Filed to story: Bring It On My Mafia Life Novel (Rhea & Lukas)
Her friend wanted to stand her ground and say she wasn’t scared, but she was. Penelope hadn’t forgotten that first encounter with Daniel and all of this would have been over if only Natalie had left him to die. But she didn’t listen, and now, all of them were suffering the consequences, Penelope blamed her inwardly.
“He would not hurt me, I’m sure of that,” Natalie assured Penelope when she wasn’t even comforted by it at all. The fact that Daniel wouldn’t hurt her meant that someone else would bear the punishment and she didn’t want to see that happen.
“I’ll just see what he wants and I’ll be back, I promise. It’s not as bad as it looks, ” She chuckled as if it was easy, gently peeling off Penelope’s grip on her. The girl’s grip was surprisingly strong on her as if she didn’t want to let go.
Without a second thought, Natalie walked over to the door, and with a deep breath, she summoned the courage to open the door. It wasn’t Daniel outside her door, but it was one of his people.
“The boss wants to see you now,” The man said to her and she nodded in understanding.
“Give me a minute,” Natalie went back to her bed and picked up her purse and after giving Penelope one final hug, she left with him.
Daniel’s men were crawling all around their residence and Natalie did not doubt that they would cover up like usual when her mother asked around for her. Her mother was foolishly dumb and for once, Natalie was grateful that her intelligence came from her father’s side – even though she loathed the man.
They drove in his Lexus LS400 and Natalie was silent throughout the entire journey. She didn’t want to bond with any member of his team because friendship resulted in sympathy and she was the victim here. There was no way on earth she would understand Daniel’s reason for compelling her into a relationship with him.
No, she would never understand. She would not love him even though her body was a betrayal and she was a raging hormonal teenager. But she loved Edward and she had dreams to fulfill – dreams that Daniel doesn’t understand. She wasn’t cut out for his Mafia world and actually wanted to do something meaningful with her life.
And because she loved Edward, she was going to break up with him. He didn’t deserve this. Edward deserves someone better than her who would remain faithful to him and doesn’t have to deal with all of the shit she is going through right now. Not to mention that he was in danger of Daniel and that was enough to make Natalie do something. Moreover, it was the right thing to do. She owed him that.
They arrived at Daniel’s place which was quite nice honestly, not that she was going to tell him that before he had the wrong idea that she was settling into his world, because that would never happen. Natalie was taken to the backyard where she found Daniel making a barbecue and his face split into a wide smile upon seeing her.
Natalie didn’t even have the chance to say a word before he swallowed up her entire frame in a hug and she got to realize just how small she was. With his broad frame, Daniel could easily break her into two if she pushed him to the limit.
“You’re here,” He said, leaning down to place a kiss on her lips, but Natalie turned her face to the side at the last minute and it ended up as a chaste kiss on her cheek or so she assumed.
After Daniel pecked her cheek, he didn’t pull away and instead, took her skin in between his teeth and bit her. Natalie yelped from the pain, but he kissed the spot, soothing it with his tongue before he trailed small kisses down to her neck, and her breath caught in her throat.
Natalie pushed him away and Daniel stumbled back laughing maniacally which infuriated her. She didn’t get to see the look he gave her was that of a predator who knew he had his prey cornered. His prey just doesn’t know that yet.
Their Relationship Was Doomed To Fail
“You are not eating,” Daniel reminded her and got no reply. Instead, her gaze flickered down to the bacon wrapped around a piece of kielbasa, held together with a toothpick that he spent his time preparing and her response was the stubborn flex of her jaw and a defiant look in her eyes that dared him to do his worst.
And of course, Daniel didn’t let it go. He pulled his chair towards her till they were sitting next to each other and Natalie’s body tensed up in anticipation. She waited for Daniel to hit her or something because she had been expecting it for a while.
For a man used to killing people, he wouldn’t mind hitting a woman, right? She has provoked him long enough. Natalie needed reasons for her to hate him and there would never be a chance of them getting together. He can’t keep on treating her nicely with the hope of winning him over. Natalie knew who he was and he already proved that by forcing her into this damned relationship!
When Daniel’s hands moved, Natalie shut her eyes, mentally preparing herself for the slap to land on her face. But that never happened, instead Natalie felt him fist his hand into her hand and he pushed her forward, smacking his lips over hers with a ferocity that knocked the breath out of her lungs.
Aside from his usual intimate form of greeting, Daniel had not initiated any forceful kiss between them aside from that day she was kidnapped hence Natalie forgot that this was usually his bargaining chip. She pushed against him but it was useless as usual and he was an immovable rock.
She tasted the bacon from his lips and that must be the whole point of the kiss because his tongue ferociously chased after hers and it wasn’t until dots began to appear behind her vision and she was close to dying from lack of oxygen, that he finally let go of her and she gasped loudly.
“Y-you!” She choked, pointing at him.
However, Natalie went from glaring at him to quiet down like an obedient puppy when she saw that cold glint in his eyes. She was really pushing him and Daniel doesn’t seem to like that.
“Since you can’t seem to eat what I prepared, I thought to give you a taste. Do you want another taste?” He asked sweetly yet she could sense the threat beneath those words.
…..
Without a second thought, Natalie picked up the fork and began to feed herself. Her tastebud exploded with the deliciousness of the food, however, she kept a stoic expression, pretending to be unaffected by his kindness.
Giving Daniel compliments was equivalent to encouraging his behavior and she didn’t want that. Their relationship was toxic, couldn’t he see that? No, he saw that, he just refuses to admit it.
As if that wasn’t enough, Daniel held her hand the entire time they eat and no matter of pulling could set her free. It was all so infuriating that Natalie felt like exploding. She wanted to let it all out!
This?!
Whatever he thinks that was between them could never work. He can’t just force feelings on her, they don’t work that way! She wanted to yell at him, but she simply kept her mouth closed.
When they went done with the meal, Daniel took her on a stroll. To others, they looked like a young couple in love, even though Daniel was very much older, and looked good together. If only they knew that she was enduring. Natalie was trying not to mess this up and let it backfire.
So all the while, while they walked, Daniel did all the talking and she had to only answer when necessary with concise answers. It went on until Daniel suddenly stopped and she stopped as well, lifting her face to look at him and wondering what it was all about this time.
He said, “I know you don’t love,”
Oh thank God, can he release her now?
“But I won’t give up,”
Oh, God, no!
“I won’t stop proving to you that I’m worthy of you, Natalie. If there’s any aspect of myself that you want me to change so we can be together, I’ll gladly do it.”
Yeah, change your feelings towards me, Natalie sassed in her heart.
“You don’t need to love me, Natalie, I just want you to not reject me. I’ll do the loving, just don’t chase me away.” He pleaded with her.
But Natale closed her eyes painfully, “You don’t understand, you don’t force -“
“I’ll be the gentleman you want,” Daniel cut her off having sensed her rejection coming, “I would treat you so nice that you won’t ever regret giving me a chance,” He said with a vulnerable look in his eyes that made Natalie’s heart wrench. He looked sincere. He sounded sincere. But then, her heart was not for him, what was she going to do?
“You know what, do whatever you want,” Natalie gave up when she saw that no matter what she said Daniel wasn’t going to let her go. This wasn’t love, it was infatuation, an obsession! He would only keep on bothering her and her parents were of no help. No one was on her side. She lost Edward anyway, what was the point?
A huge smile crossed Daniel’s face when he assumed her weary response as her accepting him. Joy like no other filled his chest and he pulled her into a tight hug, nearly crushing her lungs Natalie let him do as he pleased. She was tired of fighting. It was not easy pushing Davie away and she wanted a break.
Moreover, they were young and it was mere relationship and like every other young love, it was doomed to fail, Natalie took solace in that. She wasn’t ready to settle down and once the semester started, she would get out of here. Also, this was a mere vacation and her family would eventually return to their country after their father was done wrapping things up. Natalie knew the both of them wouldn’t last in a long-distance relationship and that was her plan.
If only Natalie knew that was where everything began to fall apart.
Run Away Together
Her mother didn’t question her whereabouts as usual. The fact that her mother was easily fooled wasn’t surprising to her, moreover, Natalie is an outdoor person and Daniel must have taken advantage of that excuse. As if that wasn’t enough, her mother and Daniel were literally best friends and she was confident that he was taking care of her daughter. Yeah, he was taking care of her very well – if only she knew.
It was kind of pathetic but Natalie broke up with Edward through a text message. It was for the best because it seems that she just made a huge mistake. Natale shouldn’t have told Daniel to do whatever she wanted, that had been said on a whim because she was tired of him bothering her. Sadly, Daniel was doing exactly whatever he wanted, and right now, he was posing as her boyfriend.
When did he officially ask her out? She had no idea, but that was the situation she found herself in. Hence, one could imagine what would happen if Daniel finds out that she has a boyfriend, well, ex-boyfriend. He would kill Edward out of jealousy and Natalie was not ready to attend his funeral.