Chapter 9 The Forced Engagement

My hand froze on the door handle. I knew that accent of order so well. A shower of recognition washed me over. Now I can understand.

With a smirk, I sniffed, "Engagement?"

I met their eyes with a smile that didn't reach my eyes. "To get engaged to one of your ally mobsters?" Then paused with a challenge. "No, thanks. I'm fine with my normal life, raising my son."

My heavy words echoed through the room. No one should say No to Papa. Their expressions were varied, though.

But Papa's gaze was the one that caught my attention for a brief moment. He stared deep into my eyes as if he were trying to read me.

"That's a brave talk from a little brat to say to modsters," Luca sniffed back with a sarcastic tone, emphasizing the last word. He was now sitting on one of the wide couches.

What was wrong with him hating me that much? We didn't see each other for six years. He had changed, not just from the outside. I could barely recognize the Luca I knew inside this cruel, ruthless man.

"The engagement has already been settled, Mila. There is no going back," Papa encountered.

"Then you manipulated me to get me here?" I stated and stared with an accusing look at Luca and Marco. The latter met my gaze with silence, he was avoiding my eyes all the time. While Luca replied without sparing me a glance as he scrolled through his phone, "It wasn't that we couldn't bring you otherwise."

Indeed. They could. But on my dead body, I'll agree on that.

I closed my eyes, hoping for them to disappear from my sight. I inhaled a long breath and exhaled it. I should have seen this coming. I shouldn't trust them.

"I'm not the same naive girl you knew. I have changed, Papa. You made me change," I said quietly.

"This engagement is for your own good, mia figlia," Papa pressed.

Mia figlia, My daughter? Did he really think by calling me that I'd agree?

Why do I feel he has changed though? He seemed defeated, not as powerful as I knew him to be. Was it because of his illness? Or was he just getting old?

"You lost me that night, Papa, you pushed me away without a second thought. And here you're now, brought me not out of the warmth of your heart, but to use me as a scapegoat for whatever you had fucked up with the Castellanos."

Recardo approached me with a warm smile, "You know he did that for your own good back then, don't you?"

I sniffed, not believing a word. "I just wanna my son to have a normal life. You know, to play as a kid. Live his childhood. Not to be imprisoned in a luxury mansion," I said firmly before I turned around and left the study room.

I wasn't going to discuss this any longer. The past was the past. And that's it. And I wasn't going to let my Angelo live the life I hated.

Coming here was a mistake, and I'm going to fix it.

Without a word, I lifted Angelo in my arms, he was eating cookies and sitting next to Mama and Aunt Merinda. Mama was taken aback by the sudden act. But I didn't give her the chance to react or ask.

I headed straight to the main door. I wasn't going to stay here for more than half a second, even though it was midnight already. Two guards stood before the door. They were Zac and Julio.

Without even a word of greetings, I ordered, "Step aside." They had never listened to my orders before, will they now?

"Sorry, Mila. Il Don ordered us not to let you out."

I bit down on my lips. "Why should I get engaged to that Castellano? You must know something."

"This is Il Don's order. We don't know more than that," Julio mumbled.

So, it was my father's idea. He wanted to use me for his benefits!

I opened my mouth, but I didn't say anything as I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around to see the three brothers standing before me.

They were all tall, dark, exuding power with a masculine physique. Recardo was the longest of them, Marco the most muscular, and Luca was the most dangerous and ruthless one of them besides the most handsome.

"You talk much, Julio." Luca's voice came cold and low in a scary way, even though he looked so calm.

"Let me out, now. This is a kidnapping." I shouted.

Luca cocked a brow. "So?"

His cold reply made my blood boil.

Think, think, think, Mila.

But nothing came to my mind. The heavy weight of Angelo's body, who was wrapping his small hands around my neck and burying his face there, made it hard to be patient to think.

I went past them and hissed, "Going to talk to Il Don then."

A soft sneer skipped Aunt Miranda's lips as she rolled her eyes made me suspect that there was something still didn't know.