BRAVE GIRL

The sound of glass breaking and the steel tray hitting the ground rang in her ears, but perhaps the worst part of this all was seeing red wine flowing onto the concrete floor. No one needed to remind her that she was done for; all eight glasses of expensive wine had gone to waste—wine that probably cost more than what she earned in a month.

The last thing Emily needed was to panic, but she knew for sure that the cost of the custom-made wine glasses was due to come out of her wages.

"You imbecile!" she lifted her head, once again seeing the man on whom she had accidentally spilled some of the wine on. There was no doubt that he was rich; the expensive Italian-tailored tux gave it away, perhaps, or even the diamond-studded watch wrapped around his wrist did the trick.

"I, I—" she stuttered.

"You what?" The man cut through her stuttering with arrogance. If she had been unsure of whether he was upset before, after hearing him and watching as his face pulled into a scrawl, Emily was now sure that he was upset.

Unable to answer the man, she pulled out her napkin and handed it to him in the hopes that he might clean his once perfectly white shirt that was now stained with red wine.

Instead of taking the napkin from her, he stared at her from head to toe as though she were a nobody, and he then looked at the napkin that Emily was holding up to him as though she were handing him a venomous snake.

"I'm sorry, I did not mean to bump into you, and it is just that—"

"Quiet!" He raised his voice at her, causing Emily to shut her mouth. She had been yelled at many times in her life, but this man's voice before her was different. The way he angrily looked down at her as he slowly approached her, which only made Emily take a step back every time he stepped towards her.

"Don't you dare come close to me or I'll scream" she threatened, although her voice was trembling, she knew that showing fear was not the wisest thing to do.

He stopped as soon as she mentioned the police. Inwardly, Emily felt as though her threat had worked, but that was until the man dug his hands into his pocket and his eyes angrily burned into hers.

"What are you doing in this garden?" he questioned her. His question had come as a surprise to her; she had met plenty of overconfident men who walked around as though they owned the place, but she could always read them. But this man, this broad-shouldered, muscular, and tall man, was different from the rest. Because even though the lights in the garden were dimmed, her eyes still looked into his piercing hazel eyes.

Snap out of it, Emily! She scolded herself mentally. The last thing she needed was to daydream about some arrogant rich man, or any man for that matter; as the saying goes, "once bitten, twice shy."

"Well, I thought—"

"I'm not asking you to think, because goodness knows that you cannot think!" Angelo raised his voice at her once more, only this time a crowd was beginning to gather around them.

Calm down, Emily; you need this job. She mentally reminded herself, even though her hands were already balled into fists.

"My apologies, sir, I will clean this mess up" she apologized once more, but before Emily could proceed with her plans to quietly walk away from Angelo, he moved, blocking her path.

"Don't you ever walk away from me, you insolent woman." He roared while also pointing his index finger in Emily's direction. She simply stared at him, unmoving. Her eyes watered and her anger rose, but she quickly remembered why she took on this job: it was all for the sake of her little boy.

Looking around the garden, all Emily could see was the ocean of eyes staring at her, some whispering and some clearly laughing at her.

"Please accept my apologies, sir," Emily and Angelo both turned their heads towards a bald man dressed in a suit, and Emily mentally rolled her eyes. Besides the arrogant rich man standing in front of her, belittling her in front of his friends, there was nothing worse than having the casino manager, Manny, show up.

Unlike Margaret, who was kind to her employees, Manny, on the other hand, was the opposite, always trying to get on the good side of the rich, even if it meant belittling his employees.

Raising his brow at the man, Angelo had no idea who he was in the first place. He studied him but had no recollection of ever meeting him.

"Who are you, if I may ask?" Angelo questioned the man, his tone of voice laced with both annoyance and a hint of arrogance. He angrily watched as the man nodded his head as though he were bowing to a king, and Angelo could almost smell the fear emanating from him.

"Well, sir, I, I—" he stuttered, a behaviour that was slowly beginning to irritate Angelo all in the space of one night.

"Spit it out already!" Angelo yelled so loudly that his voice echoed into the cold night.

"I am Manny, sir, and I am the second in command, manager." Manny answered fearfully while Emily stood aside, watching the employer that she had long feared, shrinking to size, and truth be told, she enjoyed it.

"Really?" Angelo asked, surprised that he would ever employ someone like Manny.

"Yes, sir" Manny responded, his tone of voice sounding more like a shriek than that of a man with confidence.

"Then why in hell is this thing in the private garden?" Angelo demanded. He watched as Manny turned his head towards Emily, his eyes angrily burning into hers. Without uttering another word, Angelo began tapping his feet against the solid floor, giving him enough time to get Manny's attention.

"I will make sure that she never uses this garden again, sir. My apologies, sir"

"Good and make sure that this good for nothing is never seen here again" Angelo warned, before turning and walking away.

"I am not a good for nothing!" Angelo paused. Even with his back to her, he knew exactly who had dared to defy him.

"I see the little mouse has regained her voice" Angelo smirked as he turned on his heel to face Emily, who was fuming with anger. There were very few things that angered Emily, but being called a good for nothing was something she would never let slide.

"Yes, I have a voice, unless you're too deaf to hear" Emily fired back. She had expected Angelo's anger, but instead he simply stared at her with no emotion at all.

"Emily, stop it!" She heard Manny whisper to her as she walked towards Angelo.

The closer she got, the more she realised just how tall Angelo really was. "Now listen here. Just because you are rich, that does not mean that you are better than any person working here. I might not know who you are, but you sound like an arrogant prick!" she exclaimed as she gained more confidence.

"Oh really? Is that so?"

"Yes, it is so! Now you might be rich, but I don't know who died and made you king of the garden." Emily continued, but perhaps what scared her most was the evil smirk on Angelo's face.

"I can see that you do not know who I am, so I'll introduce myself to you. My name is Angelo Sorrentino, and I am the owner of this casino. And as for who died and made me the king of the garden? My father died and did so."