Sophie's POV ~
I stared at my reflection in the mirror, my eyes had slightly visible bags underneath and my hair was beginning to look like I hadn't bothered to comb it this morning. That's what happens when you have to work over time at a primary school whilst studying at university.
I left the bathroom of my favourite coffee shop where my best friend happens to work, which is a bonus since I get free refills. I couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped my lips as I passed the busy counter where Daisy was trying to keep up with the orders of all the tired customers coming to get their evening coffee fix. Her eyes met mine as she let out a huff. "Instead of laughing at me you could offer to help Sophie."
This caused me to laugh even more as I made my way down the small corridor towards the stairs. "Sorry Daisy, I would but I've got work to do." She ignored me and carried on preparing drinks for the line of customers which seemed to be increasing by the second. The coffee shop where Daisy works is one of the best in London, hence why it's so busy all the time. I hardly ever see Daisy while she's working since she's constantly preparing coffee and other drinks.
Finally making it to my quiet area upstairs I sat back down and went back to studying for my finals. My finals are in three months before I graduate, which means I need to start working a lot harder if I want a good degree. Thankfully Daisy allows me to work up here in silence since no one comes up here and I won't be disturbed. I would work at home but I have siblings and anyone with siblings knows it's impossible to work productively at home.
A couple of hours later the commotion downstairs had died down, I made my way down to see someone else working behind the counter. Daisy usually finishes her shift around 7pm, the coffee shop usually closes at 9pm. Thankfully, I've always managed to leave on time, the thought of being locked in a coffee shop overnight is actually a little scary, only Daisy knows I work upstairs so no one else would think to check that area before locking up.
I left the coffee shop and drove home, already feeling exhausted from today's work. And I have to do it all over again tomorrow. Great.
"Mommy I'm home." I took off my shoes and trudged into the living room to see my family all watching tv, my eyes landed on my mom and I dropped down on the couch in exhaustion, laying my head on her lap and placing my feet in my brother's lap.
"Ew Sophie." Riley pushed my feet away causing to me to lift my head and send him a glare. "Sophie you work too hard baby." I smiled sweetly at my mom who was stroking my hair. "I know." As you can probably tell I'm my mom's favourite. I heard a chuckle come from my dad who was sitting across the room next to my older sister Grace.
"Why don't you go and change and I'll make you some dinner." I sighed and closed my eyes. "Mommy you shouldn't be doing it, send Riley to get my dinner." My nineteen year old brother looked up from his phone to send me a glare knowing exactly what was about to happen. "Son your sister is right. You should be doing more to help your mother. Go and heat up Sophie's dinner." My brother shook his head and stood up. "I liked it better when you weren't home." He left the living room just as I called out to him. "I liked it better when you weren't born!"
Finally gathering up all the energy I had left I got up and tiredly made my way upstairs to my room to take off my make up and change into my comfy pyjamas. I let the scent of the food guide me towards the kitchen as my stomach rumbled. My eyes landed on a plate of lasagna waiting to be demolished by me and I smiled in content.
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I closed my eyes as I sat back in my chair upstairs in the coffee shop, my mind going over the events of today at the school I work at. You would think as a twenty-two year old I would be able to control a class of six year olds. That's definitely not the case. Eventually I got out of self pity mode and worked for the next couple of hours straight and after my fourth cup of decaf coffee, thanks to Daisy who brought them upstairs for me, I decided to take a much needed bathroom break.
I walked down the small corridor which carried an unusual silence. It must be a lot later than I originally thought it was. My eyes were focused on the bathroom door across the room when I stopped in my tracks at the sound of a deep voice echoing through the silence.
"I want the money. And I want it now. We're going tomorrow night." The sound of his thick Italian accent caused shivers to run down my spine. "Tomorrow is a little early, I don't think we'll be ready." There was a loud bang before the same voice spoke again.
"Do whatever you need to fucking do. We are going to his house so I can kill the son of a bitch and take what I'm owed." The second voice which had an English accent spoke again with a slight quiver to it. "Okay s-sir." I froze at the mention of killing someone, who the hell are these people? I peered around the corner; my eyes landed on four figures sitting around a table. I couldn't make out the faces since most of the lights were off in the room.
"You better make sure nothing ruins tomorrow, otherwise I will put a bullet between your eyes without hesitation. I didn't travel all this way for you to ruin this."
I could see someone holding a gun up, I'm assuming the Italian accent belonged to him. "You will meet your men here at 5pm, I expect you all to be armed and ready. We will meet you at the house once you have him alone. Everyone else should be dead."
"S-sir what about his kids? and his wife?" The Italian man let out a deep velvety chuckle. "You kill them too." My mouth dropped open as my heart rate increased when I began to realise just how dangerous these people were. I stepped back in an attempt to get back upstairs unnoticed. However the universe had other ideas. My heart dropped to my stomach at the sound of my foot connecting with a metal mop bucket.
I stood frozen hoping they wouldn't notice. Okay who am I kidding, of course they would notice. "Is someone else here?" There was a sound of chairs screeching along the wooden floor before the English voice responded. "N-no sir, I checked everywhere before I locked the doors."
Footsteps began to echo in the silence as I stayed still, hoping to be concealed by the dark. A minute or two later the footsteps slowed and the Italian voice spoke once again this time full of anger. "You're fucking incapable of making sure a coffee shop is empty. Do you really think I would trust you with any mission?"
Before anything else could be said the sound of a gun going off caused me to let out a scream. This time the footsteps came faster in my direction, I quickly turned around and ran towards the stairs where I came from silently cursing myself.
Just as I reached the bottom of the stairs a pair of arms wrapped tightly around my waist causing my to let out a scream. He carried me kicking and screaming back to the coffee shop and set me on my feet just as the lights turned on. My eyes took a second to adjust to the light, once they did they met a pair of angry dark brown ones.
He stared at me, a frown etched upon his olive tanned face, he had soft, full lips and a sharp jawline which was clenched in anger. He towered over my 5'5" frame, his muscles clearly evident through his expensive, fitted suit. We stood in silence as two men stood behind him, one who looked very similar to him, most likely his brother and the other who carried me in here looked nothing like him.
He barked an order in fluent Italian never taking his eyes off me, immediately the two guys behind him grabbed me and put me down on a chair. They stood next to me making sure I didn't move, he kneeled down in front of me whilst holding his gun.
"What do I do now?" He tilted his head to the side staring directly at me. I tried to value my safety, but I couldn't find it in me to beg him to keep me alive. I've always been stubborn and headstrong, it's times like these that those qualities come back to bite me in the ass.
"You might want to get rid of that body before the police get here." If it was anyone else in this situation he probably would have found my comment amusing but this guy didn't. He just seemed to be more angered by it. He lifted his gun and pointed it below my chin. "Any more smart comments?" I nodded. "Just one, you should rethink having private meetings in public places if you don't want people to hear them."
"Its a shame for you that you're so beautiful, you would be dead and out of your misery by now if you weren't." He dropped the gun and stood up. "You're coming with me." I scoffed and stood up only to be pushed straight back down by the two men on either side of me. "In your dreams you Italian prick." He chuckled darkly at my comment. "Do you know who I am sweetheart?" I glared at him with narrowed eyes feeling anger bubble up inside of me at his condescending tone. "No, and I don't give a shit. Let me go. Now." My head snapped toward the right when I felt a blow to the side of my face. My cheek was stinging from the force of his slap, he held my chin between his finger and his thumb kneeling back down in front of me.
"If you ever speak like that to me again I will kill you on the spot. Do you understand?" He held the gun to my temple after pulling back the hammer. "Y-yes." He flashed me a sinister smirk before standing up. "I'm sure you'll be a fun little thing to take back to Italy with me." My eyes widened and I tried to stand up again but the two held me down.
"I'm not going anywhere with you!" He rose an eyebrow at me with a smirk. "No?" I shook my head before pushing one of the guys away from me and stamping on the other one's foot. I stood up but before I could move I was pushed against the wall, he held me against the wall with his hands pressing my hips against the wall, amusement dancing in his eyes.
"What did you think was going to happen? Your pathetic attempt at pushing them away was going help set you free? Sweetheart you're stuck with me now." I glared straight at him refusing to show him any fear. "You're coming with me to Italy willingly or not. I can't leave you here after what you heard."
From the tone in his voice I could tell he was deadly serious. "I can't. I'm not going with you, I need to finish my degree and I've got my job and my family." That was my way of begging him to let me go in a round about way but he just shook his head and moved away from me, he glanced over at his two men who were glaring in my direction before looking back at me.
"When are you graduating?" I frowned a little at his question but responded anyway. "Three months." He nodded and stepped closer to me. "Fine, you have three months. I'll be back in London to get you and then you'll be marrying me in Italy."
I stared at him in surprise, the room fell silent, even his two men looked at him in shock. "M-marrying you?" He nodded with a blank expression on his face whilst tucking his gun in the back of his pants.
"Yes, you'll marry me and then you'll have my heir." Confusion must have been evident on my face since he smirked and stepped towards me once again. "Sorry I forgot you don't know who I am. I'm Thiago De Mancuso, and you sweetheart are going to be providing the next heir of the Italian mafia."