4

"There she is, my beautiful daughter." Dad said dramatically to a man he was talking to when his eyes landed on me.

"Father," I greeted, ignoring the man who he was speaking to, "We need to talk."

He nodded before dismissing the guy, "I'll see you around." The dude nodded before walking away. He then turned to me and gave me his full attention, "Yes?"

"How do I proceed with the plan?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Seduce Ares. Have sex with him for all I care but-" he paused, pointing a finger at me, "-you gotta get him under your skin. Toy with him." I clenched my jaw at his words even though it didn't shock me. I knew he'd say something like that.

"Then what?" I asked fighting the urge to plant a bullet in his old asshole. I hated that man so freaking much.

"Then you fucking kill him!" He exclaimed, quickly clearing his throat when he noticed a few eyes on him. He glanced down at the floor, turning his voice down, "It won't be an easy job. You have to make him trust you for that. You have one week, sweetheart."

"One week is too short. I need more time, he's the damn Mafia king for fuck's sake," I responded with a groan.

"Fine then, you have two weeks!" Noah replied which made me roll her eyes, like I can change hell to heaven in two weeks.a

"You do know that there'll be consequences, verno?" I raised my brows at him, waiting for a reply.

"Of course I know!" He brought his hands to his tie before loosening it a little, "but once you take down that son of a bitch, our men will kill his entire family as well as army. Then we-" he pointed to him then to me, "-we'll become first! I'll be the mafia King and you'll be the mafia princess. Then you'll take over when I retire. Don't you want that, Alexia?"

No I don't. I just wanted a simple and normal life. Podal'she ot vsego etogo der'ma.' [Away from all this shit.] But it's like I said, I had no choice in the matter.a

"Alexia! Don't you want that?" He asked again, a hint of frustration in his voice. He hated repeating himself.

"Of course I do, father." I replied, lying through my teeth but my reply made him grin, "Khoroshiy. Tebe luchshe pristupit' k etoy chertovoy rabote."

"I am already on it."

"Alexia, dear goddess! You look splendid!" Liza's annoying voice rang in my ears as she came and stood next to my father who rested his hand on the back of her waist.

"I know I do." I coldly replied, my eyes falling on Dana who was adjusting her hair. I looked down at her dress with a frown. She was wearing a 'dress'-If I could call it that-which was missing a lot of pieces.

"Did you accidentally cut your dress or did your dress designer die?" I asked with my brows raised, not bothering to hide my distaste in her choice of dress.

"Shut up!" She whined, looking at my dad, "Dad, look at her, she's insulting both me and my dress! Am I not looking nice?"

He cleared his throat and said, "Uh-Yeah, you're looking nice." He blinked a few times before looking at his watch, fixing it constantly.

"Thank you daddy!" Dana smirked then fixed her eyes on me, "See? He said that I'm looking sexy." I glanced at dad whose head shot up, "I never said that." Ignoring him, Dana smirked at me, "Look how many men are watching me!" I rolled my eyes at her words. That's all she cared about; men.

"The whole Ivanov family," said an unfamiliar voice, "What a pleasant surprise!" I turned my head and saw an older man, wearing a silver suit and next to him, stood a woman who was shorter than him, wearing a purple strapless dress with her hair tied in a bun. I recognized the man as James D'souza and his wife, Amanda, the hosts of this event.

"James, Amanda, thank you for inviting us." Dad said as he shook James hands and kissed Amanda on the back of her hand.

"Thank you for coming. Isn't this Alexia?" James asked, giving me a soft smile.

"The one and only," I replied, extending my hand for the man to shake which he did.

"The most dangerous woman in the mafia world," he mused, "never thought you'd come." James spoke with a huge smile on his face. My eyes automatically flickered to my dad who was wearing a smile on his face.

"I've heard a lot about you, dear. I've heard that you're a dangerous beauty." Amanda said and chuckled as we shook hands.

"Where's he?" James asked his wife who shrugged, "I guess he went to meet this best friend since he's here. You know how these two are. Inseparable."

"He? Who?" Dad asked curiously.

"Our son, Xavier." James replied to which dad nodded, "I'd like to meet him."

"Hello, my dearest parents!" A guy spoke loudly as he approached his parents along with a very familiar person beside him.

"Speak of the devil." James mumbled as he and his wife smiled at who I assumed was their son, Xavier.

My eyes fell on the guy who was standing next to him, Ares. Amanda turned and stared at Xavier with a frown, "look at you, you're already a mess!" She said as she fixed his hair. Xavier rolled his eyes at his mother.

I could feel someone's burning gaze on me making me look at the person. Ares's eyes were fixed on me and our eyes connected. He had green captivating eyes. I didn't realize that I was staring openly at him until someone cleared their throat, snapping us both our of our dazes.

I glanced at Xavier who smirked at Ares when he glared at him. Xavier then shot me a wink which I ignored.

"Son, meet Noah Ivanov, his daughter Dania and his wife Lea." James introduced which made me bit my lip to hold in a laugh which was threatening to come out, "And this is Alexia."

"Actually—" Dana interjected, correcting, "my name is Dana and her name is Liza."

"Right. My apologies." James apologized but his tone was anything but apologetic.

"Pleasure to meet you Mrs Ivanov." Xavier said to Liza who smiled, "Likewise."

"Oh my goodness! What is this woman wearing?" Xavier stared at Dana with his eyes wide opened.

"A dress, sweetheart." Dana replied seductively. She wasn't ashamed to add, "It is soo revealing that your hands can get inside easily."

Xavier cleared his throat and said, "I don't have any intention to put my hands inside anything. I—I'm going to get a drink." He then flashed me a warming smile before walking away.

"We meet again, bella." Ares spoke up, looking at me making me roll my eyes, "It's been thirty minutes since our last meeting, Salvatore."

"Pretty long time, don't you think?" Ares asked with a smirk.

"Indeed," I mumbled, deciding to play along which made him smirk even wider.

A hand was extended in front of Ares. He looked down at the hand and we saw that it was Dana who wanted him to shake her hand.

Dana flashed him a huge seductive smile, "I am Dana Ivanov."

Ignoring her hand and her comment, he looked at me, "Want to grab a drink, love?"

"Sure." I replied, earning a nod from him in response. He then grabbed my hands in his and began walking in the direction of the bar with me beside him.

"Is she your own sister?" He asked which made me groan, "Honesty? I have no idea."

"Do you want some wine?" I nodded and he ordered two glass of wine which was served instantly.

I grabbed my glass and brought it to my lips, ready to take a sip.

"How old are you?"

"How old do I look like I am?" I asked back which made him shrug, "I don't know. Forty?"

"Very funny," I let out a humourless laugh which lasted a few seconds before I rolled my eyes.

"Will you tell me or should I find out?" He asked to which I replied, "I was born two years after you."

"You're twenty four." He stated making me hum, nodding my head in his direction, "and you're twenty six."

"You know a lot about me." He mused as I spared him a glance before returning to my glass, "more than you could ever imagine."

"Then you must also know size of my d—" I cut him off, "I don't and I don't wish to know either. Keep this personal information to yourself."

"Someone is interested in me," Ares said with a teasing tone, "What else does that someone knows about me?"

"You are a very annoying person, you know that?"

"I know," He replied, nodding.

"Ares, baby!"

"From Mafia King to baby—that's new." I snorted resulting in a glare from him as we both turned to look at the person who said that.

"Vanessa," Ares acknowledged the woman with blonde hairs. She was wearing an extremely revealing dress also, reminding me of Dana.

"It's Vandetta." She corrected and I held in a laugh at the name. "Right, Vandetta. What do you want?"

"You know very well what I want." Vandetta replied with a roll of her eyes.

"You know very well that I won't give you what you want." Ares replied coldly, "I'm busy, like you can see. So go away."

"No! Who is this? Is she your new sex toy? Look at her Ares— I'm better than her in every ways!" Vandetta stared at me with disgust present on her face.

"Let me guess," I ignored her comment, "a former one night stand."

After a few seconds of examining her, I spoke up again, "Italian, twenty five years old, you're the daughter of Bernard Vintigo—you look awfully like him. You just had sex, no longer than twenty minutes ago, you were limping. And your natural hair colour is black. You're wearing eye contact, you barely sleep, you did a very bad job while trying to hide those dark circles."

"How the fuck do you even know all that?" She asked in disbelief as I gave her a smirk.