The Mafia Boss's Rose

Chapter 11 - Ariella

Why didn't he kiss me? I don't like him, I know that it'll be the end of me before I let him be so damn possessive over me. I'm my own free woman! I have rights and he doesn't get to just whisp those away whenever he feels like it. How am I going to get away from him?
I was so entrenched in my own thoughts that I almost missed the shadow. After I had left the gym, I had gone back to the pier to clear my mind, two of Demetri's men following about twenty feet behind. Far enough to give me space but they weren't actually close enough to try and save me. I knew that but clearly they didn't. I'm too lazy to try and loose them tonight.
"Move and I'll kill you." I'm keeping my
head down, my back turned to the men following me.
"Mhm, isn't that what they all say." A soft chuckle escaped the person hiding in the dark part of the park. The sun had fully set 30 minutes ago so that gave him many places to hide but I knew he wasn't the only person stalking me at the moment. Many of his men are be hiding in the woods, I can almost feel their presence.
"You should be at home," I stop walking to pinpoint his location to the northeast of me.
"I'm home where I'm living right now." My answer causes him to laugh softly.
"With men following your every move and people trying to kill you? Home is where your family is." If I could see him, I know that he would be raising an eyebrow.
"Well then I suppose I don't have a home." I start walking again.
"You always have a home, you have a beautiful family, why leave that in order to walk into danger?"
"Because I got sick of the life at home! Okay?" I didn't yell but rather threw my hands up in the air to make my point.
"You're men are giving you a look like you have two heads."
"I wonder why. At this rate everyone will think I'm nuts." Just as I said it, I took a step into the moonlight which would put me too far from them for their comfort. So, being the fearless men I suspect these men of being, they step out into the moonlight. At least ten of them. I look at all of them, staring them down each individually and then I look back at the man who had been I assume had been talking,
"You seriously need 10 men to catch me?" I take in his appearance, he's pale with black hair and soft eyes.
"Yes, have you seen your training?" I roll my eyes and look back at the two men who had been following me. I see their eyes go wide and they start running towards me but being them, they followed at a distance that was too far.
"So, where are we going?" I ask out of curiosity. My life's full of adventures.
"Follow me." As I follow, his appearance stands out in the moonlight. His short black hair glistens in the light, bold tattoos and his broad shoulders must make people shake in their boots. He's a trained fighter, maybe even in some of those underground rings.
"Have you ever fought in one of the underground rings?"
"Your questions are gonna get you killed."
"Too many people have tried that already, so have you?"
"Yes."
"Ooo we should spar sometime, see what you're made of. I just wish it wasn't so bloody." He stops and faces me, his eyes dark because of the night.
"Where you're going is especially bloody."
"Then why are we having a civil conversation?"
"Because it's your choice about whether or not you work for me. If you choose to, then where you're going will have lots of fruit and a nice breakfast table. If not, it'll be a cold dark, bloody basement. Do you understand me?"
"Loud and clear captain." I fake salut him and he gives me a weird look and I shrug. "So what does working for you entail?"
"Spying on Demetri."
"That's it?"
"Yeah."
"You're the second person to ask me that." He looks at me sideways.
"The first?"
"Cop." I respond as we walk up to a limousine. I hop in the back and he climbs in and sits across from me.
"Well, will you do it?"
"Will I do what? You haven't given me anything to go off of. Who are you? What do you want to know? What am I expecting to find? What isn't important enough to tell you? How do I contact you? The list goes on."
"You want to know what's great about this ordeal?" My annoyed expression meets his infuriatingly smug look.
"I have a feeling that it is only great for you."
"Mhm that's true." He smiles, "this is a life or death situation so I don't have to answer a single question if I don't want to, your life depends on risk. You're taking a risk by saying yes because if you don't say yes blindly, then I'll have to kill you."
"I'd be lying if I said yes because how do I know that I can actually do it?"
"You can do it."
"I don't know that."
"Name of the game." I lift an eyebrow in a, 'are you serious right now' and his answer is a smug smile. I roll my eyes and rub my face with my palms.
"Then no." His shocked expression doesn't surprise me.
"No?"
"No. I'm not taking a blind risk and I'm most certainly not a snitch. Besides that, this wouldn't be the first time I've walked into this sort of trouble and if I don't die tonight, I guarantee it won't be my last."
"My boss is going to love you."
"I'm sure he already does." He shakes his head and tells the driver to go to an old abandon warehouse outside of the city.
"So who's going to do the torture." My expression emotionless as I stare out the window and watch the city start to drift behind me.
"What makes you think it won't be me?"
"The look in your eyes. You were going to try to convince your boss that it would be a better option for me to spy on Demetri but your boss was smart enough to know I wouldn't go for that."
"Your smart." I turn and face him as he turns towards me.
"No," I turn back to the window, "I've just seen it before."
"Someone's tortured you before?"
"Yes." I never stop looking out the window, I can feel his curious and inquisitive gaze on me for a few minutes.
"Staring at me won't answer you questions."
"Who did it?"
"Does it really matter?"
"No I suppose not." The drive takes a long time, leaving the city and entering the country side. We finally pull up to an abandoned warehouse, a little shed littering the yard. It looks like people from the military have spent time training here.
"Nice place." I say as I step out of limousine.
"Not really." I roll my eyes,
"It was sarcasm." He nods his head slightly, I follow him into the giant warehouse. The feeling of a gun pressed against my skull being the only reason I follow.