In Love With The Mafia King

~Unravel: Part2~

“The name of the casino you gambled at is Royal Casino, right?” Ophelia turned to my mother, who gave a slight nod of her head to show her agreement. At least she showed a bit of remorse for what she had done.

A raised brow directed at Ophelia, I asked her, “What does the name of the Casino have to do with this?”

“Do you know Miss Becky? The one who always jokes about you marrying her son?”

I nodded to show I knew who she was talking about, then waited to hear what she had to say.

“Well,” Ophelia continued, “she works for the owners of the Royal Casino.”

Even more confused about what that had to do with us, I asked, “Okay? What does Miss Becky working at the Casino have to do with me saving Manuèl from that man who came to the supermarket?”

Ophelia rolled her eyes at me, not understanding what she meant. “Royal Casino is under Royal Holdings, and we all know who owns it.” She gave me a pointed look. “Miss Becky works for them. We can ask her to talk to the owner of the casino. She’s his nanny. Well, she takes care of him. She has taken care of him since he was a child up till now and is the only parent figure he has since he lost his parents. She can help us if we-”

“Alright!” Hope began to build inside of me as Ophelia spoke. We can’t waste any more time. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go and meet her this instant.”

During the chaos earlier, I had dropped my bag and car key. Picking both up along with the document that reminded me of my predicament, I rushed out of the house, not waiting to see if anyone was following.

“Peps, hold on!” I heard Ophelia’s hurried steps as she ran after me. “You don’t even know where she lives or where she is right now.”

When we reached the car, Ophelia noisily got in, panting hard as she tried to catch her breath.

“Oh, please. Do you think that I don’t know that you know where Miss Becky lives? Not with you always dreaming of marrying the heir to Royals Holdings. Anyway, buckle up!”

I was sure she heard the mockery in my voice when she laughed and rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, right!” She retorted but did as I ordered and put the address into the GPS.

“Everything will be fine.” As we drove there, I could only pray inside me that Miss Becky would be around to listen to my plea. I didn’t entertain any thoughts that Miss Becky wouldn’t have the power to help turn around this crisis I was facing. I was only going to think positive thoughts. With certainty, I thought, the young master couldn’t be so heartless as not to listen to the woman who cared for him from when he was a child until now.

The two of us were silent for the rest of the ride and soon arrived at the main gate leading to the mansion.

Being the heir of a big company, I expected some level of security but was still surprised to see half a dozen guards guarding the gate. A security guard at the gate signaled for me to stop. I did.

Another guard came toward the car and asked, “Good day, ladies. Who are you here to see?”

“We are here to see Miss Becky.”

“Is she expecting you?”

“No, she’s not expecting us, but tell her it’s Pepsophone, her future daughter-in-law,” Ophelia answered before I could say a word. I whipped sideways and glared at her, about to tell the guard not to say that, but he had already moved away and was instructing a second man to call Miss Becky.

As we waited for an answer from the guard, apprehension began to form in the pit of my belly. What if Miss Becky sent us away, claiming not to know who we were? Worse, what if she couldn’t do anything to help? The positive thoughts from earlier were nowhere to be found.

“Peps.”

I swung my head to look at Ophelia.

“Relax. You’re doing that thing.” Ophelia gestured at my lips.

It was a nervous habit of mine to bite my lips.

“Also, you’ll break the wheel if you keep holding on to it like that. Relax. It’ll be fine.” Ophelia gave me one of her comforting smiles, and I tried to return the smile. “What’s taking so long?”

“Ophelia, you shouldn’t have said I was her future daughter-in-law. What if she thinks that we are mad and chases us away? Then what?” I spoke under my breath to Ophelia, as I grew anxious about how long the guards were talking to get back to them.

“Shh,” Ophelia hushed me. “The guard is coming back. Don’t let him hear you.”

The man who spoke to us before came back bearing a smile. “Sorry for the delay. You may drive in.”

He pressed a button, and the gates opened to reveal the mansion in its entirety.

“Thank you,” we said in unison and drove in.

“What the…”

My mouth dropped open, and I turned to Ophelia to find her looking at me with a smug smile. “Big, huh?”

Big? I thought. That was an understatement. This place was humongous. Just entering the compound, I was aware of the magnificence of the mansion. It wasn’t just big. It was a beautiful sight to behold and very imposing. At the same time, it was almost welcoming. As we drove along the driveway, we were greeted by elegant-looking fountains and statues that looked like they had history.

I didn’t know much about building materials, but the materials used looked like they cost a fortune. Every part of the enormous building exuded elegance and beauty.

Ophelia reached out to close my mouth. There was laughter in her eyes. “You’re drooling.”

“There are people who live in places like this?” I know I shouldn't have been in awe of how amazing the mansion was, I should be worried about my son. I felt guilty, but I couldn't help myself.

Ophelia nodded at my question as a laugh escaped her.

“Good! I refuse to believe that someone who resides in a place like this would take a child from his mother because of a small amount of money.” I was still in awe. It felt like seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. “Take a look at this place. I bet the door costs more than the two hundred dollars my mother owes him!”

We alighted from the car and walked towards the entrance, my eyes scanning the house’s interior. I was feeling optimistic about this.

“Oh my goodness!” Lost in awe of the mansion and the thought of freedom, I misstepped on a floor plaque and lost my footing, bumping into a hard surface.

“Watch where you are going!” A male voice from above me said harshly.

“I’m sorry I didn’t see you there.” Looking up at the hard surface, the very tall and human surface, I met overwhelmingly grey eyes. The man standing above me had a stunning face. A jawline that looked carefully and earnestly chiseled and his hair so black it looked like it had been polished with coal. And don’t get me started on those eyes. It would be hard not to get sucked in.

I cleared my throat and picked myself up, clapping my hands to get rid of the dust.

“It’s okay,” he said with empathy evident in his voice.

“Evander, you haven’t had your breakfast yet!” A familiar female voice called out, coming out from what was most likely the kitchen area.

“Nana, I’m running late. I have a meeting at one of the casinos,” The one who had spoken to me with kindness replied and rushed out of the room with another man following behind him.

“Ivar! Ivar!” Upon being ignored, she shook her head and sighed.

Recognizing the woman, Ophelia called out, “Miss Becky!”

“Ophy. Peps. You’re in the house already?” Miss Becky hadn’t noticed us earlier as she was trying to get her young master to eat his breakfast. “Come, take a seat,” she beckoned with a smile. “What brings you to my workplace? You know, when the guards called to inform me that you were at the main gate, I couldn’t help but wonder what could be the reason for this sudden visit. I figured it might be something serious. That’s why I told them to let you in.”

Ophelia took a seat beside Miss Becky while I sat opposite them. When Miss Becky called for one of the helpers to get us refreshments, I turned down her offer. Getting straight to the point was my approach.

“It goes like this.” As I began narrating everything to Miss Becky, I couldn’t stop the tears from forming. Judging by her expression, my helplessness was evident in the way I spoke.

Miss Becky was the only person I knew could help my son at that very moment. I gave the document to Miss Becky for her to read and understand my situation more.

She looked up in shock from the document, then continued reading.”Your mother did this?” Miss Becky shook her head in disappointment. “How could a mother do this to their child and their grandson? Where has humanity gone? Is this what this world has turned into?”

I noticed she didn’t say anything about the casino taking a child as collateral.

She remained quiet while staring at the paper in her hands before saying with a long, drawn-out sigh, “I’m sorry this happened to you, but I can't promise you anything. I only deal with household affairs and…”

“You won’t help.” I cut to the chase, not allowing her to make any excuses. Although I held onto hope that the outcome would be different, I shouldn’t have expected much from someone who didn’t care to chide her young master for using a child as collateral for his illicit gambling bargains, but was more concerned about her handling the household affairs.

I stood up and stated, “I knew this would be a waste of time. Household affairs? The man you look after is trying to destroy my household, and don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. Mere looking at you, I can tell you’re not shocked because you know what your young master is capable of. For crying out loud, my son doesn’t deserve to go through this because of that money-hungry young master you have!”

Ophelia jumped from her seat and scolded, “Peps! We’re here to plead with Miss Becky to better the situation, not make it worse. Remember that is Manuèl's life at stake here!”

“What, Ophelia? Someone has to tell her that she did an awful job of bringing her young master up. We just saw her begging him to eat breakfast, but I’m not allowed to beg to save my son?”

Using two fingers, I massaged the side of my head. I felt a headache coming on. “You know what?” I directed my question to Ophelia. “Whether she helps me or not, I will find a way to save Manuèl.”

Giving Miss Becky a look of contempt, I walked out of the house back to my car.

Ophelia apologized to Miss Becky and chased after me. “Peps!” She got into the car. “Peps, no matter what, you shouldn’t have spoken to Miss Becky like that.”

“You are not the one whose child was used as collateral, Ophelia. It was mine. So don’t expect me to be cordial with her as she tries to justify why she can’t help me. She is an evil woman. As they say, birds of the same feathers flock together.” I deadpanned and drove out of the compound, hitting a flower vase for good measure.

Ophelia shook her head. She knew what I was going through and knew that if she continued the conversation, they would go back and forth, and in the end, they would still be at the starting point.

“So, where are you going now?”

The corner of my lips lifted into a smirk. “To meet the clown who accepts using a child as collateral for a gambling debt.”

“What? Who?” Ophelia blinked in quick succession, confused.

“The Evander guy. Didn’t you hear your Miss Becky call him that? Well, someone needs to teach him what happens when you mess with a mother.” Eyes burning with anger, I replied Ophelia.