I had blocked Ben out of my mind completely, or at least attempted to. He wasn't sitting anywhere in sight, but I knew he was hearing every single thing we spoke.

Tony was smiling gently at me, head tilted a little to one side as he waited for me to speak.

"I've never told you about what I actually do at Capra Corp. Tony, I seduce competitors for information, something else important or just to lure them to a specific location," with a heavy heart I told him this, "you're—"

"I know, Sofia," he nodded solemnly, cutting me off and making my eyes widen.

"That's not possible," I began shaking my head after a moment of silence. There was no way Tony had any idea about what I did for a living.

"I'm very careful about who I'm in contact with, you know that. I wouldn't have let you in my life without a very extensive background check and so forth. I knew," he assured me, the lights of the intimate restaurant leaving us in our own world.

"Oh," I was very taken aback, "you never said anything..."

Tony chuckled and shook his head, "if you couldn't tell me, why would I put you in a position where you had to know that I knew?"

I frowned at the realisation of how different Ben and Tony were. In Tony's position Ben would have forced it out of me.

"Yes, well..." I gathered myself and returned to the actual matter at hand, "you're my client for tonight, Tony. Mr Capra Sr said he would help me with this but I doubt he can. His son may be trying to get rid of you."

"You look terrified," Tony observed after a moment, reaching his hand across the small table to take a hold of mine to comfort me.

"I don't want anything bad to happen to you. I love you as a dear friend and I can't lose you," I spoke, wanting Ben to hear the emotion in my voice and call whatever he was planning off.

"I have everything handled," he offered me a smile then, "nothing's going to happen to me. Sofia, I —"

"How?"

He chuckled again and leaned closer, "almost half the people in this restaurant are my people. I'll be fine."

"Alright.." I forced myself to trust him. Tony was the single most careful person I knew, despite him having gotten that other woman pregnant.

"Thank you for telling me, though. It means a lot to know you still care," he smiled a meaningful smile and gazed at me in an adoring way, "there's something I have to tell you."

"What is it?" I was very restless, not up for any kind of smalltalk. I was frightened of what Ben now thought of me after I'd come clean to Tony.

"Caroline from marketing isn't pregnant with my child. I fired her for pretending it was mine," he told me, about to tell me something I couldn't hear right now. I knew he wanted to reignite our relationship.

A shaky breath left my lips and I closed my eyes for a moment.

"I can't, Tony," I told him quietly and with regret, "I care about you, but I never loved you. I can't—"

"No more open relationship stuff, Sofia. Just you and me," he gave me an excited smile, clearly very set on this.

I shook my head and glanced away, giving him my final answer.

"I get that, I'm sorry," he squeezed my hand gently, not sounding at all fed up.

"It means so much to me to have your friendship," I told him after a moment, "truly."

"Ditto, love," his signature smile tugged the sides of his lips up once our eyes met again, our hands still together atop the table.

"There's something I need to ask you," I shifted on my seat uncomfortably, feeling very awkward to be asking this of him, "you can say no, it's honestly fine."

"What is it?"

"You were always offering me a job at your company. I was wondering if the offer was still on the table? It's completely okay if not, Tony," I tried to assure him that he in no way was pressured to give me a job.

His brows raised with a chuckle, "of course the offer's still on the table, Sof. I understand you want to switch workplaces, your new boss seems so weird."

"Yes, well..." I laughed gently and glanced down at my lap, "he's different from what I'm used to, but he's okay."

"Really?" He offered me a confused expression, "you do know that he called my secretary a few days ago to make sure we wouldn't hire you incase you applied."

"Excuse me?" My mood plummeted, wishing I hadn't heard right. This meant that—

"Yes. He's made it clear to our subsidiary companies too, the ones we own," Tony told me, oblivious to what he had just revealed to me, "if you were to be hired there would be serious consequences."

Ben Capra was the reason I hadn't gotten a new job for the past months. The sheer mount of work and energy I had invested into trying to get interviews which would lead me to a new job had been useless, and I felt so incredibly let down.

He knew how hard I worked to switch careers. He knew how upset I was each time an interview was cancelled for one reason or the other. Yet he was cold enough to live with it and force me to stay at a job that now made me incredibly uncomfortable and anxious.

"Sofia?" Tony squeezed my hand gently and I realised I had been consumed by my thoughts.

"Yes, sorry," I offered him half a smile, "I need to use the restroom."

Without another glance at him I got up from our table and began making my way towards the women's bathrooms.

I felt my throat closing up while tears of anger and hurt started to brim my eyes. It was too dim in this restaurant for anyone else to see.

I stumbled into the bathroom after the rather long walk and broke down. How could he have done this to me?

I was exhausted mentally and physically of trying to leave the mafia's claws. I couldn't believe he'd be cruel enough to do something like that, especially to me. Then I realised I meant nothing to him.

If Ben Capra cared for me in the least, he wouldn't have let me work so hard for absolutely nothing.

I stood in front of the mirrors trying to level my breathing. I wasn't going to panic, I needed to remain calm. I realised this hurt so terribly because I had trusted him and I had intensely growing feelings for him.

I ripped the mic off and spoke straight into it, knowing he had heard everything and was still listening.

"You're a horrible person," I spoke shakily, a hot tear sliding down my cheek, "I hate you, Ben Capra."

Just as I had tossed the mic into a nearby rubbish bin, a familiar voice I on some level had been expecting to hear very soon sounded from behind me.

"Sofia..."

I turned around hastily to find the devil himself standing by the entrance of the lavish bathroom. I also noticed he had locked the door behind himself to leave just the two of us in here.

A part of me wanted to hear him out and receive a somewhat good explanation, but the other part of me wanted to slap him and storm off. I stared at him for a moment while expecting him to speak, but he didn't.

I grabbed a tissue and began dabbing the underneaths of my eyes to rid any remnants of tears after having turned back to face the mirrors.

"Leave me, Ben," I muttered, too exhausted to yell at him, "you're only trouble."

"No," he began taking steps closer but froze at the murderous glare I gave him through the mirror. He sighed and nodded in defeat.

"I can explain everything, sweetheart," he began, managing to sound confident in a way that made it obvious he could get out of this with his smooth words.

I threw the tissue away and turned to look at him with a deep exhale, my hands clenching into fists beside my body. I wasn't a physically violent person, but now really felt like being one.

"How deranged do you have to be to do something like this? You know exactly how hard I worked despite the constant rejections and how deeply I wanted to leave," the frustration in my voice was extremely evident, but he looked almost unfazed, "I don't want you to ever talk to me again. This ends here, Ben. Leave me alone."

I was about to round him to walk to the locked door to leave, but he managed to grip my upper arm and pull me to him swiftly.

A sound in absolute disapproval left my lips when he kissed me roughly. I was quick to pull back and slapped him as hard as I could.

Without another word I left the restroom and then the restaurant, in the process feeling my heart slowly crumbling into pieces.