CHAPTER 12

We were caged in an uncomfortable silence, staring at each other, waiting for someone to say something. I just tapped on my cutlery awkwardly, not knowing where to look or what to do right now.

It surprised me how terrified everyone in this restaurant was of the devil, he had the waiters running in fear at his every need, I supposed they knew that if you disrespected the kingpin of the Italian Mafia, you were going to die.

Atlas had ordered an elegant bottle of red wine and I had demanded in a slightly less elegant manner a glass of coke and rum.

I brought my eyes up to look at him, his gaze was fixed in an unbreakable scene of concentration on the menu in front of him. Jeez, if this was the amount of attention, he paid to choosing what to order off a menu, it would absolutely pain me to see the amount of time he gave to planning heists and murders for his mafia.

“Do you know what you’re getting?” he mumbled at me, refusing to even take his eyes off the piece of paper in front of him to spare me a slight glance, and he said I was the rude one.

“I was thinking the margarita pizza, you?” I continued to tap my cutlery anxiously. I know it was basic to order pizza in possibly the most expensive restaurant in Italy, but hey, I was in Italy for my first time, I had to try an O.G pizza at least once in my life.

“Not sure yet,” he grunted at me. This man was so hypercritical, if I was rude and slow, then he was on some next level shit.

“Right,” I shifted awkwardly in my seat, glancing out towards the water. I still hadn’t come to terms that my home was an entire ocean away; I couldn’t just make a quick run home. Fuck, I didn’t even have money to get me a plane ticket, I was stuck here with nothing just scabbing off the Italian Mafia’s money and shelter.

“Let’s talk business,” He finally brought his gaze to my face. I stared blankly into that cold and harsh expression; he was like a fucking brick wall. His styled wavy light brown hair and ice blue eyes held my gaze.

It sucked that my greatest enemy had to be such a good looker, he would have any girl swooning over him easily. But I knew what he really was: a murderer, a kidnapper, the devil.

“I need something pretty to stand by my side, and I think that someone could be you,” he said, placing his elbows on the table and looking intently at me.

“The only problem is, your trouble,” he finished. I scoffed, letting an amused smile slip from my lips, he didn’t seem to share in my enjoyment.

“I’m trouble, am I?”

“let’s see, yes, you’re disobedient, you talk to much, you disrespect me, I could go on all night” he kept his eyes fixed on mine, like he was stalking his prey.

That was my whole personality, I wasn’t just going to sit and do what I was told if I knew it was wrong, I kept to my beliefs, I was strong like that. He wanted to stomp out my fire and crush me into someone I wasn’t.

“I don’t do trouble you see, I have enough to worry about without you here. The last thing I need is you causing trouble and making it harder for me to run my mafia, I don’t need a child running around. You need to shut up and listen to me,” His glare turned even colder, I didn’t think that was possible.

This bitch thought he could stomp out my spirit, fuck him.

I was going to make his life hell.

“And how, your highness, am I going to give you trouble?” I battered my eyelids, this sassiness was going to get me shot, but I was too pissed off to give a fuck right now.

“Resisting, disrespecting me, but that’s not the point right now. The point is, I need you to commit to this, to fully commit to this… agreement. You may not be a prostitute, but I certainly didn’t bring you here for you to cause my issues. I need you to promise me that you won’t cause any more problems,” this wasn’t a ‘can you look pretty next to me’ conversation. It was a ‘you will do what I tell you to do’ conversation.

Get ready for hell Atlas Drakov because I’m going to give it to you.

I finished my glass of coke and rum and immediately got a refill, I watched as the liquid entered the glass, filling it almost to the brim.

I tapped my glass awkwardly, biting my tongue to stop myself from shouting something incredibly rude into his cocky and cold face.

“Is that clear, whore?” He wanted a reaction. Don’t give him a reaction.

“Yes captain,” I sneered, gathering the most mocking voice I could, and using it against him.

He tapped the table impatiently; I could tell that he was getting angrier by the second.

“It’s Atlas, my name is fucking Atlas,” he shouted, slamming a heavy hand down on the table in his sudden fit of rage.

“It certainly is,” I nodded. Wow. I was so dumb.

We were again locked in an awkward and deathly silence for minutes before I finally decided I had had enough; this was going to drive me insane.

“So, what will I be doing?” I asked in the most innocent and chirpy tone I could master.

“Well… to start off, I’ll have Jay teach you how to fight. You’ll need to be able to defend yourself in the mafia. Shit happens here, and you need to know how to get out of it quickly,” he gave a brief nod towards me.

“Holy shit! You’re going to teach me to fight?!” I said half sarcastically and half excitedly. If I knew how to fight, I could get out of here the fuck sooner. I was gonna deck some mafia ass and sprint my merry way home.

“Just the basics, don’t want you getting any ideas,” he warned in a harsh and deathly tone. The man could sense and predict every single one of my escapologist ideas before they were even set into action, what a psycho.

“And then you will sit in on my meetings, be with me personally, and represent a symbol of stability and balance to the rest of my mafia and my system,” he told me coolly.

I just nodded and kept my mouth shut, not objecting to anything he said.

What could I say?

This wasn’t a can you; it was you will conversation.

“And under no circumstances are you to disrespect me or any other the men in my mafia. Do I make myself clear?”

I gulped down another large sip of alcohol, finishing yet another glass.

This shit was going to my head as I felt myself become lightheaded and slightly dizzy. I could feel myself becoming heavily intoxicated.

“Perfectly,”