Page 22 of Kidnapped By the Mafia

When the doors finally open, I step out into a quiet hallway. The carpet here is plush, muffling the sound of my footsteps as I walk toward the room on the left. My hand tightens around the strap of my purse, and I take a deep breath before reaching for the door handle.

This is it, I tell myself. Just one more interview, one more chance to prove that I’m worth something.

I push the door open and step inside.

And then I freeze.

Sitting behind the desk, his expression unreadable, is Lucas.

15

EMILY

My breath catches in my throat, and for a moment, I can’t move, can’t think. It’s as if time has stopped, the world narrowing down to just the two of us in this small, enclosed space.

My heart pounds so loudly in my ears that I can barely hear anything else.

He looks exactly the same as the last time I saw him—impeccably dressed, with that same calm, commanding presence that always made him seem larger than life.

But there’s something different in his eyes this time, something darker, more intense.

“Hello, Emily,” he says, his voice smooth and controlled, as if we’re meeting under perfectly normal circumstances.

I take a step back, my hand instinctively reaching for the door handle. But before I can even think about leaving, Lucas presses a button on his desk, and I hear a soft click. I glance behind me, trying to open the door, but it’s locked.

Panic surges through me, and I turn back to face him, my voice trembling. “What are you doing here? What’s going on?”

He leans back in his chair, his eyes never leaving mine. “You’re too easy to catch,” he says, a hint of anger in his tone. “This fake interview brought you here. What if it wasn’t me sitting here? What if it was a hired gun? Or worse?”

The words send a chill down my spine, and I can feel the walls closing in around me. “Lucas, please?—”

“I own this business, Emily,” he continues, cutting me off. “And I own this building. From the moment you walked through those doors, you were in my world. I’ve had my people watching your job applications, aligning a vacancy just right to bring you to me today. If I could do it, my enemies could.”

I take a shaky breath, my mind racing as I try to process what he’s saying. “Why are you doing this? What do you want from me?”

His expression darkens, and he stands up, slowly making his way around the desk until he’s standing directly in front of me. “What I want,” he says quietly, “is for you to understand that you’re only safe with me. We have to get married.”

The room feels smaller with each passing second, the walls closing in as Lucas’s words sink in. My heart pounds in my chest, my breath catching in my throat as I stare at him, trying to make sense of what’s happening.

This was supposed to be a job interview, a chance to move on with my life, but instead, I’ve walked straight into a trap.

I take a step back, my hand still clutching the door handle behind me, but it’s useless. The door is locked, and I’m trapped here with him. Panic surges through me, and I force myself to speak, though my voice is shaky. “Lucas, you can’t do this. You can’t just force me to marry you.”

He raises an eyebrow, his lips curling into a smirk that makes my skin crawl. “Can’t I? I own this business, this building, this city. Everything I see is under my control—including you.”

I feel a cold sweat break out on the back of my neck, my mind racing as I search for a way out. But there’s no escape. Lucas has thought of everything, and he’s not going to let me go without a fight.

I swallow hard, trying to keep my voice steady as I meet his gaze. “What do you want from me?”

His smirk fades, replaced by a look of steely determination. “I want you to marry me, Emily. And I’m not asking. I’m telling you.”

The sheer audacity of his demand leaves me speechless. I can’t believe this is happening—that he would go to such lengths to trap me like this. “Why?” I manage to ask. “Why are you doing this?”

Lucas steps closer, his presence overwhelming, and I can feel the heat of his body as he towers over me. “Because I can’t let you go, Emily. Not now, not ever. You tried to run, and that was understandable. But it was also foolish. You belong to me, and I’m going to make sure you never forget that.”

The fear in my chest tightens into something sharper, more desperate. “And if I refuse?”

His eyes narrow, and there’s a flash of something dark in his expression. “If you refuse, I’ll make sure everyone you care about pays the price. Your roommate, Mia? She’ll be the first to suffer. You don’t want that, do you?”

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