I Saved His Daughter And The Mafia Boss Won’t Let Me Leave Chapter 06
I’m staring at my clothes on the bed and I want to scream.
Lily’s school orientation is tomorrow.
St. Catherine’s. The kind of school where every mom pulls up in heels and a two-thousand-dollar bag.
I’m her mother now. At least on paper. I can’t walk in there wearing stuff that still smells like cooking oil.
What am I gonna do? Can I still run out and buy something? I don’t even know what people wear to these things. Fashion has never been my thing. Like, ever.
I’m squatting on the floor, clutching my head, when I hear Roman at the door.
“What are you doing?”
I point at the pathetic pile on the bed.
“Tomorrow. The school thing. I’m gonna embarrass Lily looking like this.”
He glances over. His mouth twitches.
“That’s it? Easy.”
One hour later, I seriously regret opening my mouth.
A whole army of people shows up at the estate. Stylists, makeup artists, hair people, even someone whose only job is to make my hands look less like they’ve been scrubbing pots for ten years.
They measure me, pin me, hold up fabric after fabric, tug my hair this way and that.
I feel like dough getting rolled out and folded over and over all afternoon.
They finally let me go around dinner.
I come out in a light blue dress, hair loosely pinned up, and my legs are jelly.
“I swear that was harder than a double shift on the truck.”
I roll my shoulders on my way to the kitchen. “I gotta go cook something for Lily.”
In the living room, Roman is on the couch reading Lily a story. They both look up when they hear me.
Lily stares. Her eyes get big. Then bigger.
It’s the first time I’ve seen that kind of glow on her face.
She slides off the couch, walks up to me, and whispers:
“Mommy… you’re so pretty…”
My whole heart turns to mush. I kneel down and kiss her forehead.
“Thank you, baby. You’re pretty too.”
Behind us — a sudden coughing fit.
Roman has his face turned away, grabbing for his water glass.
I look over. “You okay? Getting sick?”
“No. Just — wrong pipe.” More coughing. “I’m fine.”
Weird. Must’ve been a bad one. His whole neck is red.
The next morning, Roman comes with us.
Lily holds my hand the whole way there, squeezing tighter the closer we get.
The auditorium is wall-to-wall designer outfits. I spot at least three bags that probably cost more than my old truck.
I lean down to Lily.
“You nervous?”
She shakes her head. Her grip says otherwise.
We barely make it to the classroom door when a woman dripping in diamonds lets out a loud laugh.
“Oh look, the Ashfords got another new nanny.”
She looks me up and down. Something jealous flashes across her face.
“This one’s pretty, at least.”
Lily goes stiff and ducks behind me.
The man next to the woman grabs her arm. “Sandra. Knock it off.”
She shakes him loose and gets louder.
“What? Am I wrong?”
“What kind of family goes through nannies like tissues?”
“He says it’s for his daughter, but who really knows what goes on in that house?”
Heads are turning now. People are whispering.
She puts a hand over her mouth, fake-gasping, smiling the whole time.
“The man’s in a wheelchair and there’s a new woman over there every other week.”
“Makes you wonder, doesn’t it? What kind of… interests he’s got behind closed doors.”