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48

His hand still rested on my back as I let him escort me up the stairs towards his room for his so called "good reason" when faint voices tickled my ear as we ascended further up, but they weren't coming from the direction we were headed into. Leo turns around immediately and grabs my left hand, following the voices that led us back down the stairs and around into a marbled hallway. The voices got louder as we neared the room they were escaping from.

All of a sudden they ceased as we stood at the huge double doors that revealed three people in the room. My eyes immediately fall on the man who sat on one of the rolling chair in front of the glass desk, staring at our sudden intrusion.

With the perfectly maintained white beard and hair whipped to the side, he looked really handsome for an old man. His sleeves rolled up to his elbows disclosing the tattoos embedded in them while his bicep screamed to rip the shirt that shrunk on his God-like physique. Leaning forward in his chair, his chocolate eyes studied my face making me shift uncomfortably right where I stood and scoot a little closer to Leo whose hand no longer gripped mine.

The sun beamed in through the massive window behind the desk that forced my eyes away from the intimidating man and placed them on the woman standing next to Arabelle whose familiar face was crimson in fury as she stomped towards Leo. "I'll be in my room when you want to talk, yeah?" Her eyes then stop on me revealing them to be hazy with hurt. "Good luck with them and I'll see you some other time." Maneuvering around us, she strode away with her heels making a statement with each step she took.

"What's going on?" Leo questioned the two entities that lurked around the glass desk.

"Nothing!" The British woman spoke up immediately as she paced towards me. "Ariel, I presume."

Leo quaked as he snickered making me glare at him before I turn back to the woman. "Arie."

"Oh, my apologies." She smiled sweetly at me as she took my hand in hers. "It's good to finally meet you. You're much more beautiful than Leo described."

"Oh, thank you!" I chuckle and smile at her, "you're too."

My attire looked very poor compared to this woman who was dressed in a tight maroon dress that ended right below her knees as it hugged all her curves from her hips to her enlarged breasts, covering it all but only leaving room for a small diamond necklace that graced her neck. Her nude lips matched the stilettos that her feet were adorned in, earning her good four inches on me.

I looked up to my left, waiting for Leo to introduce the women to me who kept admiring my features. After an unnoticeable nudge on his arm from me, he spoke up. "Arie," he left my side and put his arms around the woman's shoulder who almost inclined with his height. Giving her a quick peck on her forehead, he continued, "meet Amelia, my mother."

My brows rise in surprise as they creased my forehead. With her flawless skin and athletic physique, she looked nowhere near a mother of a twenty-seven year old man and three other children that looked nothing like her. "It's good to meet you, Mrs. Bonferroni," I say after I catch myself in a staring competition with the woman's brown eyes.

"Just Amelia, dearie," she flashed her perfect white pearls again as the man behind her stood up. Walking lazily towards us, he cleared his throat for Leo and Amelia to be aware of his presence. Leo let Amelia loose and stepped back next to me promptly.

"All the rave has been about you, huh?" His Italian accent with a glint of British one in the midst soothed my ears that his deep voice violently rang in. "Federigo, Leonardo's father," he held out his big hand for me to shake. Well, I guess this Leonardo gets his good looks from his father.

I swallow hard and hesitantly put my hand forth for a firm handshake. "Arie Noelle." I flash a fake smile his way and pull my hand away from his tight grip slowly.

"What does my son see in you?" His voice plummy with class and brown eyes full of wicked curiosity.

"Excuse me?" My brows frown in confusion as my eyes restrained themselves from glaring at this man.

"Father!" Leo interrupted, slightly snaking his arm around my waist and holding down. Amelia on the other hand glared at Federigo with her hands squeezing his left arm.

"What?" His voice slightly rose in agitation and annoyance. "I'm just wondering what's so special about this girl that she drove you to make such rash decisions." He spoke to Leo with his eyes still on mine. "Clearly you must have something special in you for him to do something stupid and ignorant like that, don't you think?"

My anger flared as I glowered at this man holding his intense gaze without breaking it. "Father, smettere, (stop)" Leo spoke gravelly as if restraining himself from lashing out in a language unknown to me.

"O cosa? (Or what)" The man stepped closer to Leo trying to intimidate him, but Leo stood his ground and so will I.

Arabelle's words begin rolling through my head. 'Hold your ground and fight for what your heart tells you is right.' That is exactly what I'm going to do whether it gets me killed or not.

"Sir?" I intervene the two and clear my throat. "First, I did not force your son to do anything at all." My voice quavered a little before settling itself and getting louder. "Second, I do not appreciate you talking about me like that. Third, there's nothing special about me. I'm just a girl from Queens who respects herself and will not let someone like you disrespect her without any apparent reason. I won't and will not let you hold me in such low regard. Mafia or not, I don't care. You don't know me and you don't get to talk to me in such demeaning manner. Sorry if I come off as rude, but I will not tolerate such behavior towards me when I haven't done anything to receive it."

My voice was confident while my hands were sweating a river and trembling under the man's stature. This might be the dumbest move I've ever played and I just might get shot any moment now. I break away from Federigo's eyes and look at Amelia who had a look a shock mixed with amusement etched onto her face.

"I see," Federigo said with a smirk trying to break through his tough facade. "Interessante!"

"Couldn't have said it any better." Leo gripped my waist tighter as he shifted me a little. "Now if you'll excuse us." He escorts me out of the tense room and up the stairs again. "I'm so proud of you for doing that, my love," he chuckled as we neared his room. "No one outside the family ever had the guts to do what you did."

"Oh, I'm not done yet. You're going to hear it for Ray." I smile at him as he pushes me into his room and closes the door behind him.

"Okay, I'm sorry that I did it but I have a good reason."

"You better be sorry and start explaining." I walk towards his king sized bed and settle myself on the silky navy blue sheets.

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