LIKE IT OR NOT, YOU'RE MINE: A Don's obsession

Mafia business

~~Roman~~

After leaving her alone in the bedroom, I followed Luca down the hallway, the sound of my shoes against the marble floor echoing through the quiet manor.

“Order the guard at the dungeon to take Ines there,” I commanded, straightening my cuffs as I walked. “She prefers to sleep there.”

Luca glanced at me, and for a second, I could almost see the argument forming in his head.

He thought better of it.

“Yes, Don.”

I barely gave him a second look before returning to the matter that had interrupted me.

“What’s going on?”

“A girl,” he replied. “She showed up saying her father had been taken and that she was told to come here.”

I stopped walking.

Slowly, I turned to face him.

“A girl?”

“Yes, Don.”

My brows pulled together as I looked toward the entrance.

A child showing up at my doorstep this late at night didn't sit right with me. People didn't simply walk into my territory after midnight unless they had a damn good reason, and the fact that she'd come here claiming her father had been taken made the whole thing smell wrong.

“How old is she?” I asked, my voice tightening.

“Twelve, maybe thirteen,” Luca replied, shifting his weight. “Hard to tell under the dirt and tears. She wouldn't give a name. Just kept saying she needed the Don.”

My jaw tightened as I gave it a quick thought. In my world, innocent-looking things were rarely innocent. What if someone was using her to test my perimeter?

“Where is she?”

“Outside.”

I headed for the front door, Luca following close behind.

The moment I stepped outside, the cool night air brushed against my face. She stood a few feet away, small and visibly shaken, clutching a folded piece of paper against her chest with both hands.

When she saw me, her tear-streaked face changed immediately.

“Are you Mr. Volkov?”

I nodded, studying her. Her clothes were rumpled, her cheeks wet, and her breath coming in shallow gasps. She looked like a child forced to age a decade in a single night.

“My father asked me to give you this.”

She held out the folded piece of paper with trembling fingers. “He was taken tonight. He told me to come here.”

I took the paper but didn't open it yet.

“How did you find this place?”

“I couldn't find a taxi so I ran all the way here.” Her voice cracked. “Please save my daddy, Mr. Volkov.”

I lowered my eyes to the paper and unfolded it.

The moment I saw the name, my fingers went still.

Carlos. One of my men. I had planted him as a spy in the Alvarez syndicate months ago. Dario was their Don. Could it be he found out?

But another question bothered me more.

Why had Carlos never mentioned a daughter? He knew how dangerous it was in our world to keep a family.

I folded the paper slowly in my fist.

“Did you see the men who took your father?”

She shook her head, tears gathering in her eyes again.

“No. They were all wearing black masks.”

I stared at her for a moment before turning to Luca.

“Get her inside.”

Luca nodded. He walked over to the girl and murmured something I couldn't hear. She gave a small nod and followed him inside.

I watched her go, her head bowed as she walked. There was something weighed down in the way she carried herself, like whatever she'd seen outside these walls was still clinging to her.

I turned to one of the men stationed at the gate. Antonio. He was the one who had brought her in.

“How did the girl get here?” I asked.

“She was running like someone was chasing her.” Antonio replied. “She was already crying when she came to the gate.”

I nodded and dismissed him with a flick of my finger before turning toward the mansion.

Inside, I headed straight for my study.

I settled into my chair and pulled out a stick of cigarillo. I preferred it to cigarettes. After lighting the end, I drew in a slow breath and let the smoke drift from my mouth, curling lazily toward the ceiling.

My gaze settled on the gun resting on the massive oak table.

I leaned back, letting the tobacco burn between my fingers as my mind returned to the girl.

A few minutes later, the door opened and Luca stepped into the study.

I lifted my eyes to him and tapped the tobacco against the ashtray, knocking loose the gray ash clinging to its tip.

“Did she say anything?”

“No, Don.” Luca shook his head. “She looks too frightened. What do we do with her?”

I said nothing for a moment. Fear could be genuine. But it could also be an excellent disguise.

Before I dismissed her as another problem, I needed to know whether she was telling the truth. Carlos had never mentioned having a daughter to me. Not once.

“Carlos’s house has a CCTV camera on his street, right?”

“Yes, Don.”

“Get the hacker on it. I want every piece of CCTV footage from the last thirty minutes.”

Luca nodded and pulled out his phone as he walked toward the door. By the time he stepped into the hallway, he was already making the call.

I remained by the desk for another moment before pushing myself out of the chair.

The floor-to-ceiling windows stretched across the far wall, giving me an unobstructed view of the grounds. The full moon hung above the trees, pale and perfectly round, washing the estate in a cold silver glow.

A beautiful night for bloodshed.

“Boss, we pulled the street CCTV. But it wasn't clean.” Luca announced as he stepped back into the study, his voice carrying a note of urgency

I narrowed my eyes. “Explain.”

“Dario’s tech crew must have known about the primary angle; it was looped thirty minutes before the snatch.” He explained.

“But we managed to salvage a partial frame from an independent dashcam down the block.” Luca turned his phone toward me. “The resolution is trash, Boss. But look at the jawline of the man holding the rear door.”

I squinted at the grainy pixelation. A man in black hauling Carlos into a van, and for a split second, his mask slipped down. A sharp, jagged scar tracing from ear to chin.

Russell. The person who always cleaned up Dario’s mess. That motherfucker. My fingers tightened around the device.

Dario must have found out Carlos was a spy and wanted to use him to send a message.

I dropped the cigarillo into the ashtray and left the study.

“Get the car ready.” I handed the phone back to Luca. “We're bringing him in for some questions.”