The Mafia King's Virgin Healer

Actual magic

"What the hell was that?" Alex demanded, gasping loudly with her hand on her chest.

Maya swallowed hard, her heart hammering against her ribs. "I think I hit something." She unbuckled her seatbelt with trembling fingers and pushed open the driver's door.

Alex followed her out, both women scanning the road behind them only to find a small, dark shape lying motionless on the asphalt several yards back.

"Oh my God," Maya whispered, her hand flying to her mouth. "It's a cat."

They approached the injured animal carefully. The black cat was still breathing, but just barely, its small body rising and falling with labored breaths. Blood matted its fur along one side.

"It's dying," Maya said, tears welling in her eyes as she crouched beside the suffering creature.

Alex sighed as she rubbed her palms together, then glanced up and down the deserted road before kneeling beside her. "Not if I can help it," she murmured.

"What do you mean?" Maya asked, wiping away a tear as she sent a bewildered look at Alex.

"Just scoot over," Alex nudged her as she moved closer to the dying cat. "Just watch," she chuckled before placing her hand gently over the cat's body.

"W-what are you doing?" Maya stuttered confusedly, her eyes burning curiously on Alex's hand.

"You'll see," Alex replied, her eyes taking on a peculiar glow.

Maya watched, transfixed, as Alex's hands began to emit a subtle blue glow, seeping into the cat's broken body.

Maya gasped in shock, feeling the hair on her body standing on end at the magical display.

At first, nothing happened. The cat remained motionless, its breathing shallow and labored. But then, almost imperceptibly, the matted blood began to dissolve, the fur beneath it smooth and unbroken. The animal's ribcage, which had been rising and falling in irregular spasms, steadied into a normal rhythm.

And then, in a transformation that seemed nothing short of miraculous, the cat's eyes fluttered open. It blinked twice, appearing as surprised by its recovery as Maya was. With remarkable swiftness, it sprang to its feet, arched its back in a luxurious stretch, and let out a clear, healthy meow before darting toward the trees that lined the road.

"Did you see it just thank me?" Alex looked up at Maya while still squatting, a satisfied smile playing across her lips.

Maya's mouth had gone dry, her mind struggling to process what she'd just witnessed. "Can you—can you understand animal language too?" she wondered aloud.

Alex chuckled and stood up, brushing dirt from her knees. "I just assumed that," she said with a casual shrug, as if she hadn't just performed the impossible before Maya's eyes. "Let's go." She turned and walked toward the car.

Maya remained rooted to the spot, several thoughts somersaulting in her mind. Above everything, she had just witnessed magic. Actual, real magic—not sleight of hand or illusion, but something that defied the natural laws.

"Maya!" Alex called, already at the car. "We need to get moving."

The sound of her name finally broke through Maya's stunned paralysis. With her heart still pounding wildly against her ribs, she slowly walked back to the car.

"I'll drive," Alex said, noticing the condition Maya was in. "You just relax."

Maya didn't protest. She just quietly slipped into the passenger side and fastened her seatbelt with fumbling fingers. Alex started the engine and pulled smoothly back onto the road.

For several minutes, they drove in silence, the tension between them growing denser with each passing mile.

"Are you okay?" Alex finally asked, glancing sideways at her companion.

Maya shook her head, unable to find words for the storm of emotions churning inside her.

Alex released a soft sigh. "I know it's a lot for you to process right now, Maya. But trust me, you will come to understand everything with time."

"Understand?" Maya asked, turning to face Alex with different emotions playing in her eyes. "Understand what exactly? The fact you just brought an almost dead cat back to life, or that I'm caught up in this messy and scary environment I'm trying so hard to understand?"

Alex bit her lip as she glanced briefly at Maya before focusing on the road. "Just take it easy, okay, Maya."

"What does your boss do exactly? Why does he have that scary place in his house and even guns and frightening men with guns in his house?" She finally asked the question she had been dying to ask.

"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Alex chuckled. "You do watch movies, right? You can keep figuring it out, but what I can only tell you is that sometimes, those movie scenes with guns and mafias do happen in real life."

Maya gripped her thighs tight. After her little encounter with underground boxing, she could surely take a guess.

No, it's not real. She didn't want to believe that she had stumbled into the dangerous zone of the underworld.

"I don't want to be here," Maya gritted her teeth as she looked over at Alex.

"I understand your plight," Alex sighed. "But you don't have any choice right now. The best you can do is try to be a good girl for you and your family. Someone like Pedro won't really let go easily."

'He really needs you,' Alex added in her head.

Her reassurance fell on deaf ears. Maya had already retreated deep within herself, her mind racing through scenarios and possible ways to make a run for it.

The situation had evolved from merely uncomfortable to utterly surreal. First, she'd been lied to about the job, discovering that somehow she was meant to be a "nanny" to a grown, treacherous, and scary man with no children. Now she'd witnessed supernatural powers firsthand. Every instinct screamed at her to get as far away from these people as possible, before she discovered what other impossibilities lurked in Pedro's mansion.

Maya stared out the window, barely registering the scenery flashing by until the car slowed as they approached their destination. The Shops at Columbus Circle rose before them, its gleaming architecture a monument to normalcy and the mundane concerns of ordinary people—people who didn't resurrect dying cats with blue light from their fingertips.

Alex navigated into the parking structure, finding a space with practiced ease. "We're here," she announced, her tone artificially bright, as if trying to rouse Maya from her stupor.

As they walked toward the entrance of the luxury shopping center, Maya's gaze darted around, taking in the crowds of shoppers, the security cameras, the multiple exits. Each detail filed itself away in her mind, potential components of an escape plan still forming.

"I need to use the restroom," Maya said abruptly as they stepped into the cool, perfumed air of the main concourse.

Alex hesitated, studying Maya's face with eyes that suddenly seemed too perceptive, too knowing. "Of course," she said after a moment. "The restrooms are just down that corridor. I'll wait right here."

Maya nodded, trying to keep her expression neutral as she turned away. She could feel Alex's gaze burning into her back with every step, but she couldn't care less. Her mind raced ahead of her feet. Surely, the shopping center would have multiple exits, and she would slip out a different door, disappear into the crowd, find transportation...

And that's exactly what she did!

Moments later, Alex was panicking, her heart in her hand as she practiced how to breathe several times before dialing Pedro's number with fidgeting hands.