Debt To The Mafia King

Chapter 16

I walked up towards the office to deal with Amelia’s betrayal. Before I could reach the top step, Nico stopped me as he emerged from the kitchen. 

“Michele, what are we doing about Marcelo? We’ve shoved him in the gym, tied up in the boxing room because we haven’t got anywhere else to put him” he explained.

“Can he get out?” I asked bluntly.

“No”

“Then I will deal with him in a bit, he will be finished with by tomorrow” I said with an evil tone and continued to my office.

When I entered, Amelia was sitting on the desk tapping her pristine white trainers on the wood. Her skinny black jeans curved around her physique and she was wearing a tight brown v-neck. I shut the door behind me and crossed my arms. She has clearly gotten changed in the time I was talking with Ezio. 

“Is he alive?” She asked with attitude. I nodded my head, staring at her sharply. 

“Good, looks like I don’t need to pack after all”. Her snappy comment only increased the anger I felt towards her.

“Why would you disrespect me like that?” I asked, trying to stay calm.

“Because you were in the wrong, I’m not going to get on my knees and bow down to you when what you were doing was completely out of order” she defended. 

“You’re forgetting who’s in f*****g charge around here Amelia” I growled cautiously.

“And you’re forgetting what it means to be a good leader... keeping your head screwed on is the first f*****g thing a good leader does” she raised her tone, causing the hairs in my arms to stand up. 

I tensed my jaw and bit the inside of my lip to try and stop myself from lashing out at her.

“Ezio has caused you pain, humiliated you, hurt people that are close to you...” I listed as I walked closer to her. When I was standing less than a meter apart I caught a nerve.

“You helped the man who killed Sandra”. Her eyes shot up to mine and she scowled, pushing me back and jumping up like a snappy chihuahua. 

“Don’t you f*****g dare bring her into this!” She yelled in my face. I found it quite amusing considering the difference in size. 

“Oh yeah? Or what?” I challenged. 

“He shot her in the f*****g head in front of everyone, he had Donte killed along with a load of my other men and you think it’s okay to forgive and forget the moment he says ‘sorry’?” I mocked using my fingers. 

“I think that the way you have brutally beaten him was out of order Michele! You have killed some of his men too and it’s all getting a little bit boring!” She screamed. I grabbed her arms and forced her to sit down in the chair.

“If it wasn’t for me, you’d be used as a f*****g s*x doll by now!” I accidentally let slip. She scrunched her nose up and stared.

“What do you mean?” She asked and I sighed, tutting whilst I turned away from her.

“What do you mean Michele?!” She grunted impatiently. 

“Is this to do with Rickie by any chance?” She asked, gaining my attention. 

“You’ve got no idea Amelia!” 

“Really? Because I know that he is connected to you and Nico somehow, that my dad has gotten involved with the drug side of things and that Ray and Kye have some sort of hold over you!” She admitted. 

“How do you know about that?” I asked turning back around to her in shock of the amount of information she knew.

“I saw them on the board above you in Ezio’s office remember? I also heard them talking about how my dad should be shown what happens when he ‘doesn’t pay his debts’” she continued. I crept towards her with my hand on my chin, listening to every word that came out of her mouth.

“Rickie wants me because of what my dad did; doesn’t he? I know about the shipment that he lost a few months ago as well as this delivery so if I’m in danger then I have a right to know!”

“Amelia...” I hesitated, thinking about coming completely clean with her.

“There is something you’re not telling me Michele and I have given you enough chances to tell the truth!” She exclaimed. I watched the desperation on her face intensify and I lowered my gaze. 

“I met your dad a little while ago at a function, Rickie was there along with Vince, Cole and Franco. A few weeks later this situation with the ‘shipment’ happened which I didn’t have a clue about until you have just mentioned it now. Your dad came to me for help and asked to make a deal. He needed 5 million to invest in his business and pay off a debt to Rickie. That was all I was told about the situation...” I hesitated.

“...I went away to think about it. The next day he rang me up in a panic, explaining that Rickie had threatened to kidnap you and use you as his person escort, which to anyone else would be seen as a w***e” her eyes widened and her brows tensed as I explained in more detail.

“He also threatened to have your mother killed in front of you both before taking you away and using your dad as a slave. He asked me if he would make you my part of the deal along with signing his business over to me. He obviously needed more than he was telling me and had to scheme his way to get it because he pretended the business was still his and included it in other contracts for money. He knew that they couldn’t take his business if I was the new owner and it wasn’t under his name anymore, so he kept the old paperwork that had his name on the deed”. 

The clever bastard, he clearly conned Ezio this way as well from what Amelia was telling me the other day about the contact between them. If Ezio ever tried to take a legal route to take his money back then he wouldn’t get anywhere as the business was in my name.

“So the plan was for him to sign his business over and give you to me in exchange of this money. This way, you were safe from Rickie and he couldn’t get to you” I paused, trying to gather the confidence to tell her about my plans before I fell for her.

“I...”. She gazed at me with an encouraging glance and I paced around the room for a moment.

“When we arrived in New York, I had a different plan for your fate...” I hesitated.

“It’s okay Michele, I just want the truth” she reassured me.

“I didn’t care about any woman, I didn’t know how it felt to love someone the way I love you so before I actually got to know you... I was going to hand you over to Rickie myself to gain the strongest ally I could...” I bit my lip, worried that she was going to bolt towards the door. 

“Do you still want to give me to him?” She asked stupidly. 

“Of course I don’t, do you think I would have gone through all of this s**t over the past 2 months if I did?” I snapped with disgust.

“So what changed your mind?” She asked bluntly.

“The love I have for you was alien to me and I couldn’t bare to see you hurt. When we were having dinner with Ezio, he recognised who you were and that Rickie wanted you. He offered to take you to him in return for the Casino, he also said that I would take the credit. I blew up in front of him and became over protective. I explained that if anyone came near you that I would kill them myself. That’s when you came out and heard the rest” I confessed. 

I walked over to her and took her hand, she was sat completely still with an emotionless expression. 

“Amelia, that’s when I realised that I was starting to get feelings for you. There’s something special about you and I didn’t want anyone to hurt you”. I expected her to kick off, hit me or even walk out and pack her bags but she shocked me. She just looked at me and smiled.

“Thank you for being honest” she said. I narrowed my eyes with confusion.

“I need time to think”  she got up and stroked my hand gently. 

I stood there with my mouth wide open until she left the room. She didn’t raise her fist or her tone, there is a part of me that kind of wished she did. That way I would know exactly what she thought of the situation, but instead I am clueless and left feeling on edge of what her next move would be.