Maybe he was or maybe he wasn't. She hoped he wouldn't be there, but it would be indifferent to her regardless. She decided to mark that on her calendar because she felt like maybe she could give him a visit.
What was she thinking? Well, two things. One, she could get a part time job and get some money off that creep. She hoped it was the waitress job and not the stripper thing. If it was the stripper thing, she was definitely going to turn it down and two, she would snoop around. She would go undercover to see if she could find a story. It was risky, but she was going to do it.
After that, she called Emilio and told him all about it.
"Are you out of your mind? If this guy finds out-" reacted Emilio, but Emma interrupted.
"You said it, if he finds out," Emma said.
"Why are you doing this? Can't you just do things as usual?" Emilio asked her.
"Things as usual are simply not cutting it. I thought we agreed," Emma said.
"I don't remember agreeing to put your life at risk," Emilio replied. Emma was still wearing her t-shirt. It was like six o'clock in the morning.
"Look, if he finds out, I'll back off. I promise," Emma told him.
"You have to swear, Emma. You have to swear that if he finds out, you'll back off," Emilio begged her over the phone. She thought he was being pathetic and paranoid. Nothing was going to happen because he wasn't going to find out, or at least that's what she convinced herself.
"I swear. Are you happy now?" She asked him. She went into her refrigerator. It was almost empty. She grabbed a bottle of milk.
"Not really, but I am relieved," he replied. Emma opened her kitchen shelves and found an empty coffee can. She didn't even know why it was in there. She threw it in the trash.
"Shit. I don't have any coffee," she said over the phone.
"I'll get you some. Do you want a sandwich or something for breakfast?" Emilio asked her and she nodded as her stomach grumbled.
"Why are you so nice to me?" Emma asked him.
"Because you're my cousin and I love you and I worry about you. Maybe you should talk to your mom. Go back to living with her. It made wonders for me. I mean, it's not perfect or anything, but I like being around someone I love. You're all alone in that empty apartment of yours. You should think about it," Emilio said. Emma pursed her lips.
"That would be highly embarrassing. Besides, I don't think she wants me back," Emma said.
"Of course she'd take you back," Emilio replied, but Emma shook her head and she wanted to change the subject.
"Get me the coffee and the sandwich. Anything new?" Emma asked him.
"There's going to be a protest at the Crave City Hospital. Apparently, the staffers there have been overworked and underpaid. I think it would be cool to cover that event," Emilio said.
"Not surprising, but this time, we won't focus on the workers, we'll focus on the management," Emma said.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Emilio asked her confused.
"Do you want to make money or stay fucked?" Emma asked him.
"I just want to tell the truth," Emilio replied with an edge on his voice. He didn't like where this was coming from.
"We are telling the truth, we're just seeing the other perspective. Don't you think management has a story?"
"I'm sure they do, but, Emma, it's abusive. Maybe I should send you the numbers," Emilio replied.
"I don't want to see the numbers. We're going with the management's perspective this time. Everybody else is going to do the protest and focus on the protestors. We need an edge," Emma replied. Emilio didn't like this one bit, but he decided to bite his lip.
"Okay, you're the boss. I'm just the cameraman," Emilio replied.
"And, you're the best cameraman ever. We'll cover them both, but we're focusing on management. What else is going on? Have you used that police radio you have there?" Emma asked.
"You know it. There's been a robbery in a jewelry store, at Hobbos. Oh, and I forgot, Alexander's public apology came out. I know we missed it, but I know somebody who was there and is okay with us to use the footage," Emilio said.
"That dude is cool. The studio for that one, I suppose."
"Yep. Oh, there was a murder at Crave park. They found the body of a woman near a slide," Emilio said.
"This city just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?" Emma said and Emilio didn't reply, but he did shrug his shoulders.
"Okay, so we have a few stories to work on. Coffee, sandwich, meet up at The Crave City Hospital. I hear they have a great cafeteria over there," Emma said.
"Deal," Emilio replied. Emma hung up. She wanted to look different today, she wanted to look powerful and sexy although she didn't even know why. She fixed her hair and dressed in a red dress. She wore a necklace with a fake star that sort of resembled a diamond and today she decided to leave the wig in the apartment. She was going out with her real hair which was really long, brown and incredibly thick. She looked like that sexy, brunette Barbie doll, Teresa. Today, as she finished with her makeup, she had decided that she was going to be a new Emma Mia Ricci.