Chapter 16

Clover told Kate that he was going to take her to the club so that he could show her around. He motioned his finger at Ingrid so that she would follow behind. She sat at the back seat of his car during the whole ride as they talked about all the fun they were going to have dealing with the club.

Ingrid knew that Kate was choosing to abandon her night school for this, it was all on purpose because she never liked school. Then she remembered that Kate talked about Aunt May being arrested. Just then, Ingrid's phone began to vibrate, it was Giovanni, he had called earlier that day and had sent so many texts about the good news that he had for her. She didn't pick up. She locked her phone and dropped a tear.

When they finally arrived, Ingrid was called in by a man to stand close to the stage. Clover and Kate let out chuckles as they watched her get on stage, "Don't forget to bring the profits, Bitch!" Kate yelled. Clover laughed and carried her so that her legs wrapped around his waist, he began to kiss her and pull up her tiny skirt as he walked into his office.

Ingrid got onto the stage and heard the cheerful sounds of her audience. The music started and she began to twirl, twist and turn for the men. She bent down and got lost in the music, owning everything that had happened. She spread out her legs and did the things that she could would drive the men crazy, it was the only place that she thought she could ever get appreciation from.

She grabbed onto the pole and wrapped her legs around it, she broke her back for pleasure.

Then suddenly, when she looked up, she saw him walking right through the door, it was Giovanni. She looked as he stared at her, he looked angry and she knew why. She didn't dare look away from him. Giovanni noticed that she was trying to say something, she shut her eyes just when a tear almost escaped her eye. She turned away quickly and whipped her hair while running her fingers over her face.

Giovanni walked over to the bartender to make a payment to be with Ingrid, “Unfortunately, sir, she will not be available for that for the next one week and six days,” Cloud said. Giovanni was not happy to be hearing this. He grabbed Cloud by the collar, "who the fuck gave such orders?" "It was the Boss, Sir!" Cloud said as he surrendered. Giovanni told him to let him speak to the boss immediately, "Take me to him, now!"

Ingrid watched while she was still dancing as Giovanni went back stage. Cloud knocked on Clover's door that had a sign saying "Do not disturb". "Who is it?" Clover asked. Cloud mentioned that a customer wanted to talk to him, "Tell him to come back later, I'm busy," Clover responded.

Giovanni forcefully opened the door and found a man standing between a young lady's legs. Kate screamed as she started to cover herself up. "What the fuck?!" Clover yelled. Giovanni stood as he watched them arrange themselves. "Ah, the guy that has his heart stolen by the Ginger head dancer, how may I help you?" Clover asked after looking closely at Giovanni. Giovanni made him an offer, he said he would pay even $1000 to be with Ingrid for the night.

Clover laughed, he was tempted indeed, but a part of him wanted to rip Ingrid's joy in half, so he declined." You can't force me to give you my employee, I'm her boss, right honey?" he said to Kate as he kissed her.

Giovanni was getting angrier, something was not right and Ingrid was keeping it away from him from the start. Clover walked to Giovanni and whispered in his ears, "never step foot in my club, you got that? You're not the only guy blowing money for the jewel."

Giovanni stormed out of his office and went out of the club through the front door.

Ingrid was just concluding her dance when she saw him glance at her one last time before he walked out completely and the door shut. She felt a heavy weight rest on her chest, she ran off the stage and back into her dressing room.

Apparently, Clover stood at a good angle and saw everything that had happened. He followed Ingrid back to her dressing room. He started to call out for her, "Ingrid? Open this door, Ginger! C'mon!" he yelled. He had been attempting to break in, Kate walked up to him and told him that the audience was waiting for someone, "Get the other two strippers ready while I deal with her," he said. Kate went off with the excitement to boss people around.

"Ginger! Open this fucking door or else I'm going to break it!" he said. Ingrid started crying, she tried calling Giovanni about three times now, she decided to send him a text instead;

"Please, come back! I really need your help because Clover...."

That was all that she managed to text and send just when Clover broke the door down. "No! Please! I've had enough!" Ingrid yelled as she held her hands up to shield herself. Clover pulled her hair and threw her to the dressing mirror, causing it to shatter, "Time to pay Ginger Bitch!"

***

Giovanni stood by his car, he opened his door and shut it again, "Why is it so hard for her to talk to me? Maybe I haven't proven myself enough," he said to himself. He didn't want to leave without seeing her, he paced back and forth, and finally, he stood and said, "I need to see her, no matter what!" Giovanni ran back into the Red Spot club. He went back stage and started yelling out Ingrid's name.

"Hey Handsome, looking for somebody to lay down with?" Kate said as she appeared in front of him. He moved her out of his way and ran towards Ingrid's dressing room. The door was broken and there were pieces of glass on the floor with tiny blood drops. He looked up and saw Clover slapping a lady who had been trapped at the corner of the room.

Giovanni pulled Clover away from Ingrid and threw a punch at him. Clover fell to the ground, feeling a little dizzy from that blow. He got up slowly while Giovanni was making sure that Ingrid was alright. Clover was about to throw a punch when Giovanni turned around and kicked him right in his guts. Giovanni picked Ingrid up in his arms and walked over Clover and out of the Red Spot.

"I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have dragged you into this," Ingrid said, sadly. Giovanni looked at her, he didn't utter a word. It hurt seeing her that way. He laid her in the back seat and pushed her hair out of her face so that they didn't get caught up in the blood. "You have nothing to be sorry for, just rest and I'll take care of you," he said. He got out and closed the door, he needed to hurry just in case Clover came out and started chasing after him, he wasn't in the mood for pointless fights.

He drove Ingrid to one of the most trusted hospitals in Australia. At this point, Ingrid was a little unconscious from all the beatings that she had gotten. Four doctors came to help Ingrid and put her on a hospital bed. A female doctor walked up to Giovanni, who had been standing beside Ingrid the whole time. "Sir, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you a few questions before we proceed with our full body check up," she said.

She asked Giovanni if he was related to her in any way or if he knew anyone related to her, "No, not quite, the only person I knew was an ex-abuser and is on her way to be sentenced," he said. "Okay, so who exactly are you to her?" "I'm her boyfriend, doctor," he looked towards Ingrid and held her hand tight. He told the doctor that Ingrid had been battered by her boss, he felt comfortable enough to tell the doctor that she was a stripper and she was living with the man responsible for the scars on her body.

"Okay, sorry about everything that happened. I assure you that she will be fine, it may have not been too critical but we always do full body check ups so that drugs do not interfere with already existing complications, we hope you don't mind waiting outside," the doctor said as he called the nurse to show him to the waiting room.

Giovanni sat in the room, he found a text from James; " Madam May Tanner is to be tried tomorrow, things are looking promising. Hope you told Ingrid how you feel about her before it's too late." He locked his phone and started thinking, he should have mentioned when he had the chance, then, he just had to be faithful and hope that there was no terrible complications or any at all. He wanted that day to be the day when he tells her everything, when he confesses everything.

After a long time of waiting, the doctor walked out of the room and into the place where Giovanni was slowly starting to doze off, "Excuse me," she said. Giovanni got up from his seat and stood straight, "Doctor, how is she?" he asked.

The doctor told him that she was asleep and was going to be ready to go in the next one hour after the drug that they gave her settled, "We cleaned the small wounds and she needed a few tiny stitches on her knees because of the glasses. We also noticed bruises around her neck, and I don't think that her living environment is suitable for her considering that she is more fragile than ever," she said.

"Fragile than ever? What do you mean?" Giovanni asked in a worrying voice. "Oh, you don't know? Anyway, I don't blame you, it's too early to tell unless you use strong medical equipment," she said, "Because we did a full body scan, we found some hormones that gave us the full fact that she conceived almost two days ago, your girlfriend is pregnant, is not that fascinating?! One of the few pregnancies that I've been able to detect. Congratulations," she put out her hand to shake Giovanni's hand. He slowly stretched out his hand, his mouth opened in shock. "Feel free to come through and be with her."