THE MAFIA’S LIGHT

CHAPTER THREE~THE LOOK THAT LINGERS

VIVIAN

The sky has shifted into a muted orange by the time I walk to the bookstore where Anna works. The bell above the door chimes softly as I enter, releasing the familiar scent of paper, ink, and the vanilla candle Anna keeps burning behind the counter.

She looks up immediately.

“There you are!” she says, smiling. “You’re early. You usually text before coming.”

“I know,” I say, adjusting my bag, even though my voice comes out more like a squeak than a sentence.

Anna’s eyes narrow.

“You okay?”

I open my mouth to lie, but the universe rudely interrupts.

“Vivian?”

I turn. Ethan stands beside one of the aisle carts, organizing new arrivals. His shirt reads Books are safer than people, and honestly, that tracks.

“Hey, Ethan,” I greet.

He gives me a soft, shy smile. “You’re… uh… here earlier than usual.”

He says it like he notices my patterns.

He probably does.

“Oh, she’s definitely early,” Anna chimes in. “And definitely acting weird.” She turns to me. “What happened?”

Forest green eyes flash through my mind. That cologne. Those hands. That voice.

My heart thumps like it wants to escape my ribcage.

“It’s nothing,” I mutter.

Anna raises one brow. “Vivian Rose Hart. Don’t lie to me.”

Ethan pretends to organize a shelf, but he’s totally listening.

I sigh “I… had an intense customer today.”

Anna leans forward like she’s about to listen to a true crime podcast episode.

“What do you mean by intense?”

I rub my neck. “Like… intense intense.”

Ethan stills.

Anna blinks. “Did he yell at you?”

“No.”

“Did he flirt with you?”

“No.”

“Did he murder someone with just the power of his smoldering gaze?”

I hesitate for one fatal second.

Anna gasps loudly and clutches her chest. “HE DID. I KNEW IT.”

Oh God.

I groan. “He didn’t murder anyone, Anna. Stop being dramatic. He just… looked at me.”

Her eyes widen. “And??”

“And nothing. It was just… weird.”

Which is a lie. It wasn’t weird. It was heart-stopping. It was electric. It was unsettling in a way that still clings to my skin.

Before Anna can interrogate further, Ethan clears his throat.

“Well… as long as he wasn’t rude or dangerous.”

His voice is soft, but there’s a tightness around his mouth he doesn’t usually have.

“Not dangerous,” I say quickly.

Ethan nods, but his eyes don’t brighten the way they usually do. His fingers tap the edge of the shelf, an unconscious nervous habit.

Anna watches him, then flicks her gaze back to me. Her brows lift.

Oh, she’s connecting dots.

I mouth don’t even start, and she smirks like the menace she is.

“So,” she says, switching back to her chirpy tone, “is this intense customer at least cute?”

I choke on my own breath.

Ethan stiffens.

Anna’s grin grows feral.

“Oh my God. He was cute.”

“Anna!!!”

“Tell me everything.”

She grabs my wrist, dragging me toward the corner of the counter like she’s shielding national secrets.

I lower my voice. “It was just this guy, tall, all black outfit, tattoos and eyes that look like they can see straight through you. The type of person that… doesn’t usually walk into our café.”

Anna’s jaw drops. “Vivian.”

“I know.”

“Vivian.”

“I KNOW.”

She clutches her chest dramatically. “This is the most romantic thing that has ever happened to you.”

“It wasn’t romantic,” I mumble.

Anna ignores me. She turns to Ethan and announces, “Vivian met a dangerously hot man today.”

I slap her arm. “ANNA!”

Ethan freezes mid-shelving motion. “Oh.”

I can’t read his expression, a mix of surprise, confusion and something that feels a little like disappointment, but he hides it quickly.

“Well,” he says gently, “I’m glad you’re safe.”

I clear my throat. “Anyway. I’m here to pick you up so we can go grocery shopping.”

“Oh!” Anna brightens. “Right. Give me five minutes to close out the system.”

She disappears into the staff room.

I turn to Ethan, who is trying very hard not to look like he has questions.

“So,” he says softly, “intense day?”

“You have no idea.”

He gives a tiny smile. “Well… if you ever want to talk… I’m here.”

I nod, grateful. “Thank you.”

He looks down shyly, his curls falling forward. “Yeah. Anytime.”

Anna returns a moment later, grabbing her bag. “Okay! Food before we starve.”

Ethan waves at us. “Have a good night.”

“You too!” Anna calls.

I offer him a small wave. “See you, Ethan.”

His smile flickers warm and earnest. “Yeah. See you.”

As Anna and I step outside, she nudges me conspiratorially.

“He likes you, you know?”

I groan into my hands. “Anna!”

“But so does the mysterious tattooed espresso god,” she sings.

“Please stop talking.”

She laughs as we walk down the street.

But in the back of my mind those eyes return again.

Dominic.

And the feeling that today was only the beginning.

DOMINIC

Mauro’s men were supposed to be here.

That’s why I came.

Not for caffeine.

Not for small talk.

Not for the girl with soft eyes and trembling hands who somehow lodged herself in my head like a bullet I can’t dig out.

Yet the moment I walked out of that café, the fresh air didn’t clear my mind the way it normally does. If anything, it made the memory of her sharper.

Pathetic.

I reach my car, lean against the door, and pull out my phone. I type a message to Luca, my second in command.

‘Any movement on Mauro’s men? Anyone matching the description near the café?’

His response comes seconds later.

‘Negative. No confirmed sighting. Could’ve been false intel.’

False intel is dangerous. It means someone is feeding us scraps.

Or watching how we react.

I shove the phone back into my pocket, jaw tightening.

There was someone in that café.

Just not the target.

Vivian.

The way she looked at me, not with fear, not with recognition.

But with curiosity.

People don’t look at me like that.

They look away. Lower their heads. Step aside.

No one meets my eyes unless they have a death wish.

Yet she did.

I sit in the driver’s seat, but I don’t start the engine. I rest both hands on the steering wheel, breathing slow and controlled.

She shouldn’t matter.

I don’t have room for softness or distractions.

I don’t get to want things that don’t belong in my world..

And girls like her?

Smart, gentle, bright eyed and untouched by violence or blood or power…

They break when they touch darkness.

But her voice…

Her eyes…

The tiny hiccup in her breath when she saw me…

It burrowed under my skin.

I’ll have to return, I’d told myself.

Not for the intel.

For her.

“f**k,” I mutter under my breath, dragging a hand down my face.

This is a mistake.

A massive one.

And the kind I know I’ll make again.

My phone buzzes.

Luca: ‘Boss, you coming back to the warehouse?’

I should.

I should go right now, do my job, track down whoever fed us the false lead, maybe break their fingers until they talk.

Instead, I text:

Not yet.

My own answer annoys me.

I start the engine but pause, glancing at the café in the rearview mirror.

I shouldn’t care.

Yet I look anyway.

Warm light glows through the windows, and silhouettes move inside. Vivian and another girl. They seem to be cleaning and closing up.

A normal end to a normal day.

A world I don’t belong in.

My grip tightens on the steering wheel.

Then I drive off before I do something stupid, like walk back inside.

VIVIAN

Anna and I walk toward the grocery store, the cool evening air brushing against my face. Streetlights flicker on one by one as the neighborhood settles into that cozy, end of day calm.

She loops her arm through mine dramatically.

“Okay, so… espresso god.”

I groan loudly. “Not again.”

“Oh, yes again. I waited all day for drama and you dropped a literal Greek tragedy of a man into my lap.”

“Anna please!”

“Did he flirt with you?”

“No.”

“Did you flirt with him?”

“No!”

“Did you accidentally give him heart eyes?”

I hesitate.

Anna gasps. “YOU DID.”

I bury my face in my hands. “I don’t know what happened. He just walked in and… my whole brain malfunctioned.”

“And then?”

“And then he stared at me like he knew things he shouldn’t know.”

Anna stops walking. “Plot twist: what if he’s your soulmate?”

I laugh. “He’s not.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do. Trust me.”

Because a man like him doesn’t pair with a girl like me.

A storm doesn’t fall in love with a candle flame.

We reach the store and grab a cart. Anna heads straight for the snacks aisle. I try to focus on groceries, but my mind keeps drifting.

His eyes.

His voice.

His presence.

He felt like a warning wrapped in temptation.

“Okay,” Anna says, snapping me out of it as she tosses popcorn into the cart. “Real question. Do you want to see him again?”

“No,” I say quickly. Too quickly.

Anna raises one brow. “You sure?”

I swallow.

Am I?

Before I can answer, my phone buzzes. A text from Lea.

LEAH: “Is your heart okay now?”

Anna sneaks a glance. “Speaking of Leah, is she still teasing you?”

“Yes. She said I was holding my chest like I was catching the Holy Ghost.”

Anna bursts out laughing. “Oh, she might be right.”

I bump her shoulder. “Shut up.”

We continue shopping, filling the cart with pasta, vegetables, beef, and the dessert Anna insists on buying even though we both know she’ll eat it before dinner’s ready.

By the time we pay and leave, night has fully settled. The street is quiet, warm yellow lights glowing from apartment windows.

We walk home, our footsteps echoing softly across the pavement.

Anna rambles about a horrible customer she had earlier, the kind who thinks buying a book gives them the right to be rude. I laugh, nod, respond, but part of me drifts back to him.

His stare, his voice saying my name.

It wasn’t normal.

Nothing about him felt normal.

We reach our apartment building, climb the stairs, and unlock the door. The scent of vanilla air freshener greets us.

Anna drops the grocery bags on the counter. “Alright. Spill more tea while we cook.”

I smile and set the pasta down.

But before I can pull ingredients out of the bag a strange sensation washes over me.

A chill skitters down my spine.

Like someone, somewhere is still watching.

Anna notices instantly.

“Vee?” she asks, pausing mid unpacking. “What’s wrong?”

I blink, shake my head once, trying to dispel the sudden heaviness pressing at the back of my neck.

“I don’t know,” I say quietly. “Just felt weird for a second.”

Anna studies me with that sharp intuition she pretends she doesn’t have.

“Was it a thought or a feeling?”

“A feeling.”

And that’s the truth.

Like eyes on the back of my skull.

But when I glance at the kitchen window, nothing waits outside. Just the balcony railing and the street below. No shadows moving. No silhouettes. No reason to feel unsettled.

Still… something lingers.

Anna bumps me with her hip.

“Hey. Shake it off. You’re safe. We’re home. And we have food. And I’m starving.”

Her voice pulls me back.

I set the spaghetti on the counter, start lining ingredients beside it, garlic, onions, basil, tomatoes. The motion grounds me and pulls me back into my body.

Anna hums as she rinses vegetables, and just like that, the apartment fills with the comfortable noise of us. Running water, cabinet doors and the faint crackle of the vanilla candle I lit earlier.

Normalcy.

I cling to it.

Soon the pasta boils, the sauce simmers and a soft warmth fogs the kitchen windows. Anna steals a piece of mozzarella when she thinks I’m not watching.

“I saw that,” I say.

“You saw nothing,” she replies.

And slowly, the strange feeling fades.

Almost.

DOMINIC

The city blurs past my window as I drive, but nothing settles in my chest.

I should be tracing routes, reviewing intel.

Instead, I’m replaying a moment I shouldn’t remember.

I turn onto a quiet street and park beside one of our warehouses. The shutters are rusting, the building dark, as it should be. Nothing here is for show.

My phone buzzes.

Luca: ‘We checked cam footage from the block. Nobody was watching you today. Whoever fed the info was bluffing.’

A humorless breath slips out of me.

Bluffing.Testing.Studying.

Someone wanted to see where I’d go.

Or who I’d meet.

That matters.

But not as much as it should.

Because instead of reviewing the footage, I’m replaying her again.

Vivian.

Her breath.

Her eyes.

Her unguarded curiosity.

Softness like hers has no place near me.

Softness like her gets killed.

I close my eyes for three seconds…my only version of rest.

Mistake.

Because she flickers behind my eyelids.

I open them again.

This is how it starts: small cracks in discipline.

A detail.

A voice.

A girl who should mean nothing.

I start the car, driving into the warehouse before I can sink deeper into the thought of her.

VIVIAN



The sauce is almost done when Anna steals the spoon.

“Taste test.”

I sip. “Needs a pinch of salt.”

She snaps her fingers. “I knew it.”

“You did not.”

She laughs. “Okay, real talk. Do you want to see him again?”

I pause.

“I don’t know.”

“That means yes.”

“It doesn’t.”

“It does.”

I chop basil to avoid responding, but something tightens in my chest.

“He felt like someone who shouldn’t be real,” I say quietly.

Anna tilts her head. “Meaning?”

“Like he exists in a world I don’t belong in.”

“Maybe he just wanted coffee. Maybe you’re overthinking.”

Maybe.

I hope so.

We finish cooking, drift into soft conversation, and let the night fade away.