Entangled With A Mafia Boss

Tessa's day started in the worst way. First, her colleagues who opened the restaurant in the morning found a few stray bullets in the ceiling that she hadn't been able to reach. They reported the state of the restaurant to the owner and he had spent the better part of the morning berating her for failing to protect his restaurant.

She had played back his words as she walked through the halls of Midfields Hospital with a thick frown. How was she supposed to fight off two men with guns? She was willing to bet that Amadeus, her boss, would've fainted if he had seen Vincenzo's face last night.

And she was right because the moment she mentioned the Mancini name, he stopped talking and turned as white as an unfried batch of potatoes. He told her to take the day off and the first thing she did was hurry to her mother.

She didn't have much time to visit her because of the number of shifts that she had to take to stay ahead of her growing bills. It wasn't her first time visiting so she hurried to the ICU floor.

When she entered her mother's room, she saw two strange women. One of them was stricken and dark, lying on her mother's bed, while the other one cradled the sickly woman's head.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Oh Tess? I was just about to call you." A female nurse entered the room, holding a clipboard. "Your mother was moved."

"Is she awake?"

"I'm afraid not. Her condition has worsened."

"Then why would you take her off the machine? I thought you said that was the only way for her to stay alive?" Tessa's eyes widened.

"It is but we bill by the hour."

"And I pay every week." Tessa took a step in the nurse's direction.

The check bounced. “We hooked her to a cheap and older machine. Though, I must warn you. It's not as effective."

"Where's my mother?"

The nurse put her hand around Tessa's shoulder and guided her out of the room, closing the door gently behind her. "Listen, she's safe for now because you've never defaulted on any payment but our machines are in high demand. If you can't pay today, your mother will have to leave the hospital."

"But... But she'll die."

"You have less than 24 hours, Tessa. We've done our best."

Tessa called her bank immediately and she found that her boss didn't pay her for last night and he also filed a claim against her for the damage of his restaurant, so all of her weekly pay was not transferred to her.

She called Amadeus and screamed at him over the phone but he told her to go to hell. Since Tessa didn't know the direction to hell, she went for the closest thing she knew which was also the source of her problem--- Vincenzo Mancini's house.

Finding his house proved to be tougher than she expected but it turned out that rivalry among Mafia groups was so strong that all she had to do was claim that she had a message for Vincent about one of the rivals to the Mancini family, and she was practically offered a road map to Mancini family villa but most people told her it was a trip from which she might not survive.

She was willing to take the chance, considering the fact that she didn't even know if the man she met that night was an imposter. If her mother died, she had nothing to live for. She still had the wristwatch and she could sell it but it was nothing in the face of the bills that faced her.

The Mancini Villa was larger than anything she had ever imagined. It was set in front of the mountain close to the city, where the richer people lived. Before she entered the estate, she had to go through five levels of screenings to prove that she was who she said she was. She had to walk more than two hours on foot from the estate gate to the large intricate gate that marked the beginning of Mancini Villa because here, you either had a car or you walked. The houses were as big as supermarkets.

Once outside, she started banging on the gate. "Vincenzo, come out now."

"Whose that?" A man dressed in a security uniform eyed her.

"I need to see Vincenzo Mancini. I have news for him."

"On what grounds do you dare to mention his name?" Another guard joined.

"I saved him from getting killed. I could call him a dog if I like."

"Obviously, you need to be taught some respect." The guards opened the gate and one of them, tried to hold her.

She ran past him, yelling. "Vincenzo, you bastard, come out. You've ruined my life after I saved yours."

One of the guards set out his leg and she tripped. They all grabbed different limbs and prepared to throw her out but a voice from one of the towers close to the gate called out. "Stop this. She's an honored guest of the boss."

"She's making false claims that she saved the boss." The guards stopped at the gate.

"I did. I have proof!"

"This will certainly be interesting." The man with a balding head smiled as he dialed a number on his phone, saying. "It seems your saviour has arrived."

Ten minutes later, under the sun, Tessa could see the man she saved strode towards her with a cocky smile. His blue eyes and thick black hair that swooped over one eye. Above the other eye, there was a thick bandage. He had bruises all over his body and a sling held up his lower hand.

"So, you're really Vincenzo?" Tessa's eyes widened as the man she sought limped .

"And you're even more beautiful than I thought." Vincenzo took her hand and kissed it.

She pulled her hand away, eyeing him. She could not be swayed by his beauty, even though she wanted to unbutton his shirt and see if he looked as sturdy as he seemed.

The other man that had saved her from the guards, introduced as Matteo, smacked Vincenzo in the stomach.

Vincenzo winced, before asking. "Do you have my wristwatch?"

Tessa reached for his head to inspect his wound where she had smacked him with a wok.

He pushed her hand away.

"It's not that easy for someone to touch me but for you, Tessa."

"What does that mean?"

"My treasure." Vincenzo smiled at her, drawing her in with his deep charming eyes.