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Maid to the Mafia (Maid to the Mafia Series Book 0.5)
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Maid to the Mafia
Prequel to Totally Captivated
(Maid to the Mafia Book 0.5)
Wanitta Praks
Copyright © 2015 by Wanitta Praks
All Rights Reserved
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. This book was self-published by the author Wanitta Praks. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without agreement and written permission of the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
The author can be reached at:
www.wanittapraks.com
Maid to the Mafia
Prequel to Totally Captivated
(Maid to the Mafia Book 0.5)
WANITTA PRAKS
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to all my fans who laughed out loud when reading my books. You rocks.
Contents
From Wanitta Praks
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Coming Soon
More books by Wanitta Praks
Recommended books by Alexia Praks
From Wanitta Praks
Hello,
Thanks for downloading this free novella, the prequel to Totally Captivated.
Maid to the mafia is the hilarious story of Jenny Stone, a maid and college student, who must work her ass off, day and night, to pay for her father’s debt, only for her heart to end up totally captivated, intoxicated, and irresistibly attached to her mafia boss, Giovanni Dente.
Maid to the Mafia is my new series and I hope you will enjoy this one as you did with my other comedic series, Spinsters & Casanovas. It is guaranteed to make you laugh out loud. Well, I did anyway when I was writing. And I hope you will laugh too, or at least put a smile on your face.
So without further ado, read on.
And don’t forget; love, laugh, and enjoy life.
WANITTA PRAKS
Romance with Emotion
www.wanittapraks.com
Prologue
Coffee for You
“Handsome boy. Are you hurt?”
The lone teen looked up upon hearing the little girl’s voice.
He scowled when he saw her, looking curious, with half a licorice hanging from her red lips. She was a little wee thing, no more than five, he estimated, with light-brown hair, a dull, boring color, tied into pigtails.
“Hurt?” he found himself asking.
“Mmm. Are you in pain? Want me to ring the doctor for you?”
Pain?
Another foreign word. Words that were never directed at him in all his fourteen years of life.
Oh, right. Of course she would ask such a question. He was hunched over, resting himself against the tall American beech tree in the secluded part of the national park, hands clenching his stomach. Any idiot could tell he was in pain.
But the thought amused him. And drove him crazy. And so he laughed. Laughed until he had tears in his eyes.
“Why are you laughing, handsome boy? Is it so painful that you laugh just to forget about it? I do that too when I’m in pain.”
Oh God. Oh fuck. A mere child, caring about his health, whereas his family hadn’t given a fuck about him since he was born. Only wanted to sculpt him to be the next big heir in their clan. His life was so fucked up.
“You shouldn’t talk to a person like me,” he said, finally dismissing her.
She cocked her head to one side, assessing him. “You look like a friendly person to me, handsome boy. You wouldn’t hurt me, would you?”
Hurt her? He should definitely hurt her if she didn’t move away from him in ten seconds. It was in his blood after all. To hurt people. To make money. That was his family’s ultimate goal, right? That’s what his family did. So why not him?
“I’m a bad guy. You got that? So go,” he growled, hoping to scare her so she would run off and play somewhere else. And hopefully, this time she would get the message and scram.
He closed his eyes, fighting hard to breathe. Fuck, one of his ribs must be broken. Even breathing was taking its toll. He felt pain all over, from his split lips to the bruise on his knuckles. It was a fight that was gruesome yet so satisfying. But he was slowly turning into the very facade of his family. Bile rose up his throat.
No. No. He didn’t want anything to do with them. He hated that he was born in this fucked-up family. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. No mincing words; just fight and kill. That was his family motto.
Fuck. Wasn’t he trying to run away from his own heritage? So why did he behave like them when a little provocation from his classmate caused him to unleash his inner demon?
God. He needed to flog that nightmare from his mind. He needed to be alone, wanted to be alone, so he could wallow in this misery. He didn’t need some little girl to console him. But no matter how hard he tried to shove back those memories, it still played in his head like that insistent pain in his heart.
They were in this park just hours prior. Four against one. Him against them. The son of a criminal against four policemen’s sons. The unlawful verses the lawful. Fuck, what a tip of the scales. He’d used his fists to punch them. But they held him back, restraining him and punching him until what remained was a bloody pulp.
“What are you going to do?” He could hear them taunt him. “Just ‘cause you’re the son of a thug, you think you can hurt me? My old man’s in the police force. He’s not going to let a thug like you run America.”
That was the last straw. He spurred into action and punched the living daylights out of those four. Yeah, four against one. But this one won. This one made four of them unconscious. Fuck. What had he become? A monster. Just like his family.
I control my own destiny. I control my own destiny, he chanted to himself, trying to erase that image from his head.
He flinched suddenly when he felt those small fingers tracing his hair, patting his head like he needed it. He looked up and met mossy green eyes. Fuck. She still didn’t leave him. And her next words almost made tears leak from of his eyes.
“Is it sore, handsome boy? Does it hurt a lot?”
What was she referring to? His cut lips, his blue-black eyes, or the pain in his chest?
What a pathetic kid. What did she know about pain? From the look of her pink dress, she looked to be from a normal family, one he’d never experienced.
But his heart burned with that insistent threading of her fingers through his hair. And now he felt something else. Warmth, like he wanted her to caress his hair for real, with the love and care that one bestowed on someone you loved.
“Please don’t look too sad.” She consoled him, crouching down to sit in front of him. And then she looked up at him with a beaming smile on her face. “Ah. I got it. Wait here. Hold my licorice. I’ll be right back.”
She shoved the half-eaten black licorice into his palm and raced across the field. He saw her disappear into one of the cafés lining the streets opposite the national park.
He closed his eyes again. Good. She was gone. Which should make him happy, but he wasn’t.
He looked at the licorice in his hands. He should really throw it away. She was gone. She wasn’t g
oing to come back. But she said she would, and something humane within him still grasped onto that licorice like it was his lifeline or something.
He gazed up into the sky, feeling the heat on his face. The midafternoon sun really was soothing. Such warmth. Such freedom. When would he feel this free again?
He really should head back home, though. And then tell his family what? That he had a fight. Trying to defend what he despised all along, only for his mother to taunt him again.
“A leaf never falls far from its branch. You better accept your position and embrace your fate.”
A strong coffee scent woke him from those hurtful memories. He lifted his head and saw the little girl was back. And she was holding a foamy drink in her hand.
“What’s this?” he asked, looking at the cup thrust in his face.
“Coffee. For you.” She beamed.
“I don’t want it.” He shifted his gaze to the sky again. Not a second later, the cup was in his face again. “I said I don’t want it. I don’t drink coffee.”
“But I made it for you.” Her little voice sounded slightly hurt.
Fuck. He hurt her feelings. And something within him died a little. “Look, I don’t drink coffee. Okay. I don’t like coffee.”
“How do you know if you’ve never drunk it?” she asked.
Because my whole fucking family drinks coffee like water. But he didn’t tell her that. And clearly, she was starting to irritate him. “Look. I just don’t like it, all right. Now leave me alone.”
“Can’t you just try it? It’ll make you happy. Try it. You’ll love it. Ma’s café is just across the road from here. I get to make coffee all I want. It’s really nice. She tells me I make good coffee, and when I grow up, she bets I’ll win a barista award. So you can be the judge. I just know you’ll like it because I put all my love in this cup. I want to see a smile on your face, handsome boy. Smile for me?”
She wanted to see him smile. For what?
“Go on. Drink it. I didn’t put any poison in it like that queen from Snow White with that apple thingy. Once you taste it, you’ll become addicted to it like cocaine. That’s what Ma always tells me. But I don’t know what cocaine is. I think she should compare it to chocolate. Do you like chocolate, handsome boy? I like chocolate. Taste it and see if my coffee tastes like chocolate.”
She held that black cup of coffee in her small fingers, not pushing him to accept it, but in turn making him feel guilty if he didn’t. He felt miserable, a thousand times worse than when he got into that fight.
“I can’t push you to like it, but you can choose to like it once you’ve tasted it. It’s your choice.”
It was his choice. He could choose to accept his fate and be the head of the clan at age fourteen or forgo the right and build his own future. But to start from scratch, with no support or money?
He reached out his hand and took the coffee cup from her grasp. And he drank it. He’d never tasted anything so bitter, so foul and disgusting, but for that one moment in his life, he felt happy, his heart singing loudly in his chest.
“What’s your name, little girl?” he asked, taking another sip, finding he did like the taste.
“Jennifer.” She smiled back, sitting next to him, shuffling her body until she was right beside him. Then she took out a series of bandages from her dress pocket and plastered his whole face with them.
He blinked, staring at her large green eyes in front of his face as she proceeded with her work.
“Wow, you have nice black eyes. I’ve never seen anyone with black eyes before. It’s like looking into the night sky. Have you been outside at night and looked at the sky? It’s very hard to see in the city, but my ma takes us to the country all the time, and there you can see the stars. They’re so bright against the black sky, like your eyes. I like your eyes. I like you.”
He blinked again and shook his head. Jennifer was talking a mile a minute. He couldn’t comprehend what she was saying.
“I like you,” she repeated, like he didn’t hear her declaration the first time. “Can I be your friend?”
Friend. Another foreign word. No one wanted to be your friend when you’re part of that family.
“Well, can I be your friend? Or do you like to be alone? But I mean, who wants to be alone anyway? Not me. I want to have friends. Don’t you?”
“I don’t know if you want to be my friend, though,” he managed to say at last. “Like I said, I’m not a good person.”
“What did you do? Did you hurt an animal? Ma says if you hurt an animal, you’re a bad person. Humans should never hurt animals. They have feelings too, you know. They feel the pain. So did you hurt any animals?”
“No. No, I didn’t hurt any animals.” He wanted to tell her he hurt humans, not animals, but couldn’t get the words out. What happened to those four? Were they still lying there on the ground, unconscious?
“Well, then you’re not a bad person,” she declared. “You’re cool. And I like you. So let’s be friends. I gotta go now. Ma is waiting for me in the café. Will you come back tomorrow? Meet me here tomorrow, and I’ll share some of my favorite licorice. Did you get to eat some when I gave it to you? They’re so nice. Pa always buys them for me. We’ll meet tomorrow, then. Bye for now.”
And she leaned in to kiss his bruised cheek. He was so surprised he jumped back and hit his head on a tree branch.
She giggled. “You’re so funny, handsome boy. I want to marry you when I grow up. Want to marry me?”
“I…” She shoved her face right in front of his eyes and all he could make out were those sparkling green pupils, sucking him into that whirlpool, captivating even his cold heart.
“Don’t answer me just yet. I’ll see you tomorrow. Wait for me, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow.” She raced off the field then. But not a minute went by before he saw her midget body galloping toward him again. “I forgot to ask you for your name. What’s your name, handsome boy?”
“Gio. Call me Gio.” His lips stretched into a smile, again, a foreign expression on his face.
“Okay, Gio, handsome boy. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Another peck on his check and then she was gone again.
Gio’s heart smiled for the first time in his fourteen years. Tomorrow, he’d come. To see his new friend Jennifer.
* * * * *
Chapter One
Delivery Service
My Sweet Jenny,
Be a dear and deliver this letter for Pa. It’s very important that you should deliver this by hand to Mr. Dente. I promise I’ll give you more of your favorite licorice when you return. And I won’t tell your sister.
Pa will see you soon.
I stared at the white envelope on the table, my heart about to drum out of my chest.
Pa! I wanted to yell at him. I missed my important accounting lecture because of this?
Pa had left a message for me to come home as soon as possible. It was an emergency. That was what the message had said. I’d thought he had an accident or something, so I was rushing to get here. I didn’t know which was my left or right foot as I stumbled and fell to try to reach home in time. But what did I get when I got here? A note on the table, beside the white envelope that contained that letter.
What was he thinking? At the rate I was going, I wouldn’t even pass the first year of university if Pa kept calling me out to do errands for him like this.
Use the post office for once, Pa. Surely he could just drop this letter off at the post office and be done with it. Why use me?
Then again, why did I bother to ask this silly question? It was because I wasn’t good at anything else except for errands like this. I wasn’t beautiful, so no one really took a second look at me, unlike my sister Amelia, who was the star of her law school. In fact, I could blend in with the furniture very well. Sometimes, Pa and Amelia couldn’t even tell the difference between me and the couch.
Despite all these negative comments about my appearance, though, I’d never been bothered by this. Brown hair w
ith a dust of freckles on my nose and green catlike eyes, I considered myself to be quite cute.
But back to Pa, though. I wondered where he was right then. I’d definitely give him an earful when I saw him.
I went to search the house. It was empty, no one inside, not Pa or Amelia.
Where had they gone? At this hour, Pa should have been in his office, and Amelia should have been home doing the cooking. She didn’t have class in the afternoon, unlike first years whose schedules were chock full of lectures.
I picked the letter up in my hand, dismissing Pa’s absence for now. I examined the address. Upper East Side, Manhattan. It didn’t look familiar to me.
Maybe I should put a few stamps on it and slot it in the postbox. That’d save me time. I recalled some stamps stashed away in my backpack somewhere. But Pa did say to deliver this letter by hand. And there was also the case of the licorice. It was tempting me next to the envelope.
“Humph!” I huffed to myself. Who does he think he is, bribing me with candy? It’s not like I’m five years old anymore. I can live without candy. Especially licorice.
* * * * *
I was now walking along the streets of Islington Hill, chewing the licorice. How could I resist a bribe such as this licorice Pa bought for me? He knew it was my one weakness and he used it to his full advantage. I was surprised my teeth weren’t covered with holes yet, what with the amounts of sweets I ate. But then again, my oral hygiene skills were spectacular.