Chapter 01

Prologue

“I’m gonna say this once again, I am so glad that you are back Claire. Gosh I missed you!”

I had to strain my ears and lean very closely so I could hear Rosa's words over the loud music blaring through the speakers in the five star bar she and Mandy had brought me to.

“I know right?” Mandy yelled in response with a wide grin that suggested she was fast on her way to getting very drunk.

I had missed them too. My three best friends except. Rose, Mandy and Mary who weren't here.

We had grown up together, shared dreams, until my own dreams had taken me to New York for studies.

But despite the distance, the bond the four of us shared never dimmed or even broke. We still loved each other as fiercely as we did five years ago.

“Life has nor been the same without you, Claire.” Mandy said with a serious face that almost made me laugh as she swung her arm over my shoulders.

“You two do not have to be so dramatic,” I yelled back giggling, “it isn't like I've been away for the past five years. I do come back every summer.”

Rosa frowned, and I grabbed my cup of beer while I waited for an argument from her which I knew would come anytime from now.

“That isn't the same, Claire.” She said with a pout, “Now you are back home for good and I'm happy. Besides, we are also very happy for your graduation, right Mandy?”

Mandy didn't respond because her mouth was filled with whatever it was the bartender had mixed for her in that cup.

I chuckled and took a long sip of my beer, closing my eyes as I relished the taste.

I had missed this. I had missed home, if not for anything but for the beer.

You never get good quality beer in New York.

Never.

“Well I missed you girls too and I am so fucking happy to be back home too.”

Rosa smiled and gave me a hug.

“We need to go dance y'all.” Mandy yelled, shaking her hips, “come on.”

“Mandy, I doubt you are stable enough to even walk on both your feet, talk more of dancing. Come on, sit down and maybe take a break from the glass.”

She frowned as if I had said something outrageous.

“Boo - hoo. Five years in New York has made Claire a bore!!”

More like it made me more responsible, but I wasn't going to argue with Mandy, especially not a drunk version of her.

She grabbed Rosa's hand and they both walked — staggered towards the gathering of sweaty people who were just shamelessly grinding against each other to the beat of the music.

Heh.

I finished the content of my mug and stood up.

Fuck it.

Might as well celebrate with them or at least keep a close look on them.

I grabbed another cup of bear from the bartender and made my way to the dance floor.

As I made my way to them however, my eyes pinned on them and a hand grabbed my wrist stopping me in my tracks.

“Hello beautiful,” A deep voice whispered into my ears, the rich baritone making me shiver, as a hard body pressed tightly against my back grabbing my waist.

Wtf?

“I've been looking at you since the past ten minutes,” he said, trailing his fingers from my wrist to my bare shoulders in what I guess was meant to be a seductive gesture. “I don't believe I've seen you around here before. What do you say we go upstairs and…get to know each other better?”

There was a suggestion in his words which I caught and understood and it made my eyes widen.

Shocked, and angry I turned around to look at the…

Oh my God.

What was I about to say just now?

The man staring down at me with deep blue eyes was…a god.

That was how to simply put it, without underestimating just how gorgeous he was.

Standing very tall on six feet plus some inches, he looked very intimidating and yummy enough to jump and just devour.

I stared into his eyes and almost got lost at how beautiful and a little drunk they looked before I took the time to just look and admire his perfectly carved facial features.

Chiselled jaws covered with just the perfect amount of beards, and his curly hair which was a little bit wet were covering a little part of his forehead making him look a little bit innocent.

Just a little bit.

But then he opened his mouth and I snapped back into reality.

“You know, normally I would enjoy playing you hard to get because I love the chase. But tonight is not just the right time for that. So what do you say?

Just name your price, let me make this evening a blastful one for you.”

I perceived the alcohol in his breath as he leaned his face close to mine, with a smirk.

Name my price?

What does he take me for, some sort of hooker? Oh the nerve of him

“I'm sorry,” I yelled with half a smile, “you've got the wrong person. I'm not a hooker.”

I tried to turn but his hand grabbed my arm again, “see honey, you are a hooker if I want you to be one. Stop the game and name your price.”

That's it!

Before I could try to take a deep calming breath to calm myself down or something, I was already reacting.

I tilted the full mug of beer I was holding over his shoulder and watched as the contents poured on his white shirt.

The look on his face was comical and would have made me laugh if I wasn't fuming in anger.

“Next time it could be an acid,” I said, throwing the cup on the floor, “So I suggest you keep your hand to yourself and don't you ever…disrespect me that way again. Idiot.”

The temperature in the room seemed to have dropped drastically and I could sense a sudden change in the atmosphere.

I looked around and frowned. It seemed like no one was interested in whatever they were doing — drinking and dancing — as they stared at us mirroring the same shock on the stranger's face.

And….was that fear I saw in their expression?

Even the loud music stopped playing and everywhere was just…calm and so tense, you could cut the tension in the air with a knife.

A squeak made me turn around and my friends were standing right behind me, Rosa with her hands covering her wide mouth and Mandy just looking like she was about to piss her pants

Okay, so I poured a drink on a stranger who was harassing me.

What exactly is the big deal?

“Let's go,” I whispered to the girls fiercely and walked towards the exit ignoring whatever it is, that was going on back there.

Rosa and Mandy were right behind me when I left the bar but I didn't walk very far before they stopped me.

“Claire!”

“What?!”

“What have you done?” Rosa said, shaking visibly and I frowned, still not understanding what the deal was.

“What have I done? That man was harassing me so I set him straight. Why is everyone acting like I just beheaded the president?”

“Honey you would have had better luck if you actually beheaded the president.”

Before I could ask Rosa what she meant, Mandy's frantic words cut through the air.

“Oh my God we are so dead. What do we do? Did he see us leaving with you? Maybe he didn't. Maybe he doesn't know we are associated with you, that way I'm safe. I don't want to die.”

“Mandy! Get yourself together and stop acting like that. Claire is our friend.” Rosa scolded

“And a very stupid One, it seems. She just….she just…”

“Can one of you maybe…tell me what's going on?”

Rosa looked at me with a strange expression, and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“The man you just humiliated in public…that man right there? That's Xander De Luca.”

Xander De Luca?

I know that name. I've been hearing it in the news since the past decade and…

Oh my god.

My heart dropped in my stomach as realisation struck me.

“Yes, Claire. You just in a way, provoked the most dangerous mafia in the country. And the last person in your shoes….him and his entire family were found dead in less than 24 hours.”

.