I kept my head down as I slipped past the kissing couple and out the door. my mind was reeling at the sight of them kissing only because I knew that the lawyer, Benedetta, I believed her name was, was supposed to be Massimo’s girlfriend. Not Fabrizio’s.
It was really ballsy of them to be sucking face like that out in the open where Massimo could walk down the stairs at any moment and catch them in the act.
“Yasemin!” Dino – whose full name was Bernardino, as I had learnt over breakfast with some of his brothers – called out after me as I rushed to walk down the pathway, leading me away from the Mancini Mafia house. “Slow down, Yasemin!”
I sighed and pursed my lips, contemplating whether I should ignore him or not. On one hand, Dino had been nothing but nice to me, even if we had met during an awkward game of spin the bottle but on the other hand, I really needed to get away from this place. And not just because I was going to be late for work.
Even though I hadn’t fucked Massimo last night, I wanted to, and that was the problem. Not only did he cheat on me with his girlfriend, but I continued to have these feelings for him even though I knew he was a taken man.
What was wrong with me? Or more importantly, what was wrong with these people? Why was everyone cheating on everyone?
“I know you said you have to get to work but I just wanted to speak to you for a few moments,” Dino called out after me again and that’s when I realised that I had still been walking away from him.
“Okay,” I sighed before turning around to face him. “What did you want to talk about?”
“I just wanted to check if you’re okay.”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m smart enough to know that when a woman says she’s fine, that generally means that she’s the opposite of fine. Now, tell me what’s wrong.”
“Nothing is wrong,” I tried to insist but he merely sent me a pointed look, making sure I knew that he didn’t believe me for a single moment.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, now what happened last night?” I asked in hopes that he would stop asking me how I was or even worse, why I was clearly upset. I was afraid that my sharp tongue would blurt out the fact that I was letting Massimo get to me even though I knew he had a girlfriend. And to think
“How much do you remember?”
“I remember everything up until the moment I was sick all over Massimo’s shoes,” I groaned and pressed my face into my hands at the horrid memory.
How could Massimo crawl into bed beside me after I had just been sick on him? What was wrong with him?
“Nothing after that?” he asked.
“Nothing after that,” I confirmed and shook my head. “Now, lay it on me. Tell me everything after I was sick.”
“You’re probably not going to be too happy after hearing this but oh, well. You asked for it,” Dino chuckled and shrugged. “After you were sick, you passed out, so Massi put you in his car.”
“Please tell me that’s where the story ends,” I groaned, so embarrassed with my behaviour last night…even if it was from the results of a date rape drug.
“Unfortunately for Ricky, it doesn’t,” Dino chuckled, a proud look on his face. “Massi put you in his car and then we went to catch Riccardo and teach him a lesson.”
“What kind of lesson?”
“Let’s just say…” his voice trailed off into a humoured chuckle. “The kind where he’s going to wake up all sore and achy this morning but don’t worry,” he was quick to say when he caught sight of the alarmed expression on my face. “We didn’t hurt him enough to do some real damage. Anyway, after we were done with him, we were kind enough to drop him at his doorstep.”
“How do you guys know where he lived?” I asked, clearly having missed the whole point of his story.
“Let’s just say…we go way back with Ricky and his family.”
“How?” I asked, beginning to worry that I had caused good family friends to fall out. Not that any of this was my fault, of course.
“He’s a Romano,” Dino stated with a shrug, as if that was supposed to mean something.
And it did. It may have taken me a few moments, but I eventually remembered that the Romano’s were one of the other large mafia families in New York.
“They’re your rivals,” I guessed with wide, disbelieving eyes.
“I guess you could say that, yes,” Dino nodded. “And before you start to worry, don’t. The Mancini’s and the Romano’s have been at war since long before I, or any of my brothers were born. Including Massimo. You didn’t start any trouble, and a good beating was only the least what Ricky deserved for what he planned to do to you.”
“Thanks for sticking up for me like that,” I murmured after taking a deep breath to calm myself down. “I don’t know what would have happened to me if you or Massimo hadn’t shown up when you did.”
“You shouldn’t have to thank us for the bare minimum, Yasemin,” Dino sighed, his face growing serious. “But I know even if we weren’t there, you would have been perfectly fine. You’re a strong woman. You would have been able to hold your own against a dirty scumbag like Ricky.”
I smiled at his words and overcome with emotion, I leaned in to pull him in for a quick hug.
“Thank you, and I really hope I haven’t caused more trouble for you guys with the Romano’s,” I gave him a quick squeeze before pulling away.
“Don’t worry about it, Yasemin,” Dino assured me for what must have been the millionth time in the past few minutes. “That was the least he deserved for trying to violate someone like that.”
“Thanks. I have to leave for work now.”
“Don’t be a stranger, okay?” Dino called out after me and I couldn’t help but chuckle.
After a quick stop at my apartment and a brief hello to Luciana who had just gotten in from spending the night at Tony’s apartment, I had a quick shower, got changed and then headed to work where I was nearly an hour late.
I prided myself on being fashionably late…but even I had to admit, being an hour late was far too late to be considered fashionable.
After a quick apology to Halley who had stuck around an extra hour until I arrived – don’t worry, I promised to make up for it next time by taking an hour off one of her shifts – I tied my apron around me and got to work.
Thankfully it was only Halley and not Tia who would no doubt have grilled me about the guy I had called last night during the dare, as well as why I had suddenly left the party. Neither of those were questions that I was willing to answer right now.
Not even an hour into work and I realised just how tired I was from last night. The effects of so much vodka and then the drug must have really messed with my insides as I had never felt a hangover so heavy and painful before. What made it worse was just how busy it was today. But then all day shifts usually were.
Thankfully, I was able to get some food and coffee in me during my break, and the second half of the shift was ten times better than the first. But it was also a whole lot busier as well and before I knew it, I was nearing the end and possibly even down to my last customer of the day.
“Welcome to Starbucks! What can I get for you today?” I asked, the words rushing out of my mouth as I tapped away at the screen, trying to wake it up in time to take what would hopefully be my last order for the day.
“A Grande vanilla latte with almond milk, please,” the customer order and my head snapped up at not only his words, but the familiar voice as well.
I knew that order anywhere.
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Layla Knight
30.01.2022
