After hesitating for a few moments, which Sofia also used to mentally prepare herself some more, she knocked on the door, first lightly and then louder, seeing that no response had come. She was about to knock a third time but then Mevil's voice came floating, it was slightly muffled because of the wooden door.

Twisting the cold metal knob Sofia pushed opened the door.

She took a step in slowly but lingered at the doorway, unsure.

Her inspecting eyes took in the large bed in the middle of the room the first thing and the stash of papers and files there. One of the two pillows on the right had an indent of a head on it, and the blanket was thrown to the floor carelessly.

She wondered what Mevil was up to here, living in a hotel when his own home was in the same city.

But then, it clicked in her mind that perhaps he was staying with a mistress over here. Yes, that should be it. Or, it could be that his wife had kicked him out of his own house, finally getting sick of his infidelity that almost the entire city was well aware of.

"Come inside, Sofia," First the voice reached her and then the man appeared out of the en suite bathroom, wearing nothing but a velvet robe.

Her eyes widened.

Some people are just too masterful at breaking their own records of indecency.

Involuntarily she took a small step back.

The movement didn't go unnoticed by Mevil, his vulture like gaze was following her with such attention.

"I'm glad you came," He drawled, strolling closer to her, his pace was prudent like that of a careful predator's.

Sofia stood rooted by the door.

The slimy man was doing nothing to hide his obvious perverseness.

She steeled herself, however, in spite of the feeling of awkwardness and disgust.

"I am here to collect the payment," She raised her chin, narrowing her eyes. "I hope you remember."

"Oh, I do," Mevil smirked lazily, halting to a stop near the giant king size bed. "By the way, you look beautiful today."

What the hell!

The douche was bloody flirting with her. Sofia flared inside. She kept her face blank though.

Without a care in the world, Mevil ignored the glare Sofia threw his way.

"Why don't you have a seat, Sofia? And then we can talk all about what you came for." Mevil suggested.

"I'm alright here, you just hand me the money and I'll be off on my way," Sofia declared crossing her arms.

Now it was Mevil's turn to look irritated. He was about to keep voicing his rubbish advances but a polite knock on the door behind made him close his mouth.

Sofia was thankful for the interruption.

A hotel staff walked in then with a cart, bringing in tea and some cookies among other beverages mumbling greetings to both of them.

Seeing that she was blocking the doorway, Sofia had to move further inside the room letting the uniformed boy pushed the cart past her. There was silence in the following couple minutes as Sofia trained her eyes stubbornly on the steam coming out the fancy looking china tea pot. The clinks and clatters of glass were the only noise as everything was transferred from the cart onto a small, tea table.

No sooner had the boy left, Mevil walked to the other side of the room to drag a chair near the table. His bent down posture had the robe's neck to gape open a bit. The sight of his many gold chains sparkling against the fluorescent light made Sofia scoff mentally.

"Have a seat, Sofia," Mevil said before moving around the table and settling on the edge of the plush bed.

"I don't have time to chat over tea and cookies," Sofia said, looking back and forth from the chair to Mevil's expectant face.

"I insist," But the man was adamant. "I'm signing the check right away... here, see."

Sofia watched guardedly as Mevil fished out a check book and a pen from the small stash of papers behind him on the bed. That got her to relax a bit.

After hesitating for a moment, she finally crossed the distance to the chair and sat herself on it, her movements unsure. Mevil was, however, busy with the check, his pen scribbling over the crisp piece of paper.

"Why don't you have some tea in the meanwhile?" He said all of a sudden before raising his head to look at her. "It wouldn't harm to acquire some good time together. After all, we'll probably never meet again."

"No, we won't," Sofia confirmed with a stiff face.

"But that would hurt me a lot, Sofia," Mevil pointed at his heart. "Here."

And then, before Sofia could even blink her eyes and retort or open the zip of her canvas bag to bring out her weapon—the holy pepper spray, Mevil was up on his feet. He had dashed around the table so fast that Sofia gasped aloud in fright. The next moment, he was leaning in, his hands already blocking her escape by placing them firmly on the arms of her chair.

The smell of soap and cigar surrounded her shocked self. The stench was so repulsive that she felt like puking her guts out. Instinctively, she pasted herself against the backrest of the chair, trying desperately to move away from the sick man who was now smiling cheshirely down at her. In his bend posture over her the gold chains dangling from his neck nearly touched her chin, making this trial all the more real.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Sofia bit out, her voice shaking in anger and fear. It only had Mevil's smile turn broader.

"Oh, I'm doing what my heart says," he groaned. "You've been on my mind since I met you the first time, in your office. You were across the desk, writing my order down. I've been wanting you since that long, sweetheart."

"What nonsense, Mevil! Back off right now," Sofia yelled, her hand still fighting with the zip of her old canvas bag. She felt like crying, the dratted bag had decided to get stuck in the most terrible time possible.

She was so going to dump this useless sack of a bag into the trash after getting out of here.

Grunting, she left the hopeless bag, her hands shot out to stop Mevil as he came too close to her. His lips grazed at her earlobe, he missed her mouth by an inch when she jerked her face away.

Sofia felt disoriented in panic and a scream tore through her mouth.

This couldn't be happening for real.

"How long will you fight me, Sofia, just give in already," Mevil crooned. "And it would be a hell lot easier, even fun, for the both of us. You'll see."

Like hell she would!

Gritting teeth, she gathered all her strength and pushed back at his chest while at the same instant her knee came up to place a solid kick into his groin.

Mevil coiled back grunting in pain, his knees hit the floor next.

Not wasting any time, Sofia shot out of the chair.

"You bitch!"

She heard Mevil's enraged voice bellowing behind her.

She was about to have a run for the door, when she felt a hand surrounding her ankle. It yanked her back — hard and sharp. And in no time she found herself being hauled backwards, losing balance she began falling face first on the ground. The corner of the tea table dug into her midriff, making her scream again. This time, in agony.

The hold around her ankle loosened after her fall, but the ache in her midriff was so harsh and overwhelming that she didn't notice anything else. Not for long though, because suddenly she found herself roughly rolled to her back and the hand that had grabbed her ankle was soon around her throat, lightly choking her.

She clawed at his hand as with each passing second his steel-like fingers tightened. Only terrified croaks could come out of her constricted throat. Mevil's other hand that wasn't busy choking her, now clutched her arm. His nails dug painfully into her skin.

Sofia groaned in agony.

"I told you to just give in, didn't I?" he hissed against her ear. "Think yourself lucky, Sofia, because I'm a very forgiving man here... only to you. So, here I am, willing to offer you a second chance."

Her vision was red and hazy by then, she didn't know if it was for the mental exhaustion or the physical pain.

His voice softened next, almost purring, but that only made it seem even the more heinous. This person needed some serious medical help in the mental department. People like this shouldn't be allowed to wander around in the open freely.

Because One sick mind is enough to annihilate all that is hale.

Mevil's face — mad and contorting, sick and determined — covered her line of sight. Her insides coiled in disgust as he lied flush on her body, pressing her further into the cold, tiled floor.

Still unable to let out more than a croak, her eyes watered in undiluted terror.

And then a sickening crunch. The noise echoed throughout the room.

Mevil's face vanished from her line of sight almost immediately along with the feel of his hand choking her throat.

Sofia coughed wildly. With some difficulty she lifted herself up on the floor in a sitting position. Her midriff protested, the movement of raising herself hurt but she did it anyway.

Her eyes widened at the sight before her. Her expression changed in lightening speed—from woe to awe, from dread to relief.

Max—an extremely infuriated Max was squeezing the crap out of Mevil's throat whose eyes were nearly popping out of their sockets at the certain loss of air in his lungs.

It was not that pleasing, clearly, to have the tables turned.

Served the bastard right. Sofia thought.

But then, she feared Max would kill him. The pest was really not worth it if that meant Max had to go to jail.

Sofia opened her mouth but when she tried to speak, only a raspy groan came out. Rubbing her throat where it hurt, she tried again and thankfully succeeded this time. "Max! Stop."

At first, she thought he hadn't heard her. The redness of anger from his face didn't lessen a bit, neither did his muscles loosen.

Gasping in pain, she placed her palms on the floor and pushed herself up. On wobbly legs, she stood up. "Please, stop. Max, you're killing him," she tried again. "Stop!"

This time, her voice seemed to have reached his ear.

Slowly, his hands slackened.

Mevil was about to slid down the floor but then Max probably took the decision that he wasn't done with him yet. Multiple punches were delivered making Sofia cringe as she stood on the sideline. Grabbing a part of Mevil's robe, Max backhanded him hard across the face.

Sofia was too tired to try stop him anymore, she was even somewhat glad of the beating Mevil was receiving. Shoulders hunched, she stepped back and sluggishly plopped down on the bed.

She heard Max roaring, "I'll bloody kill you if you dare to even look at Sofia again."

And it made her feel safe.

I just invented something: Max+Sofia = Mafia

And then, I also invented: Wilder+Hayden = Widen

So their united name now is Mafia Widen. Oh hell! shit shit shit...

And yes, I'm a supernatural fan. And this shuffling and juggling and mixing names stuff -- blame it all on me doing the mistake of going into the sites of baby names to name our villain Christopher Mevil here. Now I can't stop doing fun things with all the other character names as well. :/

Now, if Max and Sofia ever create a Facebook joint account (my grandparents have one...lol... but it's really cute), they're going to name it - Mafia Widen. I was laughing by myself thinking up this just hours ago, and people around me looked at me like - yo... goofball! :P *sighs They'll never understand.

Anyway, if you're enjoying the story and my insanity here, then pls don't forget to Vote and Comment, Fan/follow and Share! Include the story in your public libraries. Also, if you're on Twitter and Facebook then you can connect with me there as well, find links on my Wattpad bio.

Thanks to my lovelies for your votes and comments!

, , , ... love you guys! :)

Lots of love,

Lara.

P.S. Pls feel free to point out mistakes if you find any.