Zaria stared at him like he'd just spoken in tongues.
"Don't go home tonight," Ares said again, slower this time. "Unless you have a death wish."
She blinked. "What are you talking about?"
He leaned forward, eyes hard. "Someone followed you last night. And this morning. You weren't careful."
Zaria's mouth went dry. "You're lying."
Ares pulled out his phone and tapped the screen. A grainy photo appeared—her, standing outside her apartment. And behind her, a dark car parked across the street. Same car in two different pictures, two different times.
Her heart dropped.
"You were the bait," he said coldly. "Now they think I'm hiding something in you."
Zaria staggered back, grabbing the edge of the table. "What do they want from me?"
"That's the wrong question. The right one is: what did your father die for?"
She flinched. Ares stood and walked around the desk until he was right in front of her. Tall. Dangerous. Unreadable.
"You don't want to believe me. Fine. But go home, and you'll find out the hard way."
Zaria shook her head slowly. "I didn't sign up for this."
"You did the moment you stepped into my world."
He walked past her, heading for the door. "You'll follow me tonight."
"I'm not sleeping in some mafia mansion like a prisoner."
"You can go and die in your house ." He paused and looked over his shoulder. You're not exactly free either."
---
Carina showed her to a guest room on the third floor—if you could call a space bigger than her entire apartment a "room." The bed looked untouched, the furniture too expensive, the silence too loud.
Zaria sat on the edge of the bed, staring at nothing.
She couldn't call anyone. Her phone was dead. Even if it worked, who would she call? The police? Please. Her father was murdered and buried in silence.
Something in her gut told her this wasn't paranoia. This was real.
---
She didn't sleep much. Maybe three hours. By morning, her head felt like it was full of glass shards.
A knock came at the door.
She opened it to find Carina already walking away. "Change your clothes and come downstairs. Mr. Valentino's waiting."
Zaria frowned. "For what?"
"For work."
---
First day of what? she wanted to ask, but she knew better than to expect a full answer.
She was given plain black slacks and a blouse, simple but clean. When she came downstairs, Ares was already at the dining table, sipping coffee like he hadn't threatened her with death twelve hours ago.
He nodded toward the seat across from him. "Eat."
"I'm not hungry."
"Your wish but when you are I fear there will be no food."
She sat down anyway, just for the coffee.
After a few minutes, he spoke without looking up. "You're going to work under me now. Observation, errands, and… other tasks."
"What kind of other tasks?"
"The kind that get people killed."
Zaria nearly choked on her coffee. "You're joking."
Ares finally looked at her. "Do I look like I joke?"
She didn't respond,"your life is a joke"she thought
---
By noon, she was in the back seat of his bulletproof car, heading downtown. Carina was in the front, giving her quick, clipped instructions.
"You stay silent unless spoken to. You watch who he talks to. Listen to what's being said. But never react."
"Why me?" Zaria asked. "Why not someone trained?"
Carina glanced at her in the mirror. "You're not on their radar. Yet."
"Why is everyone saying yet maybe I will also die but not yet"
---
The building they entered didn't look like much—gray bricks, broken signage, a dusty stairwell. But when Ares knocked on the second-floor door, three cameras moved at once.
Zaria stayed close behind him, her fingers twitching.
Inside were men who didn't bother hiding their guns. Thick accents, scarred faces, silent nods.
She didn't understand a thing they said, but Ares did. He spoke fluent danger. Calm, calculated, and cold.
Then someone said a name. Her father's name.
Zaria stiffened. Ares immediately turned toward her and said in a sharp voice, "Leave. Now."
"But—"
"Out."
Carina pulled her by the arm, yanking her out the door just as voices rose.
Gun cocked. Loud. Close.
She froze. "What's going on?"
Carina didn't answer.
They waited outside. Five minutes. Ten. Then the door opened and Ares walked out, blood on his knuckles and a blank look in his eyes.
No one followed.
He kept walking. "We're done here."
---
Back in the car, silence reigned until Ares finally spoke.
"That man mentioned your father's name. He said he owed him something before he died."
Zaria turned to him slowly. "What did he owe him?"
Ares looked at her, and for once, he didn't sound like a boss or a killer. Just… tired.
"He didn't say. Because I broke his jaw."
Zaria stared out the window, heart pounding.
This was no longer about fear. It was about answers. And revenge.
---
That night, as she sat in the guest room again, her phone lit up.
It shouldn't have. The SIM was dead. The battery had been out. But it glowed anyway.
One message. No number.
> "They're not after you. They're after what your father left behind."
She dropped the phone.
It buzzed again.
> "And it's not safe with Ares Valentino either."