Bought by The Mafia Boss

Chapter 15

The intermission arrived quickly. I was absolutely stunned with the orchestra and knew I hadn't ever seen something quite as beautiful. Those fiery eyes of Oliver's had watched me instead of the musicians for most of the time, but I never let him know I had noticed. There had even been a moment I noticed he was debating something, intensely enough that his balled fist was turning his knuckles white so I placed my hand on his and watched the tension drain from his body.

As the lights came on in the hall, Oliver stood up beside me and helped raise me to my feet. I watched the folds fall out of my dress, seemingly never even having been there from sitting and I glanced at Oliver in shock. He just raised that single eyebrow and smiled at me.

We excused ourselves past Maeve and Roy and slowly walked up the aisle towards the fresh air in the lobby; Oliver nodded towards several people along the way. He guided me out and then turned towards the right as we slowly walked down a long hallway. The amount of people thinned as he made a left hand turn into another hallway, but this one was brightly lit and quite wide.

The carpet did not run down this hallway, and it wasn't portraits that hung on the walls but stunning oil paintings. Several wooden doors were closed to my right and we passed two hallways also to the right before coming to stop in front of another identical wooden door as the rest.

Oliver paused and looked at me. "You have to pretend like you have no idea what we are saying." His tone was serious and all sense of softness and calm was gone from his body. The intense and slightly terrifying Oliver stared back at me, his eyes a little darker than usual.

I nodded but didn't say anything as he knocked just once on the door and then opened it. A tall but thin man rose from a seat behind the dark wooden desk and he clasped his hands behind his back as he walked around the side of it. "Oliver Hunt." He said, his voice raspy but deep with a thick Italian accent. I almost shrank at this man's encumbering presence but Oliver's powerful stature beside me helped prevent me from doing so.

"Wish I was here under different circumstances, Riccardo." Oliver replied in Italian and strutted in without permission, gesturing to the dark leather couch to my right that sat against the wall. I followed his prompt and glided over, sitting down careful to not pick my legs up more than an inch. I slipped one ankle under the other and placed my hands in my lap while slightly raising my chin. A flash of desire crossed Oliver's eyes, but it was gone faster than it had arrived.

Riccardo's tall frame shrunk maybe a half an inch as Oliver walked straight to his desk, poured himself a glass of whiskey and then sat down in one of the two brown leather chairs across from the one our tall host had evacuated. The door was shut and locked behind Oliver by Riccardo, then he walked back around to the seat and sat down with a little shake.

"If you go the route you're suggesting we will risk losing the shipment or worse, men. Those hills are dangerous and I doubt cargo can get over it especially with the weight it carries." Oliver said, his voice carrying prominence and that same calm demeanor that made me nervous. Riccardo kept looking between me and Oliver with wide eyes of terror. "Don't mind her." Oliver said in response to the look, still speaking in Italian. That was all he said for Riccardo to turn his beady green eyes from me and focus back on Oliver.

"Yes, but the extra twenty five minutes on the route you're suggesting could cost us the shipment as well." Riccardo reached forward trying to relax but then back tracked his hand as Oliver raised a subtle eye at him. His reply was also in Italian and I assumed this entire conversation would be.

"Better than the men. I won't have this come back on me, not after the three million phiasco I am dealing with." Oliver replied and took a sip of his drink again.