My eyes stay on Lorenzo who waits to hear my answer. I can easily just tell him the truth, but I also don't want to do something like that.

It's a dumb reason either way so he doesn't really have to know.

"Fine," Riccardo sighs while getting up from his seat. His eyes meet mine for a short second before he looks at Cameron. "Don't tell us," he mutters loud enough for me to hear while walking over to Cameron who stays frozen in place.

Riccardo looks over his shoulder at me with an evil smirk before grabbing Cameron by his tie. His entire upper body dips down and Riccardo locks his arm around his neck.

Cameron immediately struggles to breathe and tries getting out of his hold. He tries pulling Riccardo's arm away from his neck but that only makes him wrap it even harder around his neck.

I watch as Cameron turns a deep shade of red and his struggle becomes weaker. Riccardo turns to fully face us and he has a dirty smile on his face.

"You are going to kill him!" I shout when I see Cameron's eyes slowly close. He soon stops struggling as his arms dangle by his sides.

Riccardo tightens his hold around his neck and Cameron's body goes limp seconds later. "He's fine," he chuckles deeply while letting go of Cameron.

His body falls to the floor with a loud thud. His jaw bounces off the hard wooden floors and that flips a switch in my head. I quickly run over to his body and get down on my knees by his side.

I pull my sweater off my body and fold it up so it's like a small pillow. I flip Cameorn onto his back as gently as I can and tuck my sweater underneath his head.

I don't even know why I'm this worried about him but all I know is that he shouldn't have to get hurt because of me.

His chest is slowly rising and falling so he's still breathing, he's just unconscious. "He will wake up in an hour or less," Riccardo says while sitting back down.

I look up from Cameron and glare at Riccardo who isn't even looking at me. This man has no sympathy for any human that comes his way.

Why did he even do that?

I get up from the floor as fast as I can and walk to the back of my father's chair. The three men in front of me lift their eyes from my father to me and I scowl at them, hating everything about their presence.

"You guys can't use my father's storage facilities so leave," I grit while folding my arms.

The three men begin to laugh and shake their heads. I don't know why they find this so funny. I don't want them involved with my father because they are bad news.

"He doesn't have a choice. He owes us," Lorenzo laughs while throwing a grey file onto the desk.

My father reaches out to pick the file up but I grab it off the desk before he can. I flip through the file, skimming through the information printed onto the white pages.

I look up from the papers a moment later and all three of them are smiling up at me. "Father?" My father hums in response. "You went bankrupt and didn't tell me?"

His shoulders tense and he lifts his head to look me in the eye. "I didn't want you to worry," he reasons and I sigh because the company going bankrupt is not what worries me, it's his actions that worry me.

According to the documents in this file, my father was denied a bank loan when the company went bankrupt four months ago. He got the money he needed to save his company from the Martinelli family and some of it also came from the Ricci family.

"See," Lorenzo mumbles while pointing to the file in my hands. "I think the best way for him to pay up is to let us use the storage facilities," he says with a small shrug of his broad shoulders.

I throw the file onto the desk and glare at them. "What are you going to use it for?" I ask while narrowing my eyes at them.

It's probably going to be something illegal and I definitely don't want my father to get involved if it is.

He has already put himself in enough danger by getting money from them so letting them store whatever it is in the storage facilities that are under his name will cause a lot of problems for him.

"Don't ask them that," my father says sternly, the hint of fear in his voice becoming more prominent. "Sorry about my daughter," he nervously says while looking back at the men.

"No harm Marcus," Riccardo says. "Nyx–"

"You know my daughter's name?" My father cuts Riccardo off.

"Of course," Lorenzo chuckles. "We met her last night wh–"

"Nyx! You did what?" My father shouts while looking up at me. He probably think I did something dodgy with these men last night. "You were supposed to be at home, not–"

"Dad, it ain't what you getting at," I cut him off. "I was walking home from a date and crossed paths with them. They drove me back home," I explain shortly, sparing the details that will make him angrier.

"You got into the car of men who are capable of killing you for talking back! What were you thinking?" He scolds with a glare.

"Dad, they didn't–"

"They could've killed you," he interrupts me and I sigh. "You don't go doing stupid things like that! They are bad news!"

This honestly sounds like a lecture I'd get if I were to bring a bad boy home to meet my parents.

"You know we are right here. If you–"

My father points his finger at Riccardo and says, "I don't want to hear a thing you have to say. This is about my daughter so shut up."

Did my father just tell Riccardo Ricci to shut up?

"Father–"

"Nyx, you made a very stupid choice last night."

"But father–"

"I see letting you live alone was a bad idea."

"Wait–"

"You are coming back home," he states and I quickly shake my head.

"No way!" I scream while stepping away from his chair.

"Don't raise your voice at me!" He screams while getting up from his chair.

I don't believe we are going to argue about this in front of them. He's being narrow-minded about this entire situation.

"I'm not going back," I groan while folding my arms. "She hates me," I state, referring to my wicked adopted mother.

"Who is this 'she' you speak of?" Lorenzo asks, curiosity dripping from his tone.

My father turns his gaze to him and his lip twitches. "It's none of your business," he grits. "Now get out," he demands while pointing to the door.

They smirk at each other before Riccardo and Lorenzo get up. "You should watch how you speak to us," Riccardo chuckles while shaking his head.

Lorenzo reaches underneath his coat with his right hand and my eyes widen when I realise what he's doing. I quickly jump in front of my father and throw my arms in the air.

Lorenzo's eyebrows furrow while I stand my ground in front of my father. "What a brave girl," Vincenzo finally says something since I got here.

He slowly gets up from his chair and smirks lightly at me. He pushes his brother's hand away from his side and nods at him with a grin.

He looks back at my father and I with a cold look. "If it wasn't for your daughter, you might've been dead by now for talking to my brohers like that," he says lowly.

I slowly lower my arms and he smiles at me. "I'll make you a deal." I arch a questioning brow and the smile on his face disappears. "Give me your daughter and I'll forget this ever happened."

"Excuse me?" I retort while folding my arms. "You can't just expect my father to hand me over to you like I'm some object."

My father places his hands on my shoulders. "She's right," he says. I know my father would never trade me up to save his business.

"You give my older brother what he wants or we burn everything you worked for to the ground," Lorenzo threatens, his tone laced with honesty and promise.

"I don't care," my father replies but I can hear it in his tone that he cares, a lot. He has worked so hard to get where he is now so losing it now would kill him. "Do whatever you please, I'm not handing my daughter over."

"Wait," I say, thinking this entire situation over. I just have to act like those fake women he's probably been with and he will get tired of me.

"I can't let them do that," I say while looking up my father. He frowns and slowly shakes his head but I nod. "If I agree to come with you, you leave my father alone right?" I ask while looking at the and they nod.

"Like no ties with him anymore, you forget about the money and the storage facilities and whatever else there is." The three men nod and I sigh. "So where are we going?" I ask in a defeated tone and Vincenzo grins victoriously.

My father's hold on my shoulders tightens and I sigh, feeling his worry run through my blood. "You can't go with them," my father says while pulling me back into his chest.

He doesn't want to let me go, emotionally and physically. I would be acting the same way if my kid was about to leave with a killer. "He might kill you."

"I won't. She's too beautiful to die," Vincenzo says while looking me up and down. He licks his bottom lip before grinning up at us. "She's la mia bellezza nera, she's too precious to kill, Manson."

He just called me beautiful.

————

A kind of scuffed exchange happened here, ye?

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