An Arranged Marriage To The Mafia...?

My knees tremebled as I took a step inside the revolving doors, the calls of the public behind me made me nervous and the hand around my own only heightened that feeling.

"Amelia. Cameron Dayte; The Las Vegas Sun. Are you concerned for your safety?"

"Miss Samuels, Miss Samuels. Is it true there are death threats against you?"

"Please." Ethan raised his free hand and frowned at the media, "Move on. We have nothing to say."

"Are you and Ethan Radev really an item Miss Samuels."

I cringed and picked up my pace pulling Ethan along behind me just slightly. I wanted desperately to deny the allegations, I wanted to scream that I was not in love with Ethan Radev, I wanted to admint that it was a completely forced interaction by our father's. I wanted to desperately; but of course I couldn't. In the lime light I had to smile pretend like I cared for the dark haired boy and occassionally show the slightest ounced of affection such as a kiss on the cheek, an arm around my waist or simply holding hands, they were the ideas and demands of my own father and the soul reason why Ethan's fingers were knotted with my own as we walked toward my father's casino.

The very moment the smell of cleaners and harsh chemicals to remove blood from the carpet of the function room hit me I dropped my hand and sprang two meters away from my husband-to-be, in the public's eye we had to up hold a certain persona, but here, far from the scrutiny of paparazzi we could be allowed to loath each other's very existance.

An elevator ride in complete silence and a walk filled with even less conversation down a popular corridor found the pair of us standing inside my father's domain, his head office and the very heart of his enterprise.

"Amelia. You look well" My father left a kiss on my cheek, I rolled my eyes at the fact it'd been a mere night but left the smile on my face.

"Ethaniel." My dad firmly took grasp of Ethan's right hand and shook it quickly, his eyes darting for a second between the two of us. "Come, come, we have much to discuss."

Ethan was ripped from my side and guided toward the overly large conference table, his face disappearing into the ocean of important under world figures seated about the oak. I swept away toward anything that could grasp my attention long enough, my small heels lingered over the carpets and I ended up in my own suite. The room was practically bare and looked somewhat like any other guest room in the building. A white comforter with plush pillows, the blinds wide open allowing the golden rays of sunshine through, the carpets cleaned and the surfaces around the place polished to utter perfection. The walls were emptied of photographs and my clothes had been stripped from the wardrobes, everything that had made the suite mine had been shipped to the Radev's private villa and left covered in moth balls inside boxes, waiting until it was once again safe to move into their actual home.

I lingered for a few minutes in the place I had spent most days inside, I watched through the window as cars sped along the strip, pedestrians rushed around pavements and chaos filled every inch of the streets. I could hear the shuffle of shoes but chose to ignore the sound, it would only be my father hunting me down in complete panic of where I'd gotten to. Instead I stood, my eyes fixed on this small town, it's heart beating underneath the infrastructure we had created. My eyes narrowed and focued on something moving, a dark patrol of sedans whirring down the speed lanes, they glided in a narrow collumn only changing lanes when the lead car changed, stopping and starting in a perfect line. I took in a sharp breath as the convoy was easily recognised, their destination as obvious as the eight suv's running at incredibly speed.

Panic, it embedded in my bones, I spun on my heel with just as much speed and made to run from the room. I had momentarily forgotten about the figured who'd only seconds before stepped inside the room and as a result found my face burried in a firm chest, a throaty grunt the key note to confirming it had been Ethan I'd run into. I pulled away sharply, all but ready to disregard his presence and spread the word of an emergency to my father, yet the tight grip that found itself wrapped around my wrist kept me firmly in place.

"Your father sent me to find you" His eyes held a glance of annoyance. I ignored him, my free hand pushing him away and attempted to hurry from the room once more.

"Ethan let go." I stammered and tried to push him away once more as his hand clamped around my arm again.

"What's wrong?" There was something in his tone of voice that didn't seem to actually care.

I struggled against him and let an aggrivated sigh out when I realised my attempts were failing miserably in vein. "Moretti."

If it hadn't of been such a serious issue at hand I would have smirked in complete glory at the way Ethan's face lost it's cocky smirk, the way his skin paled and something a lot like fear swirled behind his eyes. "What?"

"I could see their cars from the window." I tried to pull my arm from his once more. "I have to tell the others Ethan, let go! They're heading here, dont you get it? If you don't let go, they never get told, if they never get told they're as good as dead!"

At my hysteric ramble his mind seemed to run into over drive, his hand loosened but never let go of me. Instead he dragged me in a rushed race from the doorway, down the hall and took the sharp left at the end, all the while I fought with him to let go. "Ethan!" My voice was raised well above normal level as we stumbled into my father's office, all faces of the most ruthless of our 'family' staring in wonder at our sight.

"Is something wrong?" My father raised from his seat, his eyes set on the look of panic in my own pale blues, I nodded shortly, mouth gaping in confusion on what exactly I was suppose to say.

"It looks like we won't have to leave tonight. Apparently Carlos plans to come here." Ethan's short speech made me wonder about just what they had managed to discuss while I was gone.

"What do you mean?" Antonio raised and stood to stare at his youngest son.

"They're on their way. Here. Amelia saw them from her window. Convoy, classic Moretti montage."

"There's no time." Vito Deangelo flustered in panic.

"Then we must face them here." My father's eyes were wild and my heart flipped in stress from their stare. "Ethaniel take her to the last door in the hallway. Left hand side, she'll be safe in there."

"What!?" My voice raised and I pushed against the hands that were trying to conceal me. "You're not serious about this? You plan to face them all here, lock me away in there just so I'm safe. I don't believe this."

"Amelia, what else could we do? run?" I could see that the Radev pride would not let Antonio or his son stand down to the enemy.

I struggled as Ethan made an attempt to catch me again, my flailing arms making it extra hard for him.

"Amelia!" The raised tone of my dear dad caught me off guard and I stopped my childish behaviour. "Please. Go."

I stood still a moment longer, lingering, waiting, watching until I was sure he wouldn't change his mind. Even then I simply refused to leave under my own accord but allowed Ethan to drag me down the hall and to the last door on the left.

I shivvered as stale air hit my face and a cold chill swam around my entire body, the metal sheeted door rolled open and the sterile looking room fell quickly into focus. This was the casino's private panic room, my number one dread. I wasn't far from being claustophobic and the simple sight of the dust covered interior had me squirming with nervousness.

"Stay in here until I come back to get you out."

I said nothing to him, but simply stared at his cold face. At that very moment I couldn't care less about the fact I was shoved into a small room cut off from the rest of the world, the phobia had disappeared and the anger was easily boiling over. I didn't need Ethan Radev to save me and I despised the idea of my life depending on him more than anything. I cringed a little as he slammed and locked the safety door and left me waiting in the lime green pale light, alone, safe and with only a small insignificant camera screen to relay any details of the events which were taking place in my father's office. My fingers flicked the screen off and I slumped inside the chair placed thoughtfully in the centre of the room, I was certain there would be devastation, I was sure there would be loss and I was more than positive that there would be blood and I had already seen enough bloodshed to last an entire lifetime three times over.