Filed to story: Bring It On My Mafia Life Novel (Rhea & Lukas)
In one word, it was just her and Luca. However, there were just so few things Rhea could discuss with Luca whose loyalty firmly belongs to Lukas. Rhea wanted to keep some secrets to herself considering she and Lukas lived together anyway and were a couple, he knew many things about her – both the ones she told him and the ones he dug up about her. A girl gotta keep some secrets and there were things Lukas shouldn’t know – like how she intended to seek out Elijah.
Hence, Rhea spent most of the day making herself familiar with the phone and laptop Lukas gifted her, and to be honest, her mind couldn’t go past the fact that both devices were bugged meaning that whatever she even researched on the internet would be known to Lukas. But then beggars couldn’t be choosers and Rhea believed that with time, when she gained his trust, she would get another phone that wouldn’t need his supervision.
But even with her phone and laptop present, Rhea got bored real quick. It was not like there was someone to call since the only contacts on her phone were Lukas, Victor, Mimi, Winters, Luca, Beatrice, and a few staff she had gotten acquainted with, mostly female, knowing how possessive her boyfriend could get. She refused to become the reason why some poor dude lost his job – and his life.
Rhea longed to have her old life back where she didn’t have to be scared of making friends, especially the males without an alpha male breathing down on her neck, not to mention questioning their intention. Lukas had warned her to be cautious of what she ate and where she went to even in his base because there might be double agents among his men.
Nonetheless, in Lukas’s words, not hers, “Luca is here to take care of you,” in one word, if push comes to shove, Luca was to die in her place. Rhea was so dumbfounded by the ridiculousness of the situation that she didn’t say a word – she didn’t need anyone dying for her. This was not the past or some fantasy movie where a guardian was bound to a higher personality and meant to die in their place.
However, Rhea had learned that there were some things you don’t argue with Lukas, especially regarding her safety. Lukas was so obsessed with keeping her safe aka locking her up like rapunzel except that this wasn’t a tower but a fortress. The only difference between his place and Daniel’s was the fact that his men were more behaved and respected women.
Silence was better than words when dealing with Lukas on certain issues, and until the scene he fears played out, Rhea would do whatever came to her mind. Nobody was dying in her place, especially not her handsome gay guardian, Luca.
Time trickled slowly and in the end, Rhea found herself in the vegetable garden. Lately, she found gardening an interesting hobby alongside bonding with that tomato she named Lukas. Unfortunately for tomato Lukas, he was harvested days ago, and guilty or not, Rhea had enjoyed that salad – may his soul rest in peace – and now it was time to plant a new one. Yeah, several new tomatoes Lukas.
…..
Rhea got tips and guidelines from the female staff in charge of the garden and persuaded her to let her plant the next seedlings. To be precise, she merely suggested it and the woman let her. If there’s anything Rhea learned since becoming Lukas’s woman, it was the fact that nobody here refused her anything she wanted. It was nice and exciting at first, but got boring real quick. What would be the fun if she could get everything she wanted easily? Rhea wanted the staff to stand up to her once in a while. She needed a good challenge, you know.
So she spent time plugging the seedlings into the soil and dribbling a stream of water over the top to ensure a good seed-to-mix contact while the staff watched with approval and pride bloomed in Rhea’s chest. She was doing it right. When the tomato grew, she would name them according to each of Lukas’s moods; angry Lukas, happy Lukas, moody Lukas, and did she forget to add, sexy Lukas – only the juiciest tomato would get that title.
Rhea laughed inwardly at the silly thought, this was stupid yet fun. The staff left her alone at some point and she had the chance to explore the rest of the small garden. Rhea was taking note of the next vegetable to learn its planting method when her phone rang and she ignored it. She knew instinctively that it was Luca wanting to know if she was okay there. Although he followed her around, they established boundaries, and Luca was supposed to give her space to do what she wanted.
She ignored his call and focused on the task at hand. He would probably come to check up on her anyway in the next few minutes since she didn’t pick up. His call came again and Rhea annoyingly switched off her phone. She wasn’t a child but a grown-ass woman for Christ’s sake and they should stop worrying about her like a two-year-old.
Rhea went back to work until she heard footsteps behind her and sighed, this was beginning to piss her off real quick and she would have to discuss this with Lukas before she retaliated badly. She needed to be alone sometimes for crying out loud. What does a lady have to do to get space around here?
Rhea had her back turned to Luca and didn’t even look over her shoulder when she said, “And now you’ve seen that I’m well and alive, can you leave me alone now?”
“Of course not, considering I came here for you, little girl.” said a voice that didn’t belong to Luca and fear crawled up her spine.
Rhea turned around immediately only to see the devil staring back at her and her blood ran cold.
Samson The Lion
Have you ever stared the devil in the face? Rhea was sure of that now as Daniel Luciano stood right in front of her. Her feet were stuck to the ground as she wondered what the hell was going on here. How did Daniel get here? How did he get past Lukas’s security? Does Lukas know? A lot of questions filled her head and yet there was no answer.
This must have been why Lucas was calling her, and like a fool, she ignored him. Damn it! Rhea mentally thought of her phone and how she could remind Lucas of her predicament without giving out her actions to the devil standing right in front of her until she remembered her phone was switched off. God, she was dead.
When time passed between them and Daniel didn’t do anything except stare at her strangely, Rhea began to wonder if something was wrong. She assumed that the instant she met him, Daniel would pull out a gun and shoot her dead, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Rhea took that opportunity to stare at Daniel as well. Thanks to the mission last time, Lukas showed them a picture of his father so they could avoid him, nor did she get to see his face properly. At that time, they infiltrated his fortress disguised as cleaners because she was hiding from him. It was quite an irony that the man she had been running from, found her instead. Rhea didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at her situation.
Lukas looked nothing like his father but she could see where all that handsomeness came from, it definitely ran in their genes. Based on looks alone, one could never imagine Daniel was capable of committing those atrocities because he looked pristine.
Unlike Lukas’s blonde hair that he inherited from his mother, Daniel was a brunette and those brown hairs were brushed back to perfection that there wasn’t even a strand out of place. His trimmed beards that grew across his jaw were graying and gave him that perfect mature look and he was dressed impeccably in his suit. If there was one thing father and son appreciated, it was fine clothes.
Unlike Lukas, his father wore his suit along with a tie and if he wasn’t standing in front of her in this vegetable garden, she would think he was a businessman on his way to work except that he was a hardened ex- crime lord about to take her life – Rhea was sure of that. Lukas had warned her of what his father was capable of and murdering her in broad daylight wasn’t going to rattle him.
Hence, Rhea didn’t stay to find out how she would die because she took to her heels without looking back to check if Daniel was aiming at her. She had to escape, she had to fight for her life!
She went through the back door seeing that she couldn’t run past Daniel and he must have his men blocking the entrance.
…..
But the moment Rhea ran out, an arm reached out and grabbed her from behind and she shrieked, the sound never leaving her lips because a hand closed over her mouth.
“Shh,” A familiar voice breathed into her ear and she recognized Luca, a breath of relief leaving her lips. Rhea nodded her head to show that she understood what he was talking about.
When Luca released her, she turned around, informing him immediately, “Daniel saw me go through here, his men should be after me already,”
“Let’s go then,” He took her hand and began to guide her out. Although Luca gave her a sense of comfort, the grave look on Lucas’s face told her that they were far from the word “safe”. Not to mention that it was just a vegetable garden and there weren’t enough trees to shield them.
Hence, it wasn’t shocking that the moment they stepped out, Daniel’s men had them all surrounded and Luca shouted, “Run!” engaging the men to give her a way out.
Rhea didn’t waste any time, she ran off with all of her might and thanks to Luca, successfully made it to the lawn. To her surprise, there was fighting all around her, and instead of a shoot-out as she had thought, the men engaged in hand-to-hand combat as if they were waiting for the side to draw the first blood.
But stopping was a mistake because the next thing Rhea knew, she was knocked to the ground, and before she could even suck in a breath, she was hurled up to her feet quite roughly.
“Let me go!” She screamed at the Buffalo who manhandled her. Rhea kicked and screamed at the top of her lungs all to no avail until they heard a great roar and a sudden commotion and an instant path was created as people ran for safety.
Safety from what?
Rhea had her question answered when the man holding her was violently ripped from her and the next thing she saw was Samson’s wide jaw clamped around the man’s waist as he screamed in pain while the lion tossed him around like a rag doll.
She watched in fear and astonishment as Samson bit the man furiously and when he had his fill, launched the bloodied man across the lawn and he knocked into others that hadn’t moved away on time.
Honestly, Rhea thought that Samson would attack her next, having heard that a wild animal that attacked and ate a human is considered dangerous because they have bypassed their fear and view humans as prey. But then, Samson the lion didn’t eat the fool, rather he maimed him.
But that was not the end because Samson pawed over to Rhea and she held her breath hoping not to go through the same fate as that man. To her surpise, Samson circled her instead and then stepped forward to release a mighty roar at the others who stepped back immediately.
And a great silence descended.
War
Lukas drove like a mad man back to the house with his heart stuck in his throat. He has been calling Rhea’s cell all to no avail, it was switched off and that wasn’t a good sign. Luca wasn’t responding to him either and though he had informed Victor of what was going on, his cousin was too far away to help quickly. In one word, he was the only one that could save Rhea right now.
Clara must have told Daniel about Rhea after he provoked her the day before. No, he was a fool to think that his father would never find out, he just never thought that it would happen this quickly. He was too careless and now Rhea was going to pay the price if he arrived late.
Altercations like this with his father were pretty common, but unlike the other times, Daniel’s purpose this time was to get rid of Rhea. Lukas felt a stabbing pain in his heart when he thought about what Rhea could be going through right now.
This was all his fault! He promised to keep her safe yet he failed that one promise. At this rate, he should have just let go of her as she wanted, and she would be safe at the very least. But then, he was too selfish. He didn’t want her with Elijah and thanks to that, she was in danger of being murdered by his own father.
Lukas clutched the wheel so tight that his knuckles turned white, making a swerve to the right as he drove into the compound with the gate already wide open. Lukas didn’t even park properly before he jumped out of the car.
There was chaos everywhere with his soldiers fighting off his father’s people. On other days, Lukas would have appreciated fights like this because, at the end of it, the fight helped him figure out the weak spots in his security and strengthened it, but not today.
He was going crazy with fear. His place was too large and Lukas didn’t know where to begin to search for her. It scared the hell out of him because every minute he wasted here could change her fate. It was equivalent to the amount of time Rhea spent at the hands of his father. Was she even here? What if Daniel had already taken her out of here just to punish him?