Forbidden Claim: A Mafia King’s Obsession

Chapter 21: You killed him

Nadia’s POV

The ballroom is laced with a suffocating air and the scent of expensive perfume and aged whiskey. To everyone else, Lorenzo Romano is the epitome of a powerful , ruthless leader of the Romano empire — untouchable, magnificent and totally in control. But, to me, he is a living nightmare. The feeling of his fingers still burns against my skin.

Two hours into the gala, I play my part. I smile until my cheeks ache. My fingers wrap tightly around the champagne glass and I can feel them getting numb.

“Stay here,” Lorenzo’s voice slices through my thoughts, low and dripping with authority. He doesn’t look at me as he speaks, his dark , predatory eyes roams around, scanning the crowd while twirling the liquid in his glass. “I have business to attend to with with a client. Do not move from this spot, Nadia. If I come back and find out that you moved an inch, the consequences will make your little phobia the least of your worries.”

Without waiting for a reply, he shoves his empty glass to a passing waiter and melts away into the crowd, his commanding figure vanishing behind a set of double doors. Air rushes back into my lungs, but it wasn’t enough. It feels like the walls of the ballroom is closing in on me. The whispers of the guests, the glistening chandelier, the clinking of crystal glasses. It is just too much.

I need to escape this overload before I suffer a panic attack right on the glistening marble floors. A few minutes more, I say to myself, my hands trembling as I set my untouched glass down on the table. He said he was meeting with a client. It will take time.

Ignoring the warning bells jiggling in the corners of my mind, I slip through the edges of the crowd, avoiding the main entrance where his guards stood like stone statues. Instead, I found a narrow corridor near the back of the venue.it leads past the grand hallway and out through a heavy, wrought-iron service door.

The cool night air hit my face the moment the heavy door click shut behind me. I take in deep shaky breaths, the scent of damp earth filling my senses.

I stand at the rear of the palace which faces a stone walkway that bleeds into a dark, unlit forest at the edge of the palace. I take a few steps down the stone path, wrapping my arms tightly around my waist. The silence out here is an absolute opposite to the roaring noise inside. I shut my eyes, letting the breeze calm the feverish heat of my skin. And, for just a brief second, I can almost pretend I am free.

Suddenly, a sickening, wet thud echoes through the darkness. I freeze, my eyes snap open, my breath getting stuck in my throat.

“Please — I beg you, Enzo,” a choked whisper begs from the shadows ahead, just after the turn of a massive fountain. “I didn’t sell the ledger. I swear on my life, it wasn’t me—“

“You lie to me,” a chilling, smooth and familiar detached voice interrupts.

Lorenzo.

Every instinct screams at me to turn back and run to the safety of the ballroom, but my feet is glued to the stone path. Terror grips me whole, paralyzing me to the spot. Slowly, against every vein screaming RUN! I crept closer to the edge of the fountain, peering around the stone carving. Under the moonlight, I could see everything clearly.

A man — one of the high ranking officials I had seen whispering in the ballroom earlier — is on his knees, his face bloody and battered. Standing over him and looking entirely unbothered is Lorenzo. His jacket is off, his white shirt sleeves are rolled up to his elbow, revealing the dark tattoos winding up his forearms.

“I was loyal, Enzo!” the man sobs, blood dripping from his chin to the ground.

“You gave my secrets to the Lucchese family,” Lorenzo corrects softly. His tone so casual, so horrifying, it makes a wave of nausea hit my chest. He reaches into his waistband and pulls out a sleek , black silencer equipped pistol. “And in my world, betrayal carries only one currency.”

Lorenzo reaches out to the man’s neck and drags out his necklace, pulling it off his neck and forcefully shoving it into his mouth. “Open up,” he growls.

The man obeys and opens his mouth, allowing Lorenzo put every inch of the golden-chained necklace into his mouth. “There…” Lorenzo purrs.

“No, Please… Lorenzo, wait—“

Thwip.

The man’s muffled voice suddenly goes silent as Lorenzo shoots him. The sound is totally quiet, a muted puff of air.

Then, another sound follows, and another, in the same spot. Lorenzo shoots the man three times. A neat, dark hole appears right between the man’s eyes, his body goes completely limp, collapsing face flat onto the ground with a final, heavy thud.

A panicked scream escapes from my throat before I can stop it. My hand flies to my mouth, but the rustle of my dress against the stone gives me away. Within a fraction of a second, Lorenzo’s head snaps toward my direction, his dark eyes entirely void of humanity locks onto mine.

“Nadia,” he murmurs, his voice a low, guttural purr.

My heart stops. Without thinking about anything else, I turn on my heels and try to flee the scene. The high heels and the gown are the least of my worries — I just run blindly back toward the palace doors. But I am no match for him. Before I can even reach halfway point of the path, an iron grip clamps down the fabric of my dress at the shoulder, tearing it slightly as I am violently jerked backward.

“Let go of me! Let go!” I shriek, kicking and thrashing against him.

Lorenzo didn’t utter a word. His face a mask of pure, undiluted fury. He catches both of my wrists in one of his massive hands, crushing them together and dragging me down a side path away from the palace, toward a secluded parking lot where his armored sedan sat in the shadows.

“LORENZO, PLEASE!… PLEASE!”

“I DIDN’T SEE ANYTHING!”

“I SWEAR!”

I screamed, begging as tears finally spill over my lashes. My phobia is screaming. Every nerve ending in my body on fire from the forceful, aggressive contact.

“DON’T TOUCH ME!”

“LET ME GO!”

“I SWEAR I DIDN’T SEE ANYTHING!”

My screams get louder as he throws open the rare door of the black sedan and shoves me inside with brutal force. I scramble across the leather seat, trying to reach the opposite door, but he lunges in after me , slamming the door shut behind him.

“I ordered you not to move,” he growls, his voice a terrifying rumble that rattles my bones. He pins my shoulders to the leather seat, his massive frame hovering over me, trapping me under him. “I stated clearly the consequences of disobeying me, piccola.”

“You…” I gasp, my throat entirely dry from screaming. I look up at his expressionless face, my voice shaky from terror. “You killed him. You shot him in cold blood…”

“I did. He was a rat. And you are a disobedient little brat who needs to learn her place.”