NANNY FOR THE MAFIA BOSS

CHAPTER 1: THE JOB NO ONE WANTED I stood on the sidewalk, my hands trembling as I held my last few belongings. After months of bad luck and a sudden eviction, I had reached a breaking point. Every door I knocked on remained closed, and every job application seemed to vanish into the city's indifferent bureaucracy. I spent my days walking from one End of the city to the other, my shoes wearing thin as I searched for any opportunity to rebuild my life. The isolation was the hardest part; without family to turn to, the vastness of the urban landscape felt like a labyrinth designed to keep me lost. Despite the exhaustion weighing on my spirit, a spark of resilience remained. I spent my final few dollars at a local internet café, searching for private domestic positions. I was not looking for romance or love. I was looking for a job that paid more than daycare wages and didn't ask me to smile through parents who were always late to pick up their kids. I was from a poor background, barely had good food to eat, and had lots of bills to pay, but I was not desperate enough to take a Nanny job. Until I saw it: “ Live-in nanny needed, discretion required, six-figure pay, wardrobe allowances and feeding. Employer: Robert Vince Anderson Robert Vince. The rude and arrogant Mafia heir Billionaire, The man who was said to be the killer of his runaway late wife and her lover after she tried eloping with his child. And his 4-year-old daughter, Ria, who had run off 8 nannies in six months. But I really did not care about his reputation or that of Ria, I cared only about the pay and the benefits attached to it. Then I applied for the job, and the interview was in three days, in a glass-and-steel penthouse that looked over the Hudson. The kind of place that had an elevator and a security guard who checked your name twice. Life at Vince's house was a study in contrasts. While the gardens were beautiful and Ria was a quiet child, the house was filled with stern men and constant security. She was four, with her father's dark hair and a scowl that could melt steel. Ria was building a tower in the living room and didn't look up when I entered. Robert Vince Anderson did, tall, light-skinned, in a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up, like he had just come from a meeting he didn't have time for. His eyes were grey, cold and assessing. The cold, calculating Mafia boss, a notoriously ruthless figure in the power structure, was as strict with his household as he was with his business associates. “You are the applicant,” he said. Not a question “Ava Hale. Has a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education. Three years' experience with toddlers . Something flickered in his expression. Maybe surprise. Maybe irritation. “. You are hired. Live-in. Starts Monday, 7Am. Room on the 3rd floor. Ria’s schedule is on the table. Do not deviate, do not touch what does not belong to you and finally, do not ask questions,” he said . He turned to leave, then stopped. His gaze locked on mine for some seconds. Suddenly my stomach dropped. I knew that look from somewhere, not from his file, but from memory. Then I remembered. Two weeks ago, at a charity gala where I worked as a staff member. A stranger in a tuxedo who I fell in love with, who bought me a drink, who laughed once, who didn't know my last name. It was him He didn't say it and neither did I either, because i wanted and needed to keep my new job. “You have a problem, Miss Hale?” he asked. “No , Mr Vince. I responded “Good, Monday 7am” He walked away. Ria finally looked up, studied me, gave no smile and went back to her block building. I exhaled. The job no one wanted was mine, and the man from the charity gala, pretending he was not a billionaire mafia heir, was now my boss. Then I knew that my life was doomed.