Chapter 4 Lorenzo's POV

"Yes sir" He responded, as I walked to the conference room.

I was to have a meeting with my dad Marco Carlo and some of his business partners. Although I had become the Mafia king at the age of twenty which was almost five years ago, I still had to have meetings monthly with my dad to give him reports of the family business and its success.

We have businesses in at least thirty countries in the world and underground business ventures in at least twenty other countries. When I was handed over the position by my dad, we had businesses in only five countries, I have been able to expand our business which was one of the reasons I was classified as a mafia king.

I have a lot of people working for me and in the house, I live I have at least thirty men living in the house, my other houses have men in them too, especially my secret hideouts. I have two secret hideouts, one known to my younger sister Alessia, who I gave a key to the apartment in case of emergencies, and the other only known to Alesandro.

Despite being a mafia king, there are times when war breaks out and the best thing you can do is to protect the ones closest to you. For me the closest person to my heart is Alessia, She had been less than a year old when my mum had died and I had vowed to look after her. Despite being five years old then, I had to take care of myself and her since dad became a womanizer and a workaholic.

She was away from the country currently studying business administration abroad and exploring the world. It was compulsory for the children in our family to take business classes as we needed to keep the family business thriving.

Alessia would be given her own business arm to supervise once she is done studying within the year, the same age as I was when I was made a mafia king. Though a sweet girl, she is as hard as a mafia would be.

"We are expecting the shipment soon dad, you don't have to worry about it," I said to my dad when he enquired about the shipment. It was bad enough that I was worrying about it, I just add his own worry to it.

"If you say so. Heard from Alessia?" He asked. I gave him a stern as this was supposed to be a strictly business meeting and not one for asking about family members.

"We are done with the meeting, so I'm just asking you before we take our leave," He stated sensing my displeasure.

"She is fine," I said, standing up from my seat.

"Till we meet again next month son," Dad said, giving me a handshake as did the other business partners.

The meeting was exhausting as I had to explain how business was going in all the countries we had branches in, I had to listen to the business partners pitch their new ideas and proposals.

The meeting lasted for over three hours.

After they left, I had to go over some paperwork with my accountants and lawyers, and then restrategize with my boys.

At the end of the day, I was so tired, that I retired to my room, ready to go to bed.

I was however unable to have a good night's rest that night. I was haunted by my thoughts and by the fact that the maid earlier had refused me. She was the first girl I was coming in contact with who didn't care that I could snatch her neck in half if she dared to talk back at me.

What made me even more bothered was the fact that she acted indifferent towards me, like I was nobody and that I had no right to demand her to be with me in bed. While other ladies would have seized the opportunity to be in bed with the most powerful mafia, she dared to refuse me.

How dare she? Who really is she and from which family? These were the questions that plagued my mind. I knew she probably was the daughter or maid of one of my debtors who was sent to settle their debt but I didn't know who had sent her or how much the person owed me, whatever the amount was, she is mine now to keep and she needed to know that for a fact.

She deserved being behind bars and sleeping on the cold hard floor all through the night without food or water for causing me to be bothered by her presence.

The following morning, I called on Alessandro to give me details of who the maid was.

"She is Sofia Salvatore, the first daughter of Mr. Dante Salvatore, the debtor your debtor." He said.

"I see, how much does he owe me and how long does she have to work for it?" I asked.

"He owes you a whole lot of money that will cost her forever to pay back. She has been sold to you by her father as a means to clear their family debt. Her father was the person who..." He was saying when I stopped him.

"Save the details for later, for now, take me to the cell where she is kept," I said smiling to myself, knowing that she was mine for the keep.

I walked to where her cell was, hoping she had learnt her lesson and that she had come to the knowledge that I could do as I liked with her, including taking her life, if I so wished.

It wasn't like she was the Princess of England, that she had kept her pride even while working as my maid. 'Oh, the audacity she had to speak to me as she did' I thought.

"Learned your lesson?" I asked her, on reaching her cell and putting on the light in the room.

She lifted her head to face me but said nothing to me, even in jail she was still ignoring me, like I did not exist. So much pride, I thought in disgust and anger.

"Still ignoring me?" I asked her.

She looked at me again and dropped her head.

Maybe she is too hungry to speak, I thought to my greatest surprise. It wasn't in my nature to raise excuses for people's behaviour.

"I will let you go free now, but if you dare cross my path again you will have yourself to blame" I said, certain there was no way she would be working in my house while avoiding me.

"Do you understand ?" I asked her and she nodded.

"Boss, Boss" I heard Alessandro who had been taking a call when we arrived at the cell, called out to me.

"There is a problem," He said when He got closer.

"Just a minute," I said to Alessandro as I returned my attention back to Sofia.

I Ordered one of the boys present to open the cell for her.

"You are free to go Sofia, but I warn you to stay off my path and to let go of your pride," I said, and walked away with Alessandro. I warned her to stay off my path because if my first meeting with her could give me a sleepless night, I wondered what it would mean to see her every time.

"Someone said he sighted Matteo within the town today," He said.

"What?" I shouted.