The Older Mafia Boss Had Given Up on Dating—Then His Curvy Friend Secretly Set Him Up With Her
Chapter 5
The missing woman was Sophia.
She had left the restaurant twenty minutes earlier.
Her car was found abandoned three blocks away.
Marcus stood beside it.
His security team searched the surrounding streets.
A broken bracelet lay near the curb.
He recognized it immediately.
Sophia’s.
“Who took her?”
Nobody answered.
Marcus looked at his head of security.
“Find her.”
“We’re working on it.”
“Work faster.”
Meanwhile, Elena was still at the restaurant.
She could have gone home.
Instead, she waited.
At midnight, Marcus returned.
His face was exhausted.
“Is she okay?”
“Not yet.”
Elena swallowed.
“Can I help?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because this is my world.”
She looked at him.
“Then maybe your world needs help.”
Marcus stared.
Nobody spoke to him like that.
Elena stood.
“I know you didn’t expect tonight to become this.”
“No.”
“But I don’t think Sophia introduced us because she wanted me to fix you.”
Marcus looked away.
“Then why?”
“Because she cares about you.”
He didn’t respond.
Elena picked up her purse.
“I should go.”
Marcus stopped her.
“Wait.”
She turned.
“I want to see you again.”
She smiled.
“Even after tonight?”
“Especially after tonight.”
She hesitated.
“Then call me when Sophia is safe.”
Marcus nodded.
The next morning, they found Sophia.
She had been held in an empty apartment across town.
She was shaken but alive.
Marcus visited her.
“You arranged the dinner,” he said.
Sophia looked at him.
“Yes.”
“You knew?”
“Not about the kidnapping.”
Marcus frowned.
“Then what did you know?”
Sophia smiled weakly.
“That you’d like her.”
Marcus looked away.
“I do.”
Sophia’s smile widened.
“Then don’t ruin it.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means don’t treat Elena like everyone else.”
Marcus understood.
Everyone around him either feared him or wanted something from him.
Elena wanted neither.
That made her dangerous in a way guns never could.
She could make him care.
And Marcus had spent twelve years making sure he didn’t.
