Chapter 90

Stella

I haven’t been to my apartment in a month. I’m sure there is much for me to clean and do there, needing to throw out the rotten food of my refrigerator before it stinks up the entire place. I want to go back, but living at my family’s home has given me a chance to bond with my brothers, to make up for the lost time of me being taken away for the majority of our lives.

Thankfully, they have given me some alone time and the space I need to be able to complete some jobs and commissions for work. I even had Silas help me with designing new forms for the website — truthfully, it was a way for us to bond and to give him something to do between jobs — and helping me with organizing the jobs in order of importance.

My family even helped me upgrade my laptop, allowing me more storage space for files as well as external hard drives for the bigger projects. My father bought me a second laptop for personal use, which I am so thankful for. So things have been going very well for me this past month.

Sebastian has yet to drop the night I was kidnapped. He has been asking me questions about the kidnappers, trying to see if there was anything that stood out about them. I have given him all of the information I could give to him.

All I can do now is offer my help in finding more leads for him, which has led us to this exact moment.

I sit on the couch with Sebastian. My laptop sits on my lap, my fingers furiously typing away as I battle with the city government’s security system. Sebastian glances over my shoulder every now and then, twiddling with his fingers as he waits for my results.

“Are you close?” he asks.

“Be patient, Seb, let me handle this,” I murmur.

I barely blink as I work through the lines of code, finding a quick workaround to access the security system and files. Inside the database sits security footage from around the warehouse they found me in. Sebastian thinks that in it, we will be able to find the men who captured me.

I sincerely doubt it, though. I haven’t even been able to make progress on my own kidnapping from when I was a baby, having stalled on locating the lady who dropped me off at the orphanage.

“Can you go faster?” Sebastian asks, impatience laced in his voice.

I groan and roll my eyes, my hands leaving the keyboard to give him a shove. He falls back into the couch with a smile on his face, chuckling.

I look up from the screen and watch as my father walks into the room. He smiles down at us and I give him a quick wave before going back to hacking my way into the system.

“What are you two kiddos up to?” he asks, rounding the couch. He stands behind us and looks down, tilting his head at my laptop screen.

“We are trying to hack our way into the street cameras since,” I respond with a small smile, looking between him and the screen.

“She’s working extra slow today,” Sebastian teases. I roll my eyes and focus on the screen. “We are trying to figure out who kidnapped her but we don’t have any leads on it so far.”

“Is there anything I can do to help? You know that I have some influence in the government and police. We can figure it out in no time,” my father continues, placing his hands on the headrest of the couch.

“It’s okay,” I hum, “I am…in!”

I lean back into the couch and my screen displays the government’s database. A multitude of old security footage and files sits on the screen now, our presence in the database completely invisible. They won’t even know we are in here.

“Wow, that is amazing Stella. Good job,” my father pats my shoulder.

Sebastian grabs the laptop from my lap and moves it onto his own. He begins to scroll through the files, trying to find the date I was taken and the time before and after.

My father’s movement catches my eye. I watch him as he walks around the couch and takes his place in his designated armchair, leaning forward and resting his elbows against his knees. He looks at me and I stare back, a tingling feeling itching the back of my mind.

“Stella,” he says, voice firm but it has a hint of gentleness to it, fatherly love.

“I know,” I breathe out, slowly nodding.

Sebastian looks up from the laptop, his eyes moving between my father and I. He raises an eyebrow and moves the laptop to the side, his gaze burning into the side of my face. He remains silent, thankfully, and watches us with a close eye.

“The month is coming to an end,” my father continues. I swipe my tongue over my teeth and cross my arms over my stomach, acting as a metaphorical shield from his words to protect myself.

“I know,” I say. “Did you…find someone?” I try my best to continue the conversation, knowing that it will happen one way or another.

“What’s going on?” Sebastian leans over, whispering into my ear. I don’t respond and keep my eyes on my father.

“I have. His name is Dante, he’s Angelo’s son. He works with his father in the finance district. He’s nice and made a reservation for the two of you at your favorite restaurant next week. He’ll be here to pick you up at six, okay?” my father speaks.

“Yeah,” I sigh, “that sounds good. Thank you for telling me.”

“Of course,” he nods his head and stands up, silently leaving the room.

As soon as he is gone, I bury my face into my hands and let out a quiet sigh of complete and utter dejection. I feel Sebastian’s hand on my shoulder. The couch dips and he comes closer to me, my body sliding closer to his.

“Stella? What’s going on?” Sebastian asks.

I know his question is genuine. I know that this is something that was once secretive between my father and I, keeping the rest of the family out of it after they stood up for me all of those weeks ago. I just do not know how Sebastian is going to react to the news.

“Dad wants me to get married. Says that if I should obey the mafia ideals and marry a mafia man,” I remove my face from my hands and look over at Sebastian.

His arm rests on the headrest behind my shoulders. His jaw is clenched and his eyes slightly darken, roaming my face to see if I am kidding.

I am not.

“You can’t go on the date, Stella,” he firmly says. He shakes his head as he works through his emotions inside his head. “You can’t. Dante is not the man for you.”

“Yeah?” I ask, a dejected chuckle leaving my lips. “There isn’t much I can do about it, though.”

“You can say no. You always have a choice,” Sebastian continues.

“Why does it matter? Do you really care that much about who I am going to be married off to next, Sebastian?” I ask.

He stands from the couch and looks down at me. I see a mix of emotions flash across his face.

“Yeah, Stella, something like that.”

There is a hint of defeat and defiance in his voice. There are clearly words left unsaid, a subtext to how he truly feels about the situation.

“Sebastian,” I stand and reach for his hand but it is too late. He is already walking away, leaving me in an ugly and uncomfortable silence.