The Beast's Love

Chapter 4- Italian Mafia?

Hello Dear Readers,

Here's Chapter 4 for y'all.

Enjoy!

And don't forget to vote and comment!

Love you!

-Jay.

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(Chloe Richardson POV)

"What say, Daddy dearest? Ready to bet your precious daughter?" He asked mockingly as he raised his gun and pointed it at Dad.

My eyes widened. Putting a hand on his outstretched arm, I tried to push it downward. "Mr. Moretti, please... Stop... Don't shoot him, please." I pleaded. His arm felt like a hard rock under my fingers.

Wait. Scratch that. It felt like a heavy boulder.

His eyes snapped to mine and he smirked. "I like the sound of you begging me. Beg some more, baby." He whispered seductively. His arm which was previously secured around my waist slid downward and he gripped my hip tightly, his fingers digging into my skin.

That was going to leave a mark.

I winced slightly from the pain he was causing me which led him to smirk even more. "Beg, Chloe. I'm waiting."

Beg this bastard? If he didn't have a gun and if he wasn't that scary I would never have begged him. How did I even end up in this situation?

I let out a long breath and looked down. Swallowing my pride, I said the words that he wanted to hear so badly. "Please, Mr. Moretti, don't shoot my father." Then I looked up in his eyes and said in the coldest way possible, "We accept your condition."

He let out a low chuckle and looked at Dad. "She's smarter than you, Richardson." He let go of me and took a couple of steps backward. Placing his gun inside, he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Well, now that you have accepted my condition, as promised earlier, I will waive off your debt. You will come to my casino next Friday to gamble with me one last time. Got it, Richardson?" he asked.

Dad quickly came up to stand beside me and cleared his throat, "Yes. Mr. Moretti." He placed his hand on mine and I was thankful for his soothing touch.

"However," Luca said as if remembering something very important, "You'll be coming to my casino in Vegas, not the one which you always frequent here in Michigan."

I looked at Dad and Luca continued, "I will be arranging for your transportation and if you don't show up Richardson, I will fucking put a bullet in your brain." He said menacingly.

I flinched at his tone and his choice of words.

"I wouldn't think of that." Dad said while shaking his head.

Luca quickly stalked off towards the front door and we both followed him. When he reached the door, he turned around and looked at me a small smile playing on his lips and for the first time his eyes didn't seem cold.

He grabbed my chin and forced me to look into his eyes. "I'll see you next Friday." His hot breath fanned my lips and my whole body tingled. This was the second time that his lips were so close to mine.

He brushed the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip and whispered, "I can't wait to make you mine."

I sucked in a deep breath at his words. My heart was beating louder than a drum and I wondered if Luca could hear it.

Letting go of my chin, he took a step back and brushed the loose strands of hair off my face. Before I could stop him, he quickly pressed his lips to my cheek and my eyes widened in disbelief and embarrassment.

Why was he doing this? My Dad was standing right there! And what the hell was my Dad doing?

Luca opened the front door and without a glance behind he walked off, disappearing in the dark night.

My heart was still hammering by the time he was out of sight. I slumped my shoulders and placed a hand on my chest, breathing hard as if I had just run a marathon.

I felt my Dad place a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him and he gave me a small smile. Returning his smile, I placed my head on his shoulder and said, "I guess we're going to Vegas."

I hadn't slept a wink last night. I was currently staring at the ceiling in my bedroom. The 'glow-in-the-night' stars on the ceiling were still faintly glowing.

My mom had put them up on the ceiling as a present for my 12th birthday. I was so happy that day. I hadn't taken them down ever since.

I took my necklace from the nightstand and put it on around my neck. Looking down at it, I whispered softly, "I miss you, Mom."

I got out of bed and made my way to the living room to make some coffee. I poured two cups and carried them to the backyard when dad was watering the plants.

"Good morning, Dad." I said and handed him one of the cups.

"Good morning, Sweetie. Sleep well?" Shutting down the water hose he took the cup from my hand and we both sat on the recliner chairs in the lawn.

I just shrugged at him and asked, "You?"

He imitated my action and I smiled at him. We sat in silence as we finished our coffee.

"We have a lot of work today, Dad." I said getting up and heading inside the house.

He followed behind and said, "That we do." He cleared his throat and asked, "But what work exactly?"

I turned around and raised an eyebrow at him. Seriously?

"Dad you've got to practice. For the game. Next Friday." I reminded him.

"Oh! That, right. There's nothing to practice though." He said as he waved a hand at me dismissively and placed his cup in the sink.

Yeah, right! And that was why we were in such a big debt. I shook my head at him as he went to the living room and turned on my laptop.

When he entered the kitchen again I asked him, "What do you even play?"

"Poker." He said and started making breakfast.

"Okay." I entered the word 'poker' in the search bar and started reading aloud when the information showed up. "Hold 'em is a popular form of poker. Poker is a family of gambling card games. All poker variants involve betting as an intrinsic-"

"What are you doing, Chloe?" he asked as he turned around and poked his head in front of the laptop. He smiled when he saw what I was doing. "You don't need to do that, Chloe. I already know how to play." He went back on making breakfast.

I rolled my eyes at him. He knew how to play but I didn't. So I was going to read as much as I could to understand the game.

I was the one at stake here!

So I read.

Poker rules.

Poker face.

Poker hands.

Poker tricks.

Basically, poker everything.

Finally after four hours when I was really tired, I shut down the window and slammed the laptop shut. That's when an idea hit me. I opened the laptop again and entered the name Luca Moretti in the search bar.

The words I read next gave me the shock of my life and I did a double take.

Luca Moretti- leader of the Italian Mafia, co-founder and boss of the 'La Forza' gang-

I didn't read the remaining article. My eyes were solely focused on five words- leader of the Italian Mafia.

Just who exactly were we dealing with here?

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