Not Afraid of the Mafia Heir’s Threat Chapter 03
I lay in bed with my temples pounding.
But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fall asleep.
I grabbed my phone and searched the same things over and over again.
“What do I do if my boyfriend took nude photos of me?”
“Will private pictures get leaked?”
“What if intimate photos with my boyfriend get shared?”
The more stories I read, the harder it became to breathe.
I pulled the blanket tighter around myself and stiffly tapped another search: “How to protect yourself after private photos are leaked.”
The advice all sounded reasonable.
Tell your family. Tell your friends, seek legal assistance… It all looked so simple on digital paper.
I ran through every step in my head again and again.
But none of it would work on Lorenzo.
He wasn’t afraid of anything.
And there was nothing he couldn’t smooth over.
My tears soaked into the pillow.
At some point, I hit my limit and passed out.
I didn’t sleep well.
Somewhere in that half-dream haze, I heard the click of a camera shutter.
I jolted awake and clutched the blanket to my chest.
The room was dim.
The only light came from the tiny red recording light blinking in the dark.
Lorenzo stood in the shadows.
There was a smile in his eyes, and the corners of them were faintly red, like he’d been drinking. “Beautiful,” he said.
I jumped out of bed and lunged for the camera.
He caught me easily and pulled me into his arms.
His cologne hit first, layered over cigarette smoke, and it made me cough.
Lorenzo tightened his hold around my waist, his voice dropping into a low murmur.
“Don’t move. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you.”
Every nerve in my body was stretched tight, like a wire being pulled to the snapping point.
I grabbed at his sleeve and forced the words out in a rasp. “Delete… it.”
He pressed me down onto his lap. “What happened to your voice?”
“You didn’t drink the honey water last night?”
“The driver said he couldn’t find you. Are you still mad?”
My stomach churned so hard I thought I might be sick.
I dug my nails into my palm and tried to get off him.
Lorenzo sighed, like I was the unreasonable one, his tone shifting.
“I looked at your phone earlier.”
For one brief second, the fog in my head cleared.
My whole body went cold.
My plane ticket…
He patted my back, soothing and familiar. “Did your friend rat me out?”
“Yes, I brought Gianna to the family gathering last night.”
“It was her birthday. She had no one to spend it with. That was all.”
“Sera, don’t overthink it.”
All the strength went out of me.
My voice came out barely above a whisper. “Lorenzo, can you delete the picture you just took?”
“I don’t like it. I don’t want to do this anymore.”
He went still.
When he spoke again, his voice had gone cold. “Are you seriously still doing this?”
“This is why I shouldn’t have told you anything.”
“How many times do I have to say it? I just feel sorry for Gianna.”
“Sera, I am not going to indulge you every single time.”
His mouth kept moving , questions and accusations hammering into me without mercy.
I shoved him away and ran for the bathroom.
My throat burned, and I doubled over the sink in misery.
But I hadn’t eaten all day.
All that came up was bitter acid.
Behind me, I heard hurried footsteps.
Lorenzo scooped me up in his arms.
His lips pressed into a thin line, and for the first time all night he sounded genuinely anxious. “You skipped meals again?”
“I’m calling the doctor.”
I clutched his shirt and choked out, “No. Lorenzo, please… just delete the photos, okay?”
He looked down at my swollen eyes.
Something in his expression wavered.
But only for a second.
Then the phone on the table rang.
He glanced at the screen once and seemed to snap back to himself instantly.
He set me on the bed and shoved the camera into my hands. “I’ll call the doctor over.”
“Get some rest.”
“Anything in the camera, delete whatever you want.”
“As for the nudes…”
He paused, then pulled the blanket over me like he was taking care of someone he loved. “After seven days, when the competition is over, I’ll delete them.”
He stood up and answered the phone.
His voice turned impossibly gentle. “What’s wrong?”
“Stay where you are. Don’t move. I’m coming.”
The bedroom door slammed shut behind him.
A second later, faint through the silence, I thought I heard Gianna crying on the other end before the line went dead.