Sofia's Secret Mafia Brothers

4. Gunned Down

There was something unique about the boy sitting at the center of the cafeteria. His blond hair color was a distinct feature in the sea of brown-haired heads.

He seemed to be pretty popular too, he was surrounded by a group of hot guys and insanely pretty girls. Sofia observed as he just said something that made everyone else laugh.

Sofia wanted to cry.

She was always avoiding the attention of popular kids and now she had to get the attention of the older boy and actually talk to him.

Her legs were shaky as she was moving towards the table.

"E-excuse me," she said quietly when she finally arrived at the destination.

No one noticed her.

She said "excuse me" again this time a little louder. She gathered few looks from the older students just to be ignored again.

Valentino didn't even spare her a glance. He was still in the middle of a conversation with a boy sitting in front of him. They were really loud and Sofia completely lost faith in being able to speak loud enough to be heard by them. This prompted her to do something really stupid to grab his attention.

She touched his shoulder.

The reaction was instantaneous. At first, the whole table went quiet. Now everyone was looking at her. Valentino not only turned around but also stood up from his seat. He was a head taller than her so it was really adding to the intimidation factor. Sofia had to force herself to stand still however there was unmissable fear in her eyes.

"Can I help you?

"H-Hi, sorry to bother you. C-can we talk in private?"

"Why, maybe you want to touch me again without any witnesses?" He mocked and she could hear people laughing at his words. However, to Sofia none of this was funny.

"Listen, I'm sorry but I really need to talk to you," she said in a desperate voice.

"Who's this stupid bitch?" One of the guys sitting at the table asked.

"No idea. It's the first time I see her" said another person from Valentino's group.

"Yeah me too," said another one.

"Maybe she's a transfer student" someone suggested.

"I'm not a student at this school. I'm just a... visitor"

"A visitor wants to talk to me in private?" Valentino repeated.

Sofia nodded with clear desperation in her eyes. She was lucky. Something akin to interest sparked in Valentino's eyes. "Let's go then"

As soon as they were outside of the cafeteria, on the empty corridor, Sofia was pinned to the wall the gun pressed in between her ribs.

"Who sent you here?" Valentino asked aggressively.

"N-no one"

"No one" he repeated "Fine, let me entertain this idea. What do you want from me?"

"I-I... can you take the gun away?" She couldn't focus with the weapon aimed at her.

"Let me think" he pretended to be wondering if fulfill her wish was an option "No. Now start talking because I'm losing my patience"

"Do you recognize this picture" with shaky hands Sofia took the picture of her mother from her pocket.

"No. Should I?"

For a split second, Sofia lost hope just to realize that her mother left the Italy year after Valentino was born. Maybe he didn't know how his mother looks like but his older brothers would recognize her.