Pawn For The Mafia Lord

Chapter-five

ELENA

I couldn’t sleep that night. Every time I closed my eyes, I kept seeing Lorenzo’s cold, dead stare from the top of the stairs and from the incident that happened the night before.

He looked at me like I was dirt under his expensive shoes. My room was huge, way bigger than anything I’d ever seen, but it felt like a prison cell with silk sheets.

Next morning, Theresa came in early. She didn’t even knock, just walked in with a tray. "Eat," she said, her voice dry. She looked at me with that same weird disgust she had yesterday. I know they would all regret ever having me around. I caused javoc on my first day but she had always given me that look . Even before the incident. I still didn’t get it. What did I ever do to her?

"Is he... is he always like that?" I asked, picking at the bread.

Theresa laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound. "He's lost everything that made him human, Elena. Don't go looking for warmth in a glacier. You're here for Leo, nothing more. Keep your head down, do your job, and maybe you'll live to see another birthday."

I just nodded. My stomach was in knots. After I ate, she told me to go to the play room. That’s where I found Leo.

He was sitting in the corner of this massive room, surrounded by toys he didn’t even touch. He was just drawing lines on a piece of paper, over and over again. He looked so sad, it actually hurt my chest. I sat on the floor a few feet away from him. I didn’t say anything at first, just watched his little hand move.

That's a nice shade of blue," I said softly after a while.

He didn't look up, but his hand stopped moving. I kept my voice low, real steady. I told him a story, a silly one about a bird who forgot how to fly because he was too busy looking at his own reflection from the mirror. I wasn't sure if he was listening, but he didn't run away. That felt like a win.

Then the door opened, and the air in the room just… shifted. I felt him before I saw him. Lorenzo. He walked in, his footsteps heavy and loud, like he owned the ground itself. He didn't even look at me. He walked straight to Leo, knelt down, and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Leo," he said. His voice was deep, commanding, but when he spoke to the boy, it had this tiny c***k in it. "Dinner tonight. My office."

Leo just nodded, still looking at his paper. Lorenzo stood up and finally looked at me. My heart hammered against my ribs.

"Don't let him get attached," he said, his voice cold again. "He doesn't need another person to leave him."

Before I could even blink, he was gone. I felt like I couldn't breathe. What did he mean by that? I wasn't going anywhere. I was stuck here, wasn't I?

The house was so quiet it was scary. At night, you could hear every creak of the floorboards. I was walking down the long hallway, just trying to find the kitchen to get some water, when I heard voices coming from Lorenzo's office. The door was cracked open just a little bit. I know I shouldn't have, but I stopped.

"The shipment didn't arrive, boss," a man’s voice said, sounding really shaky. "They said the North gate was compromised."

"Compromised?" Lorenzo's voice was quiet, but it sounded like a threat. "I pay you all to make sure that doesn't happen. If it's compromised, then someone talked."

"We're looking into it, I swear, Lorenzo, I swear"

There was a loud thud like someone had been thrown against a walk, and then a sound that made my skin crawl. Yet was a wet, choking noise. I clapped my hand over my mouth to stop myself from screaming. I turned around and started to run, but my foot caught on the edge of the carpet.

I stumbled, making a sound.

The door to the office flew open. Lorenzo stood there, his shirt sleeves rolled up, revealing those scary tattoos. His knuckles were bruised and red. He looked at me, and I swear the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees. I felt lots of emotions at once, what I wanted Lorenzo my dangerous boss to do to me?, bad things. I was scared yes, but he was just so hot to look at .

Before I could back away, he crashed out of the doorway like a predator unleashed. In one brutal motion, he grabbed me by the throat and slammed me against the hallway wall. The impact jarred my spine, knocking the air from my lungs. His body pinned me there, hard and unyielding, one muscular thigh shoved between my legs to keep me immobile. His hand around my neck wasn’t choking me fully,not yet,but the pressure was enough to make stars dance at the edges of my vision.

I was really scared now. I had prepared my mind for death

“What the f**k do you think you’re doing?” he snarled, voice low . His face was inches from mine, those brown eyes filled with nothing but disgust and barely contained rage. Just hatred for the inconvenience I had caused him. He didn't want me here but my stupidity always led me to problems.

“Spying in my house? Listening to things that aren’t your goddamn business?”

I gripped his wrist with both hands, my nails digging uselessly into his skin. My heart pounded so hard it hurt. Fear flooded every inch of me but underneath it, twisted and shameful,was that unwanted pull. He was terrifying, violent, and he clearly couldn’t stand me. Yet the way he hated me and looked at me, sent a deceitful heat curling low in my belly. I hated myself for it. He doesn’t like you, my mind screamed. He wants you gone. Dead, maybe.

“I wasn’t…I swear, I just wanted water,” I gasped out, my voice weak from the pressure on my throat. Tears pricked my eyes. “Please, Lorenzo..”

“Don’t,” he cut me off, leaning in closer until his breath ghosted across my lips. His free hand slammed against the wall beside my head, caging me tighter. The scent of him..cologne mixed with blood and anger made my head spin. “You don’t get to say my name like we’re anything but a nuisance I’m forced to tolerate. You’re here for my son and nothing else. One wrong move, one more slip like this, and I’ll make sure you disappear just like the others who thought they could pry into my affairs.”

His thigh pressed harder between my legs, not in passion but in pure control, pinning me so effectively I could barely shift. I could feel the tension in every muscle of his body. My pulse raced under his fingers. Part of me wanted to fight, to scream, to run far from this dangerous man who looked at me like I was some parasite. Another part,the stupid, broken part, wondered what it would feel like if that grip shifted, if the cold fury in his eyes ever cracked into something hotter. But no. He didn’t like me. He despised me. This was a warning, not an introduction

“You’re weak,” he continued, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper. “Soft. Exactly the kind of distraction that gets people killed in my world. I’ve buried better women than you for less. Keep your eyes down and your ears closed, or the next body hitting the floor might be yours.”

I whimpered, shame burning through me as my body reacted despite everything, why was he making me feel this way. He noticed. Of course he did. A sneer curled his lip, pure contempt flashing across his handsome, cruel face.

“Pathetic,” he muttered, almost to himself. “Getting worked up even now. You really are nothing but trouble.”

He held me there for what felt like an eternity, his hand flexing around my throat just enough to remind me how easily he could end this. My mind raced with images of Leo upstairs, innocent and lonely, and the life I’d somehow stumbled into. Escape seemed impossible. Staying seemed deadly.

Then, distant footsteps echoed from somewhere deeper in the mansion,maybe Theresa, or one of his men. Lorenzo’s head snapped toward the sound, his body tensing even more against mine.

His eyes returned to me, darker than before. “This isn’t over,” he hissed, finally releasing my throat but not stepping back. “Not by a long shot.”

As the footsteps grew louder, he pulled away abruptly, leaving me slumped against the wall, gasping for air, legs shaking. I slid down slightly, hand rubbing my bruised neck, watching as he straightened his shirt and turned toward the approaching figure without another glance at me.

But just before he walked away, I caught the glint of something metallic in his hand,something he hadn’t been holding before. And in the shadows of the hallway, I heard a faint, eerie click.

What had I just witnessed? And what was he about to do next?.