The Two Families

Chapter Twenty

Laura's POV:

Take advantage of me? What did he mean? I swallowed the lump in my throat. I looked at the sickly older man in front of me, disgust clearly evident on my face. His face mimicked my disgust. To him, I was Luka's personal stripper, a decoration to make him look good. Within a second, pain erupted on my cheek as I slapped across the face. I bared my teeth at Mikito, spitting at his face.

Mikito pulled out a knife, pressing it onto my throat. My heart pounded in my chest so loudly that I feared he could hear it. The cold metal pushed into my skin, sending shivers down my body.

"Tread lightly, slut," He growled. The sound he made caused bile to rise in my throat. I grunted, pulling myself away from the knife. Mikito smirked, tucking his knife back into its holder. 

"What do you want from me?" I asked.

"You don't know?" He asked, clearly amused at my lack of knowledge.

"If I knew, I wouldn't be asking you," I rolled my eyes.

His nostrils flared, giving me a perfect view of his untrimmed nose hair. Yuck. "You have quite the mouth on you."

I maintained eye contact with him, waiting for him to continue, "well? Why am I here?"

"I am willing to make a trade, you for the PA."

"No."

"Oh come on, don't be a party poop-"

"No," I interrupted, adding more assertiveness to my voice.

Mikito awed, "does someone have a little crush on the PA?"

I laughed, "No. Aarina's just a civilian, leave her alone."

"Since when do you have a moral compass, Miss Zika? Remember when you ruthlessly kill my men at your club? Or when you hired a sniper to kill the Minister of Defense's daughter just to get him to owe you a favour? Or when you seduced your way into the Spanish mafia and crushed their business from within only to benefit your master Luka Marino? Shall I keep going?"

"Stop it," I said.

"You don't have a moral compass, Laura. That's what makes you the best weapon the Marino's have, and now, I have you."

"I'm not going to do anything for you," I spat.

"Then, I'll just kill you," He grinned.

"You wouldn't kill me. You'll have way too many enemies. I have given my workers an order that if I die or I do not call for a week; close down the club," I explained, "you see, being a 'slut' as you say comes with a lot of benefits. Should I enlighten you?"

When I got no response from Mikito, I continued, "Sad men like you come to sluts like me and pour their heart and soul out. I know more about the mafia business than anyone actually running it. I am my own business, and if you kill me, all the secrets I have contained in my business will be exposed, all because of you. Now, you might be thinking, 'they won't know it's me'. Oh, I assure you they will because the Marino siblings know you have me and the first press statement they release is 'beloved friend of the owner of Marino Investors dead by the hands of the Japanese Mafia.'"

Mikito stared blankly at me, so I decided to keep going, "Do you know how many people I know from the black market? The underground tunnels? Hundreds, thousands maybe; and they all will be your enemies just because my club is closed. The number of dealers that would lose their jobs if you kill me is well above a hundred. Now, I want you to really think hard about this, really wrack your tiny brain: do you want all those enemies? Do you want to spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder in fear?"

"You'd make an excellent motivational speaker," Mikito joked.

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I didn't know what time it was, but I've been sitting on this chair for what felt like days. My stomach growled. 

"Is anyone there?" I yelled, "I'm hungry!"

The door opened, and Hideo's head popped through it. He held a plate with a sandwich on it.

"There are trained snipers and gunmen surrounding the house. Don't try to run. I am trying to negotiate your release, just don't do anything," Hideo whispered, "you need to eat."

I shook my head. He rolled his eyes, "don't worry, I didn't poison it. Here look." Hideo took a bite out of the sandwich before raising an eyebrow. I nodded, and he took off the handcuffs. I bit into the sandwich, devouring it within seconds. He handed me a bottle of water before cuffing my hands behind my back once again.

"Why are you nice to me?" I asked.

"I don't want him to hurt you," Hideo answered, "I don't want him to hurt anybody."

I heard footsteps above me. Hideo's eyes shot to the door behind him, "my father sent a spy into Aarina's life, do you know anything?"

"No, I don't bu-"

"Shit," Hideo cursed, "okay, not a word about today."

"Hideo, what are-" I started, but he ran up the stairs, leaving me extremely confused. I heard distant shouts, screams and banging. Is he okay?  What did he mean? Luka, where are you?