Ugly Ronney: mafia romance [English]

Chapter 16-5

I ate with no appetite. Camilia's assistant, who sat in front of me, was making many phone calls. He was grumbling on the phone and complaining about being surrounded by a bunch of incompetents. Seeing him go through all the possible emotions at least made me forget the last few days of horror and intense stress.

Abigaëlle asked me if I wanted some more grilled chicken, but I politely declined, adding that the meal was delicious. Peter glared at the employee, who left the kitchen without waiting.

"Why are you so unpleasant with the people around you?"

He shrugged before taking a long sip from his glass of water. Then he answered in a tone full of sarcasm.

"I expect the employees to be perfect, even if with you I learned to deal with it."

I rolled my eyes. "You're an ass!"

He let out a cartoon-like laugh. I looked down at my watch. It had been almost two hours since Yeraz left to talk with his mother. What could they be talking about? Was the situation this serious?

"Ronney, how about resuming coaching sessions on Monday? It would be a shame to lose everything we've learned so far."

I got up and went to get the bottle of wine from the counter. I didn't like Peter's suggestion. When I returned to my chair, he didn't let me ignore it.

"You should put a little more effort into it. I'm doing this for you. The next step would be for you to take off those ugly braces. I feel like there's a little potential in you. I just need to--"

"Peter! Could you stop criticizing everything for just a minute? I feel like I'm with my bitchy cousins. Believe me, if I could take off these things stuck to my teeth, I would. The problem is I have a junkie orthodontist--the cheapest one in Sheryl Valley, I might add--who obviously drags things out to keep her patients as long as possible so she can continue to pay for her drugs."

Peter put his head in his hands. Outraged by my words, he didn't bother to answer the phone call he was receiving.

"That is horrible. That woman is a monster! What pleasure does she get from leaving people disfigured like that? Ronney, couldn't you have said so earlier?"

I left my fork dangling in front of my mouth and stared at him, squinting.

"Who can solve problems as well as I can?" he continued. "It's not a coincidence that I am Camilia's assistant. I'm calling Taylor right now."

"Wh... What? Who is Taylor?"

"The Khan family's dentist, the best in California."

Panicked, I put my fork down and put my hands in front of me to stop Peter, who had already grabbed his phone.

"No, please stop. I can't afford it! I can't afford his services."

Camilia's assistant wrinkled his nose and with a wave of his hand, threw my words back in my face.

"I know. You'll owe me one."

His small wink said a lot. The expression "to sell your soul to the Devil" had just taken on a new meaning.

When Peter hung up with Taylor, he watched me silently for a moment before taking a deep breath and saying in a slow tone, "Cancel all your upcoming appointments with your shady orthodontist. Taylor is taking over. One visit a week and he'll take them off for good just before Christmas, which is one month from now."

I was speechless.

"I had finally accepted the idea that I would grow old with them," I managed to articulate. "Thank you."

He was going to answer when the voices of Camilia and Yeraz were heard in the hall. I dropped my dessert and left to join them with Peter behind me.

Camilia was sliding the pearls of her necklace between her fingers while staring severely at her son. Then her eyes went over her shoulder. She stopped talking when she saw me coming. Yeraz turned to show a stoic face. With pinched lips and fingers knotted like strings, I waited desperately to hear what he had to say to me. Camilia spoke to her assistant.

"Peter, we should leave them alone."

Yeraz's mother then turned to me.

"Ronney, I'll wait for you on the garden terrace. We need to talk."

Her icy gaze had already set the tone for our talk.

"Am I fired?" I hastened to ask Yeraz.

With an unreadable look in his eyes, he answered in a low voice. "You still have your job, but you won't be working for me anymore."

My breath became short. I desperately searched for the air I was missing. Yeraz grabbed me by the arms.

"Ronney, you're staying in the family, don't worry. I will never leave you in the hands of someone else. Not you."

I focused on his face, which was tense with anguish, and breathed normally again. After a few seconds, my heartbeat calmed down. I ran my hands through my bun and asked, my voice quavering, "So, what is the agreement with your mother?"

"The exchange of employees will be with my sisters. Their assistant is leaving to work for Nino's daughters. You'll take her place starting next week. If you want to continue working for them afterward, beyond what was agreed, you can."

Paige was going to be sacrificed in my place. I felt a multitude of blames weighing me down and great guilt seized me. My gaze fell on Yeraz. He looked uncomfortable.

"What else?"

He hesitated for a moment, then a note of caution broke through in his voice. "I told my mother everything."

I raised my eyebrows. "Everything?"

"Yes. I had to, to convince her to fix the situation. She knows about the attack in the restaurant, my fight with Hamza, and..."

Yeraz cleared his throat. Worried, I asked him to continue. He looked away.

"She knows we slept together."

I turned pale. The silence fell again, unbearable. Nothing today was going well. I finally said in an emotionless voice and with a forced smile, "Okay. I'll have to go and face your mother, who must now think I'm a stupid, promiscuous girl. Wish me luck."

Yeraz grabbed my hand and squeezed it in his.

"She's not mad at you. On the contrary, it's the first time she's seen me care and fight for someone. That hope in her eyes, it made me feel weird."

I put a hand on his cheek. He looked so vulnerable at that moment. Yeraz closed his eyes and whispered almost painfully, "Shit, Ronney! What are you doing to me?"