Your daughter?

Book:Arranged To The Masked Mafia King Published:2024-11-6

Chapter 12
Ariel
My brows climbed my forehead in bewilderment. “Daughter?” I repeated after him loudly to ensure that my ears weren’t playing tricks on me.
The Russian Bratva Capo had a daughter?
“Does my father know about this?” I wanted to sound nonchalant, however my voice didn’t agree as my question came out with a bitter note.
“He doesn’t know because I didn’t have any reason to tell him,” He responded flatly.
The woman I assumed to be her nanny bowed and excused herself from the room while I paced around, running my fingers through my hair and wondering what other secrets he had.
“So let’s get this straight, you are masked for some reasons unknown to everyone, including me, and now you have a secret daughter that you didn’t bother telling me about? What do you take me for?” I yelled, slowly losing my cool.
“I told you, Ariel. Don’t allow your feelings to get in the way because this marriage is nothing but a mere alliance. And you don’t have to worry about my daughter, she’s not your responsibility. Just focus on being a good wife to me and a great mother to our unborn children,” He shot back.
I let out a bamboozled chuckle and propped my arms against my waist. This had to be a dream.
“How can you say that she’s not my responsibility? You might not understand how the world works because you don’t have a heart, but I do, and no matter how hard I might try to ignore her, I’d still be drawn to her one way or the other so I deserve to know why you hid that such an important information from me?” I barked, my voice rising to a high crescendo under pressure while he remained unmoved.
This was the moment I felt like yanking the silly mask off his face just to see his reaction. It baffled me that he could stay calm and nonchalant while a volcano was threatening to erupt within me.
After a while, he strolled to me and my eyes caught the sight of the stain on his black suit. Instantly, the memory of what happened some minutes ago came rushing.
I slapped my forehead, my face turning crimson in embarrassment. He deserved it anyway.
He grabbed my forearm aggressively and pinched my chin, forcing me to keep my gaze on him.
“Don’t cross the line, Ariel, you don’t want to see the other side of me,” His eyes darkened as he dished out the warning, but I snatched my face and hand from his grip and stepped backward.
If he thought that being hard on me would make me cower before him like a jelly, then he was in for a long ride. I planned to make his life miserable and this was only the beginning.
“Oh, I’m scared to my bones. I’m even trembling,” I replied with a taunting smile, faking a shiver. “Now let me tell you something, Mr masked man, I’m not afraid of you, alright?”
If he was pissed by my response he didn’t show it. However, he wasn’t given the chance to reply to me as a knock sounded on the door, and he turned around, taking it as his cue to leave.
I sighed and darted my gaze to the sleeping child on the bed. She was beautiful with a generous crop of black hair. Her lips were pink and pouty, but she had an uneasy aura around her and immediately my heart went out to her.
Since I was the only child, I didn’t have the opportunity to take care of other kids or stay around them. Guilia was two years older than me and the only person my father allowed me to visit.
I was drawn to her that’s why I couldn’t stop my legs from moving to her bed. How could Dmitri hide such a beautiful angel from the world? Why wasn’t he proud of her?
Several questions piled up in my head, but getting answers seemed impossible. He has already stated that I didn’t mean anything to him, so he would only treat my questions trivially.
The realization of that truth was bitter and once again, I was forced to blame my father for being this callous, for pushing me into a marriage where my opinion didn’t matter. Where I wasn’t loved or needed.
Liora’s wince disrupted my train of thought and then it grew into a loud shriek that caused me to flinch. She jerked up from her lying position and curled herself into a ball, shivering vigorously.
My eyes narrowed into slits as I sprang to my feet in confusion. Before I could dash out to the room to call for help, the nanny had already barreled in with Dmitri chasing quickly behind her.
He overtook her and packed Liora into his arms, caressing her hair and muttering some words to her. After a while, she calmed down and he passed her to the nanny.
“We have to leave now, I hope her things are ready?” His voice held a note of urgency and glints of fear.
Though he tried to hide it, he was scared because of her. Immediately, I understood why he was hiding her. She was his weakness and for a strong and impregnable man like him, weaknesses should either be hidden or discarded.
He had to choose the former option because she was his daughter.
“Yes, boss. They are in the trunk already,”
“Alright, take her to the car. I’ll be right behind you,”
She carried her into her arms and vacated the room while he clenched his fist and punched the wall. Impulsively, I backed away, unsure of his next actions.
“What did you do to scare her like that?” He barked so furiously that I thought he would strangle me.
“I-I… I only sat close to her…” I stammered, my heart hammering hard against my chest.
His pupils dilated and his glare scorched me like the sun in the summer. “How dare you do that? Didn’t I tell you that you shouldn’t concern yourself with anything that has to do with my daughter?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know that I shouldn’t go close to her,” I said in my defense.
He strode to me in fluid and brisk steps and I didn’t know when my back touched the wall. His hands came by my sides so that I wouldn’t be able to move away.
Though my innards were melting from trepidation, I still managed to keep my head high and I met his gaze steadily. The situation was awkward and I should have made an attempt to run away from this cage, but my legs didn’t agree with the decision I made in my mind, instead, they stayed glued to the floor.
“Ariel, I’m not going to repeat myself. Stay away from everything that concerns me, including my daughter. We don’t need you,” His eyes which used to be expressionless, conveyed a great intensity of pain and knowing how stubborn a woman I was, I knew deep down that I would never obey that instruction.