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Last First Night on the Job
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Taken by the Mafia King Chat Therapy
PaigeI leaned against the back of Lauren’s bright-teal couch and stared at the seascape over her shoulder, ignoring both her gaze and the stare of the big, fluffy golden retriever who was sitting by her desk when I walked in today. She introduced him as Francis, her actual pet but also a therapy dog she’d like to bring to session sometimes. Of course, I told her to do whatever she wanted. Francis wouldn’t change anything about the shit I’d been through, just the same as her picture-perfect smile and bright-blue furniture wouldn’t. Nothing would.Francis huffed and sat at my feet.“So, did anything exciting happen since I last saw you?” Lauren asked.The word “no” bubbled to my lips, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to say it. Mom was leaving for France. I had a laptop and a phone again for the first time in months. And I had a job, my old job, starting Monday. Somehow, in the course of two days, everything had changed.“I guess,” I said. “I emailed my old job to see if they wanted m
Taken by the Mafia King Lunch Plans
TommasoPaige stepped out of Lauren’s office, and I braced for another icy blow-off, but she didn’t even glance at me. She just furrowed her brow and stared into the distance, like she was trying to work out some complex math problem in her head.“All good?” I asked.She nodded absently and began walking toward the elevator. I followed, just close enough to catch her if she ran. Obviously, something was going on with her, but she didn’t seem actively upset.When we reached the car, her confusion still hadn’t cleared. I frowned. “So, ready for your cheesesteak?” I asked.She looked up at me sharply, and something like a smile curved her lips as she nodded. We got in, and Patrick put the car in drive, pulling out toward the same little restaurant as always.“I was thinking,” I said. “Maybe you want to get out? A hot cheesesteak’s always best on a cold winter day, warming you up.”Paige’s eyes widened. Her breath seemed to catch. She tugged on the sleeves of her oversized sweater.“Or no
Taken by the Mafia King Suffocation
PaigeI marched up to my room after therapy, comfortably full for the first time in a while, and sat down at my desk. When I asked about the tablet, Tom told me the credit card was to buy whatever I needed, and he’d have his men pick it up. The slim, black rectangle had arrived yesterday, and setting it up had exhausted me too much to try it out. Now, I couldn’t avoid it any longer. I started work on Monday, and I hadn’t so much as drawn a line in five fucking months. My hands shook half the time I tried to pick something up, and my knowledge of color theory seemed to have fallen out of my head. I needed to be the employee they remembered. I cracked my knuckles, turned on the screen, and got to work.A couple of hours later, someone knocked on my door. I looked up from a page covered in logos for a business I got off a random generator, a flower shop that specialized in grief and grievance arrangements, and stretched. The first few were sloppy, way below my usual quality, but I could
Taken by the Mafia King Heroics
TommasoI didn’t know how long Paige spent bent over the arm of her office chair, wrapped around me. I’d shed my suit jacket between meetings, and the thin cotton of my button-down soaked through before long. My knees ached from the hard floor, but I couldn’t imagine moving. Last time, she’d grabbed me and let go quickly. If she wanted to hold on, I certainly intended to let her. She sobbed like the world was ending. I couldn’t let her face that alone.Eventually, she let go. Her cheeks had gone red in splotches, and her eyes looked puffy, but she also looked more human than she had since I’d picked her up in Cairo.She leaned sharply back. “I’m sorry, I—”“No.” I held on for an extra second, not restraining her, just letting her know she didn’t have to go. “Nothing to apologize for.”She shook her head and pulled out of my hold. I stood, trying not to show any expression as I lost her warmth. My knees complained, and I groaned. She glanced at me.“I’m starting to creak like an old ma
Taken by the Mafia King Across The Pond
PaigeI sat bolt-upright in one of Tom’s big leather chairs, staring at him as he dialed a number. The dozens of tiny arched windows behind him let in shafts of the setting sun, highlighting the details of yet another of his carefully decorated rooms. I couldn’t place this theme, but everything flowed in a natural way I found way more comforting than the soaring ridiculousness of my bedroom. Even the liquor cart, which I could have laughed at having in his office if my heart wasn’t beating out of my chest, had legs that curled like vines up to its leaf-shaped top. The edges of my hair still clung damply to my face, and I felt weirdly vulnerable, even fully clothed with a desk between us. I hadn’t even meant to say that stuff about it being unfair; it just tumbled out. But he took it in stride, like he seemed to take everything, and immediately leapt to trying to fix it. Maybe McKenna was dead—my body trembled—but I had to try. We had to try.Somehow, I believed he was actually trying.
Taken by the Mafia King Tom
TommasoI looked at Paige for a long moment. The fire in her dark eyes hadn’t dimmed, but her mouth had thinned into a severe line. She wouldn’t be letting me weasel out this time, even though I had no better answer to give her.Despite that, I chuckled. Tom. That name didn’t belong to someone like me, raised from the womb for blood. It belonged to an accountant or, well, a graphic designer. Someone who kept normal hours and grilled steaks on the weekends for the wife and kids.She blinked. “What’s so funny?”“Nothing,” I said. “To your ques—”“No one calls you Tom, huh?” she asked.I couldn’t keep the smile from my lips. She was still such a puzzle to me, but she read me like a book. “No, no one else.”She crossed her arms. “No one? Ever?”I laughed. “My nona called me Tommy sometimes. That’s about it.”“You don’t look like a Tommaso to me.” She looked me up and down.My skin heated in the path of her gaze. “Well, you can call me whatever you like.”She pursed her lips. “You didn’t a
Taken by the Mafia King Bon Voyage
PaigeEarly Friday morning, I stood in the mosaic entryway of Tom’s house with Mom and her five suitcases, waiting for Fred to come pick her up and head to the airport. Tom had moved therapy to the afternoon so I could see her off. Not that that was going very well. She kept starting sentences and stopping. I picked at the stitching on her brand new matching set of suitcases I assumed Tom had purchased for her.Finally, there was a knock on the door. Mom flung it open, and an older man with a wide smile stood there.“Fred!” Mom wrapped him in a quick, platonic hug.“Natalia.” He kissed her cheek and released her. “And Paige! I was so thrilled to hear you were home safe.”I forced a smile. My stomach flipped, and it took all my willpower not to grab Mom and drag her back. From this angle, Fred looked a whole hell of a lot like another bastard.“You know, Killian Ricci asked me to find you months ago?” he said. “When I couldn’t, I was thrilled to be able to help your mom out instead. Yo
Taken by the Mafia King Remorse
PaigeI sat on Lauren’s teal couch with Francis’s head on my feet, feeling sore from the basketball game and maybe—just maybe—a little less pissy than I had been. I kind of missed the ache of over-used muscles.“So, how have the last couple of days been?” she asked. “I know we’re meeting later so you could send off your mom. How was that?”“Fine.” I shrugged. I didn’t want to talk about the hug thing. I knew, at least conceptually, about exposure therapy, and I didn’t intend to get tricked into anything like that.“Okay.” Lauren took a note. “What about everything else?”I studied her, trying to see whatever secrets she was hiding behind her mane of blonde hair. “What do you know about my history?”She shook her head. “What you’ve told me, and that you needed a trauma specialist.”I swallowed. “And if I tell you I won’t talk about something, you won’t push?” She’d basically promised as much in our first session.She put up three fingers and grinned. “Scout’s honor.”“Tom called a frie
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Taken by the Mafia King Epilogue
PaigeI stood in the vestibule outside of the chapel, clutching my flowers, my heart hammering in my chest. Organ music belted through the doors, and I was just waiting for my cue.We all were. My two bridesmaids, in simple maroon dresses, stood ahead of me. Like she could feel my eyes, Lauren turned back and winked. I smiled. The dress looked spectacular on her, and I’d promised up and down that Tom would invite enough handsome men for her to go home with a date. This, of course, had been complicated by Tom choosing Killian and Stan as his two groomsmen. While I liked the older man, and he kept Lauren laughing, I didn’t exactly see the two of them as a couple.Mom stepped up next to me with a smile. Her mother-of-the-bride dress, a deep burgundy gown with gold accents, caught the light and sent it dancing. “Are you excited?”I inhaled sharply. “I kind of can’t stop thinking about the seating chart for the reception. Who have I become?”She laughed. “Your father.”Tears beaded in my e
Taken by the Mafia King Old Time's Sake
KillianI sat behind my desk and looked out over my men. Tommaso took his usual seat. Adrian hovered in the corner like he wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself yet, just like he had at the beginning. Patrick was still laughing about spilling his wine. Just like old times. I stood and started pouring everyone drinks.“So,” I said, “do you have an update on the warehouses, Adrian?”He started toward my desk, then paused. An odd moment passed. It wasn’t really my desk anymore. I’d left the hunk of wood behind because I had no need for it on the island, and he’d loaded it down with computers in my absence. Despite that, I’d never seen anyone sit behind it but my father besides me.I offered Adrian a drink. “Sit.”He nodded. “Didn’t want to step on your toes. The situation is pretty simple, all told, but I can tell there’s a certain amount of grace I’m supposed to be handling this foreman with, and I don’t—”Tommaso joined me at the bar to pour. “Do you remember that foreman in the so
Taken by the Mafia King Big News
PaigeI tucked my arm through Tom’s and straightened my long, floral romper. He kissed me on the cheek, then knocked on the door. Joyce swung it open.“Hello!” She welcomed us both in with hugs. “Mr. and Mrs. Ricci are in the drawing room. Please, come in.”We let ourselves be bustled through the door, the wine we’d brought carried off to the kitchen, and our coats taken to some closet somewhere in the mansion. Adrian used it as a base of operations when Killian and Sera weren’t home, so I’d been here a few times since the wedding, but I’d never felt comfortable here. Finally, we were led to the closed doors of the drawing room, and Tom opened them with a smile.Inside, we found not only “Mr. and Mrs. Ricci,” but also Olivia and Patrick, Adrian and Penny—who still wouldn’t even talk about their dance at the wedding—and Sera’s mother and brother, as well as Lauren. Sera leapt up to greet us, and Killian followed a few paces behind. I threw myself into the hug just as much as Sera did—I
Taken by the Mafia King Checking Up
SeraI folded a T-shirt and put it into Killian’s suitcase. “Are you sure we need to leave so soon?”He chuckled and took the T-shirt back out, then replaced it with a suit shirt. “Very, unfortunately. Adrian is in the middle of a difficult situation with one of the warehouses, and he needs a steady hand to guide him through.”My stomach churned at the thought of leaving the villa. We’d only been here for a couple of months, and we’d promised everyone we’d return, but dammit, I wasn’t ready yet. Lazing around the villa and having sex whenever the mood took us was way too fun to stop after only a few months.“But we’ll be back soon, right?” I asked like I didn’t already know.“Cara mia.” Killian took my hands. “What is happening in that head of yours?”I sighed. “I don’t know. The thought of leaving just make me kind of sick. We just got away from all that. I don’t want to be scared again.”He studied me for a long moment. “You do look a little pale. How sick is this making you exactly
Taken by the Mafia King Humdrum Excitement
PaigeI squeezed Tom’s hand in the car on the way to the airport.“Sad to be leaving?” he asked.I smiled. “Always. It’s so magical here.”He laughed. “Not just saying that because we’ve spent most of the vacation in bed?”I ran my free hand up his leg. “No, we have weekends for that at home.”“Fair enough.” He kissed the back of my hand. “I do like going on these little vacations, though. It’s a nice escape for a few days.”I nodded. I really was going to miss Paris, but I wouldn’t have wanted to stay much longer anyway. Lauren had been texting me updates about the shelter, especially the new one as women settled in. I kept thinking about how much I was missing, how much they needed me there. And I knew Tom was feeling the same. Apparently, Lyle had his sights set on someone new, and Tom was itching to pull the trigger. Anybody else would probably think we were freaks, desperate to leave a luxury vacation to get back to our grueling jobs. But those people didn’t realize just how much
Taken by the Mafia King Perfect Fit
TommasoWhen I told Paige I’d set everything up for another two days in Paris, she’d immediately insisted we spend a day shopping. I put up a cursory front of complaints, but in truth, I was perfectly happy following her from store to store and carrying her bags. Even better, she loved it when I made jokes about some of the worst, frilliest, most French things we came across. She laughed and joined in. For years, I’d heard men complaining about shopping with their girlfriends—fiancées—saying it was the most boring thing in the world, but even if we weren’t laughing up a storm as we paid our way through the most expensive boutiques in Paris, I still would’ve been having a ball. The sun was shining, she kept looking at the ring I’d put on her finger with a soft wonderment I’d never seen in her eyes anymore, and my face hurt from smiling. Paige and I could’ve made a hell of an afternoon out of reading the phone book.“Stop!” she said.I froze, my free hand twitching toward the gun I’d hi
Taken by the Mafia King Beginning of Forever
PaigeI didn’t know how long Tom and I lay there, listening to the fireworks and seeing the very top of their arcs through the sliver of windows accessible from the floor. I pillowed my head on his chest and enjoyed the steady beat of his heart. Engaged. The last time I was here, I’d been on the cusp of recovery, just starting to make strides toward the person I was today. Now, I wasn’t done—I didn’t know if there was a done for traumatized people or people in general—but I was so much better, stronger, happier than I had been.The last time Tom and I were in Paris, I’d thrown myself at him and chickened out. As much as I could stay at a private view of the Eiffel Tower, I wanted to show him just how much had changed. Just how much I meant the “yes” that had fallen so easily from my lips. I rolled on top of him.“What do you say we take this back to that hotel room you picked out?”Tom grinned and pulled me down for a kiss. I pressed myself against him, feeling every line of his body.
Taken by the Mafia King The Only Ones
PaigeI sat across from Tom in an empty, stunning restaurant in the middle of the Eiffel Tower with my head spinning like the three sips of wine I’d had with the appetizer were enough to make me drunk. He’d really rented out the Eiffel Tower. And not one floor, the whole thing. We’d ridden an empty elevator, the two-Michelin-star chef kept coming out to tell us why he’d selected particular dishes based on the information Tom had given him about our preferences, and I couldn’t hear anything but the soft classical music over the speakers. It felt like a dream.Tom took my hand. “So?”“So what?” I asked.“Was the surprise worth it?” He grinned.I looked over his suit, a forest green that brought out his eyes, worn without a tie. His dark curls tumbled into his face. I’d never seen him look so perfectly put together and so casual. He looked…well, he looked exactly like the man I’d fallen in love with. Nothing like the one who’d scared me so badly all those months ago in Cairo.“I get the
Taken by the Mafia King Peace Time
TommasoDespite how much I wanted Paige to keep that little black dress on, we had a few hours before the Tower officially emptied out for our use. I talked her into putting on something a little more walkable and keeping the lingerie on. As if to punish me for my restraint, she picked a pair of tiny, wide-legged shorts that showed the tops of the garters attached to her stockings every time she moved and a fitted blouse. I changed and somehow convinced myself to leave the hotel room instead of stripping everything off her and spending the hours in bed.She took my hand as we stepped into the lobby. “I should’ve known. When you plan a surprise, it’s never just one thing. Where are we off to first?”“So nosy.” I smiled.“You’re right, I’ll stop asking.” She slid the room key out of her pocket and fiddled with it for a second, then dropped it. With a small smile, she bent at the waist to pick it up, exposing those garter straps again.I grabbed her waist and hurried her the final few st
