Caught Between Two Billionaire Mafia's

Running Into The Past

Danilo's POV ( Present Time)

I was forced into a marriage I didn't want. My father told me that he was going to disown me if I didn't marry the woman he told me to marry.

I agreed, I needed the company. I didn't see my wife till our wedding day and when that day came, I had already decided that I hated her. I had no control over the issue but she could have fought it.

As for Lauren, I am man enough to admit that I was horrible to her, which is not in my nature by the way, I am not cruel, especially not to women. If anything, I love women, why not? Women make me happy. I didn't want to love her, I told her not to fall in love with me. I never gave her a chance to bond with me, not like a married couple should.

To prove my point, I did everything I could to make her feel unwelcome. I even stayed over at Veronica's house thinking that she would finally have enough of me and ask for a divorce. I wanted to be CEO of the company and that was not going to happen without her family business.

My father made it clear what would happen to me if I walked away from my marriage, he didn't say anything about her asking for a divorce, if she was the one to walk away, he couldn't do anything about it. I also knew that he had someone looking out for him in the house, someone to report how our marriage was doing.

After forcing myself to make my marriage work for two years, I came home one night and found her side of the closet empty. It took me a while to realize that she was gone. I should have been happy right? Except that it felt like my heart had been torn into two pieces.

Two weeks later, I was served with divorce papers and the ring she was wearing when we got married, the papers were signed, and she made it clear that she wanted nothing from me. It was sudden, out of the blue and it left me with a lot of questions, not only that, it changed me.

The things I thought I wanted, didn't mean that much to me anymore, not even my father's company or Veronica. Every time I saw her face, I wished I was seeing Lauren's. I needed a new challenge in my life.

I needed to show my father that he was wrong about me and that I could stand on my own, but importantly, I needed to prove to myself that I was not some spoilt rich kid from the upper side of town who needed his parents' money to survive. I couldn't do that in LA. Every contact I had, was through my father. I had to step away from his shadow and find my way.

What better city for one to reinvent themselves than New York? From Manhattan to Soho, the possibilities were endless. I worked hard, built my contacts, came up with various business ideas, and found a way to get the funding. It was not easy, there were a lot of people coming at me from all directions.

Then I met who has now become my best friend, Luca Ruso. A son of a notorious drug lord in New York. He introduced me to his father we ended up doing some business together. Through that business, I have managed to make a name for myself. Now I am one of New York's biggest club owners. As of now, I have ten clubs around the city all of which are very successful.

I am a hands-on type of guy, so I rotate between them to check up on the staff and make sure that things are going as they should. Tonight was no different, I was checking in on one of my clubs, one that I opened a few months ago, this one is bigger than all of them.

I was in my office looking at live footage of the club when I thought I saw someone who looked familiar, dancing on the dance floor. I watched her as she went to the VIP, I zoomed in and I almost had a heart attack. It was Lauren and she didn't look anything like the woman I knew, she had changed a lot. I saw how she danced, and how she walked, she had blossomed into a gorgeous flower.

I wanted to get out of my office and make myself known. I haven't seen her in five years and the first time I see her since then is at my club. Of all the clubs in New York, she came to this one? Why? She couldn't have known that it was mine, how could she, and what the hell was she doing in New York?

I heard that she left town, that she didn't go back to her parent's house after the divorce, I thought that she would settle in a small town and pick up what's left of her life, never did I imagine that she would end up in this city. New York is a concrete jungle, I don't even think she knows how dangerous this city is.

As I watched her on the CCTV, I saw her kissing a man, I clenched my fist hard. I didn't like it, I didn't want to see her kiss another man, then I saw her leaving the booth carrying her purse, I watched her as she disappeared into the ladies' bathrooms. I could have stayed in my office, stayed away from her but I couldn't.

Before I knew it, I was out of my office and headed to the bathroom. I stood outside the door and waited for her to come out. I was anxious, impatient even. I didn't know what to expect but I knew that I couldn't let her leave here without talking to her. The door opened and someone came out, it was not her. The door opened again and this time, someone bumped into me.

I looked down and it was her, it was Lauren and she was beautiful. She looked like she hadn't aged a day in her life. She looked so good and lost a lot of weight but not enough to be a model. She lost weight and she still had lovely curves and a well-established backside, if I didn't know her before, I would say that she had a BBL but I know that this is her natural body, just a bit slimmer.

I felt something I had never felt before, regret. At that moment, I regretted everything I had done to her but mostly, I regret the fact that she is no longer mine. It has been years and I still have questions. She looked up and called out my name softly.

" Danilo..." she said. It rolled off her tongue like soft butter on a hot slice of toast.

" Lauren," I said to her.

"What are, what are you doing here?" she asked.

" I happen to own this lovely establishment, long time no see, you look good, " I said.

" No! No, this is a dream, you are not here!" she said to me.

" Lauren it is me," I said and tried to take her hand. She flinched and pushed my hand away.

" What do you want? No, forget it, I don't care what you want, I can't stay here," she said and turned around.

" Laura don't walk away from me!" I said to her. She stopped and turned around.

" Why shouldn't I? You did it first!" she said to me.

Just then a guy came and held her hand, she was startled at first and then she relaxed when she saw his face.

" Is everything okay?" the guy asked her but he was looking at me.

I hope he doesn't try anything stupid because I would hate for Lauren to see a sight of me she doesn't even know exists.

" Yes, everything is okay, I want to go home," Isabella said to him.

" Sure, I'll settle the bill then we can leave," the guy said to her.

" Don't worry about the bill, it's on me," I said.

" And you are?" the guy asked me with an attitude.

I saw the horror look in Lauren's eyes. They have a relationship and it doesn't look like she told him about her past, he doesn't know about me.

" An old friend from back home, let's go," she said to him.

" That's not nice Lauren, I am Danilo Caruso, the owner of this lovely establishment, you are?" I asked him.

" The boyfriend, let's go, honey, " the guy said and took her purse, he held her waist. He was showing me that he was with her, making a statement and warning me to stay away. If they are serious, why hasn't she told him about me?