Page 33 of Grumpy Mafia Boss and the Cleaner
“What happened to your hand?” Harper asked.
Her father glanced down and she saw him go pale. “We didn’t have this conversation, do you hear me?”
Harper just stared at him. He went to raise his hand, but all she could think about was her child. She didn’t move her hands to protect herself. The last thing she wanted to do was bring his attention to the fact she was pregnant with Enzo’s baby.
Her father was a vulture and would attempt to suck Enzo dry. He would demand so much and would become nothing put a poisonous thorn in their side.
“I get it,” she said.
“Watch your tongue,” he said. “There are plenty of men who would happily have a woman who couldn’t speak.”
The threat was real. He turned on his heel and walked away.
Harper couldn’t believe this had happened. She had no clue how he got inside Enzo’s gate.
Her mouth throbbed, as did her face. Her head didn’t feel any better. It had been a long time since she had faced that anger, and the fear threatened to consume her.
She pressed fingers to her lip and winced. Blood was still coming from her lip, and she quickly made her way into the kitchen, opening up the freezer and finding a large bag of frozen peas. She quickly put it on her mouth and grabbed another bag for her face. If she could, she’d bury her head in ice just to cool it down from being tugged. When she was growing up, he would always pull her hair. It was one of the reasons she was sure he wouldn’t let her get it cut. It was just another element of his control, and that meant there was nothing she could do. She was at his mercy for fucking everything.
Harper hated him. He was a fucking monster.
At the sound of the door opening, Harper quickly put the peas into the freezer. Seconds later, Enzo rounded the corner and entered the room. She looked at him and knew she should think of some lie to tell him. But she couldn’t.
“What happened?” he asked.
“My dad,” she said. “He’s not happy that you’re making him pay the money back with the interest you already mentioned. I’m to tell you that I owe him that money, and he deserves it.”
She couldn’t take it. There was no way she was going to lie to Enzo. Lies just caused more trouble.
Enzo went to her and cupped her face. “This is what he did to you?” he asked.
She nodded. “I don’t know how he got past the gate. I don’t know how he was able to get close.”
She broke down and sobbed. “I hate him,” Harper said. “I hate him so fucking much.”
Enzo held her as she finally gave in to the feelings that surrounded her when it came to her father. There was no love left inside her for that monster. She hated him so badly.
She had done nothing but be born a girl.
****
Enzo had seen what happened. He got the alert that his gate was being tampered with. He saw Bradley Taylor. He also saw what the bastard did. How he pushed his way into his home, and then slapped Harper, treating her like shit.
It’s why he’d been able to arrive home so soon. He hadn’t waited around. He intended to get home to deal with that piece of shit. When he arrived, Bradley was gone, and Harper was covered with frozen bags of peas. Seeing her bruised cheek and split lip enraged him.
Kent had confirmed her pregnancy. Bradley could have seriously hurt Harper and put her at risk of losing his child.
He didn’t want to leave Harper alone, so he spent lunch with her. Then, he had her curled up against him to watch a movie. She talked him through making dinner, as they seemed to have a lot of fun when they did that. Harper was actually a pretty good teacher. She told him exactly what to do, and providing he followed her instructions, it always worked. It was a genius method.
After dinner, they took a long bath together, and he made love to her for several hours, exhausting her until she fell asleep.
Enzo was wide awake. He waited for Harper to fall asleep, and when she was in deep sleep, he slowly moved off the bed. Each movement he took, he waited to see if it would wake her. When it didn’t, he left the bed, grabbed his clothes, and made his way out of the room. The security at the gate had already been changed.
Stepping out of his home, he got into his car, drove down the long driveway, and opened the gate. He waited until the gate was closed before taking off.
Bradley Taylor was at one of the brothels owned by the Villa Mafia. He sent out the alert that he was to be made aware of where Bradley was. He had no intention of killing him, but he was going to send a message for Bradley to be in no confusion about.
The journey took him forty minutes, and the woman who ran the brothel for them was waiting at the door, smoking a cigarette. She gave him the key, and told him the girl he was with was aware, and she could sneak out. He was in agreement.
