Page 36 of Grumpy Mafia Boss and the Cleaner
Chapter Ten
Harper knew this was a setup from the start.
The moment Marcus Villa came to Enzo’s home, at just the right moment, when he’d left the house from a frantic call, she had known it wasn’t going to end well. This was Villa putting her in her place.
Her uniform was back in place, and she had no choice but to leave Enzo’s home to go with him. Fear raced down her spine, because she still hadn’t been able to find some way to confirm if she was pregnant or not.
She didn’t even know if Enzo was aware that she’d been taken by his boss. She was trying not to freak out.
Marcus Villa had brought her to another home, a mansion from the looks of it, where she’d been sent to get changed into a uniform. This one was black, with a frilly white apron, and a hat to adorn her head. She looked every part the maid she was paid to be. And no sign of Enzo.
Marcus hadn’t said many words to her. There was no way she would be able to leave. She didn’t know if this meant she was working for Marcus now, or if he’d taken her for a job. She was trying not to freak out.
None of the other staff members talked. They didn’t even look at each other.
She heard a lot of horror stories over the years about girls being taken and forced to serve in many different ways. Was this because of her father? Had her father made a deal with Marcus?
The chef pushed a platter into her hands, and she held it tightly, although she felt terrified. She was in a line of multiple girls, all of them seeming to know what their jobs and their places were, and she felt so damn small. Was this Marcus’s plan? To make her feel small and realize she was nothing more than a cleaner?
There was no time for tears or fear. She had to be prepared for whatever happened. She felt sick to her stomach.
She was pregnant with Enzo’s baby, and she didn’t even know if she was ever going to see him again. Her future was no longer certain, not that it ever really was. Her life was never certain. In that moment, she hated her father more than ever.
The doors to the main dining room were opened, and Harper knew she didn’t have a choice but to square her shoulders and be professional.
She’d never really been a serving girl. She had cleaned. That was easy, she saw mess and knew how to deal with it. Serving people was never part of her repertoire. She took a deep breath in and a long breath out. This was all she could do. Falling apart was not the answer.
She followed the path of the other women and lined up in the room, where she saw a dinner banquet. Several men were dressed in expensive-looking suits, and the women were in gowns. It looked stylish, classy, and Harper noticed Enzo right away, as well as the slender blonde woman right next to him.
Enzo hadn’t recognized her. She blended in with the staff.
The woman beside him let out a little giggle, and this made her feel even more sick. This is what Marcus wanted to do. To remind her of exactly who she was. The woman next to Enzo was a woman more fitting to his standards. Not her, the daughter of a nobody. Enzo was the son of a Capo, a man people admired and looked to for leadership. He shouldn’t be paired with someone like her.
Harper was about to avert her gaze, as she realized she was pregnant with nothing. No family. No hope. She was trapped. And she was in love.
Because even though this reality check had been like a slap to the face, it didn’t stop her from still loving him. She loved him, more than ever before.
Enzo chose that moment to look up, and the instant he did, she saw the shock in his eyes and the rage.
“Well, I think we’ve all proven here tonight, that this is going to be one fine match,” Marcus said.
She looked down at the floor. It would be so much easier to let the floor just open up and swallow her whole.
“Enzo, I think Bianca is an absolutely stunning woman, and she will make you an amazing wife,” Marcus said. “And Bianca, you deserve a man worthy—”
The pain kept slicing through her chest.
“What the fuck is the meaning of this?” Enzo asked.
Harper stayed perfectly still. That tone was deadly. She had never heard it herself, and it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She feared moving.
“It is time for you to move on. You need to have those heirs, and Bianca is a perfect candidate.”
“I suggest you speak carefully, Marcus,” Enzo said.
This made Harper look up. Both men were staring at each other, and the tension was that sharp, she didn’t even think a knife would be able to cut it. She gripped the tray in her hands, and she didn’t quite know what happened next but Enzo shoved out his chair.
Harper wasn’t sure if she was witnessing this quite yet, but he was suddenly in front of her, he grabbed the tray out of her hands and launched it across the room. The people at the table ducked, but Enzo didn’t seem to care.
