The Mafia Lord's Daughter

CHAPTER 4

Sometimes Grace thought about what it felt like to be from a family who didn't do so well financially if she would be able to afford her lifestyle. She also felt trapped by her father, who would never let her out of his sight since she graduated from college. She recalled when she told him about getting a job and how he laughed it off.

Apparently, at twenty-three, she was still a child who didn't know what the world of the mafia was like. She was only there to be sold off in marriage to another lord to strengthen her father's mafia empire.

Saying her father's job cut short her life was an understatement. She had guards surrounding her, men in suits, and little time to associate with people. She was always on her own, and no one bullied or threatened her because, one way or the other, they knew she had a scary father.

Anyone who messed with her ended up withdrawing from school. Whenever they did, they came apologizing to her, or they were scared of her.

At first, Grace was confused about what it meant, but after Sticky Steven left school in sixth grade, rumors spread that his family was threatened.

She had come home with a bleeding nose. Steven stretched out his leg, and she stumbled on it and fell on her nose. She didn't tell her father who the person was, but somehow Steven was not seen in school the next week. The last time she saw him was when his parents came to clear his locker. It was weird how they pulled her to a side with shaky hands and black eyes, apologizing and telling her to plead with her father to stay away from them.

Fernando was one of many other men who had lost their jobs after failing to keep her under watch. The first one was when she was thirteen when her father allowed her to join her classmates on a field trip.

Grace had been so excited her father finally allowed her to join her mates to do what they did. Her father promised her there would be no bodyguards and she would be extremely free. She and Faye planned a lot of things to do. Faye was the only friend bold enough to talk to Grace; maybe it was how fearless or compassionate she was.

The two clicked. But it all went wrong after they took their freedom a little too much and got lost. That was when Grace knew her father lied about letting her go on the trip alone, and it also marked the end of the job of an incompetent guard. Just like he did with Fernando, he made the man in his thirties kneel in front of her, apologizing for being incompetent, firing him on the spot, and blaming Grace for losing his job.

She had lost count of men who lost their jobs keeping her watch; it didn't matter if she was friendly with them or if she didn't say two words to them. They ended up leaving because Grace would hardly let someone subdue her.

Just then, her landline rang, dragging her into consciousness. It sat on her table facing the wall next to her room door. Tired, she stood up and picked it up.

"Who is this?" She asked lazily.

"Where did you go, Grace?!" "You left your phone at the club."

"Jeez, Faye, stop screaming!" "You left me first with your lover, remember?"

"That was why you had Nathan, so you would feel less lonely," Faye replied. She sounded frustrated.

"How will you get your phone now?" "And please tell me your father didn't just fire another guard."

"He is Festus Hugo for a reason, he did." "You'll have to come and hand my phone over to me." "I am grounded, I do not have the liberty of leaving this cold mansion."

"And you know I cannot come to your house either, right?"

"Right." She picked up the telephone and walked around her room in a circular motion, thinking of what to do next. She needed her phone.

"Okay, this night, nine o'clock." "Stop at the gate, and I'll come to pick it up."

When the clock chimed at nine o'clock, it was time for action. It was either now or never. This was the last time she would try to sneak out of the house, or so she thought. She was going to get the phone before anyone laid hands on it. Her landline rang again; it was Faye again. She was outside the gate.

Grace didn't think it through before using her escape route; her desperation to get back her phone clouded her reasoning, which was why she decided to use the tree again. She landed on the flower bed safely and picked up her phone from Faye quickly after a little greeting in order not to get caught. Her mission was almost a success, only for her to reach the ground and find a guard standing there, watching.

She could neither climb back up nor continue with her mission. If she had a burner, she would have warned Faye to disband, but that's too late now. He looked rather calm than offended at her risking his job, which made Grace anxious to know who this strange guard was. It was too dark to identify who he was.

There was a moment of silence and air trapped in her throat, not knowing what to say, as she was caught in the act and thoughts of her father extending her grounding or seizing her phone made her terrified and she searched for words to say or tip the guy but was lost.

If the guard standing there didn't turn out to be the boy from her one-night stand, she wouldn't have words to say at that point.