Chapter 5
The phone was abruptly cut off, leaving only the sharp busy tone in the receiver, like the sound of my life counting down.
I gripped my phone, fingertips ice-cold, yet my heart was pounding wildly in my chest.
God, I had just talked back to that man. I should be scared, but there was a strange, liberating thrill flowing through my veins.
Nina looked at my pale face with concern. "Sonya, are you okay? You were so brave just now, but it was also too dangerous!"
Brave?
No, that was just a desperate bluff.
But I had no way out now. I could only pray that the man wouldn't find me.
"I'm fine," I took a deep breath, trying to steady my trembling voice. "Nina, you mentioned before that your friend invited you to Dark Night Bar, and because there would be some guys there, you were a bit scared to go alone and wanted me to come with you, right?"
Nina paused, then nodded. "Yeah, but in your current situation..."
"I'll go." I cut her off, my eyes showing a determination that felt foreign even to me. "Wait for me."
I turned and walked into our tiny bedroom, opening the nearly empty closet.
My fingers brushed past those plain casual clothes and drab nun's habits, finally stopping at the very back of the closet, on a black spaghetti-strap mini dress that Nina had forced on me but I'd never worn.
In the mirror, the girl in the short dress looked so unfamiliar that it startled me.
The tight black fabric outlined curves that were inexperienced yet already shapely. The hem was so short it only reached mid-thigh, the exposed skin glowing pale in the dim light.
This was completely different from the daytime Sonya who wore oversized nun's habits and kept her eyes downcast—like two different people.
"Oh my God." Nina covered her mouth, eyes wide. "Sonya, you... You're beautiful! But are you really going out like this? Kane, he..."
"Don't mention him," I interrupted, picking up Nina's bright-colored lipstick and clumsily applying it to my lips.
The girl in the mirror instantly gained a touch of bold brightness that didn't belong to me, almost defiant.
"Just for tonight, let me forget everything, okay? I'm just your friend Sonya, an ordinary girl out to relax."
Nina looked at me and finally nodded, her green eyes mixing worry with a hint of excitement.
When we got in the taxi and gave the name of Dark Night Bar, I felt like I was making a crazy escape.
The city's neon lights flashed by the window, reflecting on my lipstick mouth and bare shoulders.
This outfit made me uncomfortable all over, as if countless eyes were piercing through the car window and landing on me. But deep inside, there was a trembling sense of freedom, like breaking out of a cage.
We arrived at our destination.
Nina and I stood by the roadside, the cool night air brushing against our skin, sending shivers through me.
We looked around, somewhat confused, waiting for Nina's friend to show up.
Around us was loud music and blurry figures. I clutched my purse tightly—inside, besides some change, was only the rosary that never left my side.
A ridiculous lucky charm from another world.
I had no idea that while I stood on this unfamiliar street corner, anxious about my small act of rebellion, on the other side of the city, because of that phone call and my current whereabouts, a storm was already brewing.
"Get out!"
Kane Moretti's deep voice echoed through the huge office, completely cold.
The female secretary Mia, wearing a revealing Real Madrid jersey and who had just been kneeling between his legs working hard, froze at the sudden command, still with traces of their activity at the corner of her mouth.
"Signore? Did I not serve you well? I... I can call my sister to join us, we..." Mia tried desperately to salvage the situation.
Kane didn't even look at her, just waved his hand impatiently.
Two black-suited men who had been standing by the door like shadows immediately stepped forward and dragged the still-pleading Mia out of the office without mercy.
The door closed, shutting out the noise from outside.
Kane leaned back in his expensive leather chair, his brow covered with a darkness that wouldn't lift.
Sonya's tearful yet stubbornly defiant voice, especially that last mocking comment about three minutes, still buzzed in his ears like a persistent, annoying fly, igniting the violent flames in his chest that never went out.
Sooner or later, he would pin Sonya beneath him and make her understand he wasn't just three minutes—he could go for three days and nights.
Fuck her to death, turn her into a sex slave who could only exist between his legs.
Just then, his most capable assistant, Bandel, silently entered.
"Boss, we have results from the interrogation about the family's money laundering channel information leak."
"Speak." Kane closed his eyes, rubbing his temples.
"The leak came from Mia. Also, we found out she leaked information about your wedding next Saturday to people who shouldn't know."
Kane's eyes snapped open, those deep eyes instantly filled with a terrifying storm.
He hadn't even gone after that disobedient little nun yet, and the pest beside him was already causing trouble.
"Get rid of her." He issued the command coldly. "And her sister, too. Make it clean."
Bandel hesitated slightly. "Boss, Mia's identity is basically confirmed—she's a plant from the Corleone family. Moving against her now might alert the Corleones and mess up our follow-up plans."
Kane's lips curved into a cruel, cold smile. "Corleone? Just a bunch of rats barely surviving. My clever uncle, under the guise of money laundering, swallowed a million dollars from the family. Where do you think he's hiding it?"
Bandel's eyes flickered. "Should we recover it?"
"No need," Kane stood up and walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the brightly lit city below. "Let him enjoy himself a few more days. After I settle my bride, I'll slowly settle accounts with him."
Just then, the office door was knocked gently, and another subordinate quickly entered, whispering something in Bandel's ear.
Bandel's expression changed slightly as he turned to Kane. "Boss, there's news about Signorina Sonya. She and her friend went to Dark Night Bar, and according to our source, there are... males with them."
"Males?" Kane slowly turned around, the anger he'd barely suppressed erupting like a volcano again, and the office temperature plummeted to freezing.
He had just warned her on the phone, and she dared! She actually dared to immediately go find other men!
That girl in the nun's habit with eyes like a frightened deer—who gave her the courage?
Was she counting on him not making a move against her for now?
Or was she really naive enough to think she could challenge his limits?
"Prepare the car..." Bandel immediately suggested.
"No!" Kane interrupted him, his eyes flashing with bloodthirsty excitement, like a hunter finally spotting his prey's fatal mistake. "The roof. Helicopter."
He would go himself, right now, immediately.
He would make that little nun who didn't know her place experience, in front of everyone, the price of defying him and trying to escape his control.
He would crush her pathetic little rebellion and make her fully understand who her only master was.