KAYA

I opened the door within seconds.

"Thank god you're finally here." I emphatically let him in, aware of the cameras watching as the gruff, beared man walked in.

Once the door closed, the man in plumber gear silently walked and opened his box of equipment on the centre table.

I simply followed, my face blank and feeling the way one might when the ocean skies are churning in preparation of heavy storms and downpour.

I couldn't name the feeling, only describe it to myself.

A burner phone was placed on the table as he finally turned to face me. The fake beard and make up did well to mask his actual features even though he wasn't some young man.

Bruno Alonzi had been Marcello's right hand man for as long as I could remember.

Before that, he'd been loyal to his father.

And yet, he was not as much a monster. He was more of a silent rock by their sides who always invoked a sensation akin to what people called mystery.

He didn't exchange pleasantries or ask me about my progress, Bruno - that mountain of a man - simply relayed what Marcello must have ordered him to.

"He's called Ace on the dark web. The best hacker America has been faced with in over a decade. His capabilities far exceed those of any hackers the Mafia has in their grasp. But he's unknown. Completely off the map, hidden. And now it's not just the Mafia after him but the Bravta, the FBI and the Irish Mob too."

Bruno looked around my space as he spoke, his face as blank as mine. I wasn't unaware that my apartment was bugged, Marcello had placed enough devices to keep track of me and my activities and they were the minute kind even I wouldn't be able to find. But that wasn't new for me, I'd been under scrutiny, denied privacy and lived like a puppet my entire life. It was times like these I was thankful I couldn't feel. Otherwise I would've probably felt like a bird trapped in a rusted cage, not even a golden one.

"We have a lead though. A man named Jones Hill, a hacker who has ties to the Bravta, has worked with him. All you need to know and do is that you're going to get this drive into his laptop," He handed me a small pen drive, "Once you seduce and drug him after a night of pleasure, of course. The drive needs 20 minutes to do all the work, you need to do nothing yourself."

I turned the drive over in my hand, nodded in acknowledgement. I've dealt with such cases before and unaware of the information as ever, been the perfect pawn.

He starts to walk out steadily, "I'll be back to get the drive on Wednesday as an electrician." He informed and I followed him till the door.

"Understood."

Bruno turned around once, his eyes scanning my face in that familiarly eerie way of his. He took something out of his pocket and placed it on the slab next to him but I didn't break eye contact with him.

"Good luck, Kaya."

And with that, he walked out of my apartment, leaving behind a pen drive and–

I finally looked towards the object on the multicolored marble slab.

–a Ferror Rocher chocolate.

He never forgets.

I felt it then, the sensation of drowning but only willingly. The kind that took me down memory lane, reminder of a mother who never failed to give me the same expensive chocolates so she could see me smile. So she felt like she wasn't an utter failure of a mother.

She never disappointed me. Even if she never believed it to be the truth.

But one of her goals in life had been to give me a life as normal as she could possibly make it. My unnatural behavior since I was young didn't bother her much, the way I reacted was attributed to the upbringing and environemnt I was subjected to.

I picked up the chocolate, gazing dispassionately at it before unfolding the wrapper.

I bit into the chocolate, clearing the memories associated with it from my mind until the only thing I focused on was the sweet-nutty flavor.

I glanced at the closed door, observing the wooden structure that screamed elegance and thought of the silent man who'd just left.

It's an unanswered question, a silent ritual. Why he gave me the chocolate whenever he could.

Bruno might have been intimidating and a bloody sight to behold more often than not but the man must have had some reason for always giving me ferrero rochers when he met me.

I just didn't know the reason.

I've contemplated, wondered if it was pity. A sliver of humanity peeking out. If he maybe liked my mother and I reminded him of her, leading to a misplaced sense of responsibility. Or perhaps he liked me, unfeeling as I was.

But that one meager act doesn't qualify as kindness.

He is no better than them. Not a fatherly figure, not someone on my side. Bruno has and always will be a pawn of Marcello's and I don't let anything convinve me otherwise.

I finished the chocolate and threw the wrappers away, going into my room and then the shared balcony outside.

Night had fallen and my inside reminded me of the darkness. I didn't feel anything.

Just a bleak sense of existence.

Resting my hand in the railing, looking up and hoping to spot a star or two that might perhaps wrench my attention away from chocolates and Mafia men and mothers and new impending doom when the door on the opposite side opened.

My eyes flew towards the figure stepping out, rubbing a towel over damp hair. I leaned onto the railing fully, deciding to stay and look at the fine specimen before me.

After all, I didn't come out to the shared balcony to actually think or distract myself. That would be too amateur. That would indicate that I was being led by emotions, random urges.

I was led by one thing alone: Rationality.

I didn't even shrink away from the idea of death. I'd probably embrace it with open arms. I risked my life every time I went out but this mission was a death sentence and I knew that. Yet it didn't rouse any kind of anxiety or fear within me.

Blessing in disguise, I'd call it.

The man stopped short, his darkened blue eyes meeting mine and I let my eyes fall to the expanse of his exposed chest in an unbuttoned grey shirt.

And I didn't do it subtly, no I did it shamelessly. To make a statemnt, to establish parts of my persona. To show him that I was a woman who had no qualms about appreciating what she saw and giving him that attention would mean I liked what I saw.

Preying on his male pride, his ego. His sense of anatomical worth. My appreciation would give it a boost and stay in his memory.

He really did keep in shape.

A six pack. Smooth skin with a smattering of hair. Chiseled, defined muscles. Attractive was the word people would certainly use for Erex Di'Castillo.

I was still on the fence about it though.

"Why, hello neighbor." The deep timbre of his voice prompted me to drag my eyes back up and I made a patient show of it.

Amusement colored his face and I could make it out as the dim lights from both our apartments filtered out onto the balcony. 

I stared into those carribean blue eyes and responded in a languid tone, "Good night, neighbor."

With that I calmly turned around to head back in, hoping he'd perhaps stop me but even if he didn't, my work here was done for today.

"That's rather rude." He remarked as I took three steps away. "Looking at me with those kinds of eyes and then responding with a goodbye to my greeting."

I paused, glancing back at him, "What? These eyes?" I blinked, gazing at him blankly.

He slowly shook his head, leaning on the wall sideways, the towel hanging on his shoulder while he slid his hands into the pockets of his grey sweatpants. "No, these are dead fish eyes. The ones you just gave me were bedroom eyes."

The urge to scan him head to toe and appreciate the position of comfortable arrogance he'd adopted was a strange one.

However, it was the oldest trick in the book. Books I'd read enough times to know that the leaning against the wall or doorframe was a sneaky trick men used. A trick women loved. A trick that highlighted Erex's biceps as they bulged even through the shirt. 

So I turned on my heel and did the same. Used a sneaky trick.

Without responding or uttering a single work, I folded my arms on the railing, bending low and looking at him sideways.

Catching him in the act as his eyes scanned my figure.

And I had no words to describe it but as his stark blue eyes trailed over my figure, over the plump curve of my ass and the toned shape of my legs, then back up and dipping to my breasts that seemed to be spilling out of the top, I could tell exactly where his gaze was as it moved over my flesh, raising goosebumps.

I let my lips curl up into a smirk of triumph and teasing when his met mine again, something swirling in that hooded blue gaze.

"Who's the one giving bedroom eyes now, Mr Castillo?" 

I'd continued using his last name despite him telling me to call him Rex. It would distinguish me from the others in his life and I needed that slow build up of psychological attention.

His brows lifted, "You did that delibrately." The fact that his voice was still calm and even didn't skip me. It meant I still had a long way to go before lust and sex would cloud his judgement around me.

Erex's eyes didn't stray this time but my smile widened before I straightened back up. I notioced his muscles relax slightly when I broke the position that had pushed my ass out and my chest forward, giving him a clear side view of my best features in a pair of tiny shorts and a spaghetti top.

"And what proof do you have?" 

"My eyes."

"The ones that strayed to criminally wrong places?" I innocently blinked.

Bemused, he glanced away, rubbing a hand over his sharp jaw. "Yes."

So he's just as straightforwad and shameless when he wishes to be. Good to know, makes it easier for me. 

A soft chuckle escaped me - or well, I allowed it to escape and sound natural, low and lilting. Now was the best time to leave, truly leave while we'd established some semblance of sexual tension. So that I would be wandering in his thoughts because of the mysterious reactions I'd given him, choosing to leave the conversation on an edge, unanswered and incomplete.

Without waiting, I once more started to head back with a closing statement, "Good night, Mr Castillo." He'd be able to hear my amused smile in my voice. 

Fake smile and fake amusement but he wouldn't know, just like no one ever did.

This time, he didn't stop me but his voice was an octave lower when I heard him, right before I slipped inside.

"Have a restless sleep, Kaya."

I slid the balcony door close, watching him with the imitation of a barely hidden smile, "But that's your fate for tonight, not mine. Don't let yourself get confused."

And then we were cut off, the solid white door allowing me the luxury to drop the fake smile and pretense of enjoying the sexually filled banter.

I turned away, my eyes accidentally falling upon a reflection of myself in a mirror.

I paused and then I forced my lips to curve into a bitter, sardonic smile as I asked my reflection a question it wouldn't be able to answer.

"Why do you live like this?" 

A tiny voice in the back of my head whispered back, "Because you have no other options."

Acknowledging the bitter truth, I turned away, breaking away from the reflection. Knowing there was probably a bug in the mirror that Marcello had planted, I knew I couldn't say anything or everything I wanted to or thought of.

But it'd make no difference anyways.

I was set to die, that much was clear to me. This mission mattered more to Marcello than the toy he'd been using for the past two decades AKA me.

And I didn't even care.

A/N

What do you guys think of this chapter? I hope you enjoyed.

The interaction between Bruno and Kaya and her reminiscing about her mother must have given some new insight to the layered character.

And of course, the eventual banter and sexual tension between Kaya and Erex was *whew*
She doesn't back down but why do you think Erex is indulging her? Is he really just feeling her out or giving in to some inexplicable urges at times?

Either way, I hope you liked the chapter. Don't forget to vote and comment please! Gives me tons of motivation to write even though I don't have enough time🥺💕

Thank you and take care y'all! Till next time then.

~Skyler