My Childhood Bully is a Mafia Boss-Chapter 48

Aidan

I sat alone in the dimly lit living room, my mind swirling with confusion and frustration. I couldn’t shake the feeling of numbness that had settled over me.

When I came home, I walked into the empty house. I remembered her wanting to meet up with Lila, but it had been hours since then. By the time I got home, it was late at night.

My first instinct was that she was in danger. Someone had kidnapped her. But when I looked into the closet, the realization dawned on me.

Ivy left.

She ran away.

Why did she run? What had I done wrong now!?

I called her a few times and left her messages. At first, I didn’t get any response. Eventually, she texted me back. But the only thing she wrote back was: "Don’t try to find me, Aidan."

My knuckles turned white as I clenched my fists in frustration, my pacing becoming more frenzied with each step. My mind was a tumultuous tempest of uncertainty, swirling and colliding with thoughts and emotions.

Okay, sure. I came home covered in blood and freaked her out, but I thought we were getting past that. I thought she was brave enough to handle it. It’s not like I beat someone in front of her!

I thought we were getting to be something real, and she saw me as a person again.

I ran a hand through my hair, frustration boiling inside me like a simmering pot ready to boil over. Maybe I was just fooling myself, thinking that I could ever be good enough for someone like Ivy.

She still saw me as trash, didn’t she? I was still some no-good loser in her eyes. A criminal off the street.

"FUCK!" I yelled and picked up a Vase off the dresser and threw it against the wall.

The shards of the vase clattered to the floor, adding to the chaos and destruction that seemed to be consuming my life. I sank down onto the bed, my head in my hands as it pounded with pain.

Fucking hell...

I couldn’t blame Ivy for leaving, could I? She had every right to run from someone like me, someone who was dangerous. And a murderer.

But a part of me couldn’t help but feel a seething anger, a self-directed fury. I was furious at myself for not being good enough, for not being able to hold onto Ivy. I was furious at Ivy for not giving me a chance to show her that I cared, for not seeing how I burned for her. I was furious at the world for fucking me over. Again and again.

I stood up abruptly. I needed to find her and bring her back.

"MOLLY!" I roared.

I heard a pair of feet rushing toward the room. The door opened, and Molly stood there with her eyes wide.

"Did you see Ivy leave today?" I asked. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"Miss Ivy?" my housekeeper asked thoughtfully. "I saw her coming in, but I was busy in the kitchen, so I didn’t see her leave."

I waved to dismiss her and then opened my laptop to check the footage off the cameras in front of my house.

As I opened my laptop and accessed the security camera footage, my heart pounded in my chest with a mixture of anxiety and anger.

My hands swiftly navigated through the recordings, my eyes scanning each frame with intense focus. And then, there it was—the moment Ivy left.

I watched in silence as she walked out of the front door, her figure getting inside her own car. She was carrying her bag.

I found myself releasing a sigh of relief. At least she wasn’t kidnapped.

But it was dumb what she did. Leaving me. Did she really think I would let her get away with it?

I closed the laptop with a loud snap and stood up, my mind already racing with plans and strategies. I needed to find Ivy, and I needed to do it fast. I couldn’t believe she ran away from me. I thought she was smarter than that.

Grabbing my phone, I dialed a few numbers, calling my men to search for her. I needed eyes and ears everywhere, searching every corner of the city for any sign of Ivy.

Ivy might have thought she could just disappear into the night, but she didn’t know who she was dealing with. I was Aidan, and when I set my mind to something, I always got what I wanted.

And when I find her, I will teach her a lesson.

Oh, how I will have fun taking my time to punish her.

My phone rang loudly, interrupting my thoughts. It was one of my men.

A smirk appeared on my face as I pictured Ivy holed up in some dingy motel room, probably scared out of her wits.

"She was seen at a gas station five miles from the house, Boss," Baron reported.

I grinned. "Good. Keep me updated on her whereabouts. Track her down," I instructed before hanging up the phone, my voice dripping with determination. I tried calling her one more time.

Just in case.

To my surprise, she answered!

"Stop calling me Aidan. It’s over between us," Ivy snapped.

I chuckled loudly. "Come on, Ivy. I thought we were done playing this game."

"This is not a game. And I don’t care about your threats."

"Ivy," I lowered my voice and decided to drop my smug attitude. "Please come home."

For a moment, none of us spoke and all I heard was our own breaths.

"Come home, Ivy," I repeated.

But Ivy remained silent, her breathing audible through the phone, her resolve seemingly unshaken.

"Ivy, please," I pleaded again, my voice softer this time, laced with a hint of desperation.

Still, she said nothing.

"I love you, Ivy," I confessed, the words escaping my lips before I could stop them.

There was a long pause, during which my heart felt like it might beat out of my chest. Then, finally, Ivy spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I... I don’t believe you. You are just trying to manipulate me."

Her words hit me like a punch to the gut, knocking the wind out of me. I struggled to find the right words to respond, but before I could say anything, Ivy hung up.

I sat there in stunned silence, the weight of her words settling heavily on me. It was a harsh reminder of what she always thought of me.

I meant nothing to her.

A surge of rage erupted in me, burning hotter and fiercer than anything I had ever felt before. How dare she? After everything I had done for her, after all the risks I had taken, she still didn’t believe me?

I fucking confessed to her!

I slammed my fist into the nearest wall, the pain barely registering amidst the storm of emotions raging inside me. How could she be so blind, so ignorant of the truth?

With a primal roar, I swept everything off the dresser, sending objects crashing to the floor in a cacophony of destruction. The room spun around me as I stumbled, consumed by a wild fury that threatened to consume me whole.

Ivy would pay for this. She would regret ever crossing me. I would find her, and when I did, there would be hell to pay.

As I plotted my revenge, a dark voice growled in the depths of my mind, reminding me of the sick truth that I had tried so hard to bury.

I was hopelessly, irrevocably in love with her. My heart ached and bled for her, even as fury and hatred consumed me. And no, this wasn’t some newfound infatuation. I had been madly in love with her since our teenage years.

Yes, I was Aidan Blackwood, the idiot.

"UGH!" I cried again and punched the wall.

"Aidan."

Joseph’s voice cut through the haze of anger and despair, grounding me in the present moment. I turned to face him, my chest heaving with the effort to regain control over my tumultuous emotions.

"What?" I snapped, my tone laced with frustration and pain.

Joseph regarded me with a nod, his expression stayed stoic as he took in the wreckage of the room around us. This wasn’t the first time he witnessed my angry outbursts, after all.

"We might be able to locate Ivy. I have new information," he said.

The mere mention of Ivy’s name snapped me back to attention, my anger momentarily overshadowed by a glimmer of hope. My body leaned in closer to Joseph, my eyes narrowing in anticipation like a predator honing in on its prey.

"What information?" I demanded urgently, the words laced with impatience and determination.

Joseph hesitated for a brief moment, uncertainty flickering across his face. But then he nodded resolutely and reached into his pocket, withdrawing a small slip of paper.

"I managed to trace her phone signal," he explained, handing me the scrap of paper. "She’s been driving toward the north."

A small smile teased at the corners of my lips as I studied the coordinates scribbled on the paper. "Good. Let’s follow her trail."

Oh, Ivy. Did you really think you could escape me? You may have run from me physically, but you can’t outrun fate. It’s only a matter of time before I catch up to you and make you face the consequences of your actions.