My Mafia Madness

Chapter 36 - What's in the Box?

Fear ran through her every thought as Alexa went to cover herself with the black sheet from whoever was now stepping into the room.

Ignoring Alexa’s apparent embarrassment at being seen in bed with him, Dante’s emerald green eyes quickly locked onto Nicola as he stepped into the room and sighted his boss sitting upright in his bed.

His dark eyes darted to the side and noticed the figure nervously covering herself from his view, but he merely smirked at her lame attempt.

It was rather obvious by the black and gold bikini top laying on the floor nearby of just who it was beneath the sheet.

“What is it, Nicola?” Dante asked casually.

“Boss, sorry to interrupt, but I’m afraid you’re needed in your office… it’s rather urgent.”

Dante let out a long sigh before nodding and gesturing with a wave of his hand for Nicola to leave.

The Don threw the bed covers back and went to get out of bed.

The second-in-command silently exited and closed the door behind him.

Alexa waited a moment after she had heard the door close before she slowly lowered the black sheet, her eyes on the doorway which was now closed.

She let out a small sigh of relief and turned to face Dante who had disappeared to have a quick shower in the ensuite.

Alexa could hear the sound of the water running and took this moment to have a better look around his room.

The room belonging to her billionaire boss.

It was as extravagant as hers, if not more so.

With fine furniture and lavished decorations in every direction.

His bed linen was black like it was in her guest room and she used the sheet to wrap around her from the chest down as she too climbed out of the bed.

She strolled around the room, taking in everything she could about this mysterious man.

This man who had her so completely captivated that she could think of nothing else.

Caught up in her curious search, she hadn’t heard the shower stop, let alone noticed as the now dressed Mafia Boss had made his way silently up to her from behind.

“f**k… just look at you…” he purred seductively.

The sudden sound of his deepened voice caused Alexa to gasp and spin around and meet his gaze on her.

She was standing there wearing only his sheet wrapped around her, basking in the warmth of the late afternoon sun that shone through from the large window beside her.

The sun was beginning to set off in the distance and there were brilliant shades of oranges, pinks and yellows surrounding her from behind as she smiled.

She was simply stunning, just like this.

Closing the gap between them, Dante made sure to imprint this very image into the back of his mind for years to come.

He wanted to remember her innocence and beauty forever.

“What?” she asked with an innocent frown, lifting her hand up to her hair.

“Do I have bed hair or something?”

Shaking his head, Dante gave a chuckle and came to stand right in front of her.

He took both her hands into his and looked deeply into her chocolate brown eyes.

“You are absolutely perfect, bella.” (beautiful)

He spoke with such sincerity and kindness, that it caused her heart to melt even more.

“Perfect in every way.”

“You’re not too bad yourself, Mr. Romano.” she lifted her left brow, signalling challenge.

His eyes narrowed as he gripped at her chin and pulled her head in to meet his; their faces inches apart now.

“What did I tell you to call me?” he whispered huskily.

She swallowed nervously before replying.

“Dante.”

His smile caused his facial features to immediately lighten and his eyes to sparkle upon hearing her speak his name.

“That’s my girl.”

With that he leaned in and pressed his lips up against hers, this time in a much gentler way.

The kiss he gave her now was entirely different to the one they had shared earlier on. Instead of heated and full of passion, this kiss felt… sweet and loving.

As they parted, Dante spoke again.

“Now, as I’m sure you heard, I have some important matters to attend to. You are of course free to roam around the mansion yourself, but might I suggest that instead you return to your room. To get yourself ready for our dinner this evening. You’ve organised our booking for it, yes?”

She nodded her head, “Yes. You have a table for two booked at eight.”

“I’ll have someone come to collect you from your room at around seven thirty. That sound good?” he asked.

“Sure. Sounds great.”

With one last smile, Dante lowered his hands and began strolling along towards the door.

Alexa watched him from behind as he opened the door and stepped into the hallway, with the door swinging closed behind him.

She was in too deep with this man… way too deep!

-

Once she had redressed herself in her bikinis, Alexa made her way back to her guest room and opened the door to walk in.

As she did her chocolate shaded eyes immediately noticed the medium sized box sitting on top of her bed.

The box was black with a vibrant purple ribbon and bow on top.

Closing the door behind her, she padded her bare feet across the carpeted room until she stood over the box, positioned for her on the mattress of her bed.

It looked so enticing...

Believing it to be the dress that Dante had promised would be delivered to her before their dinner tonight, she smiled as she reached down and grasped at the lid.

Lifting the lid up and out of the way, her eyes widened at what she saw staring back at her!

It was a severed human hand!

The hand sat in a congealed pool of blood, with black tissue paper surrounding it.

She noticed that inked onto the severed hand was some sort of a rose tattoo.

Her panic set in instantaneously and she opened her mouth and screamed out at the top of her lungs.

-

The moment Alexa screamed, it had caught everyone’s attention and figures began darting through the massive mansion, all headed in the same direction to see what was wrong.

Dante too heard the scream from his office and he turned to look at his closed door with wide eyes of fear.

“Alexa!” he called out before he and his men bolted out of the office, headed towards her guest room.

Nicola was the first to come hurtling down the hallway leading to her room, accompanied by two other men, Stefano and Lanzo.

The terrified assistant came darting out of her room and ran right into Nicola’s massive chest.

She was sobbing uncontrollably, and her entire body appeared to be shaking with fear.

He tried to look her in the eye as he spoke calmly to her.

“What is it? What happened?” he demanded.

She shook her head, lowering it as the tears continued to roll down both of her cheeks.

“Alexa, I need you to tell me what’s wrong.” Nicola asked her once more, holding onto both of her shoulders.

Lifting her gaze to meet his, she pulled together some of her courage and replied with a shaky voice.

“Th…the box… in… in my room…”

Nicola released his hold on her shoulders and turned to enter the room.

Both he and Stefano had their guns drawn and at the ready, should they need to use them for any reason.

Lanzo remained behind with the clearly shaken Alexa until others would eventually arrive.

Nicola led the way into the room, his dark brown eyes moving to scan the apparently empty room as he swiftly moved from one section of the room to the next.

Stefano moved in the opposite direction, doing the same thing, as the pair worked together to clear the room of any sort of danger.

It took less than a minute to realise that there was no kind of danger in her room after all.

But Nicola’s dark eyes fixated on the open black box sitting on Alexa’s bed. He remembered her mentioning a box to him just now.

Holstering his gun, he made his way towards it, then peering inside to see what all the commotion was about.

-

By now Dante and the others who were with him in his office had arrived and the Mafia Boss came to wrap his arms around a sobbing Alexa.

His frowning face showed obvious concern for her wellbeing as he looked to Nicola who had just stepped out of her room.

“What the hell’s going on here?” Dante demanded.

Nicola held a solemn expression before he met his boss’ gaze and simply shook his head. He appeared angry at something or someone.

Dante watched his second in command stormed off angrily, back down the hallway.

“Nicola!”

Dante was confused by his second-in-command’s reaction to whatever was happening here. To whatever he had seen in Alexa’s room.

“Somebody better tell me what the f**k’s going on here!” Dante snapped.

“Boss, you should probably come and see this for yourself.” Stefano suggested, his expression appearing just as solemn as Nicola’s had.

Dante turned to Luca and spoke.

“Watch her.”

Making his way into the room to follow along after Stefano, Dante stopped by the box on the bed and peered inside, as the others had.

The very moment he saw the hand and recoignised the rose tattoo inked into its skin, his stomach dropped and he closed his eyes.

Dante knew who that hand belonged to.

Then the Don thought of Nicola and his loyal friend’s reaction had finally made sense.

Nicola had forced himself to simply walk away, probably to go and destroy a room in the mansion somewhere else. Somewhere that Alexa wouldn’t be able to hear his angered screams of seething rage and unspeakable pain.

Pain for a loss...

For the hand sitting in the bottom of that gift box had belonged to a young man named Bruno Russo… one they all knew quite well.

He was Nicola’s baby brother.