[MC #4] Mafia's Angel

Part 14

Jace tries his best to ignore the loud laughter that's coming from the room across the hall, but it's not an easy feat. Especially since he knows exactly what's making his Angel laugh so heartily. His mother is showing her his childhood pictures.

He can only imagine the horrors he's about to experience thanks to his mother. She really wastes no time in tormenting her sons. She's been like this since they were children, so he's used to it by now, but he'd rather not show Jamie his shameful past.

However, Jamie doesn't find Jace's pictures embarrassing. She actually thinks they're adorable. Isabella mostly shows her pictures of Jace and Don when they were children. In many pictures, there's a young girl with gorgeous curly hair, who Jamie instantly recognizes as Sabrina - Jace's late sister. According to Ruby, the girl died years ago because she didn't receive a heart transplant on time... because of Ruby's father. Now Ruby has the heart that was meant to save Sabrina's life, which is why Isabella treats her like her own daughter.

Jamie remembers how sad Ruby was whenever Sabrina was mentioned, because she blamed herself for the girl's death, but Isabella was always quick to tell her to stop doing that. She kept telling Ruby that no matter how it came to be, she's now her daughter and no one had the right to put her down, even she herself.

Seeing Ruby and Isabella's interaction made it easier for Jamie to get close with her as well. She saw how sweet Isabella is and despite her constant teasing of her sons, she's the closest thing to a mother figure Jamie has.

Perhaps that's why she likes being with her so much. It's immensely entertaining, not to mention the fact that Isabella has lots of stories from Jace's childhood which Jamie wasn't privy to before. She can see a new side of Jace and she absolutely adores it.

Jace has to be, hands down, the sweetest brother on earth. According to Isabella, he was extremely close with Sabrina and always did whatever she wanted, mostly because she couldn't enjoy many things due to her health condition. He would have tea parties with her, dress up as different characters to match the theme of the party, carry her on his shoulders, let her give him makeovers. There's even a picture with all three siblings dressed as Powerpuff Girls for Halloween. Seeing both Don, a burly scary biker, and Jace, a mafia don, dressed as cartoon characters that were girls is so adorable and funny Jamie can't stop herself from laughing out loud.

She is so going to blackmail Jace with this. She already has an idea when to use this bargaining chip, but she doesn't reveal her plan to Isabella.

Instead, the two of them gossip about the bikers in Iowa.

"Seeing how successful Jace's makeover was, the ladies decided to do the same to their men for this year's Halloween. They turned them into drag queens then had them go trick-or-treating between their houses and gave them candy. You should've seen Valentina's face when she saw her daddy at the front door, completely unrecognizable because of the make-up. She cried so hard that even Ruby couldn't calm her down. And then, as if a magic spell was cast, Don spoke to her and she calmed right down."

"He does have that effect on her," Jamie smiles, remembering how many time she saw Don talking to Ruby's belly, telling the baby stories about the club, the fun she was going to have riding with him on his Harley, how he would protect her from the boys and teach her how to shoot so she could get rid of them herself. He was like a man possessed, constantly seeking contact with the baby and talking to it while it was still in Ruby's belly. Jamie thought it was because of the fact that the child was not biologically Don's, but after a while she realized he did that simply because he loved his daughter and wanted to build a connection with her.

And it seems that his efforts paid off. Calming down a crying baby is not an easy task - Jamie has seen both Tank and Treasure struggling with their son quite a few times, but it sounds like Don won't face the same issues with his daughter. And to think he was scared he wouldn't be a good father...

"I have to admit, I had a hard time holding back from laughing when I saw what the ladies did to Don," Isabella continues her story, giggling quietly as if unable to stop herself. "He looked absolutely fabulous, I will tell you that, but the amount of glitter he had on his face and in his hair made him shine like a disco ball. And you know what glitter is like - it's a nightmare to get off. So now, weeks later, Don is still as sparkly as ever. The guys even joked about giving him a new road name - Sparkle. Safe to say, Don wasn't happy about it, but he stayed quiet because Ruby found the nickname funny."

"I'm sorry for saying this to you, his mother, but he's whipped," Jamie grins teasingly, getting a smug smirk in response.

"Both my sons are, it seems."

Jamie has no retort to that. She can't exactly deny it, since it seems that Jace is as smitten with her as Don is with Ruby, so she settles for silence.

Speaking of Jace, he's getting more and more anxious as time goes on. He has no idea what his mother is talking to Jamie about and it makes him slightly nervous. He'd hate it if his Angel started seeing him in a different light because of what his mother is saying, so he decides to interrupt their gossip time. Of course, his men find it amusing and choose this moment to poke fun at how clingy their boss is being, but one warning glare from Jace shuts them up real quick. If they know what's good for them, they'll stay quiet. Otherwise Jace will not only refuse to give them days off, but he'll also ban them from the main house for good so they'll never meet Jamie.

And they're quite eager to do so. They want to meet the woman who's changed their boss for the better and saved their lives on many occasions. In the past, Jace would eliminate everyone who messed up their mission, but now he's become more lenient and forgiving, which means the men working for him no longer fear for their lives as much as earlier.

A few of them have actually seen Jamie briefly when they went with Jace to pick her up from Walford, so they at least know what she looks like. She is a really attractive woman, not that they'd dare say it in front of Jace, but they know that Jace is not someone who goes only after a pretty face. There has to be something about miss Jasmine that captivated him. There's no way he'd fall over heels for someone who's only pretty on the outside, he's not that shallow.

And knowing that makes the men even more curious about the boss's girl. She's been living at the Martel estate for quite a while now, nearly two months, so the men think it's time for her to meet them. If she's going to be their boss lady, she should at least know who will work for her in the future. Even though women didn't use to get involved in the mafia business during the reign of Jace's predecessors, the men have no doubts that the young don will break that custom.

He's so deeply in love with his Angel there's no way he'll keep his devilish side a secret from her.

An angel and a devil... it sounds like something taken straight out of a fantasy, but that's the best way to describe the couple.

The men wonder silently why their boss is still hiding his true nature from Jamie, having no idea that he's already shown her exactly what he's capable of doing. The only person who knows that Jace has shot a man dead right in front of his woman is Evan, but he stays quiet, not at all interested in the pointless banter the men are engaged in.

He has other things to think about, namely Jace's latest order. He's still thinking about all the arrangements he'll have to make in order for the boss's next plan to be executed without a hitch, but all the paperwork that's connected to it is giving him a headache.

Buying a private island is not an easy task.