[BL] The Mafia Boss Wants My Body

"I want to hear it from him!" Adrian shot back, his voice rising. "Call him. Let me speak to him directly. Let him say it to my face... that I mean nothing to him. He is the only one I want to call, so dial the number!"

He shouted. "So call him."

The guards looked at each other, a flicker of hesitation passing between them. They hadn’t expected him to demand a direct line. They knew if they called, the lie would fall apart, but they had their orders to keep the psychological pressure high.

"Since you’ve decided not to call anyone who actually gives a damn about you," one of them sneered, "then I guess you’ve chosen to stay here forever."

Adrian didn’t say another word. He just watched them with hollow eyes as they left, the door locking behind them with a final, heavy click.

Once outside, the guard immediately called Iris. When she answered, he explained the situation, how Adrian had refused to reach out to his family or any other contact.

"He didn’t choose his father or a friend," the guard reported. "He only wants Matteo. Even after we told him Matteo had washed his hands of him and said he was worthless, he wouldn’t budge. He insisted he would only speak to him."

Iris gripped her phone, a surge of irritation blooming in her chest. What kind of hold does that man have on him? she wondered, her expression hardened.

"Fine," she snapped. "If he wants to be stubborn, let him rot. Don’t attend to him. Don’t go back into that room until he breaks and decides to call someone else, his sister, his father, anyone but that monster."

Her voice turned cold.

"Until he’s ready to give up on Matteo... let him sit in the silence."

"Yes, ma’am," the guard replied before the line went dead.

Iris arrived home and settled into the quiet luxury of her living room. She poured a glass of wine, the deep red liquid catching the light as she swirled it, but her mind was far from calm. She was calculating.

If Matteo found Adrian first, it was over. He would tell him everything, and with the way Adrian felt about him, Adrian would believe every word.

She had seen the devotion in his eyes. If he could still hold on to Matteo even after being told he was abandoned... then their bond was far stronger, and far more dangerous, than she had realized.

She needed to be the hero of this story.

Her plan was a delicate trap. She knew that sooner or later, the silence and hunger would break Adrian’s spirit. When that happened, he would finally accept that Matteo wasn’t coming.

And then—

He would have no choice but to call someone else.

If he called his sister, Maya, Iris already knew how it would play out. Maya would panic... and the first person she would turn to for help—

would be her.

Iris took a slow sip of her wine, a cold smile touching her lips.

She would be the one to "find" the location. She would be the one to "rescue" him from the terrifying kidnappers.

By the time she was done, Matteo would look like the villain who turned his back on him, and she would be the only one Adrian had left to trust. She just had to wait for the silence to do its work.

Matteo sat in his study with Mark, the air thick with the smell of stale smoke and desperation. He picked up the phone and dialed his contact within the underground network again.

"I have the name," Matteo said, his voice a jagged edge. "It’s Iris. I need the location of every property she owns, rents, or has access to through her family’s connections. I need the specific address where they’re holding him. Find it, and send it to me the second you have it."

The investigator’s voice was low and clinical. "We’ll get on it and update you soon."

Tony stood by the window, his expression distant, his thoughts cold and calculating.

This had nothing to do with Adrian. If anything, he was glad the distraction was out of the way.

What bothered him was Iris.

Her methods were sloppy.

He couldn’t stand the idea of someone like her stepping into a game she didn’t understand... a game that wasn’t hers to play.

In Tony’s mind, if anyone were going to break Adrian or control what happened between him and Matteo, it would be him, not some girl pretending to be smarter than she was.

He wanted Adrian out. Not to reunite them...

But because he had his own plans.

Plans to tear their relationship apart—on his own terms.

Tony placed the call. "Status."

"We’re already working on it," came the reply. "You’ll hear from us soon."

"Make it quick," Tony said. "I want updates immediately."

"Understood, boss," came the reply.

The line went dead.

After days of suffocating silence, the last of Adrian’s hope finally gave way.

He believed it.

He believed Matteo had truly turned his back on him.

With nothing left to hold onto, he forced himself to his feet and dragged his weak body toward the door. Then he started banging on the heavy wood with what little strength he had left.

The bolt slid back, and one of the guards stood there, looking bored. "Decided to rejoin the living?"

"I’ll call my sister," Adrian said, his voice cracking. "She’ll give you whatever you want. If it’s money, my family has it. Just let me go."

The guard chuckled, leaning against the frame.

"We don’t want your money. We had terms with Matteo... and he didn’t meet them."

He gave a small shrug.

"So now we’re being generous. Killing you would just waste a bullet. And since your friend Matteo doesn’t want to play, there’s no reason to keep you."

He stepped aside slightly.

"But we’re in the middle of nowhere. You won’t make it back on your own, and we’re not your ride. Call someone. Have them come get you."

They handed him a burner phone. Adrian’s hands shook as he dialed Maya’s number. The moment she picked up and heard his voice, she burst into frantic tears.

"Adrian! Oh my god, where have you been? Are you okay?"

"Maya, listen... I don’t know where I am," Adrian said, his voice weak and drained. He hadn’t eaten in days, too afraid to trust anything they gave him.

"They’re going to send a location. Please... just come quickly. I don’t want to stay here anymore."

Maya promised to come right away. But she wasn’t the only one waiting for news. Throughout the disappearance, she and Charles had been in constant contact, checking for updates every hour. She had promised Charles that if she heard anything, he would be her first call.

As soon as the guards sent the coordinates to the burner phone, Adrian forwarded them to Maya. Staying true to her word, Maya immediately sent the location to Charles.

Charles didn’t hesitate. He knew he and Frank couldn’t handle a kidnapping hand-off alone, it was too dangerous. He forwarded the address straight to Matteo.

Then he called the number Matteo had given them, the one he’d told them to use if anything came up.

The call connected.

Matteo picked up.

"We have it," Charles said, breathless. "Adrian reached out to his sister. They’re dropping him at the location I just sent you. We need someone there now to pick him up."

Matteo didn’t even let him finish the sentence. "I’m already on my way."