Chapter 4

“Noted.” Said Cassie, giving Damian the side eye with a frown on her face.

Damian moved and settled down on his seat, straightening his black jacket, and pulling his hair bangs away from his face.

“Oranges, right Boss?” Said Blake, leaning towards his uncle and putting his right hand to his left cheek, trying to whisper.

Cassie couldn’t hear Damian’s response, because she was too busy with her own thoughts. His smart car's WiFi is unsecured, yet he lectures me about safety? Thought Cassie.

She then started typing violently, hacking into the car’s system, hoping to prove Damian Ricci wrong. But that only got Blake’s attention.

“What’re you doing?” Blake asked, skeptical, with his eyebrows raised, with his eyes taking a peek.

At that moment, the window made a splat sound. The window that separated them with the driver (Jordan), immediately slid down. Causing Blake to flinch and Damian to look where the sound had come from. 

“Woah!” Said Blake, with his mouth forming an O.

“Need something, Boss?” Said Jordan, stopping in a red light to look in the mirror. 

Cassie had a smug smirk, while typing on her computer. 

”…No.” said Damian, looking at Cassie with the corner of his eye.

“She’s a tricky one.” Said Blake, slurping on his apple juice and looking at his brown shoes.

Cassie heard that, and she pressed the enter button and the window immediately closed, again.

She waited until Damian looked at her to say, “If you’re so concerned with locking things, then you should put a password on your Wi-Fi.”

Damian just looked at her, like he was trying to figure her out.

”Noted.” He said, looking at her, then straightening his jacket, and looking over his window

…

Before they arrived, Cassie had looked up the location of where she would be staying at, and she noticed they had two different locations but with the same name.

One said, The Ricci Annex: Milan. And the other one said, The Ricci Annex: Washington DC. 

So Cassie naturally assumed they were going to the one that said Washington, because they were in Washington. Unless Damian had taken her to Milan without her permission.

They arrived and saw that it was a massive mansion. Far too big for very little staff to be living here. 

The mansion had a red roof with small windows decorating them. 

From the outside you could say they had like, 30 rooms available, but when Cassie opened the digital version of the house, she saw that the house had like, a minimum, of 100 rooms. So it was massive.

There was a big black gate surrounding the entrance, accompanied with a nine feet tall wall. 

It had no cameras. No guards. No nothing. No protection.

When it was time to get out of the car, Cassie grabbed her laptop, and put it in the black backpack she had. 

When she finished grabbing her bags from the back of the car, she noticed that Damian and Blake were walking towards the brown entrance door to the mansion, with their hands in their pockets. Both of them walked nonchalantly.

“Go ahead with Mr. Ricci,” said Jordan, grabbing the bags from her hands, “I’ll get your bags upstairs."

Cassie smiled, said thanks and walked towards Damian and Blake. 

Definitely not what I expected, thought Cassie, no visible security… not even cameras. 

Damian opened the door for him and Blake, but when it was time for Cassie to enter, he slammed the door on her face. Cassie scoffed silently “rude” she whispered.

She entered and if on the outside looked big or massive, the interior looked even bigger.

“Your room is upstairs. Second door to the left.” Said Damian, turning to her and point to where she would be staying. 

“All right.” Cassie said, nodding.

“Blakey, you’ll be with Cassie from now on.” Said Damian, looking at Blake.

“Then we’ll both be with you.” Said Blake, looking at his uncle, taking the straw of his juice out of his mouth.

Damian crunched to be the same height as Blake, “No. Starting today, you will go to Cassie for everything. No more ride-alongs.” He said, with a straight face.

“But, I don’t want—”

“This is for the best.” Damian said, with his hands joined together.

Blake glared at his uncle, “You’re trying to ice me out,” He crushed the juice box that contained apple juice, “You think I can’t handle the business.” He said with a shaking voice. 

“I never should have involved you in this.” Damian said, standing up.

“But you need me!” Shouted Blake.

Damian sighed, “Not like this.” 

“I hate you!” Blake said, throwing the juice box to the floor, while storming out to the entrance door.

Damian sighed with his eyes closed, turned to give Cassie his back, and murmured a hushed “Fuck.” But Cassie just stared at him, with sorry in her eyes.

“He’s had a hard time without his mother,” said Damian, still giving Cassie his back, “The day he turned ten, he remembered that his mother died while giving birth to him.” He paused, “That made him kind of moody before puberty.” Damian chuckled.

Cassie made a soft chuckle, but her face went straight to worry again, “He seems very attached to you.” Cassie said, looking where Blake had stormed off, then back at Damian.

“I kept him too close.” Damian said, passing a hand through his hair.

“Does he know what you do?” Asked Cassie, taking a step closer to Damian.

“Do you?” Asked Damian, turning to face Cassie. With an eyebrow raised. 

Cassie remembered all those newspaper headlines she read when she was a pre-teen. Ricci’s untouchables, Ricci strikes again? Italy under the mafia thumb and Suspected wanted criminal from the mafia walks peacefully in English territory.

Cassie shrugged, “Yeah, well, I read the news.” She looked straight into his eyes.

“That simplifies things,” said Damian, smirking, while looking at Cassie, “I’ll be honest then. I am the underboss of the Ricci mafia.”

He’s the number one? Wasn’t he under the Mafia Boss…? How did he do it? Thought Cassie, with her eyes widened in surprise. She knew what she was getting into, but with

the Mafia Boss?

“I have more enemies than I can count,” continued Damian, “And they would do anything to get their hands on my only nephew, whom I consider a son. Only Heir to the Ricci name.” He paused.

It was a lot to take in for Cassie. She had all those years of training, but it seemed like they had disappeared.

“And that’s where you come in, Elite Nanny.” Said Damian, walking closer to Cassie, with both hands in his pocket.

“I understand. I’ll protect him with everything I have.” Said Cassie, taking a hand to her chest.

“Then we shouldn’t have any problems.” Said Damian, walking towards the stairs. 

“Wait, Mr. Ricci,” said Cassie, making Damian turn to face her, “What other duties will I have? I can manage your private network, your schedule, balance accounts—”

“It won't be necessary. Your only duty is to Blakey.” Damian said, turning to the stairs, again.

“Respectfully, keeping him safe requires more than just childcare.” Said Cassie, walking to Damian, gesturing with her hands, “There’s the physical condition of the house, installing security. Perhaps even some more—”

“Maybe I wasn’t clear,” said Damian, walking to Cassie and whispering to her ear while glaring at her, “Your only duty is not to let my son out of your sight.”