by Fariah Zaidi
“Only when I have a hot-headed Mafia Boss in my room.” I answer, folding my arms across my chest.
“I only heard hot.” he mirrored my expression, raising his arms to prop them behind his head and he spread out even more comfortably on my bed.
My throat went dry when I saw the way his shirt tightened around his muscles and how the movement caused his unbuttoned shirt to shift open, revealing his abs and chest. Once again my imagination began to wander towards inappropriate or even downright explicit.
Where were all these thoughts coming from? Maybe I’m nearing my period.
Stefan’s smirk widened when he saw me gulp. Damn him, he was doing it on purpose.
I didn’t have a comeback. So I opted for immaturity. I stuck my tongue out, stomped my foot and walked out the room.
His loud, boisterous laugh echoed in the room and I slammed the door shut behind me.
It was a couple days later and I was wandering aimlessly around the house.
It was a boring day.
Stefan and the guys had gone to check out one of Valentin’s brothels after some information they received from Enzo’s informant. Mama Bella was out grocery shopping and Ria is down with cramps.
I had nothing to do. I didn’t even have my phone so I could scroll through social media.
Deciding to explore the house for a little, I made my down the hallway, walking past bedrooms and another office. I turned right at the end and came face to face with a door that was firmly shut, which was unusual since all other rooms had been left open.
My first instinct was to turn around and leave. But the curiosity in my brain urged me to open it and see what lay inside.
After a few moments of battling my two options, I went with my instinct towards the latter.
Reaching for the golden knob, I pushed it open. It gave away with a creek, opening into a large room.
The drapes had been pulled apart, paving way for the afternoon sun to pour through, flooding the room with light.
The walls were a gorgeous shade of maroon. A single easel stood by the window, a blank canvas mounted on top of it. And paintings covered the walls. I moved towards them, my eyes widening when I saw the sign of the artist below. Moving from painting after painting, I saw that they had all been signed by the same person- Stefan Esposito.
“Wow.” I whispered. Each canvas had been painted on in dark hues, but the beauty of them took my breath away.
Beside the easel was a large desk. Bottles and tubes of paint, a whole stack of brushes were scattered across it in a haphazard manner, which was so unlike Stefan.
However, it was the three framed photographs on the desk that caught my eye. I reached forward, picking the first one. A beautiful woman with long dark hair was looking at the camera and on her back was a boy, who looked roughly about four years old.
It didn’t take me long to realize that the boy was Stefan and the woman was his mother Valerie. Their facial features were similar with those angular noses and high cheekbones.
However, their smiles were what actually softened my heart. They were bright and happy and their eyes were squinted as they looked at the camera.
I put down the frame and picked the next one. It was a selfie and looked like it had been taken very recently. Ria had clicked it and in the background stood Mama Bella, Rafael and Vincent followed by Enzo and Stefan. While the first four were happily grinning at the camera, the last two men looked like they’d been forced into something abominable.
And then I finally picked up the last frame. This one looked like it had been clicked by a professional photographer. Valerie sat on a chair and Stefan was in her lap, dressed in a little black suit. And behind them stood a man I could only assume was Stefan’s father, Alessandro. He was a huge, scary looking man with bushy eyebrows and sharp features.
As I was about to put it back down, the door suddenly slammed loudly, its force echoing in the room.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing here?”
I jumped and spun around, only to come face to face with Stefan.
Hoping to see the same smirk plastered on his face, I was instead left shocked when he didn’t look anything like when he left in the morning.
In place of the smirk was an angry scowl. The grey suit he wore this morning was wrinkled and covered in blood.
And he looked furious.
I realized I shouldn’t have come in here after all.
“Stefan.” I tried to speak, panic rising in my voice, “I-I was jus-just-”
“Leave.” he glowered.
I paused.
“I said. Fucking. Leave.” he hissed, his disheveled appearance making me all the more terrified.
“GET THE FUCK OUT!” he yelled.
Startled out of my wits, I scrambled towards the door.
The door slammed behind me, leaving me out in the hallway in deathly silence, alone.
What just happened?
Chapter 18 (Part I): Feel
Stefan
I watched her sleep.
God, I was turning into one those idiots from romance movies. I just couldn’t help but admire how beautiful this woman was. Her long, dark hair was spread out behind her on the pillow and she was snuggled up against my body.
Zara. She is my mother’s best friend’s daughter. In fact, both women had already decided they’d get us married when we grew up. They had a lot of fun teasing me about it.
And looking at Zara always reminded me of promise I’d made to my mother.
“Always protect her, honey.” she had said, cradling baby Zara in her arms, “Always be her savior.”
And I had done my best to keep her safe, to protect her from any harm.
Until that one horrific night.
●●●
“What the fuck happened?” I yelled at my men as we exited the plane and walked to the car waiting for us.
“Diego’s men attacked the house.” Rafael answered, working on his iPad.
“Why wasn’t anyone covering the house?” I asked.
“Sam and Harrison were.” Enzo replied, “They were the ones who called me.”
“And how are we so sure these men were sent by Diego?” I asked.
“The street cam outside the house shows them pull up. They are wearing those fucking striped masks, the ones all Romanos wear.” Rafael explains from the front, “The living room footage should be here in a few seconds.” he says, his voice as tense as the situation.
I have no idea what I would do if something happens to her. I had promised my mother I would always protect her. Panic was slowly seeping into my skin as various scenarios ran in my head of what those fuckers could do to her.
“Fucking go faster, Vincent.” I yelled in frustration.
“Fuck.” Rafael swore.
“What? What is it?” I leaned forward, the dread now heavily settling in my stomach.
Wordlessly, Rafael handed me the iPad and the blurry video from the live CCTV camera came alive on the screen.
There she was.
Zara.
Crying and sobbing. Her body was barely covered. Like someone had torn off her clothes.
I watched in horror and despair as she crawled forward on all fours, stumbling a couple of times as she made her way towards two bodies lying on the ground.
My throat closed up as she reached forward and shook them. My fingers clenched tightly when she broke down upon receiving no response. In her bloodied state, she put their heads in her lap, her body shaking as she cried hard.
And soon, her sobs decreased, her hiccups died down and I realized she had passed out.
It took us twenty more minutes to reach her house. Fucking New York traffic and fucking New York winter.
By the time we pulled onto the street, an ambulance was already parked at the curb along with three police cars. We reached just in time to see the paramedics wheeling away Zara on a stretcher.
“Follow them.” I commanded, as Vincent pulled onto the road ag
ain and tailed the ambulance.
“Is she awake yet?” I asked the doctor as she exited from the room they’d taken Zara into.
“Not yet, Mr. Esposito.” she said sympathetically, “She’s on heavy pain medication. But her trauma isn’t as much physical as it is mental.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, my eyes trained on Zara’s still body through the window.
“Mr. Esposito.” she said gravely, “Not only did she see her parents get murdered before her eyes, she was also sexually assaulted. Separately, either of these events is extremely traumatic. And here, she suffered both at the same time.”
My fingers clenched tightly in a fist again, wishing I could turn back time just so I could save her.
“When she wakes up, her condition will be very delicate. She might have nightmares, paranoia and hysteria.” the doctor continued, “She needs to be handled sensitively, with a lot of care. There are some serious bruises on her body, so we will keep her for observation and some extra tests and then she will be released after a few days. Now I need you to--”
A loud scream erupted from the room.
We both turned around to see Zara struggling with the tubes and bandages that had been applied to her, rapidly scratching her arms and sobbing hysterically.
Despite the doctor trying to hold me back, I barged in. She was thrashing wildly, screaming something incoherent.
Not knowing what to do, I wrapped my arms around her.
I don’t know why I did that. No fucking idea. I just felt so damn helpless. The pain and agony in her voice tore through me.
“Hush now.” I whispered in her ear, my own voice shaking with emotion.
To my surprise, she stopped thrashing and screaming. I kept on shushing her quietly and rocking her back and forth. Her shoulders drooped, and slowly her breathing went back to normal.
I pulled away and cupped her face in my hand.
“S-save me.” she whispered, face wet with tears and eyes full of anguish.
She was pleading me to save her. It felt like someone was slowly ripping my heart out.
The next second, she passed out.
Bruises marked her beautiful face. There was a cut on her eyebrow, a deep bluish mark on her right cheekbone; there was one below her lips too.
If only I could get my hands on those motherfuckers. It was frustrating that they were all wearing masks.
A whole uproar of emotions was brewing inside me- anger, hatred, rage and guilt, regret, sorrow.
The devil on my shoulder taunted me again- for my failure.
Another promise broken.
Another person broken.
Another woman broken.
Both were my responsibility.
Zara yawned a little in her sleep and shifted, moving closer to me and snuggling into my chest. The contented sigh that left her lips did something weird to my heart.
There it goes again, with the strange fluttering.
Feeling this was altogether a foreign emotion for me. And with Zara lying next to me, a shit load of feelings were starting to surface.
My alarm began blaring suddenly making me scramble to get my phone from the nightstand. I hesitantly turned around, afraid I might have woken her up. And sure enough, she was blinking her eyes lightly, as she turned her face to look at me.
“Do you have somewhere to be?” she asked, clutching the front of my shirt.
She was going to make it harder to leave. Lying next to me in her half naked night clothes, the feeling of those bare legs softly pressed against mine and her fingers playing with the collar of my shirt.
God, morning wood never felt so painful.
Torturing myself further, I leaned my head into her neck, breathing in her sweet, sweet scent.
“I have to go to one of Valentin’s brothels today, check some things out.” I answered her question, pulling away before I completely lose my mind and decide to lie here the entire day.
“Come back soon.” she smiled lightly, although she was drifting off again.
“I will.” I kissed her on the forehead.
With that, I left her bedroom and went straight to mine. Taking a quick shower, I dressed in a fresh suit and got ready for the day.
And all this while, my mind was filled with her thoughts. I was fearless, but the feelings she gave me scared me till no end. I tried to stay away from her, trying to convince myself that she was better off without a monster like me in her life.
But I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.
Every decision that I took in my life, I did it from my mind. But with her, my heart always seems to get in the way. From the moment she stepped back into my life, in this house, it all feels different. A good different.
Was this good? The power she had on me? The way she could get me to do anything with that firecracker attitude of hers? Nobody in my entire life had the courage to talk to me in a raised voice. They wouldn’t even dare to question me.
Here she was, yelling at me. And I let her. I didn’t do anything, I didn’t say anything. I stood there while she called me names. I didn’t let it show, but I was highly amused in that moment.
What the fuck was wrong with me?
As I finished getting ready, I realized I left my phone on Zara’s nightstand. Shaking my head, I went back to her room again. I willed myself not to look at her, because if I did, I would climb in next to her and stay there all day.
As I bent down to pick up my phone, her sweet voice drifted to my ears, “Maroon looks good on you, Stefan.”
The sudden compliment, for I don’t know what reason, made my face grow warm. I turned around before she could see the heat rising in my cheeks.
“Now stop blushing and go to work.” came her teasing voice.
“I was not blushing.” I mocked her tone, turning around to face her.
And that was a big mistake.
She was facing me, a sly grin on her face. Even with her clothes all disheveled and her hair all over the place, she looked beautiful. And I couldn’t help but lean forward and press my lips to her forehead.
The small sigh that left her lips almost compelled me to climb right back in with her. Stroking her cheek one last time, I mumbled a quick goodbye and turned around to leave.
I headed inside Valentin’s club alone. The rest of my men scattered towards the back to take up their positions.
Even in the afternoon, it was filled to the brim with people, majority of them men. Scantily clad women moved around, some stripping up on the stage at the front, some being forced to sit in the laps of men old enough to be their fathers or grandfathers.
The person of interest here is Leo Rodriguez, a big-time drug dealer. He is famous for delivering the best quality product from Colombia. The only problem here is that six months ago, he became extremely close with Valentin and now deals solely with him, and there is even news of the two of them working together on new, powerful drugs.