Maid for the Mafia

**ROMANY**

"I see," I say calmly, packing that information away for when I go back in the house. Right now, Alex's deceitful heart is not what concerns me. It's not the reason for the sudden trembling in my bones. It didn't put this new ache in my chest. An ache that chased me down two flights of stairs and is telling me that I may have just lost an important piece of what makes my heart beat...and that it may be lost forever. No, that was Mickey. Even now as we sit here and I scoot a couple of inches closer, it doesn't register. Not for him. He simply continues to stare straight ahead and bounce his goddamned leg as if he cannot wait until his driver is back in the car, or else he can kick me in the chin. "Mickey," I whisper, fidgeting with the hem of my robe. "Do you remember when you took me to your restaurant?"

He chuckles for a moment, shaking his head only once before looking at me with a half smirk and a pair of chilling green eyes. "Yes."

"You never finished telling me that story," I begin carefully, letting my gaze fall away to observe the rest of him. The suit he's wearing compliments his frame so well that I know it was tailor made just for him. The bulges of his arms push against the sleeves of his jacket, creating an outline of muscle that has me wishing he'd use them to pull me in close. I want to reach for him, but I don't. Not yet. "You know the one...about the owner and that girl."

His eyes are just as green and vibrant as they ever were when he laughs and his smile actually widens. What he says though, puts a hole right through my heart. "It was just a story, doll. Make believe. Just a romantic way to get you into my bed."

The sting is enough to make me flinch and I reel back a bit, pushing toward the door. Searching his gaze for some sign of emotion, *any* emotion, quickly becomes pointless. When he sighs in frustration and then looks away to resume staring straight ahead, I've finally had enough. The anger I thought I saw upstairs must have been more about his ego than it was anything else, and I'm suddenly feeling more lost than I ever have. "My mistake," I say softly, turning away to face the door.

I have my hand posed for the door handle when he says, "I have a contract too. I'm supposed to be getting engaged to Paul Romano's daughter. It's probably best if I don't come back for a while." *Wow. So, Mickey and Alex both.*

*I wonder if he would have even told me if he hadn't walked in on Alex and me earlier.*

*Probably not.*

Nodding with my back to him so that he can't see the tears brimming in my eyes, I place my hand on the door handle so that I can start to get out. Suddenly, I pause, my mind traveling back with the mention of Paul Romano's name and reminding me of something imperative. Something *else* from that very same night at the restaurant that pulses in my brain like a hidden truth.

Mickey and his award winning poker face.

*Is he acting this way on purpose?*

*Just to hurt me?*

*If he only knew...*

Before I can stop it from happening, my tears begin to fall and once they start, they just keep coming. I release the door handle to wipe them away, then with a slight glance over my shoulder I say, "Thank you for the story. It really was beautiful." With a sad smile, I recall that first lunch Mickey and I spent alone together, when he offered me my revenge, and I let another tear fall. "She loved him too, you know? And she wanted-" pausing, I take a quick breath "-she had *hoped...*for a much different ending."

I catch sight of him, Mickey, in the car's rear view mirror as I turn back toward the door and I see him watching me. Both of his feet are on the floorboard now and his leg has stopped bouncing. One arm lay stretched over the middle of the bench seat, as if he started to reach for me and then stopped.

He whispers, "Doll..."

But I continue on the path he set for me and pull the handle on the door, letting it swing open before I slink toward the open air. "Doll, wait!"

I start to step out of the car, careful to keep my robe closed as I push off the seat, but before my first foot can hit the ground, one of Mickey's arms snakes around my waist and the other reaches for the door handle. He yanks me back onto the seat and slams the door shut, all in the same movement and I am gasping for breath by the time it's done.

He releases his grip around my waist and sits back against the seat while I am still facing the back door and tells me, "You were about eighteen the first time I saw you. I was twenty-eight. Little Ralphie Bruno - you know, Pinch - he went to school with you back then."

Shocked, I spin back around in my seat as far as I can so that I'm facing the side of him. He's sitting a lot closer to me now, but he still doesn't look at me.

"He was older than you, but you guys shared the same class once a week. Usually Bruno would finish that class and then head straight to me, to drop off whatever the take was that week. He ran a number of things for me back then and before Tiny was made captain, he would have to deliver straight to me." Mickey sighs, glancing down at my hands that I have resting in my lap before he continues. "On one particular day, he had a little bit of an SOS involving a certain professor and I was forced to head down to your school myself, you know, just in case things needed to be escalated." Finally, he drags his gaze upward to meet mine and my chest thumps when I see the fear in his eyes. "That's when I saw you for the first time."