ʙᴜʀɴɪɴɢ ᴅᴇꜱɪʀᴇꜱ

Chapter 23

Amelia

Something did not give me peace while I was waiting for the driver in front of the building as Sebastian said to me. The night was quiet, clear and the air was easy to breathe. But my body seemed to reject the necessary dose of oxygen, it suffocated and tightened inside itself, creating a sinking feeling in my stomach.

My mind was working a thousand miles per hour as my two consciences each crouched on one shoulder and snarled words in my ear, their poisonous darts aimed straight at my conscience.

He attracted me. I wanted him. But those physical attractions can be fatal. That wild, uncontrollable desire knows how to reach the last neuron in the brain and electrify every brain cell with its charge. That desire can turn into physical pain due to a feeling that grew into something else, because what started as attraction can end up as something much deeper.

Looking down at my flowing mid-thigh dress, I considered a thousand times whether to go home or stay. Can I really do this? To give my body to that man without leaving him a single part of me along the way. Is it separable at all?

My painful thoughts were interrupted by a hand on my shoulder and a painful squeeze.

"Start walking with me."

His voice was more than familiar to me. An icy chill rumbled through my body, raising red flags on every nerve ending.

"I have to be somewhere. Now is not the time."

Duncan's tone of voice left no room for argument. I knew very well what he was capable of. Regardless of who I am and what I am.

"I said start walking with me."

I turned my head a couple of times left and right to see if Sebastian's driver was coming, but there was still no sign of him. I was reluctant to leave, when his hand pulled me roughly, causing me to almost fall and stagger trying to catch up with him.

"You know I'm not William. I don't have a soft spot for you. If it was up to me , I'd never just let you go."

I had opened my mouth to retort verbally, but by the way he clenched his jaw and that haughty look that was death itself, I decided otherwise. I followed his steps silently, until he turned down a dark alley abruptly.

The chills started creating 4th degree burns on my icy skin. Duncan's soul was as black as this night that covered us.

"My brother must understand that no one is above work. Neither women, nor children, nor family. If you are at the top, the only family you have to protect are the people around you who would give their lives for you- for familia.  If you are a boss, the mafia is your only family."

I looked at him while my blood froze in my veins. I looked at him in his blood-stained eyes and saw everything that I was trying to run from.

No one is above the interests of the mob. And anyone who is will be removed regardless of who they are.

He came so close to me that his deathly breath closed my eyes, which were on the verge of spilling everything that had been accumulating in them for years. Although it was not visible on me.

"If you want to keep your head on your shoulders, you will do one job. Namely, someone is trying to overthrow William and our organization. They work invisible and elusive. But such a thing does not exist, right? Every shadow must have their owner."

I just kept looking at him, cursing my fate.

"Let's be honest, it's just a question of when they will find out about you. That means your death sentence has already been signed, it remains to be seen when it will be executed and how brutally."

He took out his cigar and lit it, its sickening smoke making me cough.

"You see, I'm looking at you now and all I see is a dead corpse walking."

I gathered my strength and asked him with an unreal amount of confidence.

"You know I was never involved in his affairs. Never. Why would I do any job now?"

He exhaled a mouthful of tobacco smoke in my face, pursing his lips as if blowing out candles on a cake.

"Because you care about the people around you and you wouldn't like to see them drown in their own blood. Poor, innocent people to suffer because of you. Tsk tsk tsk. I think that would haunt you even in your afterlife."

He threw his cigarette on the dirty asphalt and stomped on it with his shiny, leather shoe like a bug.

"When the time comes I will let you know."

He left me in that dark alley, those walls to swallow and devour me, with his words that still echoed through silence. Who knows how long I remained so taken aback and lost in my thoughts, until the sound of the phone startled me.

I sluggishly took my phone out of my purse and saw his name on the screen. I answered and put the phone close to my ear, keeping silent.

"Amelia, where are you? Bernard has been waiting for you for fifteen minutes outside the building."

I opened my mouth to say something, but instead of words, a traitorous tear slid down my cheek. Then the second and third one.

"Amelia?"

His originally annoyed voice now carried a hint of concern. I wiped my tears and took a deep breath.

"Tell him I'm coming."

I hung up before he could say anything. My life was never really mine. All the time I lived as if I am dying.

That is why now I am gonna die as if I ever trully lived.