Kiss de La Notte - Book III (Mafia Romance)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Misbehaving

CIAO. Please interact with this chapter as much as you can to help get this story to more KISSES!! Thank you!

Reminder that this book is New Adult in rating. ;)

            Four days passed. Four days of feeling consumed in my own thoughts and fears about that text. The text from Marcos Cafaro. It was Tuesday night, and I'd managed to fool everyone through another family dinner that I was okay.

But inside I was consumed with guilt and shame. It made so nauseous that I sometimes had to hide my food in my napkin at dinner, have headaches that I never normally had. I was having trouble sleeping every night, and when I did sleep, I'd always wake up gasping for air with anxiety.

I put in my headphones and tried with all my might to exist in my own little world and focus on immediate things going on in my life, like a psychology test I had coming up. But I felt so drained that I could barely focus, so at seven at night I went into the kitchen to make a bucketload of coffee and do the dishes to keep myself busy.

"BOO!" Mia cried, startling me so bad that I got sink water all over the floor.

"Mia, are you kidding me?" I hissed, rushing to get paper towels.

"Dang, I scared you good," Mia said, helping me clean it up. "Sorry..."

"It's fine. Any idea where Gemma is?"

"I don't know, I think she has the day off today," Mia said, plopping onto the stool in the kitchen to play on her tablet. "Did you know Daddy has a girlfriend?"

Now I dropped the glass I was cleaning in the sink, nearly shattering it. "What?"

"I heard him ordering flowers on his phone. I hope it's not Sienna, that woman he met at the golfing club that puts on way too much perfume." Mia turned her I-pad to the side as she appeared to be playing a racing game.

Sienna was pretty awful and clearly after my Dad's money. I thought about my mom and hoped he hadn't sent her the flowers. Not only was she a married woman, but she was an absent woman from every aspect of our lives. The last thing she deserved was a bouquet of flowers. "Maybe it was just a gift for somebody," I said quietly.

My little sister shrugged. "Who knows. I just know Daddy only dates idiotas."

"Mia, don't say that."

Mia scoffed. "Well, Mamma is stupid, isn't she? She's also a ho."

"Mia!" I exploded, and when she laughed, I ripped the I-Pad from her hands.

"Give it back!" Mia shouted. "Your hands are dirty!"

"Keep your voice down, or Nonna will wake up," I shushed her, trying to keep the I-pad away from her as she jumped to reach for it. "Mia, stop. You're not getting it back for the rest of the night. You cannot talk like that."

"I can say whatever I want about Mamma. She's a ho!"

"MIA!"

"What's going on in here?" Lucius's deep voice entered the kitchen.

Now it was Mia's turn to be startled, as she jumped and hid half-way behind my leg. I didn't blame her. Lucius didn't exactly have a naturally welcoming look to him. He was tall, dark, and handsome in a "don't fuck with me" way.

"Lucius," I said, mortified as my mind immediately harked to the photo I'd sent him from the club. I'd pretty much managed to block that from memory, but now all I could see where my own areolas on that damn cursed screen.