Pressure Points
999 Words
Dario’s POV
The report came in at 5:42 p.m.
Right on schedule.
Dario sat behind his desk, fingers tapping against the polished wood as his right hand man, Enzo, stood in front of him, shifting awkwardly like a man who knew the news wasn’t good.
“Well?” Dario asked without looking up.
Enzo cleared his throat. “She went to her workplace today. Tried to ask her boss for the money.”
A slow smile curled on Dario’s lips. “And?”
“He turned her down.” Enzo lowered his head. “She cried in the restroom for a while.”
Dario leaned back, letting the satisfaction settle in his chest.
Fear suited people.
Especially people who owed him.
“Good,” he said calmly. “Fear makes them desperate. And desperate people are predictable.”
Enzo swallowed hard. “Sir, she looks… broken. She hasn’t eaten all day. She’s shaking. I don’t think—”
Dario raised a hand.
“Stop.” His voice was smooth, almost gentle. “Don’t mistake my interest for mercy.”
Enzo shut up immediately.
Dario stood and walked toward the large window overlooking the city. Night was crawling in, painting everything in dark blue shadows. His reflection stared back at him expensive suit, clean lines, controlled posture, eyes that held nothing but calculation.
Ava Brett
The girl with fire in her eyes and fear in her voice.
The girl whose father messed with the wrong people.
The girl who now belonged to him…whether she knew it yet or not.
“Tell me,” Dario said, still staring out the window, “how many places has she try altogether?”
“Five, sir,” Enzo answered quickly. “Three loan companies, her workplace, and one microfinance office. Everyone turned her down. And she called a few of her friends.”
Dario’s jaw flexed.
He liked determination.
He respected effort.
But hope?
Hope irritated him.
“Make sure no one lends to her,” Dario said.
Enzo blinked. “Sir?”
Dario turned slowly, dark eyes locking onto him.
“Did I stutter?”
“N-No, sir. I’ll make the calls.”
“Good.” Dario picked up his glass of scotch and swirled it once. “Let her run. Let her try again tomorrow. Let her think she still has a chance.”
“But—” Enzo hesitated. “What if she actually finds someone willing to help?”
Dario chuckled, low and amused.
“She won’t.”
He took a sip, savoring the burn.
“She doesn’t understand yet… the moment her father borrowed from me, every escape she thought she had disappeared.”
Enzo nodded nervously.
Dario set the glass down and walked back to his desk, picking up a thin file, Ava’s file. Her school, her grades, her pictures, her family background. Everything. He flipped through casually, like he was reading a menu instead of a human life.
“She’s smart,” Dario murmured. “Stubborn. Loyal to her mother. Beautiful. Convenient.”
He closed the file.
“I don’t want her dead. I want her obedient.”
Enzo shifted again. “Sir, do you want us to confront her tonight? She’ll be exhausted. Vulnerable.”
Dario shook his head.
“No,” he said quietly. “Not yet.”
He walked to the table where a cigar box lay, opened it, and selected one slowly.
“This kind of girl doesn’t break from force. Not at first.”
He lit the cigar, inhaled deeply, exhaled a line of smoke.
“She breaks from pressure. From knowing she’s doing everything she can… and still failing.”
Enzo nodded. “So what’s the plan, sir?”
Dario smiled, a small, cold thing.
“We give her time.”
“Time?” Enzo repeated.
“Yes,” Dario said. “Twenty-two hours.”
He held up two fingers.
“Not twenty-one. Not twenty-three. Exactly twenty-two. I want her to feel every minute.”
Enzo bowed his head.
“She’ll crack by morning,” Dario continued. “And when she does, she will come back to me.”
“Begging?” Enzo asked.
Dario chuckled again.
“No. Not begging.”
He tapped ash into the tray.
“Surrendering.”
Silence fell for a moment, thick and heavy.
Then something flickered in Enzo’s expression,hesitation.
“Sir… there’s one more thing.”
Dario’s brows lifted. “Speak.”
“We… noticed someone else watching her today.”
Dario’s eyes sharpened instantly.
“Who?”
“We’re not sure,” Enzo said carefully. “Black car. Expensive. Moved like… like someone trained.”
Dario stilled completely.
“Did he approach her?”
“No, sir. But he watched her leave the street. And he tailed the SUV for a few minutes before disappearing.”
Dario’s jaw locked.
“Was it the same guy that followed her that night?”
“Not sure yet, but most likely sir” Enzo replied
“Find out who he is,” he said, voice dropping to a lethal calm. “Nobody interferes with my debt. Nobody touches what belongs to me without permission.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And Enzo?”
“Sir?”
“If he tries again…”
Dario crushed the cigar in the ashtray.
“…end him.”
Enzo bowed deeply. “Understood.”
Before Enzo could go out, Dario stopped him.
“Deliver some food to her house, anonymously.”
“Yes boss.” Enzo said.
When the door finally shut behind him, Dario sat back down, opening Ava’s file again. He ran a finger absently along the edge of her photograph.
A pretty girl with too much pride and too much fire.
A challenge.
And Dario loved challenges.
“Twenty-two hours, sweetheart,” he murmured. “Then your world changes.”
He leaned back, smirking faintly to himself.
“And you will learn something very important…”
He closed the file with a sharp snap.
“…nobody escapes me.”
- Writer
