DeLuca (Mafia Romance)

“Hmm,” she said dismissing me and turning her attention back to Mia. “So, do you have any idea what kind of style you’re looking for?”

“A-line for sure, something that flows. The wedding is at the end of April and I’ll probably be big as a house by then,” Mia said rubbing her belly.

The woman blinked, looking from Mia’s belly to her face and back again. “I see,” she said critically. “Well, that’s very short notice; most dresses we sell are custom to order. Usually, a bride picks out her dress anywhere from six to twelve months in advance. Along with the quick alterations you’ll need leading up to the wedding, it might be difficult to find what you’re looking for here.”

Oh, hell no.

I was about to jump in and give this judgmental bitch a piece of my mind when Mia spoke up, ice dripping from her words as she addressed the attendant.

“What’s your last name Helen?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m sorry, did I fucking stutter? What is your motherfucking name?” Mia’s voice was steady but she was livid.

Oh shit, there’s a lot of white in this room. It’d be a bitch for our cleaner to take care of a mess in here.

Helen stiffened and looked down her nose at Mia. “I really don’t think- ”

“I didn’t ask you to think, you fucking cunt! I asked you what your fucking last name is!” she screamed, advancing on the woman.

“J-Jones,” she stuttered, taking a step back.

Hearing the commotion, another woman rushed to the front of the store. “Is there a problem?” the younger woman asked, her eyes round as saucers as she took in Mia’s aggressive posture and the trembling older woman in front of her.

“Yes,” Mia said. “This woman was incredibly rude and disrespectful to me and my friend.”

“I’m terribly sorry, what can I do?” the younger woman asked.

“Nothing…” Mia said, waiting for her to introduce herself.

“Amanda,” she said hurriedly.

“You don’t need to do anything, Amanda. I’m handling it,” Mia said without breaking eye contact with Helen as she pulled out her phone.

She snapped a picture of the startled woman, fiddled with her phone a bit and put it to her ear. “Angelo? I just sent you a picture. Her name is Helen Jones. Get on the phone with the owner of…” she leaned over and caught sight of the sign on the front desk, “La Rouge Boutique and have her fired,” she demanded. There was a pause, then, “I don’t give a fuck if you have to buy the motherfucking store to do it. Get. It. Done.” Mia ended the call and turned back to Helen, “You might as well pack up your shit now. You’ll be unemployed within the hour.”

“W-what? W-who are you?” Helen asked.

“I’m the future Mrs. Carlo DeLuca,” Mia said haughtily, and then as if a switch had been flipped, she turned to Amanda with a sweet smile. “I’m looking for an A-line dress, something flowy.”

“O-Of course, I’ll pull a few things for you. Follow me,” Amanda stuttered.

Holy fuck. Mob Queen bridezilla is a million times scarier than the shit they play on those reality shows.

Present

“I come bearing money,” Leo said as he walked in and set a duffle bag on my desk. We were in my office at the hotel where all my enforcers brought the loan payments in to be counted and recorded.

“Everyone paid?” I asked, opening the bag and starting to sort the bills. I had a process with my men. They’d bring me the cash and wait while I counted and recorded all the payments. If they were short we’d find out together. That way no one was even tempted to skim off the top.

“Sacks gave us a little action but we got what was due,” he said getting comfortable in the chair on the other side of my desk.

“What kind of action?” I asked, more curious than worried. Sacks was a skinny little dickhead who was almost always into us for at least a couple grand, and as soon as he was paid up, he couldn’t wait to borrow again. The guy had a serious gambling problem.

“Tried to slip out the back at Casa, but Michael was there waiting. Didn’t take much convincing before he coughed it up,” Leo said with a smile. I nodded my approval.

“You and Michael working well together?” I asked as I placed a stack of twenties in the bill counter. Matty, Leo’s old partner, had been laid up after the warehouse explosion a few months ago and wasn’t up to chasing around people that owed money quite yet. I put him with Michael, Gina’s father, thinking both of them might learn a thing or two, and I was right. Since they’d started working together, they’d become one of my best collection teams.

“Really good, actually. He’s kind of old school but some of his tricks still work,” he grinned.

“Good. Here,” I said, handing him a piece of paper as I finished recording the last payment.

“What’s this?” he asked looking at the single name and amount due on the paper.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

“Franco. He’s been dodging the other guys for a few weeks now. Need a fresh set of eyes on him; it’s time for him to pay up-either cash or flesh.”

“Got it,” Leo responded, nodding in understanding, his face finally turning serious.

Yeah buddy, this is a big deal, better start fucking acting like it.

“Dismissed,” I said. I looked back down to the ledger and noted I still had two more deposits expected to come in before the end of the day.

My phone buzzed on the desktop and I picked it up to see a text message from Angelo.

Angelo: Next time, you get wedding duty

Me: What did she do this time?

Angelo: Couldn’t just complain about a rude employee, made me make an offer on the fucking store so she could fire the lady herself

Me: You’re joking

Angelo: Wish I was

Me: Still, not taking on your babysitting duty

Angelo: At least your girl is behaving

Me: Not my girl

Angelo: Yeah okay

I locked my phone and slammed it down on my desk with more force than I’d meant to. Frankie wasn’t my girl-never really had been-but that had been my own stupid mistake. I had no one to blame for the one that got away but myself. Shaking my head, I tried to focus on the ledger in front of me, but it was useless. The numbers on the page blurred into memories I’d long since locked away.