One Night Mistake… Now I Carry the Mafia Heir

Chapter 102: 102/No Room Left to Run

Chapter 102

Stephanie’s Point of View

Averting his gaze from me toward the window, he answered in a voice husky and choked with painful memories: "Yes... a very long time ago."

My chest tightened with a profound sadness for him. Taking a single step closer in comfort, I said sincerely: "I’m sorry for reminding you of such a sorrowful matter."

Turning back to me, he locked his eyes onto mine and gave a slight nod to express his gratitude: "Thank you, Steph... Now, hurry up and get dressed so we can head downstairs together. Let’s not keep Grandpa waiting any longer."

I slipped into a soft dress with lightning speed, and we walked down together side by side to the lower floor where the vast dining hall was located. My eyes automatically darted toward the luxurious dining table, which was laden with dishes; I noticed that Cedric was not present at the table. Sitting there entirely alone was Grandpa Victor.

We took our designated seats quietly. Grandpa Victor raised his graying head, looking at me with his usual warm, affectionate smile, and asked with interest: "How was your first day of work in the design field, Stephanie? Did everything go well?"

My stomach knotted violently and frustration gripped me all over again. I thought to myself with bitterness and resentment: Oh, my noble Grandpa... if you only knew what that wretched bastard called Vinceti did to me on my very first day! He put me through absolute agony and took his revenge on me over a trivial delay that didn’t exceed two minutes!

Yet, I miraculously masked my emotions, keeping my external features perfectly calm. I gave my grandfather a soft, practiced smile, saying confidently: "It was a very good and interesting day, Grandpa. An excellent beginning to learn the ropes."

We exchanged quiet conversation over bites of food for a while. Then, suddenly and without warning, Alexander adjusted his posture and rose from his seat in a swift motion, his rigid frame signaling an alert. He spoke in a firm, heavy voice: "I have to leave now."

I looked up at him in surprise and bewilderment, my eyes widening as I asked spontaneously: "Where are you going at this late hour?"

He answered curtly and with a stark coldness, completely devoid of details as was his custom whenever it concerned his dark affairs: "I have important business that requires my immediate personal presence."

I didn’t press him for further explanations or verbal details; the situation was perfectly clear and understood given the nature of his mafia lifestyle. He was undoubtedly heading out to deal with something filled with danger, blood, and weapons in the dead of night. A sudden anxiety and turmoil gripped my insides fiercely, and my jaw tightened with a genuine fear for his safety against the unknown. I said in a sincere, soft tone that came from the bottom of my heart: "Take good care of yourself, and please be careful."

Fixing his possessive gaze on my eyes for a few moments, his features softened slightly as he said: "I will... don’t worry."

At that exact moment, a wretched thought struck my mind like a deafening thunderbolt, and a fire ignited in my brain as I remembered Valentina and the message she had sent to Alex yesterday. Damn me! How could I have completely forgotten about Valentina’s message amidst the mountain of fatigue and morning exhaustion? Was Alexander actually going to meet her right now under the guise of business?

My blood boiled with a searing heat from a jealousy that completely blinded my reason. I stood up from my chair in a hurried, erratic manner, rushing behind him with rapid strides until I caught up to him, stopping him at the threshold of the massive palace doors before his exit.

He turned to me in complete astonishment, the confusion clear on his face. Raising an eyebrow in question, his eyes narrowed with apprehension and suspicion at my sudden reaction, and he asked dryly: "What’s wrong with you, Steph? What is the matter?"

Locking my tense gaze, which burned with the fires of suspicion, into his eyes in open defiance, I gripped the fabric of my dress violently to curb my outburst. I spoke in a voice that trembled visibly from a lethal jealousy and a biting doubt that was tearing me apart inside: "Tell me the truth, Alexander... are you going to meet Valentina right now?"

Alexander’s entire body stiffened at the threshold of the massive door, a mixture of surprise and sharp intensity cutting across his stern features. His eyes flashed with frustration, impatience, and absolute weariness from these repeated accusations. With an effort, however, he relaxed those tense lines and took a single step closer to my trembling frame, stating in a firm, definitive tone: "Stephanie... listen to me carefully. There is absolutely nothing between your sister Valentina and me. Everything she says is a mere delusion, a product of her own imagination."

I crossed my arms tightly over my chest as if shielding myself from his lies, my limbs shaking violently from the searing jealousy and lethal doubt tearing at my soul. I burst out in a sharp, elevated, and pained voice: "And that wretched message that reached you last night?! How do you explain that? Besides, she told me herself, with absolute confidence and audacity, that you were her lover!"

He let out a long, hot exhale from the depths of his chest, running his broad palm over the back of his neck in a gesture of helplessness and frustration at the impasse. He answered in a rough, gravelly voice: "She is imagining things that never happened. And you, with your impulsive nature, never grant me the time or space to tell you the details of what occurred in the past so that you can understand and see the picture clearly."

I tilted my head in defiance, my body tightly wound with stubbornness. In a sarcastic tone, I challenged him: "Fine, Alexander... I am standing right here, listening. Go ahead, tell me everything right now and make me understand."

He darted a swift, hurried glance at the hands of his expensive gold watch, his jaw clenching with visible tension over his delayed appointment. He said with a stark, cold detachment: "Not now, obviously. I am far too busy... Tomorrow I will sit down with you and explain the details of everything."

I dropped my arms in total surrender and disappointment, lowering my gaze to the floor in defeat. "Fine... as you wish," I whispered, my voice choked.

His warm palm reached out to pat my shoulder gently to soothe my anxiety, and he spoke in a calm, comforting tone: "Go back inside and get to sleep quickly. You are exhausted from work and need to rest."

I nodded obediently without looking at his face, replying concisely: "Fine... I will."

Alexander walked out with his majestic strides, firmly shutting the heavy wooden door behind him. Dragging my depleted body, I turned back with heavy, slow steps toward the luxurious dining table, where Grandpa Victor was still sitting in his usual spot. I approached him and said in a quiet, utterly drained voice: "Dear Grandpa... goodnight. I’m heading up to my room now."

He raised his head slowly, looking deep into my eyes with immense warmth and paternal affection, replying with a gentle smile: "Goodnight, my child... sleep well."

I turned and left the hall, ascending the marble staircase with feet so heavy it felt as though I were climbing a mountain. A profound drowsiness began to weigh down my eyelids, forcing my eyes shut against my will due to the exhaustion accumulated since the morning. Yet, the moment my feet stepped onto the upper floor and reached the middle of the vast corridor, the blood suddenly froze in my veins. There, standing tall in the shadows, was Cedric, his shoulder leaning against the stone wall, watching my movements with an enigmatic, unreadable, and intensely dark gaze that sent shivers down my spine.

My steps slowed automatically, and I held my breath, fighting to maintain my shaken composure beneath his scrutinizing gaze. In a pleading tone laced with anxiety and fear of his impulsiveness, I said: "Cedric... please, for heaven’s sake, do not open that wretched morning topic again. I am dead tired and cannot handle another word."

He didn’t listen to my plea. Instead, he took a single, wide, and aggressive step toward me, shattering my calm. Narrowing his eyes into a terrifying glare, his focus locked completely onto my pale face, and he asked in a low, muffled, husky voice that slipped past his lips like a hiss: "Answer me honestly, Stephanie... do you love me?"

My stomach knotted in extreme confusion, and a sudden vertigo swept through my head from his blunt, difficult question. Interlocking my fingers tightly and nervously behind my back to hide my trembling, I evaded him, saying in a shaken tone: "I... I am under no obligation to answer a question like that, especially at this hour."

Suddenly, in a swift, blindingly fast, and violent motion that I didn’t comprehend until it was far too late, his powerful hand with steel-like fingers clamped around my wrist with the crushing grip of an iron shackle. He dragged me behind him with excessive force. I fought with everything I had to resist his solid grip and break free, but it was entirely futile against his powerful physical build. He shoved me into his private bedroom with a restrained roughness, and with blind speed and astonishing agility, he locked the door behind us, pulling the key from the slot and slipping it deep into his pocket.

I spun around to face him in sheer panic and shock, my entire body trembling with terror. My heart rate accelerated frantically, hammering against my chest like mad, and I cried out in fear and panic: "Cedric! What the hell are you doing?! Open this door right now... let me out!"

He completely ignored my shouting and pleading. Instead, driven by an overwhelming impulse and a confident madness, he lunged forward, pinning me with his entire massive frame against the solid wooden door until I felt the unyielding stiffness of his bones and his sheer strength compressing the breath in my lungs. He didn’t leave a single millimeter of space for me to move or escape. He lowered his head with an agonizing slowness, pressing his nose against the curve of my neck, taking a deep, long breath as he closed his eyes in a strange contentment. He murmured: "Ah... how I have missed your enchanting scent, Stephanie."

My diaphragm convulsed violently; the air trapped itself entirely in my chest, and my mouth went completely dry.

My eyes widened in shock and bewilderment at his lethal, emotionally unbalancing proximity. Raising his head with a prolonged slowness, he locked his burning, piercing gaze directly into the depths of my eyes, as if reading my innermost thoughts. In a calm, cold, yet utterly terrifying tone brimming with a desire for dominance and possession, he demanded: "Now that we are completely alone... answer me without weaving or dodging. Do you love me?"