Mafia King's Contract Breeder

"What didn’t you tell me?" I clapped my hands together, drawing the attention of both men.

"It didn’t seem important at the time," Emmanuel said in his clipped, precise way. "Your sister is perfectly safe now."

I shook my head. That suspiciously concise explanation only made me more nervous.

"No, no, no. All the details from the top. Don’t skip out anything," I demanded, then added, "please."

Dover stared at me with wide eyes before slowly looking towards Emmanuel, as though afraid of what he might find.

Emmanuel only let out a resigned sigh.

"Tell her," he said to Dover.

"It was a month ago, now," explained Dover. "We were hunting down Marcus Turdin in South Hartlow. Your sister got caught up in the middle of it. But she’s fine. She didn’t get hurt. I drove her home afterwards. Even bought her an ice cream."

"She got caught up in the middle—?! Oh God, she must have been terrified!"

I pressed for more details.

The full picture came out. Marcus Turdin holding Chloe hostage at gunpoint. Dover shooting the man from behind.

My legs felt weak. I collapsed into a chair.

While Dover told the story, Emmanuel got up from behind his desk and went to the wet bar. I was too preoccupied to pay attention to what he was doing.

"I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about this!" I exclaimed in Emmanuel’s direction as he turned around again.

"What good would it do?" Emmanuel replied. "It is in the past. And it would only frighten you."

I looked up with wide eyes, haunted by the scene I could imagine.

"I still want to know," I insisted. "It’s better to know the truth than to be kept in the dark."

A warm mug was pressed into my hand. I took it automatically.

Did he just...make me tea?

I blew on the surface, the light fragrance of lavender floating out of the mug.

Dover’s gaze was practically boring a hole into the side of Emmanuel’s head, but Emmanuel paid it no attention as he sat down behind his desk again.

"I need to call her."

"No," Emmanuel said resolutely.

"Please!"

"Your sister does not know that you are here with me," Emmanuel reminded me. "You cannot explain how you know about this."

I faltered. I definitely did not want Chloe entangled with this world any more than necessary. But I just needed to talk to her...

I turned a suspicious gaze towards Dover instead.

"And what do you mean that Chloe gave you her number?"

"Well, I only saved her life," Dover said dryly.

A belated wave of relief came over me.

"Thank you," I said sincerely.

"No thanks necessary." Dover pulled out his phone and glanced at it. "Besides, she was under the mistaken impression that I am an undercover cop."

I frowned.

Maybe I shouldn’t have watched all those action movies with Chloe when we were kids, I reflected.

"We’re keeping an eye on her. If anything happened to her, I would let the Boss know."

What had the world come to? It was all a grand joke.

After I had gone to all the effort to get my family out of East Windlem, away from Emmanuel’s clutches, it only led to Chloe getting caught up in a mafia gunfight in South Hartlow instead, where I was not there to protect her.

Emmanuel Sagres had protected her.

"Thank you." I forced myself to look at Emmanuel, the words tasting strange on my tongue.

Thanking Emmanuel Sagres. For looking after my family.

I screamed internally.

The flat, stoic expression on Emmanuel’s face became a little bit less severe. He nodded once.

"Your problems are simple to me." He shrugged. "I can take care of them for you."

"For the small price of my soul?" I could not resist quipping back.

Dover made a small, choked sound.

"For your— loyal service."

I rolled my eyes, putting my hand over my stomach.

"Oh thank you, sir. I’ll dedicate all my reproductive cells to growing your heir."

This time Dover lost the battle at suppressing it and barked out a laugh.

Emmanuel didn’t laugh.

"I have been meaning to ask you," Emmanuel said evenly. "About your father."

The smile faded from my face.

"What about him?"

"Would you like me to get him out of prison?"

My heart dropped.

"You can do that?" I whispered. "You would do that?"

"I would consider it," Emmanuel said calmly. "As long as—"

"I keep up my ’loyal service’?" I interrupted dryly. "Yes, right. How generous of you."

I tried to joke, but the tone was not the same, and Emmanuel clearly noticed. He shared a glance with Dover.

I fell silent for a long time.

Get Dad out of prison?

Once upon a time, eighteen year old Lara would have wanted that. She would have wanted her family to be whole, to not have the burdens of the household on her shoulders.

But truthfully speaking, my Dad— he had never been good for our family. For my Mom.

Besides, my Dad was guilty of the crime he was imprisoned for, even if he took the hit for more than what he did himself. What kind of justice would it be for him to get off free because of one word from the mafia king?

"No," I said at last.

"No?" Emmanuel echoed, surprised. "Because you don’t want to owe a debt to me?"

"Because it’s not right," I muttered.

"Excuse me?"

"You shouldn’t be able to get whoever you like out of prison."

"And yet, I can."

"I don’t want it," I said, biting my lip. "Not for my sake."

A tiny part of me felt guilty. I was a bad daughter. I should save my Dad if there was a chance.

Emmanuel and Dover were both staring at me as though my reaction was incomprehensible. I hunched my shoulders defensively, clutching the mug in my hand.

"Look. I appreciate you looking out for my family. But I don’t need you to solve my problems for me, especially if you’re breaking the law to do it."

"Do you remember who you’re talking to?" Dover said slowly.

I glanced at him warily, then back to Emmanuel.

"How could I ever forget?"

"Never mind," Emmanuel said lightly. "The girl is morally opposed to my tyranny. I understand."

I took an angry sip of my lavender tea, feeling like a hypocrite.

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