16 Chapter 15

January 28th, 2016.

Luke's POV.

I couldn't sleep as usual. Since I fully undertook things in the Mafia, sleep was the only thing I lacked.

It was morning already, the sun was bathing the room gradually in it's golden glow.

I missed my mother, I missed when we would sit by the window watching the sun rise in the morning and set in the evening whenever we came to Tuscany for the holidays.

I turned to the sleeping figure snuggled close to me and lightly traced her soft features. I thought back to yesterday, how she played me, how I nearly lost control during our little fight. Starting from today, I was going to give her a complete set of clothes because my plan to see her in less back fired on me. I could still picture it now, her long bare legs as she prepared breakfast in the kitchen, her round bottom as she reached for the cookie jar. Seeing her run around the house in just a shirt and panty was too much temptation for me to handle. I didn't want to do something I would forever regret.

When would I summon the courage to tell her how I really felt about her.

She stirred, opened her eyes and looked at me. A tad bit surprised I didn't wake her up to prepare breakfast.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, gently rubbing her eyes.

I shook my head.

"Are you hungry?"

I shook my head.

She opened her mouth to speak again and this time I knew what she wanted to ask but I was in no mood to answer any question pertaining to that topic, so I decided to divert her attention.

"Ophelia, I want you to teach me how to cook."

"What?" Her mouth curved upwards.

"I want to learn how to prepare something, anything. Just let me prepare something today."

"Okay."

When I released her, she got off the bed and went into the bathroom to shower, smiling at my odd request.

I dropped clothes for her as usual but this time adding a cargo short. She should have packed some of her things.

I walked out and went to the guest room to shower.

____________

I came out of the room, fully dressed to see Ophelia in the kitchen bringing down ingredients for breakfast with one hand and holding the short in the other hand to prevent it from falling.

It was a very funny sight and I laughed. I walked up to her and lifted her onto the kitchen worktop.

She caught the drift of why I was laughing and made a cute pouty face. "Wearing only the shirt was better."

I stopped laughing before she changed her mind.

"So...what are we making?" I pulled her shirt up to find the drawstring of the shorts, adjusting it till I was satisfied it wouldn't fall off her waist.

"One of the easiest meals in my book, pancakes!"

"Right. So...what do I have to do?"

"First, you sieve your flour into a bowl."

I did as she said.

"Next, you add an adequate amount of sugar."

Check.

"Then you add your eggs, milk, spices, salt, and artificial flavouring, I prefer vanilla."

Check.

"Then you add water, little quantities at a time so you don't make the batter watery, and not too thick, so it can cook quickly."

I did as she said, trying to follow her instructions word for word.

In the end, she stopped me from adding too much water when I got carried away.

I mixed the batter.

"Let me have a taste."

I gave her the spoon. When she had a taste she started laughing.

"What?"

"You added too much sugar."

I tasted it. "There's nothing wrong to me."

She shook her head, still laughing.

I set the pan.

I couldn't help the smile that crawled onto my face as I poured the first spoon of batter into the pan. I turned to see Ophelia smiling as well.

She told me how to flip and tell when it was ready.

At the end of the ordeal, I burnt more than half of the pancakes but the joy of making them on my own was able to conceal the taste of burnt food while we ate. Surprisingly, Ophelia didn't complain.

After breakfast, Ophelia went around the house collecting dirty laundry. She put the clothes in the washing machine and set the timer, when it was working she got a broom from the cleaning closet and swept the living room and the kitchen, then she went on her knees and scrubbed the tiles clean.

She was a sucker for cleaning, she hated anything dirty. Since she didn't know her mother, my mother became her mother figure and mum made sure she taught her everything she could: good manners, hygiene, cooking, most importantly cleaning and maintaining a house.

I always wondered why? Since Ophelia was born into wealth, she would have a multitude of maids and servants to work for her. So she didn't need the lessons.

When the place was sparkling clean, she went back to the washing machine to attend to the clothes, She put them in the dryer. She got a vacuum cleaner and went to work vacuuming all the other rooms in the house.

When she finished that, she got the clothes out from the dryer and ironed them.

If you're asking what I was doing while she worked, that's very simple, I played games on my PlayStation.

When she finished and was satisfied with her work, she started lunch.

For lunch, we ate chicken Milanese with spaghetti. As I ate, I silently thanked God that mum did teach her how to cook. She was an incredible cook.

After lunch, we lay sprawled out, curled around each other on the couch doing nothing. Ophelia fell asleep few minutes later, I tickled her nose and she wrinkled it like she wanted to sneeze only to return it back to its normal position. I did that for a few minutes until she woke up obviously looking around for what interrupted her sleep. I played dumb, pretending to watch TV.

This time she didn't return to her former position, instead she made herself comfortable on my body and buried her face in my neck. I felt her breathing on my neck until it deepened.

She said I couldn't keep my hands to myself, well she couldn't keep her hands to herself either.

When it clocked 8pm, I rolled Ophelia off me, careful not to wake her up. She had done a lot today and needed a cooking break, I decided to order pizza for dinner.

I woke her up so we could eat dinner.

After dinner, I urged her to go to the bedroom and get some sleep. When she was gone, I washed the dishes, activated the security systems and decided to have a shower to pass time.

I spent time in the warm shower just thinking. The engagement party date was fast approaching and I would get back to the mansion soon, was it worth it? What I was doing.

If anything went wrong, they wouldn't even throw me out. I knew I would be killed on the spot, underboss or not.

I shook out all the negative thoughts that entered my head and turned the shower off.

In the guest room, I dried off, changed my bandages and wore only a pyjama trouser since I found it very comfortable to sleep shirtless when I was worried.

I softly made my way to the bedroom, opened the door and peered inside to see Ophelia's sleeping form on one side of the bed. I tiptoed my way to the bed, careful not to make any sound that would startle or wake her up.

I climbed in and immediately caught the fragrance of body wash, which meant she had showered. I closed my eyes to sleep. I tossed and turned for God knows how long. I couldn't sleep, this time I couldn't sleep for a reason: I was worried.

I lay on my back, hands behind my head just staring into space. I was thinking of the most horrible ways Antonio would kill me when he found out I helped Ophelia run away, surely they would have discovered that she had gone AWOL.

I closed my eyes to pray. "God, I'm sorry for what I have just gotten myself into. Just give me a sign that I'm doing the right thing and I won't die because of this."

Ophelia rolled from her side of the bed and snuggled against me, putting her head on my chest, wrapping an arm around me seeking warmth.

I pulled her close and wrapped my arms around her.

"Thank you!" I told God.

In two days time I would know the outcome of my decision, if I die, then I die.

_________________

January 29th, 2016.

I was panting, beside me Ophelia rolled to the side in exhaustion, breathing hard as well.

I collapsed by her side and brushed the hair covering her face. "Come on princess, one more time."

She shook her head. "I can't, unless you want to kill me."

"Just one more round and I'll let you go."

It took a few seconds before she finally responded by nodding a yes.

I got to my feet and held a hand out to her. She took it and I pulled her up. She took a fighting stance: balled fists in front of her face ready to give the first blow or parry my first, knees apart so she could move around me or trip me.

This morning I got up very early and made my way to the gym to vent all my anger and frustration on the punching bag. After a while Ophelia walked in obviously looking for me. She watched me for a few minutes before intervening.

She walked into the ring and stood in front of me. "Hit me."

I continued punching. "No."

She sighed. "A punching bag is the only opponent who cannot predict your next move, its the only opponent who cannot hit you back. You need somebody that is unpredictable, you need to be punched, kicked. You need somebody that can handle your fury. So I'm asking you again, hit me."

And I did.

I looked at her now, knuckles bruised, tears coming out of her eyes because I had given her several injuries.

I gave the first blow, she skillfully dodged it, moved to the side and landed a nasty left hook to my face, splitting my lip. I wiped the blood away with the back of my palm.

I side stepped her. With the speed of light, I charged forward and tripped her. She rolled away quickly before I could bring my foot down and smash her ribs. She got up but I didn't give her time to recover as I went forward delivering blows to the side of her head. She parried all of them but with each blow she blocked, she became weak.

I changed tactics, alternating blows with my left and right fists. She had much difficulty here so I took the chance and packed a power punch. As she blocked her right side her left side lay unprotected, I used all the strength in my body and drove my fist forward aiming for the left side of her head.

She understood what I was about to do and quickly covered her head. "Not the face! Not the face!"

But it was too late, my arm was already in motion. I lowered my arm a little and hit her square in the ribs.

I heard sickening crunch and she fell to the ground holding her side and taking in laboured breaths, she bit her lip to keep herself from screaming.

What have I done?

I rushed to her side immediately and adjusted her position so she wouldn't put too much weight on her injured side.

I pulled up her shirt to see an angry red welt on her rib area. It would turn purple before the end of today or worse she would have internal bleeding if something wasn't done quickly.

I rushed off to get an ice pack from the kitchen. When I got back I heard Ophelia swearing softly in Italian.

I got down on my knees and put the ice pack on the wound. She hissed loudly, from the pain, the cold or both.

"I'm sorry princess, I really am."

I should have left her alone when she said she was tired but no.... I had to let the worry and frustration take over me, forcing me to beat her to pulp. I examined the wound and I was very sure she had a broken rib. I was thankful I hit her ribs and not her face or I would have disfigured her for life.

She rolled onto her back, wincing in pain as she did so. She cupped my face. "Its okay Luke, I'm not mad at you. You had to vent your anger on someone. As for the wound..." She touched her side. "...It's nothing much, maybe a bruised rib, I don't think I broke anything."

"But..." I opened my mouth to argue, she cut me off.

"I said a bruised rib." She stated sternly, reminding me that she was the one who was about to own a medical licence not me.

I closed my mouth.

"Now if you'll excuse me..." She got on her knees still holding her side. "...I'm going to take a shower."

She stood on her feet bent over holding her side.

I couldn't take it anymore. I swept her up in my arms, despite the pain in my shoulder and took her to the bedroom.

I lay her on the bed and took off her shirt.

"Fuck!" I muttered under my breath when I saw the amount of damage I had done to her body.

Her flawless skin was now covered in purple bruises where she had taken my lethal punches and kicks, her arms and legs raw from grabbing her roughly and flinging her across the room like a rag doll.

Nicholas couldn't even take a round of beating from me, Ophelia had endured three rounds.

"I'm sorry..." I whispered as I traced every discoloration on her skin.

I got up and went into the bathroom to prepare a warm bath. I carried her into the bathroom and put her down at the head of the bathtub so she could sit.

"Do you want me to help you wash?"

"No, I'll be fine." She stroked my hair. "I just need food and aspirin."

I nodded, I got up and left, turning to look at her one more time before closing the door.

I just added a new item to my worry list, now I didn't only have to worry about being caught by Antonio, I also had to worry about him finding his daughter in a broken state and thinking I tortured her.

Way to go Luke, way to go!

I got to the kitchen and brought down the ingredients I saw Ophelia bring out yesterday, flour, eggs, spices...what else? Sugar, right!

I stared at the ingredients and they stared back at me.

"First you sieve your flour into a bowl, right? Or was it to put water into the bowl first before sieving the flour?" I did both. It didn't give me the result I wanted.

I guess it must be neither.

Was it to mix the sugar and egg together then add flour or...

"Fuck this!" Whatever the right recipe was I didn't care.

I searched the cupboards until I found a box of cereal. I got it down, warmed water in the kettle and put it a jug, got a bowl, spoon, powdered milk, sugar and put everything a tray. I went into the bedroom.

I nearly dropped the tray when I saw Ophelia sitting on the bed with only a small towel wrapped around her body, barely covering her. I forgot to give her clothes.

I put the tray down on the bed careful not to look at her. I went to work immediately mixing everything until the cereal was ready.

She tried to pick up the spoon but I picked up the plate instead, since I had gotten her into this, I had taken it upon myself to feed her. So she wouldn't strain any of her injured body parts.

As I fed her she traced my split lip, now that I remembered, it did sting a little.

Then she went down to my bruised body. She did give me some pretty hard kicks and blows but between the two of us we knew who was in pain.

Halfway through the meal, she stopped eating.

"Come on princess, open up..." I tried to coax her into eating again.

"I've been watching you and you haven't eaten anything."

"I'm fine Ophelia, here." She moved her head away.

"Fine." I shoveled one spoon of cereal into my mouth. "Happy now?"

She shook her head. "Another one."

I shoveled the second spoon into my mouth. "Now?"

"No, another."

That's how we went on until she made me finish the remaining cereal in the bowl.

I gave her two aspirin pills and clothes to change into, I looked away while she did but I did hear the catch in her breath when she strained her side. I made her comfortable on the bed and placed a new ice pack on her rib. I hope the ice pack wouldn't give her a cold instead of helping her injured rib.

I left the room to shower, clean the dishes and the kitchen I messed up.

When I got back to check on Ophelia, she was sound asleep. I guess I literaly knocked her out, if you know what I'm saying.

I went to lounge on the couch in the living room lazily flipping through channels and stopped on a sports station.

I listened to the commentary on the football match I was watching, it was the repeat of a live match. I watched it anyway.

An hour later, l felt exhaustion kicking in, I gave in to sleep.

__________________

A sudden sound made me jerk awake. I lay still and listened

Clank.

There it was again, metal hitting metal. My mind immediately went into overdrive and I whipped out the gun I usually stashed under the couch.

Could it be that Antonio had put two and two and pieced together the fact that Ophelia was hiding in my house or was it just an intruder?

The sound was coming from the kitchen, which confirmed my latter statement that it must be an intruder.

3...2...1

I walked into the kitchen, cocked the gun and aimed it at the back of the head of the intruder only to see...

Ophelia?

She was standing over a boiling pot, a spoon in one hand and the other holding her side. I sniffed the air, perceived a mixture of boiling meat, spices and vegetables. I must have been so caught up in my hysteria and panic that I failed to detect the smell of cooking food.

She stared at me in shock but collected herself quickly. "Have a sit Luke, dinner will be ready in a sec."

Dinner? I checked the time and it was well past 6pm.

I took a seat. She walked up to me, took the gun from my trembling hands and gently massaged my tense shoulders, avoiding my injury.

"You're a bundled mess of emotions today, why are you so rattled up?" She asked as she eased my tense muscles.

Your father that's why.

"Its the wedding, isn't it?"

I didn't give her a reply but Ophelia was good at reading body languages, she obviously knew what was troubling me.

She left me to attend to the pots. After a while, she placed a steaming plate of Risotto in front of me. It smelt delicious but I had lost my appetite, the engagement party was taking place tomorrow.

I played with my food until dinner was over. I couldn't ingest anything. I picked up the plates and cleaned them while Ophelia locked up.

I walked past her but she pulled me back.

"Sit." She said, when she pulled out a dinning chair and placed it in the middle of the kitchen.

I did.

She circled my chair. "I want us to play a little game, Luke." She stood in front of me then straddled my lap, facing me. "Its called, 'where is Ophelia?'"

She pulled out a carving knife and placed it under my chin. A very sharp carving knife.

Was this revenge for pulling a gun on her earlier?

"Tomorrow is the engagement party and I assure you, nothing is going to run smoothly, reason being the fact that I'm going to be absent. You, my dear friend are going to be top on the list of suspects, do you know why?"

I shook my head.

"Because I have never done anything without telling you and my father knows this. So today, I'm going to teach you how to conceal the truth, hide your emotions from the eyes of my all knowing father and lie through your teeth about my whereabout. I want you to imagine you're in the torture room, I am Dante Antonio, Boss of the Empire Cartel holding a carving knife under your chin and asking, 'Where is Ophelia?'"

I closed my eyes, let the fear come in and imagined everything she told me to.

I lowered my head, no longer making eye contact. "I don't know."

She took the knife away and lifted my chin so I could look at her again. "That's where you got it wrong. By showing fear, you're telling my father that you're hiding something, that you do know where I am."

"That's because I do. You're right in front of me, sitting on my lap."

She laughed. "Seriously Luke, do not lose eye contact when talking to my father, it shows you're not intimidated or afraid and most importantly, you do not know where I am, even though you do."

I nodded.

"Now let's try it again."

She got off my lap, walked around me until she was behind me. I never expected what she would do next. She grabbed me by my hair, pulling my head back, she placed the cold knife on my throat.

"Where are you hiding my daughter?!" She barked in my ear.

I was so shocked I nearly screamed. "I-I I don't know!"

"Wrong again! Don't stutter! Not under any circumstance and don't raise your voice, raising your voice simply means you're distressed it means you know something even when you do not. That's the working principle of lie detectors and dad uses the same principle. Calm your breathing and heart rate, nothing should surprise you under any circumstance, nothing!"

She let go of my hair.

"Again! Let's do it again!"

We practiced for hours until I was finally perfect, she could stab me in the gut and I wouldn't even blink.

It took a lot of pain and hard work to finally become perfect but it was worth it.

She was sitting on my lap now, arms around my neck, the knife long forgotten.

"As the underboss, I believe they're going to accord you some respect, they won't beat you up, they won't chain or restrain you, they won't torture you. Dad will just sit you in a chair just like I've done and ask you questions but do not be deceived, you will either come out of that torture room dead or alive. If you slip up, just once, he won't hesitate to put a bullet in your head or a knife through your chest. You've got to be smart, a fast thinker, learn to observe facts and act on them."

Very helpful advise, anybody note the sarcasm?

"You'll be fine." She cupped my face in her hands and rubbed her nose against mine. "I know, you'll do just fine." She hugged me.

We stayed like that for a while.

I stood up causing her to automatically wrap her legs around me and hold my neck tighter to keep herself from falling. I carried her into the bedroom where I put her down, to sleep. I climbed in but I didn't sleep instantly, instead I meditated on what Ophelia told me, I practiced every facial expression she showed me and I repeated every single advice she gave me as my personal mantra.

_____________________

January 30th, 2016.

68...69...70...71...72...73...74

Ophelia stirred and rolled to the other side of the bed, finding it empty, she sat up, yawned and stretched. "Its the morning of my engagement party! And I'm going to missing!" She declared.

82...83...84

She rolled to the side of the bed and stroked my hair as I continued my push ups.

"Good morning, Luke!"

87...88...89

"Morning, princess."

She rolled off the bed and fell right on top of me, she made herself comfortable and wrapped her hands around my neck.

94...95...96

"This is the part where you're supposed to tell me to get off you because I'm too heavy."

She wasn't that heavy and I continued to do my pushups like no extra weight was on me.

100...101...102

"This is so much fun." She added when I didn't complain.

105...106...107

"I don't think so, princess."

109...110...110

"Being on top is so much work, just get under me and I'll show you how much fun pushups can be."

"Perv!" She got off me.

I laughed and when I looked up, I caught her smiling as well.

She made the bed and picked around the room while I continued with my morning exercise.

When she was done, she collapsed on the bed, obviously thinking about how today might turn out.

I joined her on the bed and we just stared at the ceiling.

"Can I see it?" I asked, referring to her injury.

She turned to her side, giving me access to the injured side. I pulled her shirt up until I saw the purple bruise. I noticed that all other marks had faded a little, only the bruise remained. I placed a kiss on the injured area, causing Ophelia to laugh.

"Cut it out, I'm not a kid anymore."

"What? Kissing it makes it heal faster."

"You know very well that's not true." She pulled her shirt down and rolled onto her back. "I want to freshen up, please can you get me some clean clothes."

I stood up and walked into my closet, I walked out minutes later and handed her a cargo short with an adjustable waistband, a black T-shirt and a new set of undies. She took them and dashed into the bathroom.

She came out after a while hair wet and smelling nice. "I'm going into the kitchen to fix something up, why don't you take a shower and meet me there."

I nodded.

When she left, I walked into the bathroom. There was no need to use the guest bathroom.

I walked into the kitchen, minutes later. I sat down and Ophelia dropped a plate of spaghetti Bolognese in front of me.

"Isn't this a little too heavy for breakfast?"

"Its almost noon, Luke. Besides, you have a long drive ahead of you, you'll need the extra energy."

I took the first bite and my taste buds came alive. As always, her cooking tasted divine.

After eating, I went back to the room to change into formal wear for the party. Ophelia walked in not long after. She buttoned my white dress shirt and helped me attach my cufflinks to the cuff of the shirt.

"Which would go better? Black or grey?" I held two ties in front of her.

Since I was wearing a light grey suit, I thought a grey tie would be perfect but then I would look too monochrome. I picked the black one since it would go with my shoes and belt, now I was confused.

She placed a hand on her chin. "Neither."

"What? Do you have a better idea?"

"Just give me a second." She walked to my large drawer where I kept my ties.

I was waiting for what she would give to me because I didn't want to wear a blue or red or purple or green or orange or...

"Here." She held a tie in front of me "This would suit you better."

What the hell?

"Pink? A pink tie? Seriously?"

She looked at it. "It's not exactly pink, its more like peach moving to pink."

What's the difference?

"I'm not wearing a pink tie, I'll be the laughing stock of the whole event."

"Then why did you buy it if you weren't going to wear it in the first place?"

"That's because you bought it, remember? As my birthday gift."

And that's the reason I brought it here, so I'd never see the ugly thing again!

"Come on Luke, it'll look good on you, I promise."

I shook my head from side to side, furiously.

She looked down, made a sad face and turned around. Was that a tear that slid down her cheek? She started sniffling. Was she crying?

"Awww, come on princess." I turned her around. "Don't cry, please."

She didn't stop. Even when I enveloped her in my arms, it didn't stop the flood gates from flowing.

I'm going to regret this. "Fine. I'll wear the stupid tie."

She raised her tear stained face to look at me. "You will?"

"Yes, I'll wear it."

She squealed in my arms, wiped her tears away and fixed the tie for me.

I could never bear to see her cry. If she wanted snow from the peaks of Mount Everest all she had to do was cry and I'd hike my way to the top to get it for her.

She helped me into my suit jacket and buttoned it up.

I closed my eyes as she led me to the mirror, its better not to see what I looked like, at least I could walk around without worrying.

"Sei come un bambino, just open your eyes."

I opened my left eye slowly, then my right.

I looked good in the grey suit, it helped bring out the colour of my eyes. My sunshine blond hair was styled to the side and the tie...the tie didn't look as bad as I thought it would, it actually looked really good especially when paired with the matching hanky that came with it.

"With what's going to happen I don't think anyone is going to notice you're wearing a pink tie."

So you agree it's pink.

"Come on, its past one now, you'll have to hurry or else you're going to miss the party." She led me out of the bedroom.

I wish I could just stay here. I sighed deeply.

When we got to the kitchen she handed me a small plastic box.

I raised an eyebrow, silently asking her what it was for?

"I packed you lunch, a couple of sandwiches, a large juice pack and some cookies. You have a long drive ahead of you and I don't want you to take a detour and waste time because you're hungry."

My nerves were on the edge.

She cupped my face. "You'll do just fine. For my sake and for yours, please don't screw this up Luke." She pleaded.

"I won't, princess."

She hugged me tightly and I hugged her back. I squeezed her hard, because you'll never know, today might be the last day I get to hold her in my arms.

She walked behind me as I went to the garage.

"Now remember, princess, the panic room is underground and there's an exit in case of an emergency, you know where the armoury is in case you need anything and remember to lock up. Call me if you need anything and I'll call you whenever I can. I don't know how long I'm going to stay at the mansion, that's if I live through this night to stay at the mansion but I believe its going to be a long time."

I got into the car. "Take care."

She leaned in and kissed me softly on the cheek. "You take care."

As she pulled away I held her face. I tried memorizing what I could as I traced the outline of her face with my thumb.

I kissed her cheek. "I will."

I closed the door and started the car.

I caught her reflection from the rear view mirror as she stood and watched me drive away.

I suddenly felt sad, I missed her already.

I turned the stereo on, it was time to take the bull by the horns.

_________________

By the time I got to the mansion, it was way way past six pm. Normally, it would take me four hours to drive from my country side home in Tuscany, to the mansion but I took all the roads with traffic to see if I could stall my attendance to the event which added two more hours to the normal time. Just like Ophelia predicted, I did get hungry but now my stomach was doing flips, I began to regret eating on the way here.

Pull yourself together!

I packed in front and threw my keys to one of the mob members standing guard so he could pack the car properly.

The party had already began inside and I knew I was three hours late.

Lord, please let no one notice me.

I climbed up the stairs and mob members greeted me. I just nodded in response.

When I got inside I was greeted by Alex and Victor.

"Thank God you're here!" Alex said.

"Yeah but where's Ophelia, isn't she supposed to come with you?" Victor added.

"What?" I started, turning around to face him.

"We know she's with you." Alex replied.

You do? My eyes shone in surprise. 'Nothing should surprise you under any circumstance, nothing!' Ophelia's warning rang in my head.

I collected myself quickly before any of them could notice.

"What are you talking about?" I looked at both of them.

They looked surprised at my answer. "You mean she's not with you?" Alex asked.

"Err...no or doesn't she live here anymore?'

"I think you should come see the boss." They started walking.

In the large hall, reporters, friends, family, mob members, from both the Sanctuary and Empire cartel were chatting and drinking away. No one seemed to be aware of what was happening. The twins led me to the lounge area where Antonio, Baddo, Daniel, Vincent: Baddo's underboss were all sitting. There, you could feel the tension in the air.

As I approached, they all looked up. Daniel stormed towards me and grabbed me by my collar. "Where is she? Where are you hiding her?!"

"Get off of me you piece of shit." I released his hold on me and pushed him away. "What the hell are you talking about?" I played dumb.

"Control your son, Baddo." Antonio warned, then he turned to me and smiled. "Good evening Luke, I'm so glad you could join us. Now if you would be so kind as to tell us where my daughter is, I think we will be able to resolve this conflict."

I kept my face just the way Ophelia taught me, so I would look confused. "I'm sorry boss, I don't think I know what you're talking about. I don't know what is going on. Can someone explain to me what is going on?" I turned around, looking at everyone.

Our conversation was attracting attention.

Antonio was shocked but regained his composure. "Ophelia has been missing for the past three days. I was thinking she left with you or at least you know where she went to." He spoke with an expressionless face.

I shook my head. "I have no idea boss, since I went on my leave I haven't contacted anybody, no one was contacted me either."

"Enough of this! Antonio, you said your daughter was with your underboss, now the young man is here with no idea whatsoever as to her whereabouts." He brought out a gun and aimed it Antonio's head. "I'm asking you again, where is your daughter? I am not a patient man, Antonio."

I acted quickly and stood in front of the boss, shielding him from any possible bullet. I pulled out my gun and pointed it at Daniel.

Victor pulled out a gun and pointed it at Baddo.

In the next second, guns were out, the sound of cocking and clicking off of safety catches were the only sounds that filled the room. Non mob members screamed, especially the women.

It was the Sanctuary vs the Empire. Everywhere guns were being pointed and if one person were to pull the trigger, this place would become a blood bath. The question now was who would pull the trigger.

If we all died today at least Antonio and his daughter would be safe, it was a sacrifice I was willing to take.

"Put your weapon down Luke, all of you put your weapons down this instant!" Antonio directed his statement to every member of the Empire.

"No one puts any weapon down until James Baddo and his men surrender." I said.

I shouldn't have but I did. Undermining the boss's order was a stupid thing to do but putting our weapons down was an even more stupid thing to do. And I was so happy the boys listened to me, even if it was the wrong thing to do.

We held guns to each other for a few more minutes, nobody blinking.

Baddo reluctantly told his men to lower their weapons. They did and he was the last to holster his gun.

Empire mob members took their guns away one by one until I was the only one remaining with a gun to Daniel's head.

I signalled Alex to cover the boss. As soon as he stood behind me I stalked Daniel like a predator would stalk its prey.

'You've got to be smart, a fast thinker, learn to observe facts and act on them.' I remembered Ophelia's words.

For every one step I took forward, Daniel took one back in fear.

"Antonio!" Baddo barked, a clear warning they should restrain me.

"We should be asking you where Ophelia is, shouldn't we Daniel?"

His eyes widened in fear.

"Luke! Stop this nonsense at once!" Antonio warned.

"After all you've been stalking her for the past few days. How do we know you haven't kidnapped her?" I continued.

"Stalking? Stalking my daughter?!" Antonio asked Baddo.

Baddo pulled Daniel away from me and started walking out. His men followed him.

"Nice antics Antonio, very well played but I'm giving you only one week to search for your daughter. She may have missed the engagement party but make sure she doesn't miss the wedding because she became mine the moment you agreed to my terms. The wedding is just to make things formal or we would have dragged her away the day you replied that letter. One week Antonio, I'm giving you one week!" He walked out, a lethal threat in his every word.

"Nicholas, please kindly escort the guests out of the premises, the rest of you, meeting now!" He walked away, his hands behind his back.

I walked behind him and entered the large conference room where we usually used when the whole family was needed.

I sat down at my normal position and waited for every other mob member to take their seats. Only one chair was empty, and it belonged to Ophelia.

When everyone was seated and quiet, Antonio spoke. "I want to thank everyone for the courage they exhibited today, even though some of you disobeyed my orders." He directed the last statement at me.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

"but, we have a major situation on our hands. Does anyone one know where my daughter is?!"

Everybody started murmuring at once but it was clear what they were all saying. "No idea, boss."

When the place calmed down, he looked at me again. "I'm asking you one more time Luke, where is Ophelia?"

I sighed deeply, looked him straight in the eyes and lied through my teeth. "I don't know."

"I gave you a chance to tell me, Luke."

He turned to Raymond. "Tell Xander and the rest to bring the surveillance tapes, starting from the day Luke left this house. I need everything, tapes from bathrooms, I mean everything!"

"Yes boss." Raymond got up to leave.

Surveillance tapes? I swallowed. How did I forget about the surveillance tapes!