Peter

I couldn't sleep a wink last night. Leo told me that Caesar was a man of his word and would keep Thalia somewhere safe until we arrived, but that didn't subside the nagging fear within me.

I was the first person up and ready. Leo said dress sharp and we did. Mother decided to stay behind, arguing that she was a bit too old for delicate things like this.

We took only one car: Leo's. It wasn't too cramped, but due to the severity of the situation, the tension inside was thick.

As we drove, I let myself stare outside at the beautiful sky that was slowly turning from dark blue to purple. It was sunrise. Normally, such a sight would be beautiful, but not today. Not under these circumstances.

We arrived at the Golden Dome as another car pulled up, a slick black vehicle with tinted windows.

A man walked out of the car and Leo followed suit, telling us to stay behind.

I reluctantly sat back and watched as Leo and the man began to talk. My eyes flitted up to the dirty, broken building before us, the golden dome on the top sparkling in the golden sun despite the rest of the building's condition.

The Golden Dome used to be a magnificent hotel, one owned by Caesar himself. But it was attacked one day and destroyed, left here to wither and rot with time. Just like most of the Don's things.

Ricardo sighed, breaking the silence of the car. "I told you all that we should have done away with her when we had the chance! Now look? We're here waiting to be blindly escorted into the heart of the Mafia empire and for what? Some girl?!"

"You shut your goddamn mouth!" I yelled, whipping around from the shotgun seat to point a finger back at him. "That "girl" is like family to us! Somehow I find it appalling that you don't get that yet!"

"He's right, babe." Fiona added. "Thalia isn't just anyone. She's just as much a family to us as you are. She just wasn't...built for this life. We couldn't initiate her. Even without an open spot in our mob, it would be too dangerous for her to be officially involved with what we do here."

"Yeah, dude." Rhys spoke. "If I know Thalia, she wouldn't survive in the mafia 24/7. She just wasn't made for it. But we couldn't just let her leave. Not after how much she meant to us."

"Then why would you all attempt to get her initiated then? That's why we're meeting with the Don in the first place."

"It's only a gag deal. Sure, perhaps we'll initiate her, but we'll make sure her life doesn't change. She'll just have the tattoo and title. Nothing more." I stated. "I'll make sure of it."

Suddenly, Leo stuck his head back into the car. "Let's go." He said.

We all climbed out of the car and the man before us spoke. "In order to preserve the secrecy of the Don's location, you'll all be blindfolded. We'll keep your arms and legs unbound, but the second we see you trying to take them off, you'll be shot. Understood?"

We all nodded.

A second man stepped out of the car and handed us all burlap bags. I sighed in annoyance at how stupid this was before slipping the bag over my head.

This was all for Thalia, I reminded myself. For her safety.

I felt a hand grab my wrist and I let it lead me to the car before I climbed in. The sound of a door closing and an engine starting promptly followed and we were on our way.

_ _ _ _

Thalia

I struggled and pulled at the chains around my wrist as the guard tugged me along with the chain leash in his hand.

"Are you seriously planning on leading me around this mansion like a dog?!" I demanded with a scowl.

"Its's what the Don ordered. I'm just following directions." He said, not turning to look at me. He roughly pulled at the chain and I stumbled behind him, my wrist aching every time he yanked at the binds.

When I'd woken up, I had been wearing a change of clothes and this godforsaken chain. The red dress I was wearing was a bit revealing and I most definitely hated it. My hair had been pulled up into a high ponytail and someone had even applied makeup to my face, the red lipstick being my least favorite part of the look. I was barefooted and no shoes had been provided for me.

I hated it here.

We arrived in what appeared to be a spacious living room with soft plush couches that faced a large fireplace with a flatscreen TV over it. Had it had been literally any other circumstance, I might have been comfortable.

Caesar sat on a couch with a glass of wine and a hardback book, reading intently as he drank. When his eyes met mine, he grew an almost hungry smile.

"My, doll, you clean up good." He purred.

"This was done against my will while I was unconscious, asshole. I hate red lipstick! And where the hell are my shoes?!" I hissed, tugging at the chains again.

"Well I for one think red looks rather sexy on you." The guard handed him the chain he was holding and Caesar yanked me towards him before grabbing my chin and tilting my head up to face him. "And I told the servants not to give you any shoes because we wouldn't want you running away, now would we?"

"You really think that a lack of shoes is going to be enough to keep me from trying to escape?" I seethed.

"No, but with the way I have my mansion set up, it sure does make it hella hard when you get outside." He smirked.

I scowled and pulled away from him. "Why the hell am I even dressed up. And where is Corey?!"

As if on cue, the doors opened and two guards entered the room, carrying a tied up and struggling Corey. He yelled curses and threats at the guards as they sat him down in a random chair by the large window in the room and tied him down to it.

"Just you wait! You'll slip up eventually, and when you do, I'll kill you assholes! I'll spill your blood all over this shitty creme carpet! Then you'll be sorry you ever tied me to this many goddamn chairs!" He raged. Corey had also been granted a change of clothes, his which included a black suit with a red undershirt and black tie. He too had no shoes.

His eyes met mine and he scowled at Caesar. "What do you take her for? An animal?! She's a woman! Why is she on a chain?!"

"Because I want her here." Caesar said, playing with the chain. "We have guest coming today, in case you two goons forgot. I don't want you two acting out. Also," He turned to me with a rather sick gleam in his eyes. "I want to see how many of the Ronans' buttons I can push before I have to let you go." His eyes roamed over my body hungrily. "If I let you go."

I scoffed and looked away. He wouldn't dare hold me here...would he?

"The Ronans should be here any minute, so as fun as it is to chat with you two, I need to go get ready." He walked over and hooked my chain onto a chair before walking away, snapping for his guards to follow.

As their footsteps receded, Corey whipped his head around to face me. "Thalia are you alright? They haven't hurt you, have they?" He rushed.

I shook my head. "I'm fine, Corey." I looked down at my chained wrist and sighed. "Or as fine as I can be right now." I tugged at the chain for a minute before scowling at them. "My gosh I don't know where the hell he got these from, but they just won't break!"

Corey looked around the room, more than likely looking for some way out of our hopeless situation. But even he couldn't find one. He groaned and threw his head back. "I don't think we're going to be able to find a way out of this one, Thalia." He stated.

"We are the Don's prisoners right now. This guy owns the entire Mafia, Corey. I'm sure there's no way out of here, right now. But he did say the Ronans were coming. Last night over the phone, he sounded like he was willing to negotiate our freedom. So, there's still hope." I told him.

Corey shook his head. "Look, Thalia. I'd never met Caesar in my life before this moment, but if what Leo and other mobsters say about him is to be believed, he's not just going to let us go. There's going to be something in it for him. Caesar is used to playing the long game. He may not be looking to collect anything right now, but when he does, it's over. We're all just little insignificant pieces to him in a large never-ending game of cat and mouse and he makes sure we don't forget it. Every second we're left alive in here is frankly more dangerous than the last."

I blinked as I thought about Corey's words. If they were true, then he was right. We were fucked.

"Damn it!" I yelled slamming my fists onto the floor. Tears threatened to spill from my eyes so I shut them tight and held my head down. However, that just made them fall anyway.

"I should have never gone to that stupid bar!" I exclaimed. "Then we wouldn't be here in this situation with our lives hanging in the balance. You all wouldn't have had so many problems!" I looked up at Corey. "You, Rhys, Peter, Leo Fiona, Ricardo, everyone would be better off if I had just..." I trailed off. "If I had just stayed away."

The room was quiet for a moment, only my occasional sniffling from my silent sobs were heard.

"No we wouldn't." Corey said.

I looked up at him with teary eyes. "What?"

"Our dumbasses would've found some other way to get on the Don's radar one way or another. You coming along just gave us something...worth fighting him for." Corey continued. He gave me a soft smile. "Thalia, I believe I speak for everyone when I say we would go through these exact same events one hundred times over if it meant we could keep you in our lives."

I sat up a bit straighter as Corey continued. "You've done so much for us. You're like the little sister Fiona never had, Leo's been working less and spending more time with his family, Rhys is learning to do less talking and more listening, I'm realizing more about myself and seeing that I don't always have to compete with Peter, and Peter..." Corey trailed off for a moment before his blue eyes met mine, "You've brought Peter a genuine happiness that I haven't seeing in him for years. I mean, the man hasn't done this much talking and smiling since we were kids. But every time he's around you, his eyes light up and for a moment, it like he's a completely different person."

I smiled a little just thinking of the Ronans. They were more of a family to me than my biological family, and for that, I would be eternally thankful. Knowing that I had such a positive impact on their family warmed my heart.

"Corey, I-"

Suddenly the doors opened again and in walked Caesar in a rather plain grey suit with his blonde hair slicked back. A cigarette sat between his lips, tendrils of smoke snaking from it. "Hope you two had lots of fun all to your lonesome." He grinned.

Corey and I glared at him silently.

It didn't seem to phase him, however. He simply untied my chain from the couch and motioned for his guards to release Corey.

"Now,I believe your friends are here, so let's go and greet them, shall we?