Chapter 2 #2
As the dot on the screen moved closer to Bar Forty-Four, I pressed my foot to the gas, my car speeding up as I made up the distance between us. When her car pulled into the parking lot for the bar, I was only a few minutes behind.
Firing a text to the manager, Paul, I headed to a side door that would allow me to sneak into my reserved booth with minimal eyes on me.
When I first found out Sofia was a regular at the bar, I paid Paul a hefty sum to keep my identity a secret, and to make sure no one else sat at that booth whenever Sofia sang.
The booth was perfect, hidden in the shadows where I could keep one eye on Sofia and one eye on her surroundings, unlike her useless bodyguard, who was usually too busy glued to his phone.
It seemed like I’d made it just in time; as I slid into the seat, my face hidden by the shadows, the last singer strolled off the stage to claps from the audience.
The band—made up of a drummer, guitarist, and keyboard player—shuffled papers in front of them, and a few seconds later, the next singer walked on.
Sofia.
My jaw clenched as my gaze roamed over her frame. Every fucking time I laid eyes on her, she elicited the same response from deep inside me: the overwhelming need to claim her as mine.
When I first saw her four years ago, she was stunning.
Now, she was breathtaking. Her dark brown hair was longer and styled with layers that fell in soft waves around her beautiful face, making her look her actual age of twenty-one.
Perfectly shaped brows and thick, black lashes framed her aquamarine eyes, and her plump lips glistened under the spotlights.
Tonight, she’d opted to wear a sparkling black cocktail dress that showcased her petite waist and was cut low enough to reveal the swell of her breasts.
Honestly? Sofia could have worn a damn garbage bag, and she would have looked sensational.
When the music started, and the first note left her lips, goosebumps covered my skin, just like they had the first time I heard her sing, and the bar around me disappeared.
To say that I was completely and utterly mesmerized would have been the fucking understatement of the year. I was powerless but to keep my gaze trained on her, unable to look away, especially when it always seemed she was looking right at me.
As if she was singing for me, and for me alone.
Not only did she have the voice of an angel, but she was a different person when she was on the stage.
She commanded everyone’s attention, demanded they heard her with the way she poured her heart and soul into every word that left her mouth.
For the duration of a song, she showed who she truly was.
She wasn’t a mafia princess.
She wasn’t a brat who disobeyed orders.
She wasn’t the woman my cousin had spent months pining for after their first encounter.
She was simply Sofia. A vulnerable, broken woman who deserved the world to see her.
And fuck, did I see her. More than I would ever admit aloud because that would mean betraying Theo’s memory.
He might have only known her for a few hours, but he was instantly besotted with her.
And so was I.
Obsession must have run in the family because when Kai first saw Riley, he was besotted, and if Sofia hadn’t turned out to be the seventeen-year-old daughter of our enemy, I had no doubt that Theo would have stopped at nothing to make Sofia his, like Kai did with Riley.
Not that Theo ever found out who she really was.
The months that followed the night at Exotique, he was unbearable. He begged me every night to return to the club in hopes she would turn up, and he nagged me constantly to find out who she really was, using my ability to hack into cameras and databases.
I hated Sofia more than ever during that time.
I told Theo lie after lie, and even though I knew I was hurting him, I did everything in my power to make sure her true identity remained a secret.
With how obsessed he was with her, I feared that if he ever found out who she was, he wouldn’t have given a fuck if claiming Sofia had started World War Three.
At least, that was what I told myself to justify the lies I told him. I always ignored the taunting voice in my head, sneering a truth I didn't want to acknowledge.
If I couldn't have her, neither could Theo.
I wish I could say Theo forgot about her, but he never did. As time passed, he fucked about with other women, but he never let himself develop feelings for them, vowing that one day he would find the one who stole his heart.
The one who got away.
He never found out that she’d also stolen my heart that night.
Far too soon, the song came to an end, and at the corner of the stage, the next act was preparing to take Sofia's place. Disappointment swamped me. Sometimes, she’d sing more than one song, and I’d get to enjoy her sweet voice for longer.
Other nights, like now, she would sing one song and be done, but whenever she finished, it was my cue to leave.
As she smiled at the applauding audience, I stood, and sneaked out the door I came in. As I always did, I hovered in the dark, making sure Sofia made her way to Gus. My gaze swept to where he should have been waiting, my brows furrowing at finding his seat vacant.
I cursed myself. I’d been so entranced by her performance that I hadn’t seen him leave. From my periphery, I saw her take the two steps down from the stage, her eyes darting around when she realized Gus was nowhere to be seen.
Fuck sake.
I couldn’t leave her, but I couldn’t risk her seeing me; she’d have questions I didn’t have answers for.
I scanned the bar, trying to find the idiot, and as Sofia moved to sit on a stool at the bar, I started to pull my phone from my pocket, intent on calling the cunt to give him a piece of my mind. But I froze when a guy around Sofia’s age approached her, her eyes widening briefly when he spoke.
A growl involuntarily left my chest as jealousy rampaged through me, made worse when a shy smile lifted her lips, and even with the distance between us and the dim lighting of the bar, I could see her cheeks blush.
Motherfucker.
I gripped the door frame, stopping myself from flying out there and beating the punk to a pulp, telling myself that Gus would be along any second to put a stop to their conversation.
Another minute passed. My jaw ached from how hard I was clenching my teeth, and my temper was almost at breaking point when the bartender placed a glass of wine in front of her, and she gulped a mouthful.
Rage swirled inside me like a vortex, but I didn’t know if it was because of her fucking stupidity at taking a drink from a stranger, or because it occurred to me that she had never given me the soft smiles she was giving the guy.
But the fire in my veins turned to ice when the smile fell from Sofia’s face, replaced by a look I’d seen once before: when she was terrified for her life in that fucking basement.
Before I could rip the door open and launch myself across the bar, the dead man walking subtly nudged her off her stool and gripped her arm.
From the way he kept one arm lowered, I didn’t need to see the weapon to know he was holding a gun.
Fuck.
Jealousy at another man talking to my fiancèe went out the window in a heartbeat, replaced by total focus and control. I stalked down the hallway to the side door, opting to avoid going through the bar and drawing any unnecessary attention.
Dialling Ernie, I burst through the door and back out into the night.
“Mr. Wolfe,” he said, answering after one ring.
Ernie had proven his loyalty to our family during the fight for Hollows Bay, earning the top spot in the gang Kai and I controlled: The Shadows. He had become a valuable asset over the last few months, and Kai had promoted him to oversee all of the Wolfe’s security.
“I need you at Bar Forty-Four in Forest Point. Track my phone for the location and bring back up,” I barked, hanging up before he could respond.
Backup was likely twenty minutes away, time I didn’t have to spare.
Creeping along the length of the wall, I pulled my gun out, pausing when I reached the corner of the building.
Sure enough, the approaching sounds of Sofia’s frightened mumbles met my ears.
Her anguished cries were like a spear being violently shoved through my chest.
When the footsteps on the other side of the wall were close by, I lunged from my spot, making a split-second decision not to fire at the cunt holding Sofia for fear of hitting her. But my sudden appearance caught him off guard, and I used the opportunity to throw a punch into his face.
Surprised, he grunted as he released her. Blood exploded from his nose, and the gun he was clutching in his other hand clattered to the floor.
Reholstering my gun, I had a split-second glance at Sofia, whose eyes were glazed over, and I winced when her body collapsed in a heap on the floor, but I didn’t have time to react when the idiot with a death wish launched at me.
The two of us tumbled to the floor with him on top of me, but as he reared back to punch me, I wrapped my legs around his waist and flipped him, smacking my head against his. We switched places so that I was straddling him as uncontrollable rage burst from me.
I rained down blow after blow, and even when he fell unconscious, I didn’t stop, purging myself of my fury. It wasn’t until the soft murmurings from beside me reached my ears that I ceased my attack, my body heaving from how much energy I had expended.
The guy’s face was unrecognizable, both eyes swollen shut as blood poured from his busted nose and lips, and yet a murderous streak still zapped through me, wanting to inflict more damage.
It was a miracle that I hadn’t already killed the prick.
When slight movement from my periphery caught my attention, I stood, content that he wasn’t going anywhere. I had a few questions for him when he eventually regained consciousness, and then he’d meet his maker.
Sofia was as limp as a rag doll. I lifted her into my arms, pulling her dress up after it had slipped to reveal more of her luscious tits, and at the worst possible time, an image of me sucking a pert nipple into my mouth flashed into my head.
I shook the image away, refusing to allow myself to indulge in it. Even if she wasn’t almost unconscious, it wasn’t as if I would ever let the fantasy become reality.
Incoherent murmurs fell from her mouth as she snuggled her head against my chest, my heart accelerating as the scent of cinnamon filtered up and flooded my senses. I stared down at her, caught in a trance by the affectionate smile that pulled at her lips.
“Always…” she muttered. My brows furrowed as I tried to make sense of what she was saying, only for my heart to stop beating altogether when the next word escaped from her lips. “Theo.”