Claimed in the Mafia Bargain

Chapter Two

Alexia

"To the table, Now."

The command came with a low vibration, not loud, but thick enough to unravel me completely.

I looked around the dark room, suddenly regretting my decision as the desperation washed off just as quickly as it had come.

"T... table... What table?"

Fuck, what table was he talking about? Is this why he pays so much? To harvest organs? f**k me, was this some sort of set up?

My mind raced, already imagining how the table looked—something cold, steel, full of blood and very sharp knives. I could just turn now and find other means to get the money, because surely there had to be another way.

We had parents, even if both had no part in our lives, and for real, I had tried getting to them. I had tried to ask them for help, but Father was unavailable while Mother’s husband said she was on a vacation to Africa with the kids.

The room went silent, and I squinted my eyes, trying to figure where the man would be.

"You're new..."

God, I jumped out of my skin as his breath filled my vein, hot and close. How was he so close to me? How did he even get this near without making a single sound?

I didn't even realize I was struggling with the handle of the double doors to get out until his voice cleared the panic from my head.

"You can't leave the instant you walk in, I won't ask again. Who are you?"

I paused, turning slowly to face the voice.

He won't kill me. If he was such a killer, the green girl would not have returned to him.

The lights weren't fully on, but the ambient glow from the city outside illuminated a man in a white shirt, his sleeves turned up to his forearms and his fingers buried in his trousers. My head snapped up to meet very alluring grey eyes, his hair tossed in a messy middle part, his face so surreal and unreal that my breath caught in my throat.

The man before me wasn't like the men I had imagined I would be spending the night with; he was beyond imagination, the finest man I had ever come across. I had always thought Ken Hammer was the finest man ever—my high school crush who never stared at me once—but this man made Ken look like a child.

My lips pressed together as I momentarily released the handle of the door, turning fully towards him as the embarrassment that I had wanted to bolt earlier washed over me. What happened to my determination to save the only family I had? I have come this far, I'm not backing down.

"I asked a que..."

"Lexi," I cut him off, swallowing my breath. He was good-looking, which I stupidly took as a sign that I wouldn't die tonight, or maybe he just looked so scary yet captivating that somehow, I wouldn't mind if he did harvest my organs for real. "Alexia West, your companion for tonight."

He paused, the look in his gaze predatory, shifting from annoyance to something sharper.

"Companion?" His lips stretched into a mockery of a smile as he walked over to me, and I struggled not to move because I couldn't look scared.

He got to where I was, towering over me, then clapped his hands twice.

I flinched, thinking he wanted to hit me, but instead the overhead lights flooded the room, blinding my view. I squeezed my eyes shut to adjust to the sudden brightness, and when I opened them gradually, I was breathless.

He was so handsome that even adding another word would not cut it, but the look on his face said nothing at all. He only grabbed my chin with one hand, his grip firm but not painful, turning my gaze up to his as he dipped his other hand into his pocket.

I knew instantly what he was doing. He wanted to call. He wanted to confirm why a strange girl in black was replacing the rude girl in green.

Without thinking, all fear gone now that the money was slipping away, I jumped.

It was instinct, the muscle memory my brother Leo taught me. I grabbed his phone from his hand in a swift moment that shocked both me and the man. For the first time since I got into the room, he looked puzzled. He looked like a man who had never been dared, like a king who had never had a peasant snatch something from his grasp.

But I would not let him call anyone.

"She was sick and I was told to replace her," I said fast, clenching his phone against my chest as I watched him, hoping badly he would buy the lie. "It's a last-minute thing and I was shocked too... I mean, she will only tend to Rafael and no other person, you know right?"

The puzzled look on his face turned a little deadly, his grey eyes darkening like a storm cloud. I clenched his phone harder, this time more desperate to not leave, and swiftly turned, walking straight to the large dining table at the middle of the room where a large keyboard sat at the corner.

I had no time to actually look through the room or admire the luxury; I only rushed over and lay face down on the mahogany table.

"Don't worry, Mr. Rafael, I'll make sure you have nothing but the best time ever," I stammered, my heart hammering against the hard wood. "She taught me everything you might want to do and of course I know you love doing it on a table."

I clenched my eyes shut, praying the lie made sense, but he was still standing there, watching me with an amusement I couldn't explain.

"Hmm. I see," he said, his voice closer now. He strode slowly to me, his footsteps heavy and deliberate. "If she did, why are your clothes on?"

I paused. I was just in a rush to convince him and I hadn't thought about pulling my clothes off.

"Oh, I..."

"Strip."

I scrambled up to a sitting position on the table. "What?"

He grunted, walking past me to sit on the velvet sofa, his eyes darkening as he looked at me with cold indifference.

"You signed a death warrant snatching my phone first, and now making me repeat myself two times already is enough to snap your neck," he said, his tone conversational, as if discussing the weather. "Strip."

I was taken aback at the coldness of his threat. I stared at him, sliding off the table and dropping his phone onto the cushion beside him.

"Apologies, but I'm no thief," I whispered.

He frowned, and I sighed, wondering why he was so mannerless. I needed help, I was selling my body to him, but he didn't always have to sound like some God or something.

I took a deep breath. If I was going to do this, I needed a guarantee.

"How are you paying?"

He paused, his frown deepening. "What?"

"You asked that I strip and I'm obviously here to give you the time of your life, but not on the condition that I know you will be paying first," I said, my voice shaking but my chin held high. "So make payments."

That was my play. In case he didn't find me appealing enough and wanted to reduce my payment later, or worse, kick me out after he was done.

I had expected him to get angry, to yell, or maybe even hit me. But the fine man only laughed.

It was a dark, rich sound that startled me, rumbling through the room. He stood up, picking his phone up from where I’d dropped it, and walked toward me.

I stumbled back, hitting the edge of the table, wondering if I had crossed the line and would be leaving with nothing. He hovered over me, forcing me to lean back against the wood. My breath hitched as he became dangerously close, his scent—expensive cologne and musk—filling my senses, and my body reacted instantly to the proximity, heat pooling in my stomach.

"I'll pay," he murmured, placing a hand on the table on either side of my hips, caging me in. "But first, you must agree that I do with you whatever or however I want... You don't get to leave or run until I say so."

The threat was evident, heavy in the air between us. But with Leo in a life-or-death situation after a hit-and-run, and the clock ticking on his transfer, I wasn't about to give my opinion.

I looked into his grey eyes, seeing the abyss there, and nodded.

"Ye... yes."

His lips stretched into a wicked, satisfied smile.

"Good.”