The Price for Her Father’s Sins

Chapter Six

Mila Ortega

The limousine driver stopped in front of a mansion more magnificent than the White House. My jaws dropped in awe.

The inscription in front of the building read;

“Heaven on Earth”

Nik’s voice rang in my head. “You belong to this world.”

I took a deep breath and clutched my purse tighter.

“Only for today,” I encouraged myself, “Only for today I’ll embrace this part of me.”

I flipped my wavy auburn hair to the back, and pulled up by red gown in the way that celebrities did on the red carpet.

It was too easy.

Lips moved when I walked past. Men smiled at me, women eyed me. The corners of my lips curled into a smile, and thanks to the no-makeup makeup I had on, I looked innocent yet sophisticated and classy.

I moved past a number of people chattering outside the building, making my way to the entrance.

My heart dropped when I noticed the number of security guards at the door— hefty and stern looking.

“Oh god,” I mumbled quietly. If I got caught, it wouldn’t take much for these men to break me in two.

But I couldn’t fail. I had to save myself. My parents had abandoned me to Nikolai Moreira and I was going to be my own savior.

Approaching the entrance even closer, I acknowledged the guards with a smile “Hello gentlemen,” my refined tone surprised me.

The guards spared me a glance, checking me out from head to toe.

“Hold up!” One of them called out. “Name?”

“Name?” I repeated, looking at him like he’d spoken another language.

“The party is on invite only.”

Sweat broke out of my forehead. My grip on my purse loosened.

Did Nik and Luca send me here to die? Did they know the party was on invite only?

I swallowed hard, looking around like I was lost.

“Give me your name, ma’am.” The security guard’s voice became harsh now.

“Ortega,” I blurted out, my heart thudding without control.

“Ortega?!” The security guard took another look at me and I saw him let down his guard.

“My apologies, the Ortega we were expecting is a man.”

“Don Ortega? He’s my father. I’m representing him.”

“Sorry, so sorry for the misunderstanding. Please, this way…”

As I got past the security into the hall, I released a deep breath I didn’t know I was holding.

The door closed behind us and my brows furrowed.

“I think I came too early,”

I wasn’t really a party person, but weren’t they supposed to be blasting with music?

“The party doesn’t begin until midnight,” the guard said. “But you came at the right time. Mr Alejandro Cardenas has been waiting for you.”

I stopped in my tracks. I couldn’t will myself to move one step ahead.

Alejandro has been waiting for me?

My hands began to tremble. This was more than I expected. I thought it was supposed to be a party where I would just attend and pick up gossip for Nik.

This was becoming all shades of bad.

I reached for my purse, fumbling it for my phone.

“Miss Ortega?” The guards voice broke into my thoughts, startling me.

“Phones are not allowed here… I thought you’d have known that…”

What?! Phones are not allowed?!

The guard put out his hand and I knew without another question that he meant to take my phone.

There was no point in argument as I defeatedly handed my phone to him.

When we entered the elevator, it did not elevate. Instead, it went down.

“We’re going underground?” I muttered to myself, my heart thudding out of my chest.

The elevator came to a stop and the door tore open.

“This is my stop, Miss Ortega,” the guard announced as I stepped out. “I’ll be outside if you need anything.”

I wanted to go back with him, I wanted to run back out of this dimly lit side of the house, straight back home. But I didn’t even have a home anymore.

So instead, I gave a polite nod and turned away. I had come this far and there was no going back.

I stopped in front of a door called “the inner room”. The door opened slowly, and I walked in.

I was immediately struck by the scent of whiskey and cigars. At the center of the room was a round table with four men of whose faces I had never seen before.

My eyes locked on one of them— he seemed superior, like the man in charge.

He broke the silence that had suddenly followed my unexpected presence.

“I didn’t send for a w***e,”

“I’m not one,” I replied with a strange surge of confidence, “I am Mila Ortega.”

The men on the table exchanged glances, their brows furrowed with a mix of confusion and curiosity.

“Why’re you here instead of your father?” the man asked, his voice a low growl, yet devoid of the initial threat it had before.

I didn’t answer immediately. If they were asking about my father, then they didn’t know that he had killed himself and, they didn’t need to know.

“He sent me…”

The man scanned me one last time, “I see,” he said, before nodding towards the only empty chair in the room.

Immediately I sat down, I realized that this was supposed to be my father’s seat.

“Ortega,” Alejandro Cardenas spoke with an air of authority. “The government still hasn't granted us access to the streets. We gave them Moreira. What else do they want?”

I froze.

My father framed Moreira with four other people? Did Nikolai know this?

And by access to the streets, what did they freaking mean?

Also, these people had no idea that Nikolai Moreira was now a freeman.

“Ortega!” Alejandro’s boisterous voice snapped out of my thoughts.

I replied with the first thing that came into my mind. “The elections!”

“It's a delicate time for the government, one mistake and everything we’ve built for the last ten years goes to waste…”

Silence filled the room and I thought, oh I thought that my life was over. I thought I had said the wrong thing. Alejandro looked at me, the intensity in his glare made my skin crawl.

“You’re right,” he finally spoke, and I breathed. “The government loses their minds during elections. We can’t ask them for anything until the final results are announced.”

I responded with a nod.

“However,” one of the five interjected, he was Romano Mateo. A new mafia family.

“We need a safe date to export our stuff. You must ask the mayor to set a date.”

Again, I nodded.

The night went by faster than I had expected.

Alejandro and the three spoke about their businesses freely around me, occasionally mentioning Nik Moreira.

I did most of the listening, chipped in a few times, and offered some suggestions.

When the meeting of the five finally ended, I walked out of the elevator, headed straight for the guard with my phone.

As soon as I unlocked my phone, notifications flooded in. One stood out. A text from Nikolai.

I clicked on it.

“There can only be two reasons why you’re ignoring my calls, wife. You’re either dead or want me to kill you.”