Maid for the Mafia

**ROMANY**

My chest thumped, my heart skipping a beat and threatening to crack in two as I stare up into Alex's hazy green eyes. "What?" I choke out.

Alex's arms tighten on either side of me and he tips his head to the side to look over his shoulder. "Get out, cousin." *Cousin?! Cousin! Oh my God! Mickey!*

Peeking around Alex's wide shoulders, I push up just enough to see past his muscular frame. Sure enough, standing in the doorway is Mickey. Fully dressed and wearing a solid black impeccably pressed Italian suit, he looks devastating. And...angry.

"Mickey," I whisper, and our gazes clash.

His normally vibrant green eyes appear dull and lifeless when he looks at me. As if their usual spark has suddenly been snuffed out. The wide, teasing smile that I've grown accustomed to seeing from him is completely absent as he purses his lips and says, "It was unlocked."

"Have you forgotten how to knock, then?" Alex snaps, turning back to me with the strangest light in his eyes.

*He thinks this is funny. This is amusing to him.*

"How long have you been standing there?" I can't help but ask, shoving Alex off of me and tying my robe closed as I sit up.

Mickey stares at me for a long, quiet moment before he smiles ever so slightly and replies, "Long enough." There is something about the way he looks at me just then, the tiny crinkle next to his eyes, the half snarl to his upper lip - he's disappointed and I have a feeling it's because he heard something that he wasn't meant to. Something that *I* said. Something that Alex *told me* to say.

*Shit.*

Glancing over at Alex as he fixes his pants, buckling them with a satisfied smirk on his face, I realize something. *He knew.*

*Just like that bullshit in the dining room with Damien, yesterday.*

"Everything is all set at the club," Mickey says, looking away from me to Alex. "If you need me, I'll be at my restaurant."

"I won't," Alex states coldly, tipping his chin upward and flashing Mickey a full toothed grin.

Mickey steps out of the suite without so much as a whisper of a goodbye to me, keeping his face disturbingly blank as he closes Alex's door. The moment he does, I glare at Alex, watching as the bastard stands and saunters over to his bar. He proceeds to pull out a fresh bottle of whiskey and fill a tumbler to the fucking brim, before turning my way and taking a sip.

"You knew he was standing there," I accuse, bouncing onto my feet.

Alex smirks into his glass. "I did," he admits, after taking a swallow. "So what?"

"So....you did that on purpose," I hiss angrily. "You *wanted* him to hear me say that to you!"

Alex swallows another mouthful of whiskey, pours a little more, takes another sip. He smiles into his glass. "What's the matter, angel? Is it a lie or is it the truth?"

"What?" I snap, pacing back and forth in front of the couch as I try to decide what to do.

"Did you mean it or not?" Alex asks blandly, watching me as he finishes his drink.

Glaring at him from across the room, I shake my head at the ground and then race out the door and into the hall. I can hear Alex cursing at me from inside his rooms as I take off down the long corridor toward the service elevators. Cutting around the corner just as the heavy metal doors slam closed, I growl, "Damn it!"

With no time to waste, I spin back around and haul ass toward the stairs, ignoring the warning bells in my head that are telling me that there's no way I'm going to make it. I clamber down the steps two at a time, not really difficult being as I'm barefoot, but as I run the front of my robe flaps open, exposing most of my nude body to each and every soul I pass on the way down. Finally, I hit the first floor and without stopping for breath, race toward the front doors. The damn thing is wide open and the moment I step outside I'm blinded by the bright of the midday sun and I can't see a fucking thing, but I can hear it. The unmistakable sound of a vehicle as it roars away. Shielding my eyes with my hands, I gaze down the driveway and spot the back of Mickey's black SUV as it rides away from the mansion.

With a whimper, I secure my robe and close my arms around myself, finally allowing myself to catch my breath as I stand there like the half naked idiot that I am.

*Damn it. This is not how I wanted things to be between us before tonight. I had questions I wanted to ask him. Things that I wanted to say!*

Now, even if I manage to grab my phone out of Alex's bedroom and text Mickey to get him to come back, the chances of me getting ahold of him *before* he gets on that plane for the city are pretty slim. "Fuck!" I curse, turning around and heading back into the house.

But before I can even take two steps, an angry screech of tires catches my attention and I turn just in time to see the SUV flying back up the driveway in reverse. Three seconds later, it comes to a screeching halt right in front of me and the back door pops open.

"Get in," Mickey says without looking at me.

I nod, hoisting myself up into the vehicle and closing the door behind me.

Mickey eyes his driver in the front seat, the pair of them exchanging a look before the man steps out of the car and heads back in the house.

The interior of this SUV seems darker than his other one, and the seating is different too. Instead of two rows in back, this one only has the single bench seat that is set farther back. Probably to allow for more leg room and privacy. Despite that it's only the two of us in the car, Mickey has pressed himself all the way over on the far side, leaving about two feet of space between us. He doesn't look at me, simply keeps his gaze aimed straight ahead, with one foot propped up on his knee and the other bouncing impatiently. My eyes catch on the side of his jaw as a muscle ticks back and forth beneath his perfectly shaved skin and I release a frustrated sigh.

"Mickey," I whisper, scooting toward him to close the gap between his body and mine. "About what you heard. I-"

"You know that he can't marry you, right?" Mickey interrupts, turning his cold gaze on me. "Not that he would if he could, but I'm just letting you know. He can't. His wife was decided for him by the district bosses and she comes with a whole lot of power. One of these days, she's going to turn up here and then you will see just how important you are to *Alex.* Why do you think he didn't kill Antony after what he tried to do to you the second time? Not because he was being cautious, but because of her. But don't you worry, Doll. I'll get him for you.*"*

"Wait...what?" I snap, ignoring the sudden burn in my chest at his words. "What are you saying? What does Antony have to do with anything?"

"Everything," he snorts. "When you go back inside, why don't you ask Alex what Antony was even doing here that night. Then ask him what they talked about the next morning. Or rather, *who* they talked about." "Who?" I shook myself, trying to clear my head as my stomach suddenly started churning. "What do you mean, who?"

Mickey chuckles, then loses his smile to glare out the window. "Antony has a little sister in her last year of college and when she's done...she'll be heading straight to Alex. They have a contract and they are going to be married."