His To Claim

Chapter 1

“Lola, darling,” Rosalie walked in through the door without knocking. I yelped off the bed and closed the video I had been seeing.

“Please, Rosalie, knock the door before you come!” I begged to her. It was often of her to step inside my room, unannounced. There were some awkward times when I was naked or doing something I shouldn’t be doing.

I begged my parents to let me lock my room, but they believed that it would be too dangerous for me—and them. They dared to trust no one, not even the guards surrounding me, the chefs or even the servants.

“I’m sorry, darling, I almost forgot. I thought you’d be sleeping,” She sighed.

“It’s all right. I was actually sleeping until a few minutes ago—” When I decided to watch something forbidden, unfortunately, I couldn’t complete all of it as Rosalie, my personal maid stepped inside. “Anyway, why are you here so early? It’s eight in the morning,” I glanced at the clock and said.

Rosalie usually got me breakfast around ten—eight was way too early unless something was wrong.

“Your parents have requested for you this morning, that’s why I’m here early. Could you join them for breakfast?” She asked me.

“Of course. Let me just change, I look horrible in this!” I exclaimed as I ran into my closet and quickly removed the pajama set I was wearing. I rolled a t-shirt over my head and changed my pants as well before walking out. By the time I was done, Rosalie had already left and the doorway was wide open.

Ugh. I hated it whenever she left the door open.

I picked up my phone from the bed and swiped away the video I had been watching. It was something forbidden and I couldn’t let anyone know that I had been watching this. Two men with one woman—hot!

—

“Have I been summoned?” I questioned in a scary tone as I stepped down from the stairs. My parents and I bonded well and since I was the only child in the family, I got all the love I ever needed from them.

“Lola,” My mother repeated my name as she turned around and found. “Please, join us for breakfast,” A smile appeared on her lips as I sat beside her.

A thick silence spread across the room. Warm and delicious breakfast was set in front of us but neither of my parents were eating. I raised my head and looked at my father who seemed worried.

“What’s wrong?” I cocked my head at my mother and she narrowed her eyes down. “Is something wrong?” I repeated my question but neither of them answered me. With a pang, I realized that my parents called me early in the morning because they needed to tell me something.

The last time this had happened was almost two years ago.

“Mother?” I pressed my hand over hers.

She finally broke the silence, “You should ask your father. He has some news for you,”

My gaze soon was locked with my father’s. I raised my eyebrow and waited for him to spill out whatever he was afraid of. The problem here was that my father—Viktor Russell—wasn’t ever afraid of anything. We came from a strong lineage of mafia leaders and my father was one of them. Inked in tattoos, wrapped in guns and secured by the mafioso brothers so whatever was worrying him, was now worrying me.

“Viktor,” My mother said his name. “She needs to know the truth. The quicker the better it is for all of us. She needs to know about the danger that is going to surround her soon,”

Danger? I was always surrounded by danger due to the nature of my father’s job. He worked in an illegal organization with a set of other mafia men. It was often heard that he was either a part of a drug deal or a murder case—nothing new. Since a very young age, I was trapped inside this house, the Russell’s mansion, I was homeschooled here with private, expensive teachers and I was barely allowed to step out without protection. Wherever I went, I went with two guards or either one of my parents. Never in my twenty years of existence I went alone.

“The eldest son of Enzo Vernetti will be released from prison this weekend. The papers are made, and the court has finalized his release.” My father explained. I choked on my breath as his words made their way to my ears. I couldn’t believe what I had heard.

My lips parted and my eyes widened as I uttered his forbidden name, “Luca Vernetti,”

“Yes. But, you don’t have to be worried. The authorities are keeping a close eye on him so he won’t be able to harm any one of us—especially you.” My father’s tone was quivering with fear yet he was assuring me that it would be alright.

“But father, Luca, he—he’s dangerous. He had vowed for revenge and now, he has been released from prison. I thought his sentence was five years. It has just been two years?” I raised a doubt among the conversation. My mother stayed silent the entire time. She didn’t like to be involved in these matters just like me. It was just my father with blood and a gun in his hands.

“I know, darling, I know how dangerous he is but he cannot step foot anywhere near us. The court gave an early release—he must’ve great lawyers or something because I remember putting him in a lifetime of prisonment.” He explained with agony lacing in his tone.

Luca Vernetti. The man of my nightmares, the man who everyone had been afraid of and the man who my father had sent to jail after he outed his activities to the public.

I looked down at my breakfast and my stomach growled but I couldn’t eat anything. “I need some time alone, to think.” I mumbled before standing up and looking away from my parents.

“Lola,” My father called my name. I whipped around and faced him for another moment, “I promise you that he won’t come near you or harm you in any way. He’s not stronger than me,”

“I know,” I gave my father a broken smile before leaving the breakfast table and returning to my bedroom.

I closed the door slowly as a dozen thoughts ran across my head. It was just like yesterday when I saw Luca hand-cuffed and taken to jail but it was two years ago.

Two long years.

Two years ago, Luca, a Vernetti and the strongest leader threatened my father and stole my first kiss. Shortly after that incident, my father went straight to the authorities and outed all his drug deals and shipments. The police arrested him on December 9th and since then, he had been rotting in prison and facing a long sentence of five years. I never knew when his sentence was cut short until today.

When I glanced at my calendar, I found the date to be December 6th. December 9th would lie on this weekend when Luca Vernetti would’ve served two entire years in prison.

Fear flooded in my body as a vision of that morning appeared in front of me. I stood in the witness box in front of Luca Vernetti and claimed that he had been assaulting and harrassing me. I felt guilty but my father forced me into saying it all. He wanted the case to be strong so he could send him away. The glare his eyes gave me that morning still shook me to the core when all that happened between us was a single kiss—a kiss he had stolen in my own bedroom but in no way was it forced.

The feeling of his lips against mine still lingered. It was just a very small kiss that ignited desires inside me—desires I had no control over.

And now, Luca Vernetti was going to be free, he was going to take revenge as that was the code of the mafia.

Do wrong to those who do wrong to you.

I had done worse than wrong to him. I had acted as a victim when merely he had kissed me.

There was a fire, rushing towards me and I could feel it’s heat burning me into ashes.