Chapter 98
(ALEX]
Uncle Damien runs his hand through his jet black hair, his black eyes fixed on me. Even though I had grown up knowing him since he was my father’s adopted younger brother, he had a stare that startled everyone and even me occasionally, but I couldn’t afford to give myself away today.
Because that would mean giving Mia up.
“You got here quick,” I comment dryly, since the house was still cleaning up blood and the shock aftermath of the attack still went in waves around the
house staff.
“I was already on my way to you when I heard about the attack.”
“Why?” I ask, c k g an eyebrow.
“Can I not come to see my favourite nephew?” He retorts.
..Suspicious, to say the least. Still, I c r a c k half a smile. “Don’t let Ronan hear you say that.” Ronan, my younger brother.
“He won’t,” Uncle Damien smiles. “And if you open your mouth, you won’t have a mouth anymore.”
“Ya-ya.” I contemplate the urge to roll my eyes. “You and Dad baby him too much.”
“Says the guy who beat up a kid who ruffled Ronan’s hair.”
“I was a year elder to the ‘kid”.” Despite sounding grumpy, my half smile turned more genuine as we reminisced the old days. “Only I ruffle his hair.”
“Always protective for everyone you laugh.” A hearty laugh leaves Uncle Damien, and he takes a sip from the glass of whiskey he had asked for when he first arrived.
“Drinking in the late afternoon?” I commented, “I doubt Aunt Elena approves of that.”
He glares at me at the mention of his wife, suddenly becoming all about business. “I heard your talk with Bakshi was inconclusive.”
I stiffen immediately at the mention of the hospital, and how I found a certain someone lurking in the shadows trying to record. “It was hardly inconclusive,” I tell him, feigning nonchalance. “Bakshi agreed to help.”
“Hm,” his lips twist.
“I handled it, Uncle.”
“And you made it clear to him- what the punishment of betraying the Bratva is?” He looks me straight in the eye, and a part of me feared he knew about the girl I was hiding upstairs.
“Very clear.” I nodded.
“Okay,” He nods back. “Now, about the attack. Do you have any leads?”
“None,” I reply, and we fall back into easy conversation about our enemies, and how they found out about my location since I was the most aloof ally of
them all.
Chapter 98
It was late evening when my Uncle left after reminding me of the party he was hosting coming up, and making sure everything was back in order at my house after the attack, and it was. Everything was spotless and squeaky clean, rid of any blood.
But the attack had happened, and so did me losing my restraint because of a very enchanting temptress. Even the thought of her- her legs wide open in front of me to feast upon- led to a tightness in my pants that had me groaning.
To Lana’s shock and to my own, I asked Mia to be brought downstairs for dinner today instead of it being taken up to her.
There was a t w i n k l e in Mia’s eyes when she followed Lana into the dining table, dressed in one of the clothes I had provided.
“Sit.” I instruct, and she takes a seat across me on the dining table, noticing the length of the table.
“You eat alone?” She asks in a groggy voice, as if she had just woken
I nod stiffly.
“That… that’s lonely.”
up.
I glare at her. “Do you want to eat or should I send you back to your room?”
“I’m not a kid,” she mumbles under her breath, trying to meet my stare but giving up just two seconds in before she quickly grabbed the plate, and then
the salad.
“Just three dishes?” She asked.
I c k e d an unamused eyebrow. “Were you expecting a feast in your honour?”
“No,” she flusters, the red seeping into her cheeks. “In the movies, the Mafia heads usually eat like they’re kings.”
“What movies do you watch?”
“Inaccurate ones, apparently.”
“Sorry to disappoint.” My voice drips with sarcasm.
“Forgiven,” she sassed, happy to just be out of her room, even if it was till the dining room. “Does this mean I can join you
“Hm.” 1 indulge her. “What do I get if I allow you to do that?”
“My company?” She offers.
“Not special enough.”
She pouts, and it immediately disappears as if she was just realising who she was talking to- the man she probably hated.
for your meals every day?”
Did she? Or did she not?
“Every day that I let you have one meal with me to end your loneliness, you tell me something about yourself.” I offer, “It has to be real information. Your favourite colour isn’t going to cut it.”
She thinks about it for a long moment while finishing her salad. “I get to pick what I tell you?” She confirms.
Inod.
“Hm,” she drawls as if refusing me was even on the table. She was going to take it, even if out of boredom or loneliness.
Chapter 98
And I was going to be one step closer to figuring out her story every day, things that my PI didn’t tell me, which meant I was going to be closer to figuring out why she was trying to record me in the hospital.
“And… you can bake a dessert every day,” I throw in with a mercy I don’t usually feel, but she somehow was the exception twice.
A quick grin spreads through her face. “Deal.” Her eyes t n k l e like I had returned stars into her night sky.
Controlling the urge to roll my eyes or shake my head, we eat in silence.
When she was done, her head perks up. “Do u have to tell you something today too?”
“That was the deal, yes.”
She blows air out of her mouth unnecessarily, as if in great thought. “I was a foster kid,” she finally decides. “Six foster houses. I ran away from the
seventh one when I was sixteen.”
I study how hopeful she looks as she goes on, “Does that count as information?”
It didn’t, because I already knew that. It out-of-the-book information that my PI had provided, and still, I nod. “It counts.”
“Great.” There it was that smile again, soft, optimistic. “Goodnight, Alex.”
“Night, Mia.” I watch as she disappears upstairs and then into her room, followed by Lana, leaving behind just her trademark strawberry scent.
