Page 27 of Ruthless Mafia Heir

Her eyebrows shoot up. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You need to drop that attitude, Sophia," I warn her. "Or it’s going to get you into more trouble than you can handle."

She recoils from me slightly, her breath hitching in her throat.

"I’m not going to be staying here," she argues with me. "I have a life. A job. Studies. People are going to notice if I suddenly vanish from all that—"

"So you’re not," I reply calmly. "I’m going to get my men to drive you back and forth to everywhere you need to be. Afterward, you’ll come straight back here, where I can keep an eye on you."

She barks out a laugh, though there’s no mirth in it.

"You’re kidding me, right?" she exclaims, like she can hardly believe it. "I’m not going to do that. You can’t keep me fucking prisoner here—"

"You want to bet?" I snarl at her, and I jab my finger back down the hall toward the porter who let us in. "You saw how he reacted. You really think anyone would care if something happened to you here? Nobody would. Nobody gives a fuck. I could have shot you dead right in front of him, and he wouldn’t have done a thing about it."

She starts at those words. I can’t blame her. They’re brutal, but I need her to know that she can’t get away with what she’s done.

"So, unless you want me to test that theory," I continue, steadying my voice slightly, "then I suggest you play by my rules. You’ve shown me you can’t be trusted. Prove to me you can, and we’re not going to have a problem, are we?"

"You’re crazy."

Her words, like her, are defiant till the end, but her tone is defeated. She knows I’m not going to let her walk out of here. I smirk.

"True as that may be," I concede, "I have my methods. And I’m not going to let you screw them up. Now, how about one of the maids shows you to your new room?"

"What about my stuff, I need my—"

"I’ll send someone to your dorm room to fetch everything you need."

She frowns. "I don’t like the idea of some random person going through my stuff."

"Neither did I," I point out. "But that didn’t stop you from taking my pin, did it?"

She lowers her gaze. She doesn’t have a comeback for that. Good. I’m finally starting to get through to her.

"Glad to see we’re on the same page," I remark, and I gesture for her to leave my father’s office. I’m almost not used to it without the smell of cigar smoke in it, even after all this time.

She leaves. It might have taken me too long, but I’m going to get this girl to prove herself to me, one way or another.

And if that means that I have to spend a little more time up close and personal with her? So be it.

Chapter Seventeen—Sophia

I crack open the door just an inch and peer up and down the corridor. It’s empty—finally. Now I can try and make a break for it and get out of this bullshit nightmare before it gets any crazier than it already has.

Three days. Three days I’ve been locked up in this house, only let out on a strict schedule based around my classes and my shifts at the restaurant. Nothing social, nothing fun, nothing that he doesn’t explicitly allow.

I can’t believe I agreed to this. But then, what choice did I have? I don’t know how else I’m meant to handle this nightmare. He drove me out here, practically kidnapped me from work, and made it damn clear that he wasn’t going to let me walk out of there until he got what he wanted.

And this is what I get. I started fucking around in the business of a man who is involved in something so dark. I have only myself to blame. When he hinted at the stuff he and his family did, I should have just backed the fuck off and left it there, and that would have been the end of it. I could have unstuck myself from his life, walked away, vanished, and made sure he never had reason to pay attention to me again. But no, I had to stick by my stupid fucking morals and try to find out more. Now look at the mess I’ve gotten into.

This mansion, of course, is a million times better appointed than anywhere I’ve lived in my life. The room I’m staying in is enormous, with views of the sprawling garden beyond. It would have been beautiful if I wasn’t trapped here. The double bed that sits next to the window catches the light first thing in the morning, and when I come to, for a moment, I have to remind myself that I’m not in some fancy hotel but rather being held prisoner by a man who wants me to prove myself to him.

Nobody has even noticed there’s anything wrong. A lot of the students at the university live off campus, and more than a few of them have drivers who whisk them from place to place. I don’t look out of place at all, just another one of the rich kids. But, of course, none of them know the truth.

Or maybe they do. With the Silencio society shit, perhaps Blake has gotten them to keep an eye out for me and make sure I’m not sneaking around where I shouldn’t be. Whatever. I’m not going to let it keep happening, not for another second. I’m done.

I’ve been tracking the comings and goings of the staff every day, taking notes in one of my history textbooks of the timing so I can be certain when the place is going to be clear. It feels as though there is always someone stalking around out there, but I have about a ten-minute window to make a break for it before someone comes up to bring me lunch.

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