XVII

I sit slouched against the plush leather couch, in a very unladylike manner if I must tell you, but I can't give a damn right now. My stomach is stuffed to the brim from the delicious dinner. After the dinner of steak, mash and gravy, the maids brought in desert. Now there is one thing you need to know about me...when it comes to food I have no self-control. I stuffed my face with, not one, but two little lava chocolate cakes. My larger than life appetite had a few of the guys staring at me in awe and amazement but it also had Demon glaring at me with an expression of pure disgust. Once again...I couldn't give a damn about what the twat thought about me. To aggravate him further, I gave him a wide, toothy grin knowing full well that my teeth were covered with the sweet brown chocolate.

As I nurse my bump from my food baby, all I can think about is stripping out of this tight dress and sprawling myself across the big plush bed awaiting me upstairs. I can slowly feel myself slipping into a food coma, that warm sleep that calls out to you after eating gang food is what is whispering my name lustrously into my ear. If I close my eyes now, I know for a fact that I'm going to wake up in a week.

With heavy lidded eyes, I look around at the guys sitting around me. We have moved from the dining room and into the formal living room. The men are littered around the expensive looking couches and near the entry of the room, in a chair that closely resembles a throne, sits Mr. Reyes. With his regal posture he sure as hell could fool me into thinking he was royalty. Well he is a Mafia Lord so I guess that makes him royalty, right?

He sits upright in his tailored all black suit, his right leg resting over his left and a perfectly manicured hand gently tapping a rhythmic beat on his knee. I take the time to actually analyse his features.

Though aged, nothing is taken away from his handsomeness, I might even dare to say that the aging enhanced his beauty, gave him a certain ruggedness. My eyes travel from his strong jawline to his thin lips that are beautifully framed by the light stubble speckled across his chin. His straight nose is perfectly proportioned and resting above it are his dark eyes. From one glance into this man's eyes I can tell that this man has no limits, that he is capable of anything and that he has no conscious. He is definitely someone whose bad side I never want to see or experience. A subtle chill resonates through my body as Mr. Reyes' ruthlessness dawns on me. His thick eyebrows are furrowed in concentration as he listens to the men's suggestions.

His cold eyes suddenly snap in my direction, his face is that of a hunter that just found his prey. It was as if he could feel my piercing gaze on him. My eyes widen is shock and quickly look away, the last thing I want is to be on this man's radar. I begin to focus on the conversation at hand.

"But how can we guarantee that The Ripper will be in attendance at this year's gala?" One of the men ask. He, like the rest, is wearing a crisp black suit that seems as if it was specially made for him. No guys, I am now convinced that you have to be model to be part of the mafia because I haven't come across even one ugly, or even average looing guys. All these men are mouth-watering with their strong jawlines and equally strong bodies.

"Everybody knows that the gala is the most opportune event to make business connections and deals." Alex answers the guy. I'm pretty sure that if Alex wasn't a part of a mass criminal organisation, he would be a teacher. He just has that vibe to him...or he'd be a tech billionaire. "So, if Ripper wishes to expand his organisation it is a given that he will be in attendance." Alex continues, he finishes off with pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.

"Well if he'll be there, we know for a fact that for sure as the sun will rise that he'll have a lot of protection." Another guy chips in, a very handsome guy with shortly cropped hair and chiseled jawline. "We'll need to find a way to penetrate it."

"That's what he said." I say followed by a chortle. The guy looks at me with a 'you gon' do this now...really?'. The faint smile fades off my face and I quietly apologise and signal for the talks to continue.

"Jeff is right, Ripper will be a hard man to kill." Alex adjusts his glasses that were resting on the tip of his nose once more before speaking again. "Based off of my research and testimonials, Ripper tends to travel with a mini army of his own. We can expect protection with him inside as well as outside the building. We'll first need to eliminate the men outside then work our way in and that's where Demon comes in."

Upon the mention of Demon's name, everyone's gaze drifts over to his direction. With everyone's eyes on him, Demon sits up straight and awkwardly clears his throat. He is clearly not liking all the attention, he looks at me as if for emotional support. Instead of giving him an encouraging smile, I throw him an evil smirk. This is payback for all the disgusted glares he has been giving. Bitch ass motherfucker!

At my evil smirk, Demon steels his face and clears his throat again. "So umm...Travis will be stationed in one of the apartments of the building across from where the gala will be taking place." Travis sits up at the mention of his name, as I look at him he sends me a flirtatious wink. This nigga! "Travis' job is to take out the protection that Ripper will have stationed outside."

"I have scoped the area and the Green Plaza would be a perfect vantage point, the 14th floor is currently under renovation meaning that the whole floor will be vacant, thus less witnesses. I could easily sneak in to one of the empty apartments and stake out there. The only problem I have identified is how I'm going to distinguish Ripper's men from other Bosses' bodyguards, the last thing we want to do is shoot the wrong man and start a war." Trevor says his two cents, ending off with his brows sewed together in concentration.

The room falls into a silence as all the men begin to brainstorm ways in which to distinguish Ripper's men from the other bosses'. All these men look scrumptious when they are deep in thought, brows furrowed and lips pursed. No guys, this isn't right...somebody give me something to quench this thirst

"Well, since we don't know what Ripper's men look like, what you could do is study up on who the other bosses' men are, what they look like so that you could easily distinguish Ripper's men on the night of the gala as they would be the only men that you won't be able to recognize." As soon as I open my mouth and start talking, all the men's eyes shift on to me as they listen to me. When I'm done talking, no one says anything.

"Or not," I mutter out awkwardly, "It was just a suggestion."

"No." Demon speaks up, "It's actually not a bad idea.

My eyes instantly bulge out as soon as Demon's words register in my brain. Never in a million years did I ever think that the twat would agree with me, let alone support me. I can't believe this, and my disbelief is evident on my face as my mouth hangs slightly open with my eyes bugged out.

"Close your mouth," Demon snaps at me, "Even broken clocks are correct twice a day and I'm not afraid to acknowledge a good idea." Aaaaannnndddd of course the asshole had to ruin it. He has this talent to insult people while complimenting you, but you know what?...I'll take what I can get. Demon turns to Alex and addresses him directly, "Can you hack into the Gala's guest list so that we can know exactly which bosses have RSVP'd, then we'll know which guards to look out for."

Almost simultaneously , Travis, Jay and I snort. All eyes are on us and Alex inquisitively asks us what's funny. Travis easily answers for us, "If you know anything about black people is that we don't RSVP for nothing, niggas show up without letting you know, that's if they show up." I and Jay laugh while nodding our heads in agreement. "And if they do show up, know for a fact that the nigga finna be late."

I laugh a little louder at what Travis said, cause I know that in my case it is the truth. If it was possible I would be late to my own funeral, I'm the type of person who starts bathing and getting ready at two when the event starts at half one. My mother hated this quality about me, you see, my mom is one of those prim and proper, first to arrive, bougie typa women...how my dad deals with her is such a mystery to me.

"I'll ignore how that was slightly racist and focus on the task at hand," Alex lifts his glasses up the bridge of his nose once more, "So, I'll be sure to assign men with a certain boss's bodyguards so that we can know their identities. Demon, you can continue with the details of the assassination."

"So after Trevor takes care of the men inside, it will be my job to eliminate the men inside and ultimately kill Ripper. I will have to be sure to kill in the men inside in a quiet manner as to not raise any alarm. I want to make it as fast as possible without any hick ups. We have a week to prepare for this Gala and I hope that everyone will pull their weight to make this mission a success." Demon barks out to everyone.

"Speaking of pulling weights," I speak p once more, "What am I to do while all this is going down?"

"Well you Amandla will be going as my date to the Gala," Mr. Reyes finally speaks up for the first time since discussions began. "All you gonna do is be my arm candy for the night and point out Ripper when you see him."

As Mr. Reyes spoke, I could slowly feel myself shrinking into myself, it didn't take much for me to realize that I didn't like the man. The way he spoke was so threatening, leaving no room for argument. My eyes swept to Demon to find him glaring at the carpet with his jaw clenched tight, he clearly also didn't like what Mr. Reyes was saying.

"I think that's enough take about the Gala for one night." Mr. Reyes stands up from his thrown like chair and walks out of the living area. It was as if his departure was the dismissal bell that everyone was waiting for because as soon as he left, everyone else got up from the chairs they were sitting on and began filing out of the room as well.

Taking it as my signal as well, I hobble out of the comfy chair, carefully cradling my food baby. The things I'm about to do to that plush bed upstairs right now. I look at Ronin who is too getting up from the couch, "Love, can you please show me back to the room," I ask in a sweet voice, "I kinda forgot where it is." I add sheepishly.

Before Ronin could reply to my request, Demon shoved himself into the convo. "I'll take you," leaving no room for argument, he grabs my arm and starts leading the way. With a firm grip on my bicep, Demon steers me up the stairs and to the direction in which I assume the room is. Who knows how long imam have stay in this house for, imam have to start learning my way around, my only problem is I suck at direction. I'm ashamed to say that I am a grown ass adult and it still takes me a good minute to distinguish my left from my right, and you can completely forget me remembering which way is east and which is west. It doesn't help that this stupid mansion is freaking built like a damn labyrinth, I can see myself getting lost here many many many times.

We finally reach the room and demon swings the door open. I enter and am greeted with that dark but beautiful room once more, Demon lets go of my arm and heads off into the bathroom. I shrug off my shoes, not even bothering to take off my dress and put on pajamas, as if I have any, I just throw myself onto the large king sized bed. A loud groan escapes my mouth as I let my body sink into the soft as clouds mattress. I close my eyes in pleasure as my muscles relax and I fall deeper into the bed. My eyes slowly flutter close and I succumb to my prolonged food coma.

Just as I'm about to drift off into LaLa land, I hear Demon speak up. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?" I retort, my voice slightly muffled by the blankets, "I'm sleeping...dwee"

"I can see that, but why the hell are you sleeping on my bed?"

"Where the fuck else am I supposed to sleep? On the ceiling?"

"I don't give a fuck where you sleep but it aint gonna be on my bed." This man can't be serious. He can't make me sleep in his room then turn around and tell me that I can't sleep on the bed. He done got me fucked up. I get off the bed with a heavy grunt and look for the shoes that I carelessly shrugged off. Finding them near the foot of the bed, I slip them back on. All the while, Demon is just watching my movements.

"Okay, can you please direct me to Ronin or Trevor's room, at least they won't be assholes so late at night."

As soon as the words leave my mouth, Demon's beautiful face morphs into an expression of anger. Demon stalks over to me until we are standing face to face, well he's taller than me so more like face to chest. "Get into the bed." He grumbles in a low voice.

"But I thought you done said that I shouldn't sleep in the bed."

"Get your ass into the damn bed now." Once more Demon didn't leave any room for me to debate him, and it's not like I'm complaining anyways, sleeping on the bed was my main goal from the get go. Demon has made a huge mistake, he has let me know what I need to do in order to bend him to my will, the way I'm going to exploit this so bad.

With a sly smile on my face, I walk past the bed, making Demon look at me in confusion, and walk into the walk in closet on the other side of the room. This dress is highly constrictive on my food baby, I won't be able to seep comfortably if I stay in this dress.

Inside the expansive closet, I am surrounded by dozens of identical looking black suits and dress shirts. It's not hard to realize that this nigga clearly loves black as besides the black suits, I can only see black jeans, black shirts, black jackets, black sneakers...just black everywhere. I walk over to the shirts section and pull down a short sleeve one. Slipping out of the dress, I cover myself with the shirt. Picking up my dress, I throw it into the hamper and walk back into the main bedroom.

Demon, who is lounging on the bed , turns his head and looks at me. The look that washed over his face had me feeling hella uncomfortable, I'm suddenly very conscious of the oversized shit that falls till mid-thigh. I give the shirt a tug and rush into the vacant side of the bed, throwing the blanket over me to cover myself.

Safely covered, I look at demon who is now reclined on his back with his hands tucked under his head. Did I mention that he is shirtless and in a pair of boxers? His abs are deliciously flexing and I know for a fact that this nigga tryna kill me, but I will not even let him know that I'm looking.

"Listen here buddy," I start off, "This is our boundary," I say while taking the millions of pillows on the bed and build a fortress between us. "Call it our Great Wall of Separation, you don't cross this line, I don't want to wake up with your grubby paws on me. Just don't cross these pillows...or else."

"Or else what?" amusement can be heard in his voice.

"Or else you'll regret it." I say while aggressively turning my back to him. The sleep embraces me almost immediately and I fall asleep to hearing Demon chuckle.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hey Guys! I'M SO SORRY for the long wait🙏🏾😟. My life has been hectic for the last few months, but im now getting into the rhythm of university and i can promise that im going to be more consistant with my updates from now on🤞🏾.

This chapter is dry (i know💀😬) but im getting into the groove of writing again and im slowly getting my writing style back, the next chapter will be way more juicy.😈

I do ask though that you guys please hold me responsible to update, like call me out if im being too slow. I think i need someone to like shout at me at this point.🤦🏾‍♀️

ANYWAYS,

Much love from your girl Kenny❤❤❤, please dont forget to vote, comment and share.

(P.S. i apologise for any mistakes and grammar issues in the chapter)