Mafia Love

Chapter 9

Grace

It's official, I hate all men.

The dinner is almost over and during the whole night I've had four men try to "sweet talk" me, two who actually managed to grab my ass, and one old man trying to get me to go home with him after. Gross.

I have two words for them: Fuck off.

What happened in the basement has crossed my mind once or twice. Or a thousands times. I wasn't  freaking out over being caught down there, but once he told me what would happen if he caught me again I melted like butter. I've never been spoken to that way ever before. Quite frankly, it gave me the chills and a small shiver of delight.

All the staff has gone home and I'm still here at their beck and call for another half hour. Dinner ended about an hour ago, and most of the guests did leave after, but there are still around six who are in the parlor discussing "business" with Mr. Romano and his workers/capos.

The fact that they don't know that I know about them is really thrilling, actually. I could even pretend to be one of those spies and easily eaves drop, blackmail, and use this to my advantage. There's just one problem: If I get caught, I'm dead. Maybe not the best idea to go against a bunch of mafia men. I'm not wanting to die early any time soon.

I'm making myself some coffee when I hear my name being called into the parlor. Here we go again. I can't even get a break for two minutes after working for hours.

I walk into the parlor and there, once again, are empty glasses Mr. Romano wants me to refill for his guests. I let out a breath and grab the glasses off the table and take them to the little bar in the parlor. This is has to be the tenth time I've done this tonight.

As I'm making the men's drinks, I just happen to open my ears to hear what they are discussing.

"That's not what we originally discussed, Alessio!" One of the men shouted. He had a very strong New York accent and, judging by how he sounded, he was also a smoker. "When I agreed to give you a reasonable portion of New York, you were supposed to pay me my exact amount. No less and certainly not a delayed payment!"

I am going ever so slowly to refill these drinks so I can listen some more. I keep my head down and keep listening.

"Well, Steven plans change and I certainly don't think you'd want to mess with me now. Especially since I've grown more powerful than you in just a week. We wouldn't want any "accidents" happening to you or the empire you've built now would we?"

I knew that voice. That cold, almost unnoticeable, Italian accent traveled from his mouth into my ears. That was Mr. Romano. Or should I say, Alessio.
God, even his name was sexy.

Okay, I think I've listened long enough. I quickly set the drinks back on the table for them and hurry out the door. As I shut the door, I leave it cracked open a little bit so I can still see and hear what is happening.

"You listen to me, Romano," Steven says. "I won't tolerate this. Either you give me my money, like I asked, or we go to war. Believe me you do not want to mess with me. I have associates who would love to take part in your downfall. I—" Before he had a chance to usher out another word, he is taken by his throat and is pulled up out of his seat. The person who has him by the throat...Alessio.

A bunch of men all stand up, including Lorenzo and a few other men who I've seen before here at the mansion, and they all pull out their guns. No one is shooting but I can tell shit it about to go down.

I reach down into my shoe and take out a small knife that I always carry around with me just in case I don't have my gun with. I don't trust people in New York you never know what could happen. Good thing I actually brought it tonight. I see Alessio pull the man by his throat closer to him.

"If you ever," Says Alessio, "come into my home again and make demands to me in front of my men, I will not hesitate to cut off your balls and feed them to you! Do we understand each other?"

The man just nods and Alessio lets go of his neck. Everyone lowers their gun but no one sits. The tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"I think," Steven speaks up, "it's best if we just leave." He gives some of his men a side glance and nods his head towards the door.

Shit, am I caught?

I angle myself to where I can't be seen, but I'm still able to see inside.

"Get out of my house, Steven. Now!" Alessio shouts from the room.

"With pleasure." Steven nods his head once more, and he and his men walk towards the door where I am still looking in.

I don't move out of fear of making a noise. When they make it to the door, he turns back to face Alessio once more. He starts talking but that's not what I notice. Since their backs are turned, I can see a clear shot of one of Steven's men reaching for his gun attached behind his back.

Steven was stalling, but he wasn't aiming for Alessio. No, his men was angled to face Lorenzo. Oh, hell no! Lorenzo is the only one who actually welcomed me when I came here. He's a great guy and doesn't deserve to die.

My knife still clutched in my good hand, I'm about to do something that could possibly change, or fuck up, my life forever. Oh, boy. I take a deep breath. God give me strength.

Before the guy can take out his gun all the way, I open the door as fast, and as hard as I can, hitting Steven in the back of his head causing him to fall to the floor. I push the door open the rest of the way hitting a couple more guys.

I run into the room and swing my knife at the man who was trying to shoot Lorenzo; I slice the knife across his chest catching him off guard as blood collects on the knife. I throw a punch and another. He catches my hand with my stitches in it and presses down on my palm. I let out a scream of agony as a thick, dark liquid pours out of my palm. The man takes out his gun and points it at me.

A gunshot rings through my ears followed by more.

But not from the man who pointed his gun at me. This came from someone else's gun. Lorenzo's gun to be exact. The man's body drops drops limp to the floor letting go of my hand. The bullet in his head creates a hole where blood flows out like a river.

I hear a groan and I turn around to see Steven, still alive by the way, trying to get up from the ground.

"Keep him alive and put him in the basement. I need answers and I will get them!"

My head was spinning. I couldn't make out who was talking; I thought someone was calling me but I couldn't come to hear it clearly.

I try to take a step but my legs are like jello to what I just witnessed. My knees buckle and I feel myself go forward but not to hit the ground but into two arms instead.

"I've got you, bella. I've got you."

That's the last thing I heard before darkness consumed my vision and mind.
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Hey, my lovelies. Things will get exciting next chapter can't wait to write it. Thank you everyone who is reading and giving this book a chance, it means the world to me.

Much love ❤️

-Lily
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Ps: Bella is Italian for beautiful.