Chapter Three

Niko's POV

She stared at me like she was a deer caught in headlights. The poor thing had no idea what she had just gotten herself into.

“You can’t be serious.” She sprinted out of her seat. I could hear her breathing. Hard. “First, you point a gun at my father’s head because, according to you, he killed your father.” She said that part in air quotes as she paces frantically.

“Then…you want me to give you a child…As some kind of payment or payback? I don’t even know which.”

“Maybe a bit of both.” I enjoyed watching her as she had a meltdown, so I sat back and relaxed.

“You’re insane if you think I would ever sleep with you. Let alone have your child.” She was feisty, I liked that about her, but it was also giving me a headache.

Her deep blue eyes darkened, and I couldn’t help but notice that even with sweatpants on and her hair up in a messy bun, she had the most striking features.

Perfect for my offspring, if you ask me.

“It’s simple, Soph.” I started.

“Sophia.” She bit my head off immediately. A bit of a turn on, if you ask me.

I let out a low chuckle, “Well…It’s simple. Sophia.” I pause, “I’m not going to force you to sleep with me, or do anything you don’t want to do. I’m not a monster.” 

She let out a defiant scoff, and I raised my eyebrows at her audacity. She doesn’t give in, her gaze remains on me.

I could tell she hated me, or maybe she was scared. Either way, this was the way my world worked.

Hate and fear were the currencies required of a leader. It was the currency required to keep my Bratva in line. And I had no doubt it was what would keep her in line, eventually.

“Just answer this question.” She walks a step closer with her hands planted firmly across her waist. “If my father really killed your father as you claim, why would you want me to give you a child? Do you not see how messed up that is?” She yelled. 

I let out a sigh. Now one raises their voice at me and goes scott free, but I was giving her a period of grace.

I got off the couch in one swift movement, and she instantly took a huge step back.

She was terrified of me. I mean, it was understandable because I had just dragged her out of her home after holding her father at gunpoint.

To be honest? It would have been so easy to kill him, but she was right, taking her was a much better deal. A trade-off, if you will. 

I still wanted to shoot a bullet through Stefan Rossi’s skull, but for now, she would have to do.

“Listen carefully, Sophia. Your father’s actions destroyed everything my father had spent his years working for, including his bloodline. Now, thanks to you, I will get an heir to keep the bloodline going, and in exchange, your father’s life is spared.” 

“And if I say no?” 

“Then you’re free to go.”

“And my father?” She asks, but deep down, she knows the answer to that question.

She lets out a trembling sigh, turning her back on me as she continues to pace the room.

“If it makes you feel any better, your father is just a puzzle piece in this whole story. The people responsible for my father’s death will get what’s coming to them, but before I make them pay, I need to make sure the family name lives on…for my father.”

She stops dead in her tracks, turning around with her eyes brimming with what I imagine are hot, angry tears.

“So you admit that my father had nothing to do with your father’s death?”

I clenched my jaw. I hated talking about this. “I didn’t say that. Your father was a pawn, a hit man. The middle man who made it all happen.” I count my words; it’s the only thing stopping me from breaking down the walls with my fist. “The people who made the call are…were my father’s rivals, now they’re mine.”

“Please just let me go. You don’t have to do this.” She pleaded. 

I took one step towards her, and she took one step back. Till there was nowhere left to go, and her back was against the wall. 

My fingers slowly traced the line of tears coming down her cheek, and she flinched at my touch. 

“I’m not going to hurt you, Sophia.”

“But you’ll hurt my father? If I don’t give you what you want?” She yelled, her voice trembling.

I watched her quietly. Her eyes were filled with some kind of strength.

I knew she had some strength to her. I had watched her for months as she worked her ass off at the rundown coffee shop blocks away from her father’s house. 

There was something about her that drew me in and infuriated me all at once. She got to grow up with her father, and I lost the chance to grow up with mine because of her pathetic father.

“You’re free to go,” I whispered in her ear. The smell of her hair caught in the air as she shivered against me. “But you should know…your father knew exactly what I wanted when he let you offer yourself to me.” Her breath hitched; I could hear it.

“The second my men knocked the door down. He had no problem selling you out to save himself.”

I pulled away as she broke down silently in tears. 

She was frozen in place as I turned to leave the room.