Mafia Darling

14 | Reflections (Ella)

When I return to the maid quarters, Bella is already sitting in her bed, scrolling through her phone with the covers drawn over her.

"The hell happened to you?" she asks at the sorry sight of me.

I don't look visibly injured aside from the red face, but my hair's a mess, there're dried tears matting my skin, and my shirt's all dirty and bunched in the wrong places.

"I got kidnapped and then saved," I say flatly as I sit down. "And then I kissed Marco."

Bella blinks. "Are you alright? I have ice packs in the bathroom."

"That'd be great, actually," I say, realizing I forgot to get some on my way here.

She hands one to me, and I press it against my face, relishing the numbness that the cold spreads across my aching skin and cheekbone.

"Was it Niklas's family?"

I nod.

She shakes her head. "Well...Marco's probably gonna massacre them all now."

I want to feel a spark of horror at that statement, but I don't. He's a bad person killing more bad people because they hurt me, someone he cares about. If anything, it makes me feel loved. 

I'm becoming as wicked as the mafia.

"I'm leaving."

Bella looks up. "What was that?"

I stare at the wall, my hands limp in my lap. "There are only two paths for me if I stay here," I say quietly. "If Marco and I end up together, I'll become a target for every one of his enemies. I'll get kidnapped, stalked, harassed, or I'll never be able to do anything without a security detail. If Marco and I don't end up together...then I spend my days as a maid and watch him move on and fall in love with someone else."

Bella doesn't tell me I'm wrong. She doesn't make any scathing remark, either. She just watches me with pity.

"My future here is either danger or heartbreak," I say. "It's too much. I'm leaving."

"Well...you need money to make it on your own, unless you've got a friend to call up for a ride and housing until you can land a job."

"I don't have friends," I say bluntly. I miss Andi, but I'm not dragging her along, ever. Our friendship has been severed and we're both better for it. "I'm going to steal something expensive, something they won't miss and something easy to pawn."

Bella chokes on her own spit. "Shit, that turned dark fast. You're sure you want to steal from the freaking mafia?"

"I'm not stealing a family jewel," I say defensively. "I meant, like, a vase or something. Silverware. Something they wouldn't care about."

I think of the ceramic of Mary Magdalene. Compared to the lavishness of the mansion, it was practically dirt cheap, and yet the smile it brought to Marco's face at the thought of it meaning something to his mother...It's complicated, the concept of love and wealth.

"Will you help me?" I ask.

Bella stares at me. "You really want to do this?"

My eyes brim with tears, and I calmly blink them away. "Yes."