Page 32 of Grumpy Mafia Boss and the Cleaner
Chapter Nine
Harper had a horrible feeling she was already pregnant. She might have already been pregnant before Enzo said he wanted to put his babies inside her. The tight jeans had been a small indicator, but not a massive one. Her weight fluctuated all the time. Tight clothes were par for the course with her.
The real indicator came when she started to throw up in the morning. That was more like warning bells that terrified the crap out of her. There was no way for her to get a pregnancy test without Enzo knowing. He knew everything.
Also, falling asleep across the counter had been another indicator. She rarely fell asleep during the day. It just wasn’t part of her MO to fall asleep. She was a morning person and awake and alert all day, until around ten-thirty at the latest.
Of course, staying up, making love, and having lots of hot sex had to be another factor. She and Enzo had not slowed down. And each time he came, he would wedge a pillow beneath her hips, which she found highly erotic. There was something clearly wrong with her.
She didn’t know how to broach the subject with Enzo, but the morning sickness was driving her crazy. The crackers, which were dry and tasteless, were the only things she could eat. She sighed.
Coffee was out of the question, and other smells were bothering her as well. Like she loved cheese, but that was starting to smell absolutely disgusting to her. She couldn’t freaking win.
Her jeans didn’t fit. At first, they were just tight, but it had gotten to the stage where she could no longer zip them.
Harper finished cleaning Enzo’s office, being careful not to move anything. She never snooped in his office. This was his space, and she only ever cleaned it.
She was so curious about him, from his kids, to his previous wife. He’d told her the story of how he ended up being the only man living here, but that didn’t show her what his past was like.
Harper couldn’t help but think about his boss, Marcus Villa, the one that had seen them in the restaurant at Halloween. She had known that look. The moment he heard her name was Taylor, the interest had died in his eyes, and she’d become nothing more than a bug under his shoe. He was not going to be happy with her being pregnant.
At the sound of a knock at the front door, Harper froze. She looked around Enzo’s office and frowned. No one ever knocked on Enzo’s door. Not in the two years she’d been working here. Not a single person. Especially not when she was alone.
She walked out of Enzo’s office and immediately closed the door. Going to the front door, she saw there was no latch to see who was on the other side.
Opening the door, Harper wished she hadn’t opened it, because on the other side was none other than her father. She attempted to push the door closed, but he shoved at it, and she let out a little cry as she fell to the floor.
Scrambling to her feet, she stared at her father, who she hadn’t seen in over two years. The money had come in an envelope with no note, nothing.
“What are you doing here?” Harper asked.
“I should ask you what the fuck you are doing?” Bradley said.
“My job.”
“Your job?”
Harper cried out as he closed the distance and slapped her around the back of the head. It had been two years since she had been struck like this. She grabbed the back of her head and tried to keep the tears at bay. Tears always angered him and often made him hit her harder.
“Is it your job to complain about what happens to my money?” Bradley asked. “You need to learn that I own you. You’re my fucking daughter and everything you have is mine.”
She had no idea what he was talking about. It was then she noticed the cast on one of his wrists.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He slapped her again, this time across the face. She tasted blood.
“I don’t know what lies you’re telling him, but you hear me, you tell him you always intended for me to have that money. That you’re a useless piece of shit, and you owe me. You got it?”
Harper put a finger against her lip, and when she came away, she saw blood. She cried out as he grabbed her hair and tugged on it. Again, this was something she had forgotten about—the hair pulling, the hitting. This is why she often wore her hair in a ponytail, as it didn’t hurt so bad when it was pulled. She didn’t have her hair pulled back today, because Enzo loved to see her hair down, as he loved stroking it.
He pulled her in close. “You tell him what a good man I am, and that I deserve to be rewarded.”
Harper cried out, and he yanked tighter before letting her go. She stared at her father, and hatred unlike anything she had ever experienced consumed her. She hated this man with a fiery passion.
He looked at her with disdain.
“You’ve got to learn some fucking respect.” He straightened his jacket.
