The spark to start a war between the mafia and mobs against governments.

What a shitty position to be stuck in.

"For how long am I going to be your hostage?" I cross my arms.

Annoyance pinches Elio's features. "You are not my hostage," he mutters. "You can leave whenever you want."

"You kidnapped me!" I exclaim, pushing myself off the edge of the armrest I was sitting on.

"I took you in, for your own safety. If anything, you should be grateful I'm keeping you alive."

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, sure. How long are you planning on keeping me your prisoner?"

He scowls at me. "Believe me, you wouldn't want to know how I keep my prisoners, tesorino, you're my guest. I can assure you, I don't want you here way more than you."

I eye him suspiciously. "Guest, you say?" For the first time since we've started talking, I take a step toward him, silently challenging him. "So I can leave whenever I want?"

His eyes darken as his features harden. "No one will stop you, as you've probably noticed, no one's assigned to track your movements. But if I were you, I wouldn't even consider leaving for a heartbeat. My protection has its limits. The moment you step out of my territory the others are free to do as they please, and I can promise you it won't be in your interest."

I evaluate his words. "Then what are those men doing in front of the room you've given me?"

"They're for your safety. Their job is to not allow anyone into your room and not let anyone harm you while you're here."

"No one knows your real intentions?"

He sighs and shakes his head. Walking around his desk and opening a drawer, he pulls out a wristwatch.

I frown as he wears his watch. "Why?"

"The fewer people know, the better. I need more time and information. I can't have either if a considerable number of people are aware of my plan. These things need to be done stealthily," he answers without looking up.

"This includes your mother too?" my voice slightly raises with disbelief.

He nods curtly.

Furrowing my brows, I stare at him until his eyes meet mine and he arches an eyebrow.

I take a guess, "Marco is the only person who knows?"

A corner of his lips twitches upwards and he nods.

I fidget with the pendant of my necklace. "Is that why he's being friendly to me?"

Elio leans to the wall across from me as he shoves his hands into his pockets. "One of the many reasons. He's intrigued by you and wants to understand you. Marco strongly believes what we've found out about you on paper doesn't cover even half of the things we could learn from you, about you, and your father." He rolls his eyes, a clear giveaway of how he doesn't agree with his consigliere's opinion.

I purse my lips.

"He's a good man. I will not tolerate you disrespecting him. He wants to earn your trust and befriend you. For some reason, he's convinced you can be an ally, a good one too. Since he assumes you're going to stay here for a long time, he just wants to make things as comfortable as the circumstances allow it to be."

I scrutinize him. For the longest time, I was convinced nothing comes beyond money and power for these mafiosos, especially for capos. The protective tone his voice carries each time he speaks about any of his men, especially Marco, proves their relationship has roots that grow deeper than the goal of earning more money.

"When you kidnapped me," I pause as his features darken at the word 'kidnap' and I roll my eyes. "Taking someone anywhere against their will is kidnapping," I snap and he huffs.

I continue, "While your men were in my house to take me, why didn't they search for the flash drives?"

"I told them not to. You were the first priority, getting you out of there was the goal of the mission. I didn't want to risk jeopardizing it."

I cross my arms as I shift my weight from one foot to another. "I thought the data on those drives were valuable."

"You are a more useful asset."

I glare at him and he smirks in return.

"If your goal is to keep me alive, then why dangle me in the middle like bait for the other mafias?"

He shrugs. "To show them we are allies... to show whoever wanted me to kill you, we're not enemies and only your father is the person I aim to kill at the end of the day."

I tilt my head to one side as I ponder over his words. "Does this mean everything you did and said in front of your men, and your mother, regarding the data, was an act?"

"Not entirely," he dismissively answers. "I would've rather have that data all to myself, but you ruined that part of my plan."

I inch closer to his desk, my gaze never leaving his. "Why are you telling me all these things?" I plant my palms on his desk as I arch an eyebrow.

"To stop you from being such a constant pain in the ass."

"Excuse me!" I go berserk.

Nonchalantly Elio shrugs. "You need to understand the real reason behind my decision for keeping you alive is because I don't want my men dying, and my business suffering any losses." He pushes himself off the wall and with two long strides he places himself on the other side of his desk.

His unwavering gaze bores into me as he lays his hands on the empty wooden surface and leans towards me. "If at any point, keeping you alive turns out to be a bigger headache than the aftermath of getting rid of you, I can assure you I won't hesitate to kill you."

I clench my fists, my fingernails dig into my palms. "You want me to be your puppet," I mutter through gritted teeth.

"Be smart, play by our rules to save your ass from this fuckery." He pushes his shoulders back. I glower at him.

"The odds are against you," he says as he turns and makes his way to the cabinet on the left side of the room. "Your chances of making out of this alive are next to nothing. I am giving you a path to prolong your life under these circumstances, the rest is your choice."

I watch him closely as he rubs his thumb against the band of the ring on his middle finger. To my surprise a silver snake-like figure that was attached to the surface raises. He inserts the entire middle part of the ring into a hole exactly its size carved out in the middle of one of the drawers. Elio twists his hand and pulls back his fist and opens the drawer.

Hesitantly I move and peek at what's inside. Disappointment sinks my stomach as I take in the countless pistols neatly placed across the navy blue velvet sprawled inside.

Who puts on a lock for a bunch of stupid guns? 

"I'm leaving for a meeting, we won't be around for a few days," he informs, without glancing back at me as he pulls out multiple guns, placing them atop the cabinet.

"We?" I echo with confusion, glancing at the side of his face, from my angle it's clearer how long his dark lashes are.

He nods. "Me, Pietro, and my mom."

"Where are you going?" I dare to ask and place myself on his left.

"Germany... and Japan." He pulls open another drawer filled with bullets to the brim.

I frown as he brings out three boxes of bullets and stacks them next to the pistols.

"Marco is staying behind... feel free to fill your daily human interaction dosages with him."

I roll my eyes and hook my fingers through the loops on the waist of my jeans. "How long will you be gone?"

"A week at most." He shuts the drawer with the bullets. "Don't do anything stupid."

I scoff, ready to retort but my eyes land on a small glass case placed in the corner of the drawer. An ancient-looking revolver is placed inside the case, intricate swirls of flowers along its barrel and the top of its grip make it stand out from the rest of the pieces scattered inside.

Instinctively I lean closer to study it better. The letters KM is carved midst the swirls. My brows furrow.

KM? what can it possibly stand for?

M for Mariano perhaps? But what about the K?

My fingers move to it but before I get anywhere near the glass case, Elio slams the drawer shut.

"Don't," he growls and spins to me. His glacial glare cuts through me, making my breath hitch. My heart hammers in my chest and terror draw its sharp claws down my frame.

Whoever that thing belongs to, it's clear is very close to his heart, but his reaction only piques my interest. Despite knowing better than to tread close to such risky topics, I gather my bearings nonetheless to probe a little.

As he begins filling in the magazine of the nearest firearm, I carefully ask, "Whose is it?" I ensure my tone is steady and carries genuine curiosity.

His head snaps to me. The fire dancing in his dark eyes almost sets me fleeing, but I hold my ground and don't cower away.

"Don't stick your nose in places it doesn't belong," his voice is dangerously low. The hatred underlying his voice and flickering in his eyes along with anger sets me on an icy fire of discomfort and fear.

I struggle to breathe evenly as his eyes dare me to challenge him.

"I was just curious," I mumble weakly.

"Don't interfere if you want to stay alive. If you so much as think about bringing this up again or try to touch it," he pauses and leans down to me, his chestnut eyes glinting with fury.

My palms get clammy and my heart keeps on slamming against my ribcage.

"Damn the fucking consequences, I will kill you," he rasps.

The way he promises leaves no space for me to double-guess his words, let alone risk trying to inquire deeper into this matter. "Okay."

He glares at me for a beat longer before abruptly pulling away and continuing to harshly push down the bullets inside the magazine.

Flabbergasted, I wonder if so far he's been putting up an act of not disliking me as much as he claims, or if I just intruded on a very dangerous territory.

Either way, not for one second can I allow myself to forget he is a capo. And not any capo, he's the boss of bosses of the Sicilian mafia and countless other small crime organizations across the globe.

No normal man can attain this position, only the one who is crueler and more vicious than the devil himself can stay on top of this hierarchy. And I'm stuck with this very man, who knows for how long.

I might as well be dead meat already.

I silently watch him carry on with his task. For my survival, I mustn't let down my guard for one second.

If I'm going to be stuck in this shitshow, might as well learn to play and pave a path of getting out of it as unscathed as one can go after being tangled with the mafia.

It's time to get my game up.

I have to win this case because losing means dying and that's not a fucking option.

❈ ☯︎ ❈

Hmm... any guess whose revolver that might be?

Thank you so much for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it.

Even though I absolutely love this story (and its characters, lol) I'm kinda feeling unmotivated for it, like there are so many [good] mafia romances out there (especially on WP) and this could be one of the shittiest ones on this platform... Idk, maybe it's not worth writing and being read (since no one is technically reading it)... or maybe the pressure of university workload is finally catching up with me lol. Either way, I'm really struggling with staying positive and continuing this story :')

Regardless, comment your thoughts on this chapter. 

Stay safe, lots of love, happy reading ♡