For the first two hours after Bella left her at the hotel, Kenzi spent most of the time walking around the room. It was palatial compared to the concrete floor of the storage unit that she and the other girls slept in. There was a bed big enough for three people, a couch, an arm chair, and even a private bathroom. The windows had beautiful curtains that she could open and close as she pleased. While she liked to see the lights of the city, Kenzi felt safer with the curtains shut. 

There were two men outside the door that Bella had posted there, and no one they didn't know was allowed to come in. That gave Kenzi much assurance, and she finally let herself relax. A bellman brought up a package shortly after Bella left, which contained a soft, white cotton night gown, a new green dress, a pair of black flats, a black wool coat, and black gloves. With the items spread out on the bed, Kenzi had a good cry as she thought of her luck in meeting Bella, Aurelio, and the young man Joey. She had no idea strangers could be so kind- especially ones who lived the life they did.  Before going to bed, she took a long bath. She couldn't remember the last time she washed her hair, and as she scrubbed she felt like years and years of fear were finally starting to peel away. 

It was nearly 1:30 in the morning when she fell asleep on the huge, plush bed. She had never felt anything so comfortable in her life, but wasn't awake long enough to think much about it. 

"Miss Kenzi? Breakfast is here."

The voice was that of one of the men posted outside. Kenzi woke with a start, but quickly remembered where she was. 

"Oh. OK...just a second."

She stumbled out of bed and pulled on the bathrobe that was looped over the chair, then went and opened the door. One of the men followed as a steward rolled in a cart loaded with food. Kenzi's eyes widened. 

"Is this all for me?" 

The guard chuckled and nodded as he slipped the steward a folded bill then hurried him out. Kenzi looked over the food and heard her stomach growl with anticipation. Instead of digging in, Kenzi thought it would be best to dress first. She put on the green dress, stockings, and shoes; then brushed her freshly cleaned hair and pulled it back into a braid. As she emerged from the bathroom, she thought she heard the guards say something. Then, a knock came at the door. 

Giovanni nervously approached the room where Bella had told him the young girl was staying, he didn't know why but he sensed she was in trouble when he had briefly met her and wanted to check up on her after she seemed so quiet and skiddish at dinner it was clear something about her past was haunting her.  

He knocked on the door before speaking relatively softly and then clearing his throat tried again. "Um Kenzi? Hi...uh it's um me Joey, we kinda met briefly the other day and at dinner. Um I wanted to check and see if you were okay maybe wanted to go out and see some of the city with me? If you don't I get it it's totally cool I don't know I just felt I should check up on you... I mean you didn't talk much but um it's kinda rare I meet people my own age around here so um yeh" The nerves in the mans voice were very very clear and for some reason he was hoping more than anything she'd open the door.

She recognized the voice coming from behind the door. It was Bella's nephew; the guy she'd seen at the train station, then at dinner the night before. Frankly, she was surprised she remembered anything from the previous day due to her exhausted state; but rested, she was actually happy to hear his voice. 

Stepping to the door, she cleared her throat softly and unhooked the chain on the door. Slowly, she opened it and peeked around, just to make sure. The guards seemed perfectly relaxed, clearly familiar with Joey, so Kenzi stepped out from behind the door and gave him a soft smile.

"Hi. I didn't expect you to...um, I mean, hi. You...wanna come in?" 

"Smooth, Kenzi" she mocked herself as she stepped aside for him to come in. He seemed taller than she remembered, but again, she wasn't very with it the night before.

"I know I was a little stand-offish last night. I hope I didn't seem rude. A lot happened all at once, you know?" 

A guard shut the door behind them. Kenzi glanced around and caught sight of the food. She gestured awkwardly towards it. 

"Oh, you want some breakfast? They sent up food, but they must have thought there were twenty people in here."

Joey blushed as Kenzi opened the door, and spoke to him he followed her into the hotel she was staying at, clearly Auntie Bella liked her quite a bit considering the quality of the place she had put her up in. 

"Oh yeh um have you eaten yet? Don't worry about yesterday it was clear you've been through an ordeal I just wanted to make sure you're okay I know my aunt bella is awesome but sometimes having someone your own age is can be a little easier especially in a new town." Looking around the place Joey couldn't help but be shy and definitely couldn't take his eyes off the young lady, she was gorgeous and just kept the kid speechless.

Joey smiled warmly at her as he took some food, "How do you like it here so far, any chance you're free today to maybe go out and about the city? I promise I'll keep you safe!" 

"I promise I'll keep you safe" 

Up to that point, Kenzi had still been a bit shy about making eye contact with Joey; but in that moment and with those words, she involuntary met his eyes. Sitting down in a chair near the food, she reached out and took a plump green grape and smiled. 

"That sounds like fun. I've never been here before."

As she chewed the grape, she thought of the train station.

"You said you were in town for the weekend, right? Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking."

​​​​​​

​​​​​​

When Kenzie smiled making eye contact with Joey for the first time it felt like his heart just skipped a beat and he smiled back before blushing again and looking down.

"Well we can go anywhere I don't know the city to well but I'm sure we can find a nice place for lunch maybe the zoo before? I've never been before."

Joey smiled as the young lady asked about him, "Uh I'm from Detroit my dad and mom are...umm kind of big deals over there but I come here almost every weekend or pretty much any chance I can they treat me differently over there cause of who my parents are. Aunt Bella has a predisposition for me but it's not the same she can let me out of her sight from time to time." 

"Detroit. I've heard of that place before, I think."

Certainly, there were a lot of places she'd heard of, but none she knew at all. Kenzi had no schooling, and could only read and write a little, just from what she'd picked up here and there. She hoped that her lack of education wouldn't make her seem stupid to him. Joey seemed a very well-off young man from an important family; by comparison, Kenzi was a street rat. But, she had a new dress and a good night's sleep under her - so maybe she could pull it off. 

"The zoo sounds neat. I'd like to see a lion. Do you think they have those?" 

After they picked over the breakfast and shared a bit more small talk, they got ready to go out. As Kenzi took her new coat from the hanger, one of the guards exchanged a few quiet words with Joey. 

Giovanni had a raised an eyebrow when she stated that she didn't know if she'd heard of the great city of Detroit before

"Heard of it? it's one of the greatest cities in the country, maybe...um if you were interested one time you'd like to come with me there? Lions? oh yeh for sure they would! All kinds of other animals you may have not seen before!

Joey was starting to get the idea that this girl had either a very sheltered life or wasn't taken care of well her lack of knowledge of Detroit in particular seemed a little alarming to him but he didn't want to press on the poor girl as she had clearly been through more than enough.

Joey helped Kenzi with her coat how he'd watched his father do for his mother. He told the guards to give them space but keep an eye out cause if anything happened to Kenzi it was there ass on the line.

​​​​​​Between the luxurious room, the food that filled her belly, and the way Joey treated her, Kenzi felt like she'd gone to sleep and woken up in a whole new world. She slipped her arms into the coat and glanced at Joey again, taking a moment to look at his face for the first time without shyly looking away. 

Kenzi had all the excitement and wonder of a little girl as she and Joey casually made their way around the Philadelphia Zoo. The very first thing they found were the lions. Kenzi was in awe, and mentioned that they were so much bigger than she thought they would be. They saw bears, a giraffe, monkeys, and even got to pet a real reindeer. 

As they followed the path toward the water animals exhibit, Kenzi raised she hadn't once thought about Angelo, or even looked over her shoulder. Grinning a little with a gleam in her eyes, she reached over and touched his arm, pausing at the railing over a small bridge.

"Thank you...for bringing me here. And for being so nice. I've never had a friend my age to do things with. This is really, really nice."

Bella read the note given to her by Linval regarding how Kenzi's night went and how her day had begun.  A romantic at heart, she read the note and her guards' assessment of the situation and smiled. 

"Get Rebecca_Ferrari on the line.  I'd better loop her in on her son's activities before this goes much further.  The last thing I need is an overprotective mama bear down here asking why my newest associate is 'evilly seducing' her 'poor saintly' son."

Linval nodded and got on the horn immediately.

She chuckled at the idea that anyone could think Joey 'saintly' but now, as the mother of a little boy herself, she had some empathy for the woman.  Anything that might cause a ruckus between the cities needed to be addressed before, not after, it became an issue.  At least if Rebecca wanted a stop put to it, she might have a snowball's chance in hell of making that happen... a few days from now, who could say what young love blossoming might drive them to do.

Linval handed her the phone.

"Rebecca?  Hi, it's Bella Byrne.  No... everything is fine.  Joey's having a great time on his visit, but um... I thought you might want to be made aware of something.  It's not a problem or anything but, you see, there's this girl..."

Joey couldn't take his eyes off Kenzi there was something so charming about how everything in the zoo seemed to completely dazzle and enthrall her whilst he'd been to the zoo's numerous times especially as a kid (apparently he had a fascination with the turkeys he was told) it seemed this all brand new too Kenzi. 

When she took his arm a small giggle escaped Joey though he tried to cover it with a cough and he held her hand. For so long he was always the tough guy but this girl just made him melt into a big softy it seemed.

"Aw Kenzi you're so welcome is there anything else you want to see here or we can go look for something else to do, I let Aunt Bella know you'd be spending the day with me."

She started to answer that she didn't know, but then she was reminded of something from the day before.

"Didn't you say something about a car show, or a motorcycle thing? If you want, we could go there. I'm just enjoying...freedom."

Her answer was somewhat whimsical, but she couldn't have expected anyone to understand. Large crowds didn't bother her, they helped her disappear. Maybe being in a big city like Philadelphia would work to her advantage; along with some seemingly influential new friends. With some caution, her defenses were slowly beginning to sink.

Joey laughed realizing what she was talking about. 

"Oh no um so Motorcycles are these cool newish autos I want one, that's why I've been spending so much time out here actually to save up to get one without using family money cause they're not gonna approve.....but now that you mention it I have enough for one from all the jobs with Auntie Bella wanna come with me to get it go for a ride?"

With a little bit of a grin growing on her face, Kenzi nodded. 

"That sounds like fun."

Hand in hand, they started walking back to the entrance of the zoo. The smile on her face didn't fade, even as her mind tried to toss doubts into her mind of safety, and intention. She pushed them away. Joey was strong, and he seemed to care about her- maybe even like her- and he'd promised Bella not to let her come to any harm. For whatever reason that was, Kenzi appreciated it. But, then again...he didn't know the whole story. What if she put him in danger? Certainly that wouldn't bode well with Bella, and Kenzi didn't want anyone to get hurt on her account. Now the doubt was starting to do it's job. She felt the three packages in her bag and bit her lower lip with worry.

"Joey, wait...."

She stopped walking, gently tugging him back toward a corner of the zoo's main gate.

"I have to tell you something...because I don't want you to get hurt. Can we go somewhere quiet first?  Somewhere...safe?"

Joey slowed down as Kenzi tugged back, worried he turned to her his eyes searching for the source of concern

"Are you okay? Yeh of course there's a quiet little cafe over this way I think, they know aunt Bella they'll leave us alone come"

Taking her hand he led her to the place and signaled the keeper to give them the small room in the back for a brief time, he pulled out a chair for her. Still trying to search the reason for her apparent distress, but she betrayed nothing.

"Okay, what's up is everything okay?" 

Kenzi followed Joey into the little cafe, keeping her eyes down and arms clutched tightly around her bag. Once they were alone and out of sight, she sat her bag on the table and opened it just enough for Joey to be able to see the three, paper-wrapped kilos inside. With a slight tremble in her voice, she began her story.

"When Mrs. Byrne...Bella...found me, I'd just sneaked off a train from New York.  That's where I came from. I'm an orphan- I never knew my parents, just Angelo. He's an older guy, I guess, maybe in his 50s. Angelo Falucci. Anyway, he told me that my parents sold me to him to pay off a debt when I was just a baby. I don't know, but growing up working for Angelo is all I remember. Me and some other girls...we were his runners. He would load us up with his drugs and we'd have to take them places. As long as we didn't get caught or turn him in, we had a place to sleep. Well, it was a storage unit with a concrete floor, but it wasn't the streets."

Her hands quivered, and she folded them around herself to hide the shaking

"He's a really bad guy, Joey. He did things to us...I don't want to mention...but he used us. And if we didn't do what he told us, he'd beat us. And the ones that tried to run...he would always find them, but they never came back from...the greenhouse."

Kenzi's eyes shut for a moment as awful memories floated through her mind like wisps of toxic smoke. 

"He sent me on a run- alone- to deliver these to a buyer who was leaving town. I got to the train station and couldn't find the buyer right away- but I found an open luggage compartment. I don't know what made me do it, but I jumped in and hid. That's how I ended up in Philadelphia. I thought, if I could sell this, I might be able to start over for myself. Get some clothes, a job, and maybe find a place to live."

She looked to the bag, then to Joey.

"But he's going to come after me. And I'm terrified. I don't like carrying these drugs around but I know they are valuable, and I don't know how to get rid of them. I just...I just want to live a normal life. But...I don't want to die."

By now, tears had formed in her eyes and had started to track down her pale cheeks.

Joey listened to Kenzi's story, he knew she'd been through hell and back as he was just able to tell things about people sometimes but this was worse than he could possibly imagine. He almost had tears in his eyes thinking of Kenzi living through that hell the more she spoke about this Angelo person the angrier he got, when she started crying and seeing the pain this man caused her Joey's eyes flashed dangerously. 

Joey softly wiped away Kenzi's tears and knelt in front of her and kissed her hand gently.

"Kenzi, Kenzi look at me he will never lay a hand on you again if he comes near you I will end him myself and anyone who comes with him. As for the drugs I'll help you unload them I know a few people even in Philly that can help you get ditch them okay? Tell me everything there is to know about this guy I won't let them harm you again I promise Kenzi."

Nodding, Kenzi wiped her eyes and sat down on a nearby chair. With a deep breath, she gave Joey all the infotainment she'd shared with Bella and Aurelio the day before. She described Angelo's tall and intimidating build, and the scar over his eye. She explained what she knew about his distribution area of the Upper East Side, and his massive network of eyes and ears. With a terror in her eyes, she recounted the story of the girl who went to the police but ended up in Angelo's dreaded greenhouse. 

"And the man he sells for, Bella and Aurelio seemed to know of him. Named Paulson. He's rich, and a large man. He looks like an awful person. Whenever he came to the warehouse, he'd pick one of the girls and take her away for a few days. When they came back, they wouldn't speak of anything that happened."

​Kenzi bit her lower lip and tried hard to avoid crying again. 

​​​​​​"You all have been so nice to me, I... I really appreciate it, but Angelo is dangerous, and now that I know what Mr. Paulson is, it's even worse. I don't want any of you to get hurt. Not for me."

Joey's eyes flashed at the name Paulson, so Tyler's men were screwing with her as well, putting down this Angelo fucker would be even more fun it seemed. 

"Paulson huh? Good I've been fed up with Tyler and that fuckers men anyway if him or any of his stupid flunkies come at you again they won't be rich men they'll be corpses. Kenzi I promised you I won't let anyone touch you and I'm keeping that promise I don't give a fuck if it's Tyler himself, I....I care about you and am not going to let anyone harm you do you believe me?"

Joey held her chin up so she could look into her eyes and see that he meant every word he said.

"I'm done waiting around I got something to take care of back home it's a sort of little promotion of sorts, I wanted to wait a bit as I don't know how mom and dad are gonna feel about it. This however seems like the perfect time to get my little group together and start taking care of business you're welcome to come with of course I'd prefer if you stayed by side so I can keep an eye on you and make sure no one touches you."

The intensity in Joey's eyes was something Kenzi had never seen before; the same way the gentleness in his touch was something she'd never felt before. Where she would have usually shied away from a man's touch, she didn't feel afraid of Joey. The feeling that she might trust someone she barely knew was strange, but looking back into his eyes, she couldn't help it. For the first time in her life, she felt safe.

"I want to go with you."

Kenzi gave a nod as she spoke, straightening her shoulders slightly. 

"I should tell Mrs. Byr- uh, Bella, though."