21 'Indebted' to the Mafia Boss

Leona knew there was a big possibility that the mafia boss, who liked to bully her, would make her suffer even more in his territory. He already treated her as a maid. What did he have in mind this time?

“What sort of deal?” Leona swallowed. She could never be too cautious in dealing with the devil.

Smirking at the unusually meek writer, Ignatius found her incredibly cute. It was difficult to resist pinching her cheeks even if she lost some weight there.

“Give me all the royalties you’ll earn from Wang Novels,” he declared boldly in an almost bored tone. He wasn’t very interested in her money but it would be scarier for him to do charity right off the bat.

Leona’s reaction did not disappoint. The first time she heard it, she blinked in confusion. However, after the news sank into her head, Leona glared at her kidnapper. He was already filthy rich, why did he have to take what little money she had left?

The ginger head remembered the hospital debts her mother left, the debts owing loan sharks and rent for her run-down apartment. She needed her royalties to repay them!

“Sir, please have mercy!” Leona begged, almost close to hysterics. She could tolerate any sort of bullying but she would be in serious financial trouble if he did this! “I still have debts to repay!”

After getting to know this interesting bunny-like woman, Ignatius thought that her fiery spirit would never break. He had no idea that the mere thought of taking away her livelihood would bring her close to tears. If he continued keeping her in suspense, she might suffer a panic attack and fall sick again.

“Your debts have been fully paid off,” Ignatius stated coolly and bent down to lift her gaze towards him smoothly. “You now owe me.”

In a normal situation, she would be overjoyed that her debts were fully repaid. However, it was impossible to celebrate it in this crazy predicament. While she was thankful for the assistance, Leona was more concerned about becoming indebted to a more dangerous person.

With a bank balance of several digits larger than hers, why wouldn’t Ignatius help his favorite author with her long time burden? At first, he did not intend to become involved in gingeromance628’s personal life. However, fate was naughty. The unintentional discovery of her identity and her brother’s involvement with his business made Ignatius feel responsible for her.

After paying off Leona’s debts, Ignatius did not stop there. He wanted to ensure that his favorite author would live a worry-free life and focus on writing what she loved so he took care of the loan sharks. They would never be able to harass her ever again.

Weighing her choices, Leona decided that it would be worth a shot to convince this thug to let her keep some of her money. What if he did not pay her debts and was merely fooling her? Besides, she couldn’t survive without any money to buy food and pay for her rent! Thinking hard, the writer finally found a solution that might work.

“How can I withdraw my earnings if you won’t let me leave?” Leona asked.

Ignatius raised his brow. Is the writer still plotting an escape? How cute.

“I won’t fall for that scheme of yours,” he told her. It was obvious why Leona wanted a way out of his hideout. Her mind was as complicated as the interesting stories gingeromance628 produced.

Not giving up, Leona persisted. It was too good an opportunity to pass up!

“How else am I supposed to pay you?”

Without missing a beat, Ignatius smirked. “My men will update Wang Novels to change your bank details. I obtained all your IDs to make it ‘legal’.”

Leona's eyes widened in shock. With everything exposed, she felt like a stinky frog getting dissected in Biology class! This had to be illegal! Then again, this man was a real criminal. She knew it wouldn’t be this simple to find a way out. However, she had to try.

“Sir, you're not giving me any options to work with.”

“...”

Ignatius frowned. Although it was normal for a captive to want to escape, Ignatius was reluctant to let her go for personal reasons. Leona was gingeromance628 and it wasn’t every day that he had such a good opportunity to get to know his favorite author better. Gun_Lord1031 felt like he was pinched. As an avid fan, Ignatius was torn between doing what was good for her and doing what was right for her.

The mafia boss sighed. Since he played the villain at the start, he should play it until the end. Only the result justified the means and if it could make her stay with him, Ignatius would embrace all her hate.

“The moment your brother became involved in my business, you lost your right to decide. Your life is in my hands, whether you like it or not.”

Unfortunately for Leona, it was true. She would not be here if not for her dumb brother. Yet, no matter how hateful he was, he was the only family she had. Leona could not simply abandon him! She promised her mother to take care of that idiot before she passed away.

Ignatius noticed the fifteen-second silence between them. Although he had an image to keep up in front of the intelligent woman, Ignatius felt horrible playing the part of a villain. Hence, he thought about an excuse to leave quickly.

“I suggest you begin at once instead of gawking at me. If you are late for repayments, I will increase the interest rate you owe me.”

Ignatius left the room quickly, leaving Leona alone to gawk at the turn of events. Without anyone to bother her, Leona dashed towards her cushioned seat. She traced her fingers over the laptop with mixed feelings. Although she was happy to be reunited with her old pal, the new task annoyed her. Ignatius wanted to make her write thousands and thousands of words, but take Leona’s earnings. Did he think words were like magic? If an ‘abracadabra’ could create a chapter, Leona would be a millionaire by now! No matter how much Leona enjoyed writing, this was subtle torture for her. She was a writer, not a printer!

Despite the joy she felt and the nostalgia of waiting an eternity for her laptop to start, Leona wanted to buy a new work partner with higher specs. Sadly, her budget would not let her. Her trusty worn-out old laptop still guarded all her precious drafts so it would be a little longer before Leona could finally make the switch. However, thanks to the latest kidnapping, the writer realized how important it was to update her files to the cloud, in case of an emergency. Before this, she procrastinated doing so as it was troublesome. However, Leona changed her mind now. If she ever got kidnapped again or her laptop was shot, at least her drafts would remain safe in the cloud.

The ginger head massaged her temples. Although the debts were repaid by Ignatius, she still owed him an impossible amount with an unknown interest rate. It was better to start working as soon as possible. If she paid the kidnapper fast enough, maybe he would let Leonard and her off.