Chapter 5

Seeing him coming closer to her, Esme hurriedly stepped down on the other side of the bed and ran towards the door.

She attempted to open the door to escape but to her utter horror, the door was locked from outside.

Her feet froze.

“You won't listen, will you, Ms. Hadley?” She heard his gravelly voice. Esme turned around and saw him smirking at her. He was finding her vulnerability extremely amusing, which made her clench her fists.

“Open this door right now and tell me where my child is?” She lashed out at him because when it came to her daughter, she could go against anyone or anything, even against this nefarious man in front of her.

He remained silent but that smirk from his face didn't fade.

Esme gritted her teeth.

“Open this door. I want to see my daughter. Open it,” she screamed at him and then turned around. Using every ounce of her strength, Esme tried to break the door but she could not do it. Her palms reddened but the door didn't break in any way.

The tears in her eyes intensified. The dread of seeing her child in any kind of pain was crushing her soul brutally. Esme used more strength to open the door but nothing helped, which made her tear up more.

Chewing on her inner cheeks, she spun around only to find him still standing as he was in his place, which infuriated her. He was responsible for everything and yet he was behaving like he had done nothing?

Storming towards him, Esme grabbed his collar.

“Where is my Elea? Where is my child?” She shouted at him, even after knowing what he had done to her the last time she dared to raise her voice at him, but at that moment, she could not make herself care about anyone or anything, except for her daughter.

“Answer me. Where is my baby?” She broke down into tears while violently pulling onto his collars.

His eyes remained fixed at her face which was completely stained with her own tears. He had never allowed anyone to even touch his feet without his consent but this woman dared grab his collar and yet he didn't feel like ending her life at that moment.

He hated when someone showed their courage and bravery but this woman's courage for her child was not angering him. Instead, her love and her fearlessness for her kid were intensifying his interest in her more and more.

“Tell me…. Please tell me where my Elea is? Please,” her roaring turned into begging as her desperation to see her daughter started overpowering her other emotions. She could not take this anymore. She needed her child. She needed to witness her child completely safe and secured.

His mouth still remained sealed.

Esme shattered in his arms. Her grip started loosening around his collar as she felt her head start throbbing more aggressively now. She could feel the world around her trembling.

“Please tell me….where my child is? Please take me to her. I….I am begging you. Don't hurt my baby. I will do anything…please don't hurt her,” she begged him. Her vision completely blurred with tears. Her whole body started shaking, both in fear and pain.

“Please…. don't hurt my Lea,” she closed her glossy eyes, feeling her head spinning violently. Her body jerked but this time, she felt his arm getting wrapped around her waist to hold her back in her place.

With her half-closed, glossy eyes, she looked at him and saw his gaze still on her. His mouth still didn't part which ignited more tears in her eyes, and then he finally took out his phone from his pant’s pocket and called Calix.

“Bring the kid inside,” he uttered, staring into her teary green eyes which immediately gleamed up with hope the second she heard those words from his mouth, like he had given her back her whole life.

The door opened. Calix stepped inside the door, holding the kid's little hand.

“Mumma….” Elea's cheerful voice resonated in the room. Esme looked at her kid and found her holding a teddy bear in her arms, along with chocolates and other snacks.

The kid ran towards her mother with a big smile on her face, which made Esme immediately kneel down on the floor. She caged her kid in her arms securely.

Tears started falling from her eyes which she tried to hold back in front of her child by tightly squeezing her eyes. 

Standing at his place, the mafia don silently observed how much this woman loved her child. Her tears made him comprehend that her daughter was her whole world. Her kid was her life.

She could do anything for the happiness of her child.

“Baby, are you alright? You didn't get hurt somewhere, right?” Esme cupped her child's face and thoroughly wandered her eyes everywhere on her daughter to make sure she was completely fine.

“Mumma, why are you crying? That uncle said you are sleeping so I should not disturb you,” the kid's face filled with gloominess, seeing her mother crying so much. 

Elea turned her head around and looked at Calix.

“Mumma, this uncle gave me a lot of choco and candies. He even bought me a teddy,” the kid uttered, looking at Calix, who passed her a small and soft smile, which made the kid happy because this uncle had played with her and her teddy bear when her mumma was sleeping.

“He told me he will buy me more toys tomorrow,” Elea revealed to her mother, who still couldn't process anything. She looked at Calix first but then she realised Calix would not be able to do any such things for her child without his approval, so did he tell Calix to look after her kid?

Did he hide his monstrous side from her daughter? But why?

What was going inside his mind?

“Calix, take Ms. Hadley and her daughter back to the manor,” she finally heard his voice, who was standing right behind her.

Esme secured her hold around her kid.

“I am sure she won't go against her own words now,” she heard him.

Esme knew exactly what he meant. She had just told him that she would do anything he wanted if he would bring her child back to her, and now she could not go against her words. He would not let her do it.

Caging her child in her embrace, she stood up on her feet. Turning around, she looked at him, whose grey eyes were already on her.

“I don't believe in giving second chances but yet I am giving it to you just for the sake of your child, so do not make me regret it, Ms. Hadley,” His tone was gentle but the warning in it was clear and unmistakable, which made Esme lower her eyes in submission.

She needed to accept this. She could not dare putting her child's life in any kind of risk anymore.

Luka took a brief glance at both of them before he looked at Calix.

“Take them back,” he ordered Calix and then attempted to walk past the mother-daughter duo when suddenly he felt an extremely gentle grip on his shirt.

His feet automatically paused.

The mafia boss turned around only to find his maid's little daughter gripping his shirt in her tiny fist, and for the first time, he witnessed the kid's icy grey eyes staring into his pale-silver ones, which shivered something inside him for a split second.

Esme's whole body clenched in fear, seeing her daughter grasping his shirt to stop that man, whom her child had always prayed and hoped to meet.

Her father….her papa.

Would he now recognise that Elea was a part of his?