Chapter 7 Beneath The Ruthless Don

• Adriano’s POV
• I was in no mood for this bullshit and this call has gone on for long enough.
• “Mr. Mayor it seems like you think I’m the one negotiating with you,” I said, cutting off whatever he must have been saying on the line.
• “I don’t understand, my secretary scheduled this call so we could discuss our deal.”
• “Let me rephrase in case you misunderstood me,” I started. “I don’t need a deal from you, rather you need one from me if you’re ever gonna have a chance to get reelected for another term.”
• “That’s not what I was made to believe,” he said.
• I ran my hand over my head.
• God, he was so stupid! Why my family supported his run for office in the first place was beyond me.
• “Then you need to go and have a rethink of what your future in politics looks like and get back to me. Until then, this meeting is over,” I said and ended the call.
• This was part of the bureaucratic nonsense that came with trying to run a legitimate business.
• Not that I used completely legitimate means in my dealing but what can I say? The ends justify the means.
• As a third-generation leader, there was a lot riding on me to push the family business to greater heights.
• My grandfather (Vincenzo Alfonso.) did it when he took over, and my father (Marco Alfonso.) too, now the baton has been handed to me and I have to keep moving forward in this race.
• I love what I do, it's all I've ever known, and growing up, watching my father command armies of men who were willing to put their lives on the line for him made me want to be like him.
• I’m not there yet, but I wasn’t doing badly either.
• Just then, Nik, my right-hand man and best buddy from childhood, walked into the office.
• “Any updates?” I asked, but the look on his face already told me all I needed to know.
• “None yet. I still have guys on the lookout. We’re going to broaden our search to include anyone that might have had any affiliations with, Marcus no matter how short it was.”
• Finding things and people was Nik’s job and he was damn good at it. After all, he found Marcus when he was attempting to cross the US border but I was running out of patience.
• “I’m running out of patience, Nik,” I told him.
• “I know, but Marcus worked for you long enough not to easily leave trails behind,” he answered.
• “He didn’t do this alone,” I added.
• “I agree with you.”
• “We need to find whoever he was working for before they tried something like this again.”
• Nik looked at me with what I’ve termed over the years to be his determined gaze.
• “I need you to trust that I’m on it,” he said.
• I nodded and expected Nik to go back to work, instead he took a seat and smirked at me.
• I raised a brow in confusion, “Is there anything else?” I asked.
• “Alice told me something very interesting,” he said.
• Damn. Alice and her big mouth. I knew Nik was going to find out sooner rather than later but I thought he was gonna hear it from me.
• “I should fire, Alice,” I said.
• “You don’t have the heart to. You love her and would be a mess without her motherly nagging presence,” Nik replied.
• “Well, if Alice already told you, I don’t know what else you want me to say,” I said.
• "For starters, it's way out of character for you to have female hostages and you want to tell me that you have nothing else to say?"
• He was right.
• I never took female hostages and I couldn't explain why I did other than the fact that it was the only way I could've kept her.
• When she walked into that room, it was almost impossible for me to tear my gaze away from her and it’s not just because she had a body I could spend eternity worshiping.
• And she did, Melanie had curves for days with an ass I just wanted to bury my face in and never come up for air.
• She also had this air about her, an aura of innocence, untouched by the evil of this world and that assumption was solidified when she defied me in front of my men.
• Not that she wasn't scared. I could clearly see the fear in her eyes, but she did it anyway and I couldn't help but be drawn into her hazel eyes like they were the passage way to my soul. A soul I'm pretty sure was already doomed to hell considering the kind of shit I've done and still do.
• Her entire being radiated so much light and I knew I was being selfish, but I wanted that light for myself.
• So to answer Nik’s question of why I would do something so out of character, I said, “I guess there’s a first time for everything and she might just be of use to us.”
• “I don’t possibly see how that’s going to happen. She’s a freaking nurse.”
• "I know, that's exactly why we need her. An in-house physician might not be such a bad idea," I said.
• Nik raised his brow at me. He didn’t believe me but it didn’t mean he was going to call me out on my bullshit.
• “Whatever you say, boss. I just hope you know what you’re doing,” he replied.
• I hope so too.
• “I better get going,” Nik said. “That safe is not going to find itself.”
• I nodded, "Yeah, you should."
• “See you later, boss,” he said and walked out of my office.
• I really hoped he found that safe and whoever else was working with Marcus because I was going to make sure that they faced a fate far worse than what Marcus faced.
• That, aside, I spent the rest of the day working while trying not to think about a certain Southern girl with hazel eyes.