Her Mafia Obsession

CHAPTER 3: A DANGEROUS GAME

The walls of the room felt smaller every second. The cool breeze of the evening coming through the open window felt like it was wrapping around Mia, but it was not enough to cool down the fire erupting in her bosom. Salvatore's presence filled the room, though she’d been expecting him, and she wasn’t ready for how his gaze made her skin feel too tight, like it didn’t fit her body.

She took a deep breath, concentrating on the case files in front of her that was so neatly laid on her desk, forcing herself to ignore the way he was staring at her.

“Should we get on with it, Mr. Ricci?” she said, calm and even, not letting the rage within her show.

Salvatore didn't respond. Instead, he approached her, his black suit gummed against his body. There was a smooth confidence to the way he moved, slow motion, how everything else around him seemed to halt and stare at him, as though the world has forgotten what to do while he was there.

He was a predator. And Mia, for reasons she couldn’t place her fingers on, felt like a prey. Not in a scared way, but in the way that an animal senses something dangerous on the air. The thrill. The pulse of uncertainty.

“Mia,” he said her name as if tasting it before savoring each syllable. His voice was luxurious and dangerous, thick with an accent that suggested something of both.

“You’re not afraid of me. That’s... interesting.”

Mia forced herself not to look away, but to keep to his stare.

“I’m not afraid of s**t, Mr. Ricci.”

He raised a skeptical eyebrow, his lips quirking just a bit. It wasn’t quite a smile, but there was something about it that was impossible to resist.

It was a dare… a promise… and it made her heart flutter, despite the fact she tried to keep cool.

His impenetrable gaze never left her, as he deliberately took another step until there was hardly any space between them, just a mere breath seperating them.

“I wonder,” he said quietly, his voice a deep growl.

“How much of that is true, Mia? Not just the lack of fear. But how much of you… is as fearless as you’d like to think?”

Mia’s breath caught, but she didn't jerk an inch. She wasn’t going to give him that satisfaction.

“I’m who I say I am,” she said in clipped tones but her heart was starting to pound, damn him for making her feel off.

Salvatore leaned in slightly, his presence overwhelming and when he spoke, his power was reflected in his quiet, soft voice.

“Care to put that to the test?” He whispered, the heat of his breath merging with her skin and sending shivers up her body.

“You don’t realize how much control you’ve already given me.”

There was something in the weight of his words that struck with her and her pulse picked up. She could feel the tension inside the room rising, thick and heavy, like it was just waiting in the air for a storm to break out. She didn’t flinch, refusing to allow his closeness to affect her. She wasn’t going to let him play games with her. Not now, not ever.

And she couldn’t help how her body appeared to react too… How she could barely even breathe with him so close, how there was something deep inside her that twisted just by his very presence. She was playing with fire, and she knew it, but there was something in the heat he radiated that was pulling her in… even as she repelled from it.

Salvatore got cautiously to his feet, carefully stepping away, but his eyes didn’t leave hers. He was looking at her as if she was a puzzle he had begun to figure out and it was creepy. But at the same time… it was exhilarating.

“I believe you’re going to surprise yourself, Mia.” He whispered, that same dangerous pledge between them.

Mia breathed deep, humming from the intensity of being there. She wouldn’t show him that his closeness had any affect on her.

“I’ll surprise you,” she said tightly.

“I always do.”

For an instant, they both froze in place, unsure what to do, the air between them heavily filled with unspoken thoughts. Salvatore looked like he was taking time to answer and, for once, Mia couldn’t read him.

At last he spoke, casually once more. “I’m looking forward to it.”

The way he said it sent another chill sliding down her spine. It wasn’t simply an idle remark. It felt like a warning. As though he was expecting something he wasn’t entirely certain he would like… or perhaps, something he was all too eager to like.

Mia had no clue what she was in for. But one thing she was clear on… this wasn’t going to be a simple case. And Salvatore Ricci certainly wasn’t going to be the type of client she could easily forget.

Salvatore's presence hung for a moment by the door. His presence still filled the room. His eyes were not locked on her face anymore, but Mia still felt the weight of that stare on her. He dissected every motion, every breath she took.

While she sorted through the papers on her desk, trying to recover some control in the situation, she thought again about the expression on his face when he had been looking at her. His eyes on her skin had felt heavy, suffocating, and for a second she’d felt something inside of her shift, something she couldn’t put her finger on.

But no. This was business. Nothing more. She had a job to do. And Salvatore Ricci was not going to be the one to distract her.

"Ms. Caruso." His voice cut her thoughts like a blade, slick and precise.

She glanced up, surprised by the sudden rip in the silence. He had gone to the window by now, his back to her, looking out over the city as if in serious thought. But Mia knew better. He wasn’t lost in thought; he was watching her. Noticing how her chest was rising and falling as she attempted to regulate her breathing.

"Are you always so composed?" he said, his voice a low, taunting one.

Mia’s hands squeezed the papers she was clutching, but she forced her face not to falter.

“I’m not in the habits of letting feelings get in the way of my work,” she shot back, with a calm voice.

Salvatore had shifted and was looking back at her. He grinned, but it was the grin of a dare… a game he was playing.

"I’m not sure I believe that. I suspect you feel more than you’re willing to admit.”

Mia’s heart raced at his words, but she wasn’t going to show it. She rose from her desk and paced to the window, paused to catch her breath. The city below her felt so far away, yet she could almost feel his heat that much lingered in this room, suffocating her in ways she hadn’t expected.

“You’re mistaken,” she replied in a tight but even voice.

“I don't let anything get in the way of my work.”

Salvatore didn’t move, but a change came over him, a pull that seemed to move her closer to him without her permission, and against her better judgment.

“I think you’re lying to yourself,” he murmured, the words settling in the space between them.

“And I believe, Ms. Caruso, you know it.”

For a moment neither of them said anything. The room was silent and the space between them felt charged with an energy she didn't comprehend It wasn’t just the physical distance… it was deeper. A connection that wasn’t words but something unspoken. Something primal.

She felt her breath catch in her throat as she tried to focus. She needed to return to the case, concentrate on the job. She was a professional, and nothing… nothing… was going to take her away from that. Not even him.

She put her back to the window and squared up, looking at him again, trying to focus in a different method … a logical method.

“We can keep talking about the details of your case,” she said, her voice sharp, slicing through the tension.

“I will need full and complete access to your files, your contacts, a list of anyone who can vouch for your whereabouts at the time of the alleged acts.”

Salvatore moved toward the desk in a deliberate sort of stroll, his measured footsteps somehow making the distance between them appear impossibly small. He came to the far edge of the desk, bending down so that their faces were only inches apart. Those deep eyes of his kept staring into her's, so intense that they made her stomach flip.

“You believe that’s all it’s going to take, don’t you?” he inquired, his voice soft but loud enough to make her shiver.

“You think you’re just going to go through some records and find the real truth? It doesn’t quite work that way in my world, Mia.”

She had to make herself not respond to the abrupt nearness not to get caught up in the heat she could feel emanating from him. Instead, she focused, her mind working overtime to focus and ignore the heavy pull between them.

“You’ve employed me as I can do the job,” she mumbled so softly, but her heart was pounding in her chest.

“I don’t want to hear about your world. This is about me getting you out of this mess.”

A wry smile played at the corners of Salvatore’s mouth.

“I think that's not all you are interested in, Mia.” His voice was gentle as if sharing some intimate secret.

“And I believe deep down inside, you feel it already. The danger. The temptation."

For a moment she couldn’t breathe, the weight of his words seeping into her skin. But she wouldn’t let him see how much he was getting to her.

“Let’s stick to the case” she said, her voice firm though a small shiver ran through her body.

“That’s why we’re all here, aren’t we.”

Salvatore didn’t back away. Instead, he leaned in closer still, warm breath against her ear.

“For now," he muttered, the words giving her a shiver.

“But soon, Mia, this will no longer be just about the case. You’ll see."

His eyes never left hers as he stood up and turned towards the door.

“Until then,” he said with a soft promise in his voice that made her stomach knot in a way that she did not want to admit to.

As the door clicked behind him, Mia felt a wild array of emotions. Something dangerous. Something she simply could not afford to feel.

But the tension was there. It always would be.