The Mafia Magnate

15

Rowan Pinada POV*

In the morning, I woke up wrapped in Pietro's arms. I'd never felt more special to someone than I did when I was with him.

I climbed out of the bed after wiggling out of Pietro's arms and dressed for the day ahead of me. I could hear Amelie laughing from downstairs, so I hurried to change. I warmed her the day before that I needed a drive to work to which she happily agreed.

"Good morning, Amelie," I said as I entered the kitchen.

She'd been happy to talk to me when Ryan was around about how she felt during the past few months of ignoring each other. It was actually really helpful and Ryan was a nice girl.

"Mornin'," She replied whilst she bit through an apple. "Ready to go?"

"Mhmm!" I smiled.

She nodded her head and gave Tony a kiss on his forehead. He'd probably dozed off on the couch again but I ignored him. I followed her to her car and entered the passenger seat.

"First day jitters?" She asked once she made herself comfortable in the driver's seat.

"Obviously!" I spoke. "This is literally my dream job since we were ten. And now that it's here, I'm worried I might not be good enough."

"You? Not good enough?" Amelie turned to look behind her as she got out of her parallel parking spot. "Rowan, you are the most talented girl I know. You can make a pair of socks out of a dishrag, for christ's sake!"

I laughed, thinking back to the day I'd done that. "That was pretty sweet, wasn't it?"

Amelie laughed and slid her sunglasses onto her eyes. We shared the entire drive with laughs and old memories of each other. And once we finally arrived she stopped me before I left, "I really missed this."

"Me too, Amelie."

I closed the car door behind me and watched her drive away. I walked through the double doors and showed the security guard my ID badge before entering down the hallways and into Ms. Grant's office.

"Good morning, Ms. Grant." I greeted from the doorframe of her open office. "It's Rowan Pinada, your intern."

Ms. Grant looked up from her papers and rested her head on the palm of her hand. "I know who you are, Pinada. Go find Luca and see what the rest of them are doing."

I figured the conversation was over as she looked back down at her papers and rested her feet on her desk. Stumbling back, I closed the door behind me and looked at the open doors at the end of the hallway.

It's now or never, Rowan.

I walked into the big room again, "Luca?" I called out. He peeped his head out from behind a curtain and waved for me to come over. "Hey there," I murmured and walked in his direction.

"We're preparing a model for one of the sets we created." He smiled. As I opened the curtain a model with beautiful blonde curls and a slim body was wearing a plaid skirt and matching sweater.

"Wow! That's beautiful, Luca!" I said in amazement.

"Pick your jaw up off the floor, yeah?" He laughed and closed my mouth for me. "Don't want flies in there."

"Definitely not," I replied and watched as the rest of his group led the model onto their runway. "Do you need help, or do you just want me to watch?"

"Here's what I had planned." He started as he stood behind the camera and the group moved the model into the middle of the runway. "First, let me finish this video then we can start. Then after that, I want to do a project together, the both of us. After that, you'll have your own project to do by yourself or with a group."

I beamed at the thought of doing a project by myself, being able to make my own name for my designs. Instead, I nodded, letting Luca finish his project and videotape the model for the probable commercial they'd be featured in.

I watched the group arrange the model in different ways and poses, the model made her walk look so natural.

"Are you ready?" Luca shouted after putting away the camera.

"Mhmm!" I smiled and watched as Luca started to bring out the fabrics from the storage shelf. 

"So, what were you thinking about creating?"

+

I huffed after stepping out into the rain, I didn't want to go back home just quite yet, but Pietro's lights were out and I was starting to get worried. I held my purse over my head and walked as quickly as possible whilst trying not to slip and fall in my heels. It's like the gods were trying to set me up for failure. 

"Pietro!" I called out yet no response came. "Pietro, are you home?"

It was too late for him not to be home, although it was also too early for me to tell. He's probably just in the backyard. I slipped my heels off my feet before continuing around back, letting the rain pile up inside the heel. "Yuck!"

I held the pair of shoes in my hand and tip-toed around the back, catching Pietro and his friends sitting on the balcony. "Pi-" 

"If Carlo wants the girl, you need to use her as bait."

"I'm not using my girlfriend as bait for a mafia newborn who thinks he can kill Rowan to get whatever he wants. If he wants a fight, we'll give it to him." Pietro huffed and took a drag of his cigarette. "I'll get him here somehow."

"Somehow isn't soon enough." 

"I will figure it out! I am the heir to the mafia throne and I know what I'm doing!" Pietro turned towards the crowd. "If I need someone as bait, I'll do it myself."

"No. I'll do it," I said before emerging from the shadows. "If Carlo wants me, I'll do it."