Chapter Three
Emma
Hard work was never a problem for me. My mother would make me work for hours every day on the farm. So cleaning Leo’s luxurious house is much nicer than having to clean up cow manure.
I sweep the floors and clean every nook and cranny. I even make dinner with the ingredients in his fridge – chicken and potatoes.
Leo returns home from work shocked that I’m all done. “You really cleaned the entire house today? I was only gone for a few hours.”
I shrug. “It was easy for me. I made dinner.” I point to the kitchen table. Leo’s eyes widen even more comically. “Eat.”
“Aren’t you going to eat? You made all of this.”
“I’m here to work. You should eat. I can eat something else.”
Leo shakes his head. “No. Eat. You worked hard for it.” He sits down at the table and pats the seat beside him. “Come on. Join me.”
After a moment of hesitation, I sit down beside him. It’s hard for me to be near Leo when he’s so handsome and charming and offered me this job when I had nowhere else to go.
“You’re a surprise, Emma. I’ll give you that.” He bites into the chicken and lets out a low moan. “This is delicious. You’re a good cook too? Who would have thought.”
“Thank you. I’ve been cooking my own meals for a long time now.” My mother always made sure I knew how to make her dinner as she didn’t want to make it herself. She would guilt trip me into doing it, saying that I couldn’t let her starve.
“With just you and your mother.”
“Yes.”
He sits back in his seat, gazing at me in a way I don’t understand. “You said your father is not in your life.”
“Yes. I did say that.”
“You never met him? Is he dead? I don’t mean to pry but I’m just curious about you.”
“I never met him. I don’t even know his name. My mother never told me.”
Leo frowns. It should make him look ugly but he only looks more handsome. “I wonder why. So your mother and father… they’re not together.”
“I don’t even know if my dad is alive or not. She never said.”
“Why didn’t she?”
I shrug. “I have no idea. You’d have to ask my mother.”
“And where is your mother now? Why isn’t she here, helping to take care of you?”
I stare hard into my potatoes, hoping to escape from everything. “My mother… it’s complicated. I just had to get away from her. That’s all.”
“Sorry. I don’t mean to push you. It’s just that you show up on my doorstep in need of help. I was just curious. But you’re really not at all what I had expected. More innocent that I could have imagined.”
“Why do you speak like you were waiting for me? We’ve never met before.”
“Call it fate.” He takes my hand in his, making my face light on fire. “I’m glad you’re here, Emma.”
“Me too. But… I don’t know anything about you. I’m grateful that you’ve taken me in. But you’re still a stranger to me.”
“What do you want to know?” he asks, letting go of my hand. It’s disappointing, I’ll be honest.
“Like… what do you do for work? You own this nice, big house. You must make good money.”
“Don’t you know that it’s taboo to ask people about their money?”
I gasp, looking away from him. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right, Emma,” he says with a chuckle. “I was just teasing you. I work with powerful men. In business.”
“Oh. What does that mean exactly?”
“I’m told what to do by my boss. I deliver on what he needs from me. I help prevent wars from happening. Typical business stuff.”
But I don’t know anything about business so I guess I’ll have to take Leo’s word on that.
“You live here alone,” I say. “No… girlfriend? Wife?”
A dimple appears in Leo’s cheek. “Are you asking if I’m single?”
“No,” I say quickly. “Just an observation.”
“No girlfriend. No wife. It’s just… easier that way. Given my line of work. I’m gone a lot. Most women don’t put up with me. Now, enough questions.” He pats the table. “It’s been a long day. I’m sure you’re tired from cleaning the entire house. I’ll let you rest.”
“Of course.” I scramble to my feet, picking up the dishes. “I’ll just clean these first.”
“You don’t have to, Emma.” He murmurs my name so effortlessly on his lips. “I can do it. It’s the least I can do.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. Go rest in your room.”
“Ok. Thank you.” I hurry away from him before I can say or do something stupid. I’m in over my head, I know that. This tingling, excited feeling in my chest whenever Leo is around is new for me. I like him, I know that. But he’s my boss. And a stranger still.
I have to be careful. My mother kept me locked away all my life. I don’t know much about the world. But she would always tell me I was na?ve and the last thing I want is to prove my mother right.
Leo takes me out to a park near his house.
“It’s beautiful here,” I say, gazing up at the trees that overlap, turning the walkway into something out of a fairytale. “Thank you for taking me.”
“You’ve been working hard these past couple of days. It’s…fascinating. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone work so hard before.”
I blush under his compliment. My hands hold onto the dress he bought for me – a soft pink one that makes me feel like a princess.
“You’re not used to compliments, are you?” he asks. “You always turn red whenever I give you one.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. You really are innocent, aren’t you?”
“Why do you keep saying that? I have nothing to hide.” Except, I do. My mother. Leo cannot know everything about her. I don’t want her finding me.
“Mmm,” is all he says. “I think a lot of people have things to hide. Me included.”
“What are you hiding?”
He winks. “If I told you, then I’d have to kill you.”
I’m becoming more accustomed to Leo’s humor. The way he teases me. It’s so unlike the way my mother spoke to me.
We reach the end of the park that leads back to the main road. Mothers and their little kids are out running around, enjoying the sunshine. My mother would never let me have a fun day out. The smile and laughter on the kids makes me happy. They deserve it.
One child – a little girl – runs right out into the road. Her mother is distracted with two other kids.
It’s then that I see a car coming… right in the direction of the girl.
Without even thinking about it, I run into the road, grab the girl and pull her out of the way before the car can hit either one of us. The driver of the car honks his horn like we’re the problem and keeps on driving.
My body hits the ground but the little girl is ok, even though she immediately begins to cry. The mother runs over, taking her daughter from me.
“You saved her life,” the mom says. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“It was nothing,” I say, pushing myself to my feet. “I saw she was in danger and just acted. I would have done it for anyone.”
“But still. Thank you.” She walks away with her daughter, scolding her for running off into traffic like that.
Leo approaches me with a look I can’t decipher. “You really just threw yourself into traffic to save that girl. Even I didn’t think to do that.”
“It was instinct. I saw she was in trouble and I had to help. I know what it’s like to be a little girl in trouble.” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them.
Leo tilts his head to the side. “Interesting. What do you mean by that?”
“It’s nothing,” I say quickly. “I was just happy to help that girl.”
“You really are a good person, aren’t you?” He sounds so surprised by that. I watch as his expression darkens. “Let’s go back home now.”
“All right.”
I study Leo’s face as we go to his car but I can’t make sense of it. Almost like he’s angry… at me? I’m not sure. But I don’t ask him more because the truth is that Leo is still a stranger to me and I can’t risk upsetting him and losing this job and having no choice but to return to my mother.
Leo
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Why does Emma have to be a genuinely good person? She threw herself into oncoming traffic to save that little girl without any hesitation. If Emma was as evil as her father and uncle are, she wouldn’t have done that.
It’s also become clear to me that she doesn’t actually know her father but I can’t figure out why. Her mother is a secret. Valentina Greco. My man, Danilo, made it clear to me that Valentina lived at that farm. So where is Alessandro?
Maybe, just maybe, Emma wasn’t raised in the world of the mafia. Maybe she knows nothing about it.
But when I did some digging, I found that Alessandro and Valentina are still married. She was married to him even when Giovanni killed all of Gabriel’s family. When Alessandro stood back and didn’t stop his brother from committing such a heinous crime.
Gabriel might have learned to move on because of his love for his wife but I can’t. Not when I know Alessandro is going to come back and cause issues for us. Keeping Emma with me is the only leverage I have.
But I just can’t seem to get myself to hurt her like I thought I was going to.
She’s just too… good.
And it’s becoming apparent to me that it’s not an act. That Emma is really just… Emma. A girl in need of help.
I am the last man who can help her but I can’t let her go. Not when I still need to use her as leverage.
Fuck. I don’t know what to do.
The last thing I should be doing is buying her dresses and taking her out to parks and paying her to clean my house and yet, she just seems so sad and alone that I can’t help but take pity on her. I may be a cold mafia man but I’ve always had a soft spot for a woman in need.
Thankfully, Gabriel calls me, distracting me from my thoughts on Emma. “Leo, you need to come to my restaurant. Now.”
“What’s going on, boss?”
“Alessandro is here. I need you with me.” He hangs up, not offering any more information.
I rush to Gabriel’s restaurant to find him seated in his back booth with a middle aged man. Gabriel’s guards stand on either side of him. Another one of Gabriel’s men, Rocco, is here as well. Rocco and I don’t always see eye to eye but we’ve been loyal to Gabriel for years.
He nods at me as I join him at his side.
“That’s Alessandro?” I whisper, nodding at the middle aged man in the booth.
“Yes.”