Ares ; A Mafia Romance ||✓

Chapter 2

Callista Miller

My lungs felt constricted, breaths coming out shallow, my chest lightly heaved up and down, my hand pressed against the hard wall supporting my body weight, and my ears buzzed because of the loud music and its vibrations. My eyes frantically searched for any signs of my friends with whom I came to this party a while ago in the fully packed grand hall fluctuating with disco lights; the air was filled with a stench smell of alcohol and sweat coming from the bodies of people dancing, making out and drinking on the dance floor. My mind was telling me to leave the suffocating place, resenting my decision to ever come to this party, making regret pool in my gut but the words of my friends, asking me to stay here until they come back with something for me to drink, ran in the back of my head, and stops me, keeping me where I am.

I clutch the fabric of my dress tightly with my clammy palms when someone passes by the corner of the hall where I am standing. I step back on wobbly legs pressing my back further into the wall. Another five minutes pass by with no sign of my friends. Finally having enough, I push past the people who drill their eyes on me, a complaint leaving their mouths due to my sudden interruption. Without apologizing, I run past them, stumbling in my desperation. The sound of my heels clicking against the tiled floor got absorbed by the loud music.

My chest filled in the fresh night air to its maximum capacity when I finally got outside. The sweat covering my forehead vaporized with every soft breeze brushing over me, flailing my open mid-back long black hairs in every direction along with the ends of the knee-length lavender dress I was wearing. A small sigh escaped my lips, my hands holding onto the smooth wall beside me. After my body relaxes back to normal, I stood up straight to look up at the deserted unfamiliar neighborhood, dead silence in the area that the rustling of the leaves on the trees of the huge gardens of big mansions lining either side of the street illuminated by road lamps due to wind blowing through them can be easily heard. My recently calmed heart started beating fast again against my chest, my nerves coming alive. In my panic, I didn't notice where I was going. I came so far away that the sound of the loud music can't be heard from the house where the party was organised. My shaking eyeballs roam around the street for any sign of a living being except me but I was all alone standing under the light of the lamp. I gulped, slowly taking a step, the clicking of my heels echoing in the eerie silence. I walked towards the end of the street for any kind of opening so that I could hail a cab. With my heart in the throat, looking around me, I sauntered forward, almost reaching the end, when a cracking sound reverberated in the air. I jumped, my heart leaping out of my chest. I placed my trembling hands above my racing heart, my shaking eyes looking around frantically for the source which felt to be coming from the end of the street around the corner. With careful steps, I approached it, feeling my heart dropping in the pit of my stomach with every passing second. An ear-piercing scream wrenched through my gut as I looked at the scene in front of me when I turned the corner. I pressed shut my mouth with both my hands, my knees threatening to give out any second. Goosebumps erupted on my skin in terror when the bone-chilling cold blue eyes met my widened orbs. I stumbled back, my breath was stuck in my throat, making it difficult for me to breathe. My achingly thumping heart did not help either. Slowly dark spots appeared in front of my eyes due to lack of oxygen, my lungs desperately squeezing for air, sweat beads covered my forehead. My body went limp, falling backward on the pavement. But before it could fall, strong muscular hands roughly pulled my body upwards crashing it on a hard surface which I guess is a chest. It was the last thing I saw before my eyes closed shut and darkness surrounded me.

I felt myself laying on feather-smooth, delicate sheets above a soft mattress and covered by something silky which I guess is a duvet. I shuffled my body around before slowly opening my eyes. Immediately, bright light fell on them making me squint it shut. After getting familiar with the brightness, I again opened my eyes along with sitting up straight on what I assume is the bed. The first thing my eyes saw was a large flat-screen tv mounted on a vanilla white wall. I turn to my left to find a glass door opening to a balcony. On my other side were two doors, either one was a bathroom, and the other maybe a closet. I frowned in confusion as I looked around the lavish room. How and what on earth I was doing here? Suddenly like an avalanche everything that happened from the party to me running on the street crashed back on me. Immediately, I scrambled to my feet from the bed, clumsily wearing my black heels which were neatly placed by the foot of the bed. Deliriously opening the fancy door, I stumbled out into the grand hallway decorated with expensive and exquisite-looking paintings and vases. With a racing heart, I dashed to the end which opened to reveal a spiral staircase leading to a huge hall. Turning left, I came to the threshold of the living room from where distinct unfamiliar and unknown voices could be heard. Hiding behind the wall, I heard the conversation,