My Mafia Madness 3

Chapter 28 - Its Just One Kiss

After leading Dante out of the main ballroom and onto the adjacent terrace, Sophie made sure that the two of them were indeed alone before she turned to face him.

She wanted his full attention right now.

“Here’s what I’m proposing… I’ll agree to drop this whole unhealthy infatuation I have with you. That means no more following you around, no more texts or contact with you in any way whatsoever. You’ll never see or hear from me ever again…” she offered, trailing off purposely.

But this instantly made the Don suspicious of her.

And for good enough reason.

“In exchange for…” he prompted her, cautiously.

Sophie looked him deep in the eye, taking another step in closer so that they were almost touching as she spoke her response.

“A kiss.”

Dante’s brow furrowed inwards; his confusion evident in his lost expression.

“A kiss?”

He repeated her words, as if in disbelief that such a simple gesture would be the key to ending all the insanity she had displayed since they parted ways.

It seemed a little too good to be true from where he was standing.

“That’s right. Just one kiss.”

Sophie agreed with a smile, nodding her head as she spoke.

But Dante, being the highly cautious person that he was, still felt that something was off about this so-called proposal.

Where was the catch here?

He watched her carefully as she moved in even closer again, pressing her body up against his and tilting her head upwards to stare into his eyes.

“Let me get this straight… I kiss you just once and you’ll leave me alone… for good?” he reiterated, looking for much-needed confirmation.

“Yes.”

She gave her answer with her hand coming to rest on his upper chest in an affectionate manner, as if she were preparing for him to go through with it.

Perhaps making it easier for him to decide in her favour.

Dante stood staring into Sophie’s hazel eyes for a moment in complete silence.

He was at that exact moment weighing up the new options he had and of course, the possible repercussions that may arise from each of them.

His mind was telling him that this was a golden opportunity, one that solved all his problems concerning Sophie and that he should go ahead and just get it over with.

What was one kiss?

But it appeared that his heart had other ideas.

Deep down, he hated the idea of kissing anyone that wasn’t Alexa.

Just the thought of going through with such a thing was causing him to feel tremendous levels of torturous guilt and disgust with himself.

There was always the third option; he could have Sophie killed and get rid of the body.

She would simply disappear and there would be no more issues with stalking, or threatening Alexa in the future.

While the third option seemed quite tempting to the Mafia Don, Dante decided it best to just get it all over and done with in a more legal and far cleaner manner than assassination.

The quicker he got Sophie out of his life, the quicker he could focus on the future he had planned with Alexa.

After all, it was just one kiss… right?

Breathing a deep breath into his lungs, he squared his shoulders and spoke his response to her given proposal.

The tone of his voice showed obvious authority and warning as he looked her dead in the eye.

“Very well, Sophie. I accept your proposal. One kiss and then you will leave my life forever.”

Dante spoke, leaning right in so that their faces were mere inches apart from one another before he spoke the final part of his comment.

“…and if I ever see you again, I will have your tongue removed. Do we understand one another?”

The corner of Sophie’s mouth curved upwards with satisfaction as her smirk grew wider and wider.

She was clearly pleased with herself right now.

“Oh, we understand one another, alright.” she cooed.

Lifting his finger up, Dante silenced her as he spoke next.

“Before we do this… I need to make a quick call.” he announced, pulling his phone out of his jacket pocket and dialling Nicola’s number before lifting it to his ear.

It rang only once before the underboss answered.

“Yeah, boss?”

“Nicola, do you have eyes on Alexa? Is she there with you right now?” he queried, taking a step backwards and away from Sophie as he continued his phone call.

“Yeah, she’s here.” Nicola replied.

“Why? Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong. Just do me a favour, would you? I need you to keep her there with you until I call you again.” Dante explained rather vaguely.

“Do not let her leave your side, not even for a single second. Do you understand?”

“Uh, yeah… sure.” Nicola agreed, though clearly confused.

“What’s going on?”

Dante glanced up at Sophie for a moment before he responded with his emerald eyes narrowed spitefully at her.

“Just tying up some loose ends.” he announced.

“I mean it Nicola, keep your eyes on Alexa and wait for my call.”

“Got it.”

With that the Don ended the phone call and pocketed his phone in its usual place.

His teeth were gritted together in frustration as he pursed his lips tightly and ran his hand through his thick, dark hair.

His posture and actions were showing just how uncomfortable he was given his current situation.

But he was doing this for the long-term goal he hoped to achieve at the end of this.

To be free of Sophie and her menacing fixation on him.

“So?” Sophie finally asked, breaking the awkward silence shared between them.

Her left brow was lifted in challenge, her hand resting on her hip as she waited from where she stood for Dante to respond.

“Are we doing this or not?”

-

Meanwhile, Alexa and Willow had just reappeared from the women’s restroom with big smiles on their faces as they came out to find Nicola and Luca both waiting for them.

“Hey, what are you two doing here?” Willow queried.

Nicola smiled while Luca chose to speak with a shrug of his shoulders.

“We’re here enjoying ourselves…”

But Alexa was no fool.

“Dante got you to follow me, didn’t he?” she countered, knowingly.

As soon as she had, both men glanced at one another before laughing and nodding their heads as Nicola spoke.

“Nothing gets past you, does it piccollo.”

“Seriously guys, thank you for watching out for us and everything, but it’s really unnecessary. We’re at a party. There’s nothing dangerous going on in here.” Alexa tried persuading them.

“It’s just a precaution.” Luca reminded.

“Better to be safe than sorry.”

“Come to think of it, I should probably go searching for Roberto.” Willow announced, taking a quick look around at the area surrounding them.

“I haven’t seen him since we first got here. I should probably go and check in with him seeing as he’s my lift back home and all.”

“You alright by yourself?” Alexa asked her softly.

But Willow’s expression gave her an instant answer, one that had her questioning why she had asked such a silly question in the first place.

“You don’t have to worry about me, girl. I’ll be fine.”

With a quick hug and a wave to the boys, the red head slipped back into the crowd of guests around them and was then out of sight entirely.

“You hungry or thirsty, piccollo?” Nicola asked, quirking a brow in interest.

Alexa placed her hand over her baby bump as she gave her reply.

“Yeah, I am a little hungry actually. Seeing as I’m basically eating for two and all.”

The boys both laughed before they began leading her over towards the large buffet table together.

Nicola had been ordered to keep his eyes on her and that was exactly what he planned on doing.

-

With no sign of Roberto anywhere nearby, Willow decided to make her way around the outer edge of the ball room, hoping that she might run into him somewhere there.

He was one of the tallest men in the room, so it was strange that she hadn’t seen him by now.

But it didn’t dishearten or concern her, not even in the slightest.

Gliding her way through the crowd of people attending that evening, she stopped when she noticed an open doorway which appeared to lead somewhere else.

Another room maybe?

Not giving it too much thought, Willow headed for the doorway, intent on locating Roberto.

Just as she had stepped out through the open doorway and into what appeared to be an outside patio, she immediately recoignised her mistake and slowed to a halt.

Off on the other side of the patio Willow had noticed movement and glanced up to see what it was.

It appeared to be a couple who were currently locking lips with one another, while shadowed by the lack of lighting outside.

Feeling rather embarrassed at disturbing them, Willow’s eyes widened as she spoke up to apologise for her intrusion.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry… I didn’t see anything I swear I didn’t…”

Trailing off and just as she was about to turn and dart away in shame, Willow’s eyes suddenly locked onto the two faces as they immediately parted lips and turned to face her in surprise.

The woman she had no clue about.

But the man… he looked just like…

“Dante?”

The whispered name exited her parted lips as she met his gaze.

That familiarly glistening emerald-green gaze of none other than the Don himself.

Her eyes widened with disbelief.

Her mouth hung open in shock.

And her entire body froze in place as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing right now.

“No f*****g way!” she cursed in disbelief.

And he too recognised who the red-headed woman was standing at the other side of the patio with a shocked expression plastered across her face.

“Willow…” he breathed out her name in confusion and disbelief.

“I can’t believe you’d do this to her…” Willow began calling the Don out as her eyes filled with rage.

Anger on behalf of her best friend, Alexa.

As their heated argument began to grow, Sophie decided to casually slip away, headed out through an adjacent door leading back into the ball room.

Her part in this mess was now over.

“Willow, it’s not what you think-” Dante tried explaining, but she cut in over him in anger.

“-She trusts you… she loves you. How could you do this to her?”

Realising what Willow must be thinking right now, having come out and seen this happening, Dante began to make his way towards her with his hand held out as if it would somehow reassure her that she could trust him.

Like there was any chance of that happening right now!

“Willow, I need you to stop and listen to me, just for a minute.” he tried to calmly persuade her to give him a chance to explain what was happening here.

But she was now running on adrenalin mixed with rage and would have none of it.

Shaking her head from side to side at him, she narrowed her eyes at him as she began taking steps backwards, away from him, and one at a time.

And just as she had, another figure slowly moved in on her from behind, silently so as not to attract her attention while he fiddled with something in his hands.

“No… you’re not gonna hurt her anymore.” Willow announced.

“You don’t deserve someone like her, you cheating piece of s**t!”

Just as she was about to turn around, intending on marching off to find and alert Alexa of this act of infidelity, a large hand suddenly slammed down over her mouth, silencing her as she went to scream.

The figure behind her felt tall and strong as she tried to free herself.

And right as her hands flew upwards to try and pull the hand away, she felt a sudden sharp sting on the side of her neck, right before she was injected with something.

Struggle as she may, Willow slowly but surely began to feel as her entire body became weaker and weaker, first her legs turning to jelly before her arms had hardly any strength left in them.

Finally succumbing to the sedatives she had just been injected with, her sight began to fog and blur as Dante came to stand right in front of her.

His emerald-green eyes looked like those of a mythical creature, bright and almost glowing in the dim patio light as he stood staring at her with an emotionless expression.

And the last words she heard before everything went entirely black would haunt her.

The voice speaking to her from behind was one she knew very well.

“I’m sorry cutie.... you gave me no choice…”