"Buona notte, tesoro." My mother kissed my cheek, and I managed to smile, my brows flickering.

"Goodnight, Mom," I replied, and she watched me walk into my room.

I locked the door behind me when I heard her footsteps which seemed to be leading down the hallway I took a short walk to my closet, unbuttoned my shirt, and threw it onto the bed, I took a black sweatshirt which I wore with a coat before walking to the bookshelf where I pushed the secret button which caused the bookshelf to open revealing the stairs that led down the underground bedroom where I get my pleasure.

The bookshelf closed by itself after I walked through it, climbing down the stairs, and I walked away from the bedroom to the upper stairs.

Sooner, I ended up coming out of the underground door, which was fixed on the floor.

I walked through the back gate and to the car, which must have been waiting for me.

"How's it going?" I asked my right-hand man as soon as I climbed into the Rolls-Royce.

"It's goin' well, sir," Black replied, turning on the engine of the car and speeding to the road.

"Any replies from Mr. Romano?" I asked, looking out the car window.

"He is starting to forget who is in charge," Black replied. "He hasn't gotten in touch for two weeks now."

I smirked in disgust, taking a pack of cigarettes from the map pocket.

I opened it, took a stick, lit it with the lighter I found earlier, and threw it back into the map pocket.

"Turn around," I commanded, and Black gave me a questioning look from the rearview mirror. "Don't take me to the safe house yet." I puffed out a smoke with my mouth.

"To Mr. Romano's house?" Black asked, making a U-turn.

.

Stepping out of the car, I reached for my hat and placed it carefully on my head. It shadowed my face, covering half of my features and keeping me in relative anonymity.

"Seems like a party is going on," I say as Black walks over to me, giving me a pistol.

"It's his 25-year-old daughter's engagement party," Black told me, and I cock the gun, tucking it at the back of my trousers.

"I see there's no need for bloodshed then." I sneered, covering the gun with the coat I was wearing, which stopped at my ankle.

Black led me to the garden, and as we entered it, the sounds of the party grew louder. I could see clusters of people chatting and laughing, their glasses clinking together in a lively toast. Brightly colored lanterns swayed in the breeze, casting the garden in a soft light. A live band was busy playing Italian music on a raised stage while I tried to keep my face away from anyone who must be staring at me because I knew that my outfit was strange.

"Get that reckless politician to me. We'll meet in a secluded place." I commanded myself to walk away from the rather crowded party to a tranquil spot where the only sound was the rustling of leaves in the wind.

I looked up at the sky while waiting for Black to bring the man who was trying to outsmart me, when he knew that I was the one who made him the successful politician that he is today.

I was still standing and looking at the sky with my hat still covering my head when the ringing of my phone broke the stillness of the night. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the phone, the light from the screen blinding me for a moment. I answered the call, my voice low and guarded. "Hello?"

"Am I speaking to Don Sullivan, capo dei capi?" The familiar voice called.

"Yes, doctor Fiore," I answered, tucking my left hand inside my pocket.

"Your parents already agreed on hiring a lady, and they will go with my choice." The doctor said from the phone, and I sighed. A sigh of relief.

"Good job. I will have the lady escorted to you tomorrow. You should bring her to my parents' house thereafter." I raised my head as Black walked toward me with the Baldhead man.

"Yes, sir." Doctor Fiore answered from the phone, and I hung up immediately, putting on my hat.

"Capo dei capi," Mr. Romano said, his voice trembling with fear. He looked at me with surprise.

"You rotten piece of trash," I spat, walking closer to him. He tried to back away, but Black blocked his path. I lashed out, punching him in the face. He crumpled to the ground, clutching his nose. "You've made a grave mistake by thinking you can get free from me. Seems like you've forgotten I can take all that you have within fuckin minutes." I said, my voice cold and menacing.

"Please forgive me. I didn't mean to offend you. Giuro su Dio!" Mr. Romano pleaded.

"I don't need your fuckin to swear to Christ," I said with distaste, squatting to him. He was still on the ground with Black behind him.

I placed my thumb on his jaw and made him face me; his mouth was shaking, and he had begun to bleed from his nose.

"You know I don't like it when someone tries to betray me," I say, running my thumb on his jaw... "Let's meet tomorrow," I commanded, standing up. "Get yourself cleaned up before someone mistakes you for a common thug. A little less blood on your face might make you look less like a horror movie extra." I said, unsympathetically, wearing my hat.

I walked away with Black following me behind.

We got to the car, and he helped me open the door. "How's the job coming along?" I asked Black, not sparing him a look.

"Successful. Although her father is quite greedy. He had to call some people to bid for her price, and I ended up winning after I proposed a high price." Black replied, standing at my back.

I scoffed. "Really?"

"Yes. He held a private bidding for her hand. She will be in Sicily tomorrow at noon." Black informed me.

"When she arrives, make her know she already belongs to us and see to making sure she will not utter any word about the auctioning to my parents. You know what to do with Doctor Fiore afterward." I said, entering the car, and Black nodded, shutting the car door behind.

"Your mother's condition is stable, but we haven't seen any significant improvement in the last few years." The doctor stated. "I know this isn't the news you were hoping for, but we are still monitoring her closely and are doing everything we can to ensure her comfort." He added.

"Thank you, Doctor," I said with a sigh. The doctor gave me a light squeeze on my shoulder before turning and walking away.

I glanced at my mother, her face obscured by a clear plastic mask that covered her mouth and nose. The mask was connected to a machine that was keeping her alive, and a thin tube ran from the mask to the machine. I was struck by how small and fragile she looked, lying there in the hospital bed. The mask made it hard to see her face, and I found myself wishing I could just see her smile one more time. I reached out and gently touched her hand, feeling the cold plastic of the IV tube that ran from her arm to a bag of fluid hanging above the bed.

"Mother," I called, gritting my teeth, keeping my emotions in check, still, I could feel my eyes stung with the tears that threatened to drop out of my green eyes.

It's been three years since the day she learned that her dad's friend did that act to me. I know that she's been thinking about me constantly since then, and I believe it was that stress that distracted her from the road and led to the car accident. The fact that her injuries were so severe only made the situation even more tragic. I always think about her every day, hoping that she'll recover, but the doctors are saying that it's unlikely. It's hard to accept that I may never see her smile again, that she might never wake up again.

The thought struck me so hard that I couldn't help but cry.

My mother was always a woman with a radiant smile, full of love and warmth. She was the kind of person who could light up a room with her presence. I could always count on her for a hug and a kind word, no matter what I was going through. It's hard to imagine that she'll never be that person again.

I'm willing to go as far as Sicily to save her.

I wiped off my tears and placed a soft kiss on my mother's forehead before walking out of the ward.

"Micah!" Ricky called to follow me out of the hospital.

"Yo? What's up?" I called back to my smiling and feisty self.

"Will you really go to Sicily? At such short notice." Ricky mentioned concern.

"Bro, chill," I say, walking to my car. "It's just a two-month thing," I assured him, just as my crazy father had done the night before.

He had informed me about going to Italy, and I dared not argue, but when I asked why I was going there, he only told me it's a two-month thing, and I should just obey.

Which I always end up doing.

"And Adam?" Ricky asked as I entered my car.

"Inform him about it," I say, igniting the car. "I might as well settle there if I find someone with whom I can do selling drugs." I sped off.

*

*

I climbed out of the airplane, dragging my luggage and breathing in the fresh air of a European country.

It's dawn here with people speaking English more than Italians.

I made my way to the terminal, and soon I was out of the airport.

"Miss Taylor?" An Italian-looking guy asked.

"Yes. And you are?" I asked back.

"Welcome to Sicily." The guy said, making a finger order at some men dressed in black who walked to me, and I looked awkwardly at them. "What's going on here?" I frowned, raising my brows furiously at this man dressed in black all looking like a gangster.

"Weren't you informed?" The guy who ordered the men in black asked, and I gave another questioning frown. "You were auctioned off by Mr. Taylor, and we won the bid." He replied.

As I stood there, speechless and in shock, the words finally registered in my brain. "I was auctioned off?" I asked, still not quite believing what he had just said, and he nodded, and I could feel my head spin, but first I needed to get out of this mess. "Huh... I think you got the wrong person." I tried to fake a smile. "As a matter of fact, I'm not Micah Taylor. I'm just an imposter." I lied, trying to get away from these thug-looking men.

"Well, we will see about that." The guy made a finger command again, and I ended up on one of the men's shoulders.

"What are you doing? Let me go!" I screamed, beating the burly man who was carrying me, but I was the one feeling the pain. "Who the hell is Micah Taylor?" I shouted, unable to wrap my head around what had just happened.

The burly man tossed me into the back of the car, slamming the trunk shut with a loud bang. I felt the dark space closing in around me, and panic started to set in. I pounded my fists against the trunk door, shouting, "Help! Help!" My voice was muffled by the metal of the car, and I knew no one could hear me.

But the realization that my father had put me up for sale like a piece of property had me crying.

"She's agreed to the plan," Black said over the phone. "Doctor Fiore is on his way to your place. He will introduce her to your parents." With that, I hung up the phone.

I slid the books aside and entered the PIN to unlock the safe, hidden within the bookshelf. Just as I reached inside, my phone vibrated in my pocket. A call had come in.

I glanced at it, realizing it was from my biological brother. "What have you been up to?" I shot at him immediately. I answered the call.

"Clubbing and dealing with some New York mafia families," Adam answered, and I scoffed.

"Be careful there in America..." I warned. "And when the hell are you planning on returning?" I questioned my twenty-six-year-old brother, who had refused to be adopted while we were kids at the orphanage home.

"My flight is in four days." He answered, and I huffed.

"Bet when you're back here, I'm gonna have you grounded and stop you from dealing with drugs because you're going overboard with traveling to Sicily to make a stupid deal with some New York families who might get you killed, leaving no evidence," I stated, concerned.

As unconcerned as I am, I don't joke with my brother. We have been through a lot of shit over the past years when we lost our parents, and I, as the elder brother, have been a weak ass going through a psychological disorder and shit. Adam was the only person who had stood by me, even though he was only eight then.

I had built my drug business without my parents' knowledge because I didn't want to rely on their fortune. When I finally succeeded in the mafia world, I was determined to protect my brother, who was the one person in the world I couldn't bear to lose, and not in a foreign, messed-up land like New York, where I had many enemies looking for a weakness that could pull me down.

"You are making me reconsider moving back." Adam teased, seeming to be aware that I meant every damn word I had told him.

"If you don't return in four days, I'm gonna have my men bring you myself." I threatened.

"Mi stai facendo paura." He said with a laugh, and I smirked at how he always says ' I'm scaring him' whenever I activate my elder brother mode. "I need your help about a lady whom---"

"Let's talk in person if you wanna talk to me about a lady." I cut in, ending the call even before he could say a word.

Well, damn, people called Adam!

Why are they so all about ladies? I cussed internally, remembering the story Mrs. Stone, my adoptive mother, always tells the young me and Ginevra about how Adam got misled by a woman, and that's what always happens to my Adam brother!

"Sullivan!" Gin called from the hallway. I could hear her approaching footsteps as I put my phone inside the safe and locked it.

I arranged the books that covered the safe, and Gin walked in.

"Mum wants you downstairs." She told me, and I turned to look at her autistically. "The lady who is said to serve you is downstairs. You need to meet her." She added, and I made a smug smile, which she didn't notice.

I walked with my sister to the living room and had my seat beside her while my mum stopped the conversation she was having with Doctor Fiore, an ally of mine.

"Dear." She called with her warm motherly smile, which always had me smile back reflexively. "Here is Micah." She pointed at a lady, and I raised my head at the said 'Micah, quirking my mouth on both sides as I raised my ever so gentle face. "She will be your assistant and will be serving you henceforth."

My eyes met with the eyeballs I rarely see; they were green, looking furiously at me. Her red curly hair was packed into a ponytail, and her curvy body had me hard already.

"Introduce yourself." Doctor Fiore muttered to her, while my eyes danced around her, unable to keep a stable glance at her.

The green-eyed lady with fabulous red hair looked adamant at first, and I could tell she was just as stubborn as Black had said.

"I'm Micah." She pronounced hostilely, her stare tightening on me as if trying not to glare at me. "Your assistant." One could feel her sarcastic reply, and I would be smirking right now, but instead, I'm busy dancing my eyeballs around the living room.

"Please treat my brother well." Ginevra got on her feet. "With respect. He's older than you." She added, seeming to have noticed how rude the redhead girl was towards me, and it does seem as though Micah just got recorded in Gin's bad book.

My little sister walked away, unable to keep up with Micah's attitude, and my mother smiled, glancing at Micah. "Sorry about that." She apologized with a smile. "I hope you two get along." She smiled warmly at Micah, who faked a smile in response.

"I'd be on my way." Doctor Fiore rose to his feet, and my mother escorted him out of the room. The green-eyed lady remained seated on the couch, her piercing gaze fixed on me, and I tried not to meet her eyes.

When I heard my mother and the doctor had exited through the door. My eyes slowly met with Micah's green orb, and she looked at me in surprise. But she was in for more surprises.

"Follow me," I commanded, strictly wanting to introduce her to my ROP, the Room of Pleasure. I bought her to be my submissive after all.