Chapter 133 Mr. Vito

As the weeks passed, Mariama began to notice changes in herself. Her hands, once manicured and soft, grew calloused from carrying trays and wiping down tables. Her posture, once regal and commanding, became more guarded, her shoulders hunching slightly as if to ward off unwanted attention. But there were other changes too. She grew quicker on her feet, both literally and figuratively. She learned to deflect crude comments with a sharp wit, to dodge grabbing hands with a graceful sidestep. She developed an uncanny ability to read the mood of the bar, to sense trouble brewing before it erupted. And through it all, she watched and listened. Old habits died hard, and the instincts that had served her so well in the corporate world found new applications in this seedy underworld. She learned that Enzo wasn't just a sleazy bar owner. He had connections, whispered conversations in dark corners that hinted at a criminal underbelly to his operations. She filed away every scrap of information