Resold To The Ruthless Mafia Lord

~12~

~TIANA'S {POV}~

After changing out of the clothes I had been wearing and putting on the new ones, I parted my hair down the middle, letting it fall on both sides of my head, resting just below my shoulders.

My hair had grown a bit longer over these past weeks. I ran my fingers through the length of it, feeling the extra inches that hadn't been there before.

Maybe it would be best if I cut it, but I still wanted to wait a little while longer. I was attached to my hair after all, and cutting it felt like giving something up that I wasn't ready to let go of just yet.

I left my room to find Jacob standing outside exactly as he said he would be, his posture straight and his expression carrying that same unreadable look he always wore. He glanced over me once, as if checking that I had dressed properly, then turned and began walking without a word. I fell into step behind him.

The sun had completely set by the time we stepped outside, leaving the sky a deep, heavy shade that made the atmosphere somewhat gloomy. The air had cooled considerably and I pulled the fabric of my sleeves closer to my arms as we crossed the grounds toward the main mansion.

Once we entered the mansion, I followed close behind Jacob, assuming he was taking me to the dining room the way I had been taken before with Lydia that day.

But just before we turned into one of the hallways, I caught a brief glimpse behind me toward the direction of the dining room and felt something shift in my chest. We were heading away from it. I barely had time to process that before Jacob's footsteps led us toward the staircase and he began ascending without slowing down or offering any explanation.

I hesitated at the bottom step, staring up at his back for a moment before I followed.

The upper floor, in fact, this part of the hallway where we walked was different, the air around this area slightly gloomy and quieter than the rest of the mansion. Even the lights along the walls seemed dimmer here, casting faint shadows across the corridor.

Jacob stopped in front of a door near the end of the corridor. He knocked once, a single firm knock, then turned the handle and pushed it open, stepping inside ahead of me. I remained just behind the doorframe, my view partially blocked by his frame.

"Where is he?"

The voice of the man reached me before I saw his face, a cold, domineering voice I was quick to recognize as my eyes widened slightly.

He's back.

Jacob glanced back and found me hovering just outside the door.

I stepped forward from behind him.

Demetri was on his feet. That was the first thing I registered, because the last time I had sat across from him he had been in a wheelchair, and seeing him standing now changed something about the entire air around him.

He was way taller than I had taken in before.

Of course, even before I knew the man was tall, but I wasn't expecting him to be this tall. He had on a cream-coloured shirt and trousers, the shirt sitting on him with ease, and his hair was tousled like he had combed it, only to ruffle it again moments later.

In one hand he held a bourbon glass, the dark amber liquid catching the light as his fingers wrapped loosely around it.

His gaze found me the moment I stepped fully into view, lingering on me like he was trying to take in my full appearance. Then he glanced toward Jacob.

"Ask the maids to serve our food here, and if my brother asks about my whereabouts, tell him I felt like eating by myself," he instructed.

Jacob gave a short nod and pulled the door closed behind him as he left, the soft click drawing a line between what was outside and what remained inside this room.

Silence fell over us as Demetri's eyes returned to me and he stood there with the glass loose in his hand, watching me from across the room without any particular urgency in his expression.

"Don't just stand there," he said. "Come over here."

I took a short breath and began walking toward him, my steps slow against the floor. When I had closed most of the distance between us, I stopped, leaving a good four steps of space between myself and where he stood, which felt like the most reasonable decision available to me in that moment.

My eyes moved away from his face almost at once, finding other places in the room to look at, anything that was not the man standing directly in front of me, watching me with that attentive, patient gaze that somehow unnerved me.

"Did you miss me, little Sparrow?"

His question caught my attention as I was forced to look at him.

I wasn't sure what to respond. Yes or no, which answer was better, less weird and most importantly wouldn't vex the man.

I scribbled down "no" on my iPad, then the very next second erased it and wrote "yes," then erased it again.

My brows furrowed because I wasn't sure how to respond.

"If you are taking that long to respond, then I can only assume that you didn't miss me at all." He had a solemn look on his face like he was hurt, before adding, "I thought we were friends, little red sparrow."

Friends?

That was the last thing that came to mind when I thought about Demetri and my relationship.

To me it was a master and slave relationship; he owned me and that was it.

I scribbled down on my iPad.

[ I didn't know we were friends.]

Then I moved closer and handed it to him.

After reading my answer, he said, "Now you know." A pleased smile curled at the corners of his mouth as he continued to watch me.

His lips parted as if he was about to say something, but the sudden knock on the door interrupted him.

"Master Demetri, your dinner."

I recognized the familiar small voice and my gaze darted toward the door.

"Bring it in," Demetri said, and the door opened and, as expected, the familiar face whom the voice belonged to stepped in.

Elizabeth looked a little startled at seeing me there, but she quickly regained her composure and helped the other maid who was with her push the trolley in with food placed on top of it.

It took them a few minutes to set up a table outside on the patio. While they were busy with that, Demetri sat down on the king-sized bed behind me, while my attention remained focused on the two people working.

When I felt something tug at the bottom of my shirt, I didn't pay much attention to it, but by the second time, I frowned slightly before glancing behind me to see that Demetri was absentmindedly playing with my shirt between his fingers.

He looked so focused on what he was doing, like he'd just found a new plaything.

I didn't complain and simply faced forward again.

When the table was done being set, Elizabeth informed him and all he did was wave his hand for them to leave.

Elizabeth discreetly waved at me before she left.

"I see you've made a new friend," Demetri said as he stood up from the bed.

I looked at him and nodded, since he was still holding my iPad I couldn't explain more.

"Let's eat," he said as he walked over to the table and pulled out a seat for himself, sitting down comfortably. "Come and join me."

I moved toward the table and took the seat across from his. We began eating and not once did Demetri say anything.

The silence between us wasn't exactly uncomfortable, but it kept me aware of him in a way that made it difficult to fully relax.

Every now and then I could feel his eyes lifting toward me, lingering briefly before returning to his meal, and each time it happened my grip around the fork tightened just a little.