Page 7 of The Don's Prisoner

“Yes,” he said and hung his head.

I glared at him.

“Come with me, Miss Aldi. Our boss would like to speak with you,” he said and put out his hand. He had slicked-back brown hair and kind-looking chocolate-brown eyes. Under normal circumstances, I would have put on the charm and gotten his phone number, but not today. Today, I was considering poking his chocolate eyes out with my heels.

“I’m sorry, but it seems like you are under the impression that my brother speaks for me,” I shook my head and held my ground. “I assure you, he doesn’t. In fact, my brother can hardly speak for himself half the time. Whatever deal he made is null and void seeing as I was not privy to him making any deal that involved my person.”

I may have dated a few lawyers in college.

“None of that is up to us, ma’am,” Chocolate Eyes said and reached forward to take my bicep in his hand. I swatted it away and took a step back, pointing at him with my opposite hand.

“Do. Not. Touch. Me,” I seethed. V came over and stood between me and Chocolate Eyes, and his hands went up in surrender, showing he wasn’t going to try to grab me again.

“Look, I’ll come with you, Vic,” Vito offered. “You and I can speak to Gio, and we will get everything settled, okay?” I watched him for a moment. I seriously considered shoving him aside and storming out of there, but I refrained. He had gotten himself into some sort of mess, and now I was going to have to bail him out. Again. Big surprise there.

I gave in a few moments later and put my arms down.

“Fine.”

I tried to ignore the eyes that followed me as I walked through my office to where I had my coat draped over the arm of a plush sitting chair and my purse resting on the seat. I donned the tan trench coat and slipped my white leather purse over my shoulder. The purse was small—barely enough to carry my phone, wallet, and the tiny sketch pad I always had with me—but I had chosen it because it matched my white leather heels. I simply couldn’t resist.

All set to go, I walked towards my office door. The other large man, who had not said a word to this point, went through it first. I walked past Chocolate Eyes and followed the Quiet One across my showroom floor. Hell, I was going to get so many questions over this.

On the way out, Guy stopped me.

“Victoria… What's going on?” he asked, and I shrugged.

“My brother has some business I need to fix, and then I’ll be back. Make sure everything is set to go. The Lolla line needs to be shipped tomorrow, Guy. Tomorrow at the latest, alright?” I demanded.

“Right,” Guy nodded. “Be careful, boss. And text me if you need anything!” he called after me as we started walking again. He really was a sweet man. He was definitely getting a raise after this if he kept everything in order while I handled my brother’s mistake— whatever it may be.

“You always choose the worst times to get yourself into trouble,” I shot towards my brother as our guards escorted us out the back door. I was grateful that at least they had chosen the back door, which led out to the employee parking lot, instead of the one off the main road. I could only imagine the rumors I would hear if we went out the main door, not just from my employees but from the surrounding businesses.

“I’m sorry, Vicky,” he said simply and walked slightly behind me as we went down the steps to a very large black SUV that didn’t belong to anyone I knew. It was absurdly huge and uncalled for, but who was I to judge what henchmen should drive? The Quiet One opened the back door of the vehicle for me, and the one with the chocolate-brown eyes smiled at me as his buddy shut the door.

Chocolate, as I decided to dub him, got behind the wheel, and I buckled up while Vito got in the back seat next to me. The Quiet One got into the passenger seat. When I was done buckling up, I looked over at the door and realized there was no interior handle. It could only be opened from the outside.

That didn’t scream kidnapping at all, no.

“Look, I want to thank you…” Vito started as the car was thrown into reverse and began backing up. I put up a hand to stop his speaking and looked out the tinted window.

I didn’t want to hear it. I’ve been telling him for years that he needed to straighten out his life and stop getting himself into messes, but he always seemed to get back into it. I didn’t know if it was the promise of money or the influence of his Mafia friends or what, but whatever it was, he never listened to me, and I was sick of hearing him apologize or thank me for bailing him out.

And he knew I would always help because I couldn’t stand to see my brother in trouble, but it was getting tiring. Eventually, I would learn to let him clean up his own messes.

Eventually.

The car ride was silent and smooth as Chocolate drove through the city with relative ease. There was no music on and, with me silencing Vito, no one seemed to need to speak. I watched the cars and buildings pass while I mentally cataloged my agenda for the evening, seeing as this excursion was going to set me back a few hours at least, depending on where we were going.

About forty minutes later, we were in one of the suburbs of the city, on the edge of a leafy, dense forest that stretched for miles. Chocolate took what appeared to be a side road that brought us further into the trees. But then I could see that the side road was actually a driveway. It ended at a very chic concrete and metal building that looked homey enough to be considered a residence, but it definitely had a business feel to it. with all the glass walls and concrete gray as far as the eye could see. There was a yard with a pool out back, which I glimpsed as we rounded the cul-de-sac-type driveway. Two small Japanese maple trees adorning the minuscule front yard were the only landscaping I could see. Otherwise, the rest of the grounds consisted of perfectly cut grass and clean lines.

My guess was this was the home of a businessman. A single businessman.

Chocolate parked the SUV, and both of the guards got out, coming around to open the doors for Vito and me. Chocolate offered his hand to me to help me out, and I took it. If I hadn’t been in a shitty mood and as well as already seeing someone, I might have asked for his number. His giant paw swallowed my hand as I slid out of the back seat and straightened my outfit with the other hand, not wanting to let go of him just yet. He lifted an eyebrow at me, and I shrugged, taking my hand back. He needed to know I found him attractive. And so, I lingered. Sue me.

“This way,” the Quiet One finally said and ushered us toward the front door. It was black and sleek-looking to match the rest of the house. The Quiet One opened the door and walked right in as if he lived there, or at least as if he had been expected there. Vito followed, and I followed behind him with Chocolate bringing up the rear and closing the door after we were all inside.

We walked up a floating staircase that wound its way up to the second floor and then down a hallway with a glass panel for a wall. I could see the entirety of the driveway from this height, all the way to the busy road we had just left. Forest stretched out on either side of the driveway, blocking the rest of the road from view.

---