Captivated by the deadly mafia boss

Nicole

“Nicole.” Nora rushes into my office and closes the door behind her. I look up from my computer where I’m sending off another email to a local food blogger with an invitation to opening night of the new restaurant. Nora’s face is flushed, and her chest is heaving.

“Were you running from someone?” I ask with a small chuckle.

“No, but you might want to,” she urges in a hushed tone.

“What are you talking about?” I click on another email to read a response from another blogger.

“Jakub.” The one name that can get my insides fired up, but in this case, it sends a chilled shiver through me.

I check the clock on the computer screen. I’ve only been here half an hour. It took me fifteen minutes to get out of the apartment without his men seeing me-thank you, fire escape. It was another twenty-minute Uber drive to the club. There’s no way he’s finished with his meeting yet.

“What about him?” I try to keep my voice steady, but even I hear the little rise.

“He’s here.”

My fingers freeze over the keyboard.

“And since he was adamant you would not be in today or tomorrow and you weren’t to be bothered, I figured maybe you should know he’s here before he sees that you’re here, because I get the very distinct feeling you’re not supposed to be here.”

I move my gaze from my computer screen over to her.

“Are you panicking?” I ask her, because I’m the one who should be, but I have an eerie calm about me. If I stay in my office, he won’t see me and by the time he gets back to the apartment I’ll either be there or I won’t, and he can yell at me when I do.

“No.” She pushes off my door and composes herself. “But his father and brother are with him-and two other men as well. I haven’t seen them before, but they look just as mean and angry as Jakub and Dominik.”

Those would probably be the Kaczmareks.

Fuck.

“Okay, I’ll just stay in here. He won’t see me,” I assure her and turn back to my computer. “It will be fine, Nora.”

“Do you want to tell me what’s going on?” she asks gently.

“If I understood what was happening I would,” I sigh.

“Well, when you figure it out, I’m here if you need.”

“Thank you, Nora.”

“And don’t let him know I knew you were here. I don’t want to deal with a pissy Jakub.” She rolls her eyes and slips back out my door.This belongs © NôvelDra/ma.Org.

I turn back to my computer with the full intention of answering a few emails then checking on Silvia before I sneak out of the club before Jakub finds me.

“Well, if you would have found her, this wouldn’t be a fucking problem. She’s a stupid woman, how could she get the better of you?”

My fingers freeze over the keyboard as the voice outside my office door hits me. It’s Henry.

Why would Henry be here?

Whoever he was talking to doesn’t answer back. Curling my fingers away from the keyboard, I sit back, waiting to hear if he continues talking.

After several minutes tick by in silence, I ease myself up from my chair and creep to the door. I crack it open enough to see down the hallway toward Jakub’s office. Completely empty.

I just need to know why Henry’s here. If he was pinched for drugs in New York, he shouldn’t be able to leave the city. Well, if he was an ordinary person anyway. But he’s not. He’s tied to the most powerful Polish Mafia families in New York. He probably didn’t even have to pay bail.

With careful steps I make my way down to Jakub’s office. If he’s meeting with the Kaczmareks, shouldn’t they have men outside the door? It works in my favor that they don’t, but I would think they’d want privacy during this meeting.

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I press myself up to the door and try to listen in.

But I hear nothing. All this damn sound dampening in the business offices to keep the club noise out is getting in the way of my eavesdropping. Other than some low murmurs I can’t hear a damn thing.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

My heart skids to a stop. Henry.

I turn around to face him, throwing on as brilliant a smile I can muster.

“Hey, Henry.” I swallow around the ball of panic in my throat. “What brings you here?”

Looking at him now, standing in front of me with so much shock and rage, I wonder how I could have ever even given him a chance. His black hair is slicked back with a heavy dose of gel, making him look as though he hasn’t showered in a few weeks. And by his overdose of cologne, maybe I’m right.

I never should have given in to my dad. I should have been stronger and put my foot down.

“Better question is what are you doing here?” His pearl-shaped eyes narrow in on me and his lips curl around his teeth.

“Henry, I know you think I had something to do with you getting arrested, but I swear I didn’t.”

At his sides, his hands ball into fists.

“Well, we’ll see what Piotr says.” He grabs hold of my arm and spins toward the door. “You can’t hear as good out here, so let’s go inside.” He shoves the door open and pushes me into the office.

Jakub gets up from his chair at the sudden invasion into his office. Joseph and Dominik are sitting on either side of him; both look up to see the disturbance. Dominik’s lips twitch a little on the side, and Joseph’s eyes go wide.

But Jakub.

His reaction sends ice through my chest.

“What the fuck.” Jakub turns his cold glare on Henry.

“She was outside. Since this is about her, I figured we’d include her.” Henry shuts the door behind us.

Jakub keeps his gaze away from me as he moves away from the table. A large man, who I assume is Piotr Kaczmarek, gets up from the table as well. I’ve met Piotr’s cousin back in New York, and this man looks nothing like his cousin. Christian Kaczmarek looks like he just stepped off a muscle man magazine cover. Piotr looks like someone who should subscribe. His hair is long and pulled back into a thin ponytail behind his neck. I can’t tell if the scars on his face are from injury or acne.

“Henry, I told you we’d figure this out without her.”

“She was right outside the door,” Henry defends himself in a nasal tone.