Leandro POV

The teenager strapped to the chair in front of me put up much less of a fight than I expected. I don't know why I allowed him to enter the estate once I found out about the marriage contract, but that is not a mistake that will be happening again. At least, not until I have more information about the pest.

It was almost too easy to catch him off guard on the way to his car. It seems he was trying to leave, but Andrei and I finally came to an agreement. We spent too much time dwelling on things that couldn't be changed and too little trying to change what we could.

Slater, the man my sister was doomed to marry, is someone we could mould. He's still young enough to be changed and taught. Of course, we should probably try getting to know him first so we know what habits need to be changed... Hence why he's currently tied to a chair. It saves a lot of time for us.

Now we don't have to deal with false pretenses. It's just straight up questioning, and maybe torture. Nothing is ever off the table. At least, not when it comes to ensuring the safety of the one person in this world that I care about more than I care about myself.

"When do you think he'll wake up?" I ask, sipping my whiskey.

"I have no idea. You weren't supposed to hit him so hard." Andrei replies, his voice telling me how annoyed he is to be inconvenienced by having to wait for Slater to wake up. It brings me great joy to see this man inconvenienced. He deserves it for not stopping the contract.

Instead if telling Andrei off like I want to, however, I settle for simply sipping on my whiskey until Slater finally wakes up... two hours later.

He opens his eyes slowly, as if taking in his surroundings before he finally makes eye contact with me.

"Well, it sure took you long enough." The teenager says, rolling his eyes. I cant explain why, but Slater's nonchalance does nothing but make me hate him more.

Does he not think I'm scary enough? Is that the whole issue? If so, I'll gladly torture him. Nobody in the history of torture will be tortured with the torture that I'll torture him with.

Yes, that was a Supernatural reference, I love Crowley. Sue me.

"Why aren't you panicking?" Andrei asks, seemingly as irked as me by Slaters unbothered attitude. Okay, so, maybe I don't hate the kid anymore. Anyone who annoys Andrei is a friend of mine.

"You sort of have a right to hurt me, I was expecting it. My family knows to only retaliate if I'm not released within a week." He answers, shrugging as much as the ropes allow him to.

"Oh, well, I guess that makes sense? I need more whiskey." Andrei gets off his chair to fill his glass.

Slater keeps looking around the room, as if he's looking for any possible escape routes. Didn't he just say he expected this? Why is he looking for a way out if he willingly got kidnapped? No matter, there's no way of escaping anyway.

"Why didn't you stop the engagement?" I ask, speaking for the first time since he woke up.

"I didn't see the need to. The whole thing only happened after I met Iris for the first time, and well, I do like her. I also figured that she'd much rather be married to me than to be forced into a marriage with some other gangster. God knows how that would go." Slater winces as though the thought physically pains him.

Has he grown to care for my sister? Am I reasoning with this kid? Am I developing emotions? Dear God, that needs to change.

"So you decided it would be better to just marry her yourself? Here's a better idea, genius, you could've told me so I could've stopped the whole thing!" At my words, Slater scoffs. Does he find this amusing?

"Please, like that would've worked out. The moment you found out, you distanced yourself from her and hurt Iris more. She didnt need that, not after finding out her whole life was a lie. You're more fucked in the head than I thought you were." He glares at me as he speaks, proving that he has unfortunately grown to care for my sister.

Andrei, however, decides that now would be the perfect time to add his own commentary to the whole situation.

"I mean, he isn't wrong, Leandro. That's why I was involved in the process and you weren't."

"No, the reason you were involved is because papà knew that you were the only one messed up enough to actually not disagree." I scoff, throwing a knife at his head. It unfortunately just misses.

"No need for violence, brother. Always so dramatic. You're like a woman, allowing your emotions to control you." Andrei throws his hands up in surrender.

"I know women tougher than you, Andrei." Slater provides helpfully.

"Oh yeah? I'd love to see that."

"Okay, how about you let me go, and I'll introduce you to one. Deal?" Slater tries to bargain, earning a smile from Andrei. Did I say I liked him? I take it back, I hate this kid.

"Nice try, kid. You're only getting out of here once Leandro here decides you're good enough to Iris or whatever he's convinced himself we're doing. For what its worth, though, I like you."

"Great! You like him. Why don't you marry him then?" I offer, pinching the bridge of my nose. Why did I think this would ever be a good idea?

"No thanks, he's not my type. I mean, I do see the resemblance between him and Iris, but I happen to not swing that way. And I also happen to only like one person." Slater provides very unhelpfully.

This conversation is really getting me absolutely nowhere. Maybe I should just-

The ringing of my phone pulls me out of my thoughts.

"Yes?" I answer.

"Sir, there's a problem. Your sister just took a car and drove off."

She can drive?

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Hi guyssssss. It's been a long while, I'm sorry. School sucks. On the bright side, I never ever have to go back again LOL.

I'M DONEEEEE

That might mean that I might possibly finally finish this stupid book.

Depends on whether I can actually write or not lols.

I'm pretty sure I started writing this chapter like three months ago. It got nowhere till today.

I got a new phone since then, my friend got married, I wrote my finals, it's been sooooo crazy. No jokes.

Oh, I also learnt that I love to flirt. Like platonically. I do not know how to talk to a man just yet, no vlue how I'll ever get married either lols, but I loveeeeeee flirting now w my friends. Its actually so fun. Chances are, if you comment on this chapter and something flirty pops into my head to respond with, I'll flirt. Please know that I'm joking 💀💀💀

I talked about myself a lottttt right there, so if you're still reading this, whats new with you?

You guys can maybe expect more updates, but I wouldnt count on it. It all REALLY just depends on whether I find inspiration or not.

Someday, I'll write a book that'll have an actual storyline. That day is not today.

There might even be like foreshadowing and stuff in said book.

Anyway, goodbye peopleeeee