Chapter 1 - INTRO — MAFIA BOSS STORY
THE MAFIA BOSS WAS EATING ROAST CHICKEN AT THE HEAD OF A FIFTEEN-PERSON DINNER WHEN HIS MAID LIMPED INTO THE ROOM ON A CRUTCH AND SMASHED HIS PLATE WITH A GOLF CLUB—BUT WHEN SHE CRIED, “YOUR DAUGHTER HASN'T EATEN IN TWO DAYS,” HIS FIANCÉE TURNED WHITE.
“GET OUT OF HERE, CLAIRE!”
Vanessa Bellini's voice echoed beneath the chandeliers.
I stood beside the long dining table.
My black housekeeping dress hung in torn, dirty strips around my waist and shoulders.
A fresh slash ran along the right side of my neck.
Blood stained my collar.
My left ankle was badly injured.
I was leaning on a crutch beneath my left arm.
And in my right hand, I held a golf club.
At the head of the table sat Luca Moretti.
Exceptionally handsome.
Tall and heavily muscular.
Broad shoulders.
Thick black hair styled perfectly.
A powerful masculine jaw with short stubble.
Dark Mafia tattoos covered his fingers, hands, and wrists.
He wore a luxurious black Italian suit.
And he was about to eat another bite of roasted chicken.
My name is Claire Dawson.
I'd worked in Luca's mansion for eleven months.
My mother depended on my paycheck.
I was terrified of being fired.
But upstairs, an eleven-year-old girl had been crying for food.
Sophie Moretti.
Luca's daughter.
Her mother had died five years earlier.
And the faded blue ribbon in Sophie's braid was the last thing she'd left her.
That afternoon, I found Sophie locked inside her bedroom.
Her lunch tray sat untouched outside the door.
There was no breakfast tray.
No dinner from the night before.
I unlocked the room.
Sophie looked at me.
“Claire, am I bad?”
My heart broke.
“Why would you ask that?”
“Vanessa says I can't eat downstairs until I call her Mommy.”
I immediately went to the kitchen.
But Vanessa caught me carrying food upstairs.
She grabbed my collar and shoved me against the broken glass of a display cabinet.
The sharp edge slashed the side of my neck.
I stumbled down two service steps.
My ankle twisted beneath me.
I couldn't walk without support.
Vanessa leaned close.
“Don't make my future stepdaughter's discipline your problem.”
Then she confiscated Sophie's food.
I found a spare crutch in the medical room.
And a golf club beside Luca's indoor practice area.
I tried to tell the security staff what happened.
But Vanessa had ordered them not to let me interrupt dinner.
So I decided everyone would hear me.
Now Luca sat at the head of the fifteen-person table.
His fork was halfway to his mouth.
I limped toward him.
“MR. MORETTI!”
He looked up.
“Claire?”
I raised the golf club.
And smashed his roast chicken plate.
CRASH!
The porcelain shattered.
Chicken and roasted vegetables scattered across the white tablecloth.
Fifteen diners froze.
Vanessa screamed.
“YOU CRAZY GIRL!”
Luca lowered his fork.
Then noticed the blood on my neck.
And the crutch holding me upright.
“Claire. What happened?”
My voice broke.
“Your daughter hasn't eaten in two days.”
His expression changed.
“What?”
Vanessa rushed forward.
“Sophie is being disciplined.”
Luca slowly turned.
“For what?”
“She needs to learn respect.”
I pulled a folded page from my apron.
WEDDING WEEK HOUSEHOLD RULES.
Beneath Sophie's name were three instructions.
NO FAMILY DINNER ACCESS.
MEALS SUBJECT TO VANESSA'S APPROVAL.
BOARDING SCHOOL TRANSFER — TONIGHT.
Luca read them.
His tattooed fingers tightened around the paper.
Then he looked at Vanessa.
“You were sending my daughter away?”
She began crying.
“Luca, I was trying to help our family.”
He turned toward his security chief.
“Bring Sophie downstairs. And call a doctor for Claire.”
Then he looked at the destroyed chicken dinner.
His voice became dangerously quiet.
“No one at this table is eating another bite until my daughter has a place beside me.”
The guard approached again.
“Boss… the school driver is already waiting at the rear gate.”
May you like
Luca looked directly at Vanessa.
“You planned to take her tonight?”
