My Mafia Madness

Chapter 10 - A Ride Home

After making her way out of Roman Enterprises, Alexa began the tedious task of locating a means of transportation back to her apartment.

A taxi would do, though she much preferred to Uber wherever possible. More reliable drivers, she believed.

Glancing down at her phone she realised there were currently no available Uber drivers in her area, and she huffed in frustration.

Cars whizzed by her as she stood on the curb side oblivious to their existence, scrolling through various numbers on her phone to find the number for a local taxi.

As she continued her focused search, Alexa hadn’t even noticed as a sleek black town car suddenly pulled up beside her at the curb.

A figure exited the car and opened the rear car door for someone else to exit.

The sound of footsteps approaching from behind suddenly alerted her as Alexa froze, her hand reaching slowly into her handbag for her faithful can of mace.

But she stopped at the sound of his voice.

“Need a lift?”

With a puzzled expression, she slowly turned around to meet him face to face. The exact moment she had, her skin began to heat up.

“Mr. Romano…” she looked around, noticing his waiting town car at the curb beside them.

“Uh, what are you doing here? I thought you left hours ago.”

“I was in the area. Saw you standing here… alone…” Dante admitted, shrugging his shoulders upwards.

“And you just… thought you’d give me a lift home?” she seemed unconvinced by his story.

“Why not? We can talk about tonight on the way.”

“Tonight?”

“Yes, dinner.” Dante replied with a smile.

“Did you not receive my note? I instructed Mr. Harworth to give it to you.”

“Oh, yeah, he did.” she admitted, nodding and reaching into her handbag to grasp the eggshell-coloured envelope.

He watched in confusion as she pulled it out.

“I uh… haven’t read it yet.” she admitted, rather guilt stricken.

He chuckled, glancing downward for a moment.

“I see…”

He turned to the side and waved his hand out toward his car, in a gesture for her to come along as he spoke.

“Well, allow me to explain it to you in person, Miss Myers. On your way home.”

-

After hesitantly accepting the lift home from none other than Dante Romano, Alexa suddenly found herself feeling rather out of place.

Like an insect caught in a spider’s web.

And Dante, with his sinful smirk and lustful eyes… he was the spider.

“So, I’m assuming that Gary already went over the basics of the new job with you.” Dante spoke.

As he did, the billionaire casually leaned back against the shiny black Italian leather seats that both he and Alexa were seated on, positioned awkwardly beside one another.

He still smelled incredible and the scent was driving her mad.

She couldn’t stop her heart from racing, thudding loudly over and over within her chest at the thought of such a man sitting so close to her.

But it wasn’t his fame or fortune that had her unknowingly captivated or entranced.

It was his demeanour.

He was like a fearsome predator, sleek and jaw-droppingly handsome to look at, but beneath the stylish exterior lay a deviant hunter, ready for his next meal.

And she felt like the meal.

“Yes, he did.” she finally replied, clearing her throat and squeezing her thighs tightly together.

“And?” both his brows rose as he asked his question.

She turned to face him, confused by what he had meant.

“And, what?”

“Will you accept my offer?”

She opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something in reply, but just as quickly closed it and decided not to.

In truth, she wanted to take the offer. It was a six-figured salary for crying out loud! But something continued to nag at her, warning her of such alluring things.

She of all people knew there had to be some kind of a catch to it.

Deciding to be blunt with him, she turned her entire body around to face him.

“Mr. Romano-”

He quickly raised his hand up as he cut in.

“-Please, call me Dante during out of office hours.” he insisted with a smile.

She pursed her lips before attempting to do as he had asked.

“Fine, Dante… I want to know why you’re doing this. Hiring me as your assistant, I mean? I’m sure there are many other suitable candidates for the job.”

His eyes remained fixated on her now.

“Yes, I’m sure there are.” he admitted casually.

She frowned at his admission.

“But you have something that they don’t. A missing quality that many of the women I associate with, seem to lack. What can I say, the get… easily distracted by me.”

Ignoring his overconfident remark, she continued to question him.

“And… what detail is that, exactly?”

“Attention to detail.”

His voice was soft yet certain as he suddenly leaned forward and tapped twice with his knuckle against the thick black glass separating them from the driver of the town car.

Alexa watched in amazement as the window slowly rolled downward, revealing the front seats, including the man driving them.

The driver wore a tailored black suit, with black driving gloves on both his hands, which gripped the wheel firmly as he lifted his head and spoke.

“Yeah boss?”

“Corner of 54th and Cainburg Street, downtown.” Dante commanded smoothly.

Alexa seemed surprised by this.

“You know where I live?”

She appeared to be quite thrown off by his most recent admission.

“Of course. I’ve already had my men look into you. Standard protocol for working so close to me, I’m sure you understand.”

Alexa, although a little offput by the thought pushed it aside, maintaining her composure.

“Of course.” she replied.

When they had finally arrived at her apartment building, Dante’s town car pulled up at the curb and came to a halt.

Dante glanced out through his window at her apparent home, sizing it up for a moment. His eyes moved back toward her as she shuffled towards the door and reached for the handle.

“Oh, and just one more thing, Miss Myers…”

His voice seemed a little more serious now as he appeared to shuffle towards her, across the shiny black leather of their seat.

Lifting his hand upward, he reached for the side of her face, only gently touching her soft skin.

His touch caused her to flinch in obvious pain and he recoiled with concern.

“Where did you get that?” he enquired.

She swallowed away her nervousness and cast her gaze downward as she replied, vaguely.

“Oh, um, it’s nothing. I was kind of mugged on my way home last night.”

“What!”

His tone was almost terrifying as he spoke the singular word, causing even Alexa to flinch at its harshness.

The thought that someone would be brazen enough to do anything without his say, in his city.

He was beyond outraged by this news!

His head turned to the side, meeting the gaze of the driver through the rear-view mirror before he returned his eyes to her once more.

“And just who was responsible for this mugging?”

Alexa appeared uncertain as she shrugged and replied.

“I’m not sure. It all happened so quickly, and…”

She paused, unsure as to whether or not she should continue to explain the events that took place last night in the alleyway. Of the men in suits who arrived and saved her life. Of the thugs who were shot dead before her very eyes…

“And…” Dante pressed keenly.

At that same moment Luca, who was in the driver’s seat, scrunched up his eyes with concern as he waited for this woman to rat them out to the Boss. Of what they did.

But instead, she surprised him with what she said next.

“And the police came along, sorted the whole thing out.” she lied blatantly to his face.

“I guess I won’t be taking the subway that late at night again, huh?”

Her attempt at joking and dazzling smile had seemed to momentarily fool Dante, for now.

The Mafia Boss smiled back at her, chuckling softly.

“Yes, I agree. In fact, I might have that clause added into your proposed contract…”

Dante leaned forward as he called out.

“Luca…”

The driver suddenly tensed up, upon hearing his name being called out openly. He wouldn’t turn his head to the side anymore.

“Yeah boss?”

“See that a safer means of transportation is added into Miss Myers’ proposed contract by this evening, will you.”

“Sure thing.” Luca replied, keeping his eyes downcast as he picked up his mobile and began typing a text message.

Dante went on with a smile, “We wouldn’t want anything to happen to her now, would we?”

Luca, who at that very moment still had his back facing Alexa, let out a short sigh of relief as he hit ‘send’ and placed his mobile phone down.

Maybe she hadn’t put two and two together and made the connection after all.

He could only hope.

Unfortunately, the next thing Luca did was his biggest mistake of all. Looking into the rear-view mirror one last time before she exited the car, his eyes met with hers.

Only for a moment, but long enough for her to catch a glimpse of him.

Alexa thought that he seemed somewhat familiar to her, though she could not yet recall where she had seen his face before.

Frowning as she tried to recall it, Dante’s voice pulled her out of such thoughts and back to the present once again.

“So, Miss Myers. Ensure that you’re ready by eight o’clock. I’ll have you collected from here.” he urged confidently.

“I can take an Uber.” she suggested sternly.

“I’m afraid I must insist.”

It appeared that the man was relentless and not taking no for an answer.

Picking up her handbag, Alexa pursed her lips together before finally nodding her head in reply and promptly exiting the car without another glance.

As she stood with the door open, Dante called out for her one last time.

“Oh, and Miss Myers, wear something… captivating, will you?”

“Captivating?” she repeated, this time in question, as if she had not understood what he meant.

“Surprise me.”

Dante was clearly a smooth operator. His devious smirk was causing her core to moisten with sudden want, though she pushed it back down defiantly.

“See you tonight.” he cooed before she closed the car door.