Page 48 of Ruthless Mafia Daddy

“Isn’t that why you hired me?” He shot back, and I couldn’t stop my eyes from rolling back. One day, I was going to put a bullet through his head, I swear it.

“So, what’s it gonna be? You’re taking them?”

I shrugged, yawning for the hundredth time, “I’ll look them up, then I’ll decide, and for the date, I’ll have to discuss it with Arielle before I can fix one.”

“Ah, yes! Arielle. I never thought I’d see the day you’d be so smitten by a woman. Whatever happened to romance being unnecessary and love being a nuisance?” He taunted, and I didn’t bother to dignify his madness with a response.

“I do fancy the thing you did with the knife during dinner. Do you know Ivan’s palm still has a hole in it? I think it might be permanent. Remind me to use the tech—”

I did not allow him to finish spewing his rubbish before I interrupted. “If you’re quite finished with your business here, the door is to your right.”

He shook his head in disappointment but still got off the chair. “Tsk, tsk, relax, I’m just saying I’m a fan of the new you. No need to get your knickers in a twist.”

I watched as he sauntered out of my office with no care in the world, picking up the envelope to go over the proposal again. I ran a few background checks on the company and decided I was taking it. It was a great deal and exactly what I needed after spending weeks chasing after a stupid hydra-claiming nuthead.

CHAPTER 20

Arielle

I jumped past the pothole in front of me, feeling my chest expand and contract as I drew in shallow, controlled breaths. The force of the solid ground pushing back at me every time my feet struck the floor had my ankles hurting. My lungs burned increasingly, and I could feel the fatigue building in my muscles. A glance at my smart watch revealed I still had about a kilometer before I could think of stopping.

When I was told I needed to pick a daily activity to keep me fit while I continued my self-defense training, running seemed like the best option. It provided me with a good reason to leave the bed at the crack of dawn, escaping the pillow talk that always came in the morning while giving me time to clear my head and get in character for my day.

A bonus point was Mikhail being gone to work by the time I returned, but now, I found myself loving the activity. The feeling of the wind against my skin and my hair flowing behind me as I ran constituted an odd feeling of freedom, a feeling I hadn’t felt in a long time since I moved in with Mikhail. Slowly, running went from being an excuse to an outlet. Even the burning in my chest and the ache in my joints began to feel like a well-earned trophy.

The buzzing sound of my phone dragged me out of my head, halting my steps in the process. I pulled out my phone to find Mikhail’s name flashing on the screen.

“Morning Princess.” His velvety voice poured from the speaker, sending a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold morning down my spine.

“Hey, good morning. How’s your day going?” My voice came out in shallow pants as I rested my body against a giant oak tree by the side of the track.

“Going fine. We’re coming to close on the deal, and I should be back in two days. Isn’t it a bit too early for your run?” he queried.

“Couldn’t sleep,”

“You should’ve called,” his tone was firm and clipped.

“You had a long negotiation meeting the whole day, and I didn’t want to disturb you with something as little as insomnia.” I took a long sip from my water bottle, welcoming the feeling of the cool water on my parched throat and circulating through my body.

“I’d take your call in the middle of a war, princess,” he said, and I had not a single doubt in me that he would do that. “I wanted to check in on you before continuing my day.”

The statement had my eyes rolling. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have someone watching and reporting my every movement to him at this very moment.

“I’m fine. Have a wonderful day,” I replied, and the line went dead after goodbyes were exchanged.

Too exhausted to move, I leaned back into the tree, the unwelcome feelings associated with the events of the past days slowly replaying in my head. When Mikhail told me he was going on a business trip, I was both relieved and happy to hear about it. What I didn’t see coming was the effect his absence had on me.

It’s been three days, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I was beginning to miss him. The house felt cold and empty without his presence, and in a funny twist of events, I suddenly became unable to get a proper night’s sleep without him and had resorted to calling him every night to talk me to sleep. It didn’t do a lot, but it helped.

Regardless, I would still consider his absence a blessing. I had more alone time to think without his presence clouding my senses and didn’t need to tip-toe around the house to make a call or have discussions with Vivian. Overall, his absence was both a blessing and a curse.

Communication with Father also got better. When Mikhail told me he had taken care of the threat, I went cold with fear, thinking he had somehow closed in on us. But Father told me it was he who planted a culprit to relax Mikhail, throwing him off our scent and giving me a better environment to conduct my affairs. Against my better judgment, I found a pang of guilt tugging at my chest as I watched Mikhail celebrate the demise of a fake threat, not knowing the only threat slept next to him.

Glancing at my watch, I decided to cut my running at the spot. I’d just spend extra time in the boxing ring to make up.I returned to the house and prepared for work, hating how colorless and boring my life seemed when I wasn’t working on a target or tailing someone.

*****

The sun had just begun its descent, casting a golden hue over the city as I made my way out of the office building, settling into the passenger seat of Mikhail’s G-wagon. Today, I practically forced Mr. Vanderbilt to give me actual work to do. He was hesitant at first, but when he figured I wasn’t going to leave until he gave me something, he caved and asked me to shadow his COO for the day.

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