Chapter Two

Chapter Two

#Ibwt

The room was dark with only a faint candle propped up the window sill. Empty dust buckets sat at the corner of the room close to a heavy bout of chains. There was a table, a huge oak table that extended from one cranny of the room to the other with one chair reserved for the boss himself. Alex Maldov called it his ‘playroom.’

He toyed with the crowbar on the table, admiring the craftsmanship of his blacksmith who imprinted the initials ‘A.M’ on it when the reverie of Olivia flashed through his mind again. Her beautiful blue eyes made a mark in his mind, he felt a tingling sensation just thinking of his plans towards the bellè.

Charles Camden was ushered in by Marco who growled in his ear to scare him a little bit, Alex sent his guard a haughty glare telling him to leave the room. The door shut loudly, sending Charles into a state of panic as the room was all too familiar to a person who was in bad terms with Alex Maldov. His eyes darted towards the crowbar on the table leaving his throat as dry as a desert.

“Sit.” Alex said calmly in a firm tone.

He glanced around the faintly lit room for a chair, “There’s no—

“I said sit.” Alex’s voice, more firm.

Charles knew better than to defy someone as dangerous as Maldov. Gently he lowered his stance, crouching to sit on the damp concrete which made Alex smile. His fear grew stronger by the minute with both his hands entwined, like a toddler waiting for his grandmother’s stories of old.

Alex finally stood up, strode to the other side of the table and propped himself up at the edge— a casual stance but however still menacingly dreadful to Charles, who was unsure of what was to happen.

“You’ve been ignoring me Charles.”

He stammered, “I have….i am trying my best to—

“You broke the Omertà.” Alex cut him off as he took out a cigarette from his breast pocket, placing it over the candle to light it up, “You made me lose a lot of money, and you know how much I don’t play with my money Charles.”

Charles gulped hard, palm already sweaty and fidgeting like he was bound to have a seizure, “I was set up. All I wanted was to save my company from ruin.”

Alex smirked lightly, he veered closer to the man, brandishing the cigarette in front of him he blew a bout of smoke on his face, “The Vig’s gone up. You owe me twenty one million now…..technically twenty million and a couple grand since your daughter came in earlier to pay your debt.”

“My daughter?!!” Charles’s eyes widened at the mention of Olivia.

“Yes your daughter,” Alex muttered as he went back to his seat, “Really beautiful legs I might add.”

Damn Olivia, Charles thought. He warned her to stay away from this but her hardheaded self just had to get involved. As her father he tried his best to hide the news of the debt he racked up for the company, but she walked in on him tending to a sharp bruise after being pummeled by Maldov’s henchman—hitting him on the chest and crying exasperatedly for putting the family in such a dilemma, now he was in even bigger trouble because of her interference.

“Please Maldov..Olivia is—

“I want her for my wife.”

Charles blinked exasperatedly, “Surely you don’t expect me to give you my daughter in return for forgiveness…do you??”

Alex smiled, “See that’s what I love about you Big C. You’re a quick learner—yes I want Olivia for a wife. I want her to be the mother of my children and to warm my bed every night. It’s your daughter or nothing Charles.”

It was the biggest mistake of his life, taking a loan from not only the mafia—but the most dangerous mafia organization in the city who everyone revered. Alex Maldov wasn’t a man who took no for an answer, he was also a man who made sure his debts were collected in full.

“I can sell my home. It’s worth a few million.”

“No.”

“Please Maldov,” He pleaded, both hands clasped tightly, “She’s all I have. I can’t have her sucked into this—

“What?”

He went mute. Alex smiled as he grabbed a crowbar from his side of the table, slowly he got up and lunged towards Charles who closed his eyes tightly and turned away from the ghastly sight. He laughed manically, disposing of the tool by a hurl and crouched low to his future father-in-law.

He cupped Charles’s rigid cheeks with both his palm, brushing it slightly with the brunt of his thumb, his presence more menacing than ever as Charles wished he was hit with the crowbar instead, “I want Olivia Charles.”

“Wh- What if I refuse??”

Alex shrugged, “Your daughter would have a body to bury…and I would still have her all to myself.”

*********

She paced back and forth in her father’s study, waiting patiently for his arrival as he was getting late. The chiming of the clock made her heart almost skip a beat, annoyedly and glanced at the antiqued piece of time which still hung on by a thread—the petals from two to three were already broken, the wood was worn out and she just noticed how foggy the glass was.

It took her father announcing to the family that they were in debt for her to realize a lot of things—how old the curtains were, how dusty the china was and how every house staff left one by one just because they couldn’t pay. She lived in a big house and yet still felt poor, being in the mafia’s debt didn’t make it any easier, and when he told her the truth she knew they were in more ruin.

Alex’s Maldov’s eyes still haunted her—so pure and yet so dangerous, even about him made her shudder and she slumped to the couch in a bid of frustration. He made her blood boil, with the way he called her beautiful—it irked her spirit, made her feel like she was some prey waiting to be eaten.

Just then her father walked into the room, interrupting her thoughts as she jolted upright. Something was off. He looked colder than usual, older than usual even—Charles Camden wasn’t a man of great looks but he was attractive for his age, tonight he looked like a shadow of his old self.

“Dad??”

“You’re here.”

”I am”

Silence followed. Olivia frowned.

“Whet happened to you?” She asked as she rose to her feet at the notice of the bruise on his neck, “Did he?? Did he do this to you?”

Charles pursed his lips lightly as he took his daughter’s hand in his, “Olivia we have to talk.”