Chapter 17

"Let go of me, you idiot! You're hurting me!"

Making Poppy sit in the seat across from Roman's desk, his security team was trying not to laugh at the feisty little fashion designer. She flopped in the seat, crossing her arms over her chest with a pout. She had bit one man and kicked another in the shin on the way to the office. The five-foot-two woman might have been half their size, but she was little fireball.

Gripping her arm, Anton made her sit, clearly overpowering her. Scowling as he looked her straight in the eye, he said, "Sit! I won't tell you again."

"You're Roman's guy aren't you? I saw you at the opera. Where is that jerk?"

"Claudia, just sit there and shut up. You know who the fuck I am, so stop playing games."

"Stop calling me that. I told you I'm not her."

Anton just rolled his eyes in frustration as he tried to take a deep calming breath. "This was such a bad idea. She's fucking annoying and apparently lost her damn mind."

"And you're a prick. Let me go!" she squealed as she tried get up before the men handcuffed her to the chair. "Let! Me! Go!"

Walking in his office, Roman looked around trying to figure out what was going on. He could hear the screaming all the way down the hall. Claudia wasn't one who needed restraint. She knew well enough to not act up in this situation, yet here she was, strapped to an arm chair, screaming like a banshee.

"What's going on here?"

"That bitch bit me!" Anton groaned, making the other men chuckle. "Shut up you jackass, that shit hurt."

"Well, you deserved it. You hurt my arm. I told you to let me go."

"You were trying to get away. Fuck Claudia, what did you expect when we brought you here? And shut the fuck up up before I gag you."

Poppy snapped, "You can't get shit out of me if I have a gag in my mouth, genius."

Roman tried not to laugh. She was right and Anton was so pissed off his face was red all the way up to the tip of his ears.

Stepping around her, Roman leaned down on the chair arms, looking her dead in the eyes. "Start talking. You know why you're here, so I don't need to go over the formalities. I want answers."

"I already told you at the opera house; I don't know anything. I'm not Claudia. My name is Poppy."

Roman closed his eyes, shaking his head as he tried his best to stay calm. "Why are you so damn stubborn? So, this is the new game you want to play? You have a fake secret twin who's taking over your life. Any other ridiculous stories you want to share? This isn't one of your role play games, darling."

"I don't have a twin. She just looks like me."

Anton walked over with her purse, dumping the contents on Romans' desk. "Oh, really? Let's see what you have here… A business card… Check. State ID… Check… Correction… fake ID…. Here we are… Poppy Fields."

Roman started laughing. "Really, Poppy Fields? That's the lamest fake name I ever heard. Couldn't you think of anything better than that?"

"That's my grandmothers name, you twit! My mother named me after her. She was a hippy and changed her name to Poppy before she went to Woodstock. I like my name."

Taking a walk around the woman, Roman was completely amused. "I got to hand it to you, you sure commit. Poppy," he taunted. "Come on. Do you actually expect us to believe this shit?"

"Listen, genius. A week ago, some snobby socialites came into my store and took video of me for social media. They thought I was this Claudia woman and were willing to buy a lot of stuff from my store, so I went along with it. The next thing I knew all this mafia goons and business types were coming into my shop thinking I was Luke Gambino's fiancé. They started doing me all these favors to get my shop started. One guy even gave me a huge sum of cash. When Luke Gambino came into my shop, he thought I was her too. It's not my fault everyone is acting crazy over this woman."

"If you're getting married, don't you think your future husband would know if you weren't her?"

"She skipped town. I don't know why, but she came in my shop and switched identities with me. I was making good money in my store using her name, so I lied. If you don't believe me, that's on you."

Anton flopped down in Roman's office chair, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "This story develops with more extravagant bullshit the longer she talks. She must have been planning this for a while because it's pretty farfetched."

"Yeah, why is that?" Roman asked, turning to her. Why would Claudia Ricci, the Chicago media darling, make up such a lame story? "Tell me the truth. Do you know who killed my brother? Is this all some sort of sick fucking set up?"

Pulling his gun, Roman pointed it in Poppy's face making her scream in terror. "Start talking, bitch!"

"No, don't shoot. I swear I'm telling the truth! Please don't hurt me."

"Why shouldn't I? Why shouldn't I spread your brains all over this office right now? Or better yet, do to you what they did to my brother."

Poppy had to think fast. A second later she could be dead if she pissed this man off. "I… I don't know. Wait… Luke. If you kill me, he'll come for you. It will start a mafia war. I heard him say you're already on the brink of it, as is and is father was worried."

Anton sat up, rubbing his hands together, thinking. He never liked Claudia, and if she was dead he wouldn't care in the slightest. "Shoot her ass. She's not going to tell us shit."

"No," Poppy begged as tears rolled down her cheek. "Please. I'll do anything. I don't want to die."

Watching her tear-filled expression, something wasn't right and Roman knew it. Claudia never cried. If anything, she would have been provoking them to shoot her. Looking back to Anton, the man clearly was thinking the same thing, suddenly.

"What did he do to you? Are you on something?"

"What?" she whimpered.

"Is he abusing you? Brainwashing? Drugs? What is this Poppy shit?"

"I am really Poppy. You got to believe me…"