Taken By The Mafia Lord

355 The Whole World Was Going Up In Flames

She shouldn’t have come to this lunch meal, Arianna decided as she watched Marcel release a boisterous laughter after Winters whispered something into his ear.

Unknown to the both of them, Arianna was no longer eating and just gripped the spoon hard enough that it might as well bend anytime soon.

It was as if Marcel no longer recognized that she existed anymore, Winters came and took her place in his life. If the young girl hadn’t been here, Marcel would be invested in her.

Thanks to that, Arianna’s view of the young girl only worsened. Winters was here to convert Marcel and Marcel was a fool not to see that.

“So how long have you both known each other?” Arianna suddenly asked, destroying the moment between them.

“What?” Marcel asked, startled by the suddenness of the question.

Victor and Mimi who were both at the table exchanged glances with each other and didn’t say anything else. No, the both of them simply continued their eating and pretending not to know that a bomb was about to detonate in front of them.

“I believe she’s asking how long the both of us have been friends?” Winters stressed the word, “friends,” while placing a hand on his shoulder, drawing his attention to her. A gesture Arianna all too well noticed.

“And I believe the gentleman can answer perfectly without your reminder. Marcel has in fact a remarkable memory and good hearing if you haven’t noticed,” In one word, who made her his spokesperson, the sarcasm was quite obvious.

.....

Mimi chewed her food slowly, she didn’t like this suffocating atmosphere. So she leaned towards Victor and whispered, “Any chance we can avoid this er... impending doom?”

“Nope.” Victor answered, bringing his glass to his lips, “I believe that we are to die together with them.”

No wonder his dear cousin stressed the need for his esteemed presence. When did his presence become “esteem”? He should have known. Dying together, huh? It sounds fun.

Mimi sighed, having no idea how to calm Arianna’s tit. So much for claiming she wasn’t jealous when she was clearly being possessed by the green-eyed monster at the moment.

“A-hem,” Marcel cleared his throat having sensed the tensed atmosphere. He thought the ladies would make good acquaintances, but it turns out he made poor judgment this time. Arianna was usually cordial with everyone, what happened this time?

“Winters and I have known each other for about two years now,” He finally answered.

Quite longer than the both of them know each other; it was barely two months since she and Marcel met under these special circumstances, Arianna thought. No wonder he and Winters worked fine like oil and fire, only that she – Arianna – would stop Marcel from getting burned.

“Yes, Marcel and I have known each other for so long that I no longer think of us as just friends, but family now.” Winters inputted happily.

“How funny,” Arianna said without thinking, picking at her food, “In that case, your fiancé should be family as well,”

And what followed next after that statement was a tense silence, Marcel stiffening while the others froze for like a second or so before pretending they didn’t hear that.

Mimi kicked Arianna’s legs from beneath the table warningly, she should behave. Arianna didn’t look at her but actually shut her eyes and took a deep breath. She hadn’t meant to say those words to him knowing deep inside how much Marcel loathed that engagement. He had even confided in her about it and it took a level of trust to do that. And she just fucked that up.

Arianna was just about to apologize when Winters stepped in, saying, “Has Marcel told you how both of us met?”

But Marcel in question said, “It is not necessarily -”

“I would love to hear it,” Arianna said. She needed to know everything, how Marcel came to know this young girl that was clearly taking liberties with him, and yet he was not doing anything about it.

If it had been her goading and challenging him like that, Marcel would have... He would have..... He would have done what? Spank her? Kissed her as a form of punishment? Teased her with his finger while grinding against her?

Arianna grew breathless at the thought. Maybe, it was a good thing if Marcel didn’t punish Winters at all and continued to indulge her. She was a guest after all. A guest that was bound to leave as soon as this mission was over. Perhaps, it wouldn’t cost her much to be a doll for two or three more days. She couldn’t wait for it to be over.

“So...” Winters readjusted in her seat, readying herself to tell her tale. She recounted, “I stole from Marcel.”

At the mention of “stole”, Arianna’s eyes widened and her hand trembled slightly while Victor whistled lowly and Mimi scratched the side of her face. This was going to be interesting?

It was obvious that Marcel was uncomfortable with the conversation because he said immediately, “You mean to say that you hacked my account?”

“And stole your funds,”

“Which you replaced afterward,”

“Not after you caught me,” Winters said, looking at Arianna pointedly.

“You mean to say that you intentionally revealed your location to me,” Marcel knew that he wouldn’t have found her had she not come to him first.

“Yep, unlike me, who wasn’t wise enough to hide from you” Arianna cut into the conversation, “It seems Miss Winters is wiser than I give her credit for. Had I known, I would have stolen more than a wallet and I would be a free woman today,” The bitterness in her tone was obvious.

She turned to Marcel and said accusingly, “You seem to have a certain fondness for women who steal from you. Except that in this case, Winters is a free woman while I’m your lawful captive,”

“Don’t think that way, Arianna -”

“What way should I think then?” She interrupted, glaring fire at him, “Well, I should indeed be flattered since I’m here because I’m Elijah’s girlfriend and not because I stole your wallet, your magnanimous lordship?”

Arianna pushed back her seat with a squeak and stood up, dropping her utensils, “I’m full,” she then turned and walked out.

“Arianna, wait!” Marcel stood up as well and went after her leaving just Winters, Mimi and Victor left at the table.

Mimi pushed her food back and then wrapped her arms across her chest, she asked her boldly, “Might I ask Miss Winters, what games you’re playing here?”

But Winters gave her an innocent look, “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” and dug into her meal, eating as if the world wasn’t going up in flames.