Chapter 2

Lana

I blinked thrice.

Two. Fucking. Million. Dollars. Lana.

I can't even raise a grand, how much more for two million?

My eyes gaze at my father. I can't believe he could've borrowed a huge sum of money as if it wasn't hard to pay for it!

“Tell me what you did for that huge amount of money, Dad.” I asserted, my voice crackling whilst waiting for an answer.

I tried to make eye contact with my father, yet he debunked all attempts I initiated. “I… I—” he couldn't speak for himself.

“He gambled it,” a man who was at my right affirmed, “you think I don't know?”

“Tell me the truth, Dad,” I muttered while my voice began to faint.

His head went down—utterly speechless. His muteness alone speaks for the truth I’ve been dying to hear.

“How could you borrow 2 million, Ymil? That's too much!” My mother's voice was astounded. .

My throat went dry. No wonder he has the nerve to borrow because he has me they can take when my father can’t pay.

“You gambled it?”

My father groaned, he couldn't pull his shit together as he spoke. “Y-yes. I was thinking I can double it if—”

“Enough.” The man from my right side cut my father off mid sentence. “We're not here to play games. We gave you enough time but you don't seem to pay attention. We're taking this daughter of yours now.”

I squealed when he pulled my hair out of the blue, the roughness of his palms touched my skin which sent shivers down my spine. I tried to set myself free but his grip was too much to the point I'm punching his chest for freedom.

Not until the commotion inside our house won't stop, and a ballistic, yet authoritative voice from behind appeared, making the whole living room fall into a deep silence when we heard a voice coming from a tall, lean man.

“Why the fuck is everyone taking so long?” he muttered with his tone almost eating us all.

In spite of a second, my father's knees began trembling the moment a man came out from the darkness. His features bear a thumb mark of obscurity, a face of a bull with strong courage and authority that can cease the room beneath, and the man's presence alone commands the behavior of his men around.

A low groan came out from my lips when two more goons pulled me closer whilst holding my both arms, forcing me to kneel after their boss.

“They are being tough to manage, Don Salvatore” The man who was holding me spoke.

My eyes drifted at the man he's pertaining to as his boss.

S-Salvatore?

Salvatore Mancini. The mafia king, the cold, stoic, and ruthless mafia boss, the head of the biggest mafia in the country and the King of the Underground is now standing across me, his eyes never leaving my direction.

I stared at the man clamped with a three-pieced suit, a man who has a clean haircut, puffing a tobacco in his hands whilst he was fiercely penetrating my soul through his locked eyes on me.

He's hot, I'll give him that. Young they say, but his features says he's a little older, he has a daddy body, a well built man, and someone who can crush you in just a single gaze.

‘Holy fuck.’ I muttered to myself upon recognizing the man across.

I noticed he wasn't blinking. His gaze shows something I can't read whether it's amusement, concern, longing or disbelief. He's far from a person I can read, well what else do I expect of a guarded and calculative person. He’s no ordinary.

Our eyes locked with each other. Minutes had passed and Salvatore had never left his gaze off from me as if he saw a ghost he shouldn't see.

And suddenly, my father began crawling to his knees whilst both his dirty hands were holding the hem of Salvatore's sleeves, pleading.

“P-Please… I’m gonna pay. I promise I won't ditch you. Just don't take my daughter, Salvatore. They are all I got!”

Salvatore's voice drifted at my father. “Your debt is long overdue. You and I had an agreement yet despite multiple attempts to follow up… you ran.”

He paused. Salvatore's eyes gaze on me for the second time, and I feel like I'm gonna melt any moment from now!

“Take him.” Salvatore coldly enunciated.

Just a single command from him and his goons are already moving. They began holding my father from both of his arms while I remained a few inches away trying to find a solution in the deepest part of my brain.

“Wait!” I stopped them.

All their eyes went on me.

“S-Salvatore…” I enunciated solemnly, my eyes can't meet his burning gaze otherwise I'd drown in a blaze full of fire.

Salvatore tilted his head. “So you know me?” He then nibbled his lower lip, his jaw began protruding. There was a hint of hope and shock beneath his dark voice.

“O-of course. Who won't know a notorious person like you?” Damn, hold your tongue if you still want to live, Lana! “Let my parents live. I promise to settle our debts by the end of the month. All I need is enough time.”

I may sound desperate, but what is dignity when you're at the verge of death, your family facing catastrophe you had not anticipated?

The moment my life comes crashing down, my dignity and self respect goes with it, and I don't really mind kneeling for the sake of my parents who worked day and night to have me.

Salvatore gave me an amused look, but something beneath the facades lies a grief he won't let anyone see but me.

For once, Salvatore craned his neck and said, “I’m gonna ask you one last time. Do you know me?”

I don't understand what he's trying to imply, but my whole body is trembling from fear while I try to divert my gaze elsewhere. The fierceness of his eyes he has is somehow making me stall curiosity amidst the tension happening.

“Every person in this city bows their head to you. H-have mercy, let go of my Dad just this once… and I swear not to mess up with you again.” I stuttered but I conveyed my messages beneath.

He scoffed. A faint of disappointment and longing crept to his face. My statement seemed to displease him as if he's waiting for me to say a word he's been anticipating.

“How can you pay two million?” he paused, his palms turned into a fist, pissed for unknown reason. “You claim to settle, but you don't seem to possess even a grand. The fastest way to close our deal is to kill.”