Maid for the Mafia

**ROMANY**

I awake to the gentle prodding of a stewardess attempting to get my attention. "Time for lunch ma'am. Would you care to eat?"

My eyes are still closed, and I can feel the drool sliding down my chin, but my response is immediate, "Yes! Yes! Please!" I jerk to attention, opening my eyes to the sight of a professionally dressed young woman that must work for the airport and not Santos, because not only is she wearing a Delta uniform, but she's *way* too damn friendly to be making her regular wages.

She's blond, tan, and petite, with huge green eyes that sparkle with joy at my reaction. *Does she know the man who hired her for this is a gangster? Probably.*

*But she's one of those that can't turn down a fat bag.*

*Like me.*

*We're doomed, both of us.*

I like her already.

"Wonderful!" Anna, as her name tag denotes, exclaims, disappearing somewhere behind the curtain with more bounce than anyone should ever have when serving *someone else* their lunch.

I straighten, cracking my neck and gazing down at the thick blanket I've been covered with. My eyes go straight for Santos who sits quietly to my left, a small smile of amusement on his face as he watches something on his phone. He says without looking up, "I remember you being big on mealtimes, so I made sure I hired a flight assistant that could not only cook, but smile."

I nod, wiping at the drool on my chin with the corner of my sweatshirt. "Oh! Wow, thanks. A thoughtful killer," I quip.

His brows draw together in irritation. "You're welcome to go back to sleep immediately afterward. Pleasant as you are," he says sarcastically.

I chuckle. "You never did tell me where we were heading. Neither did Captain Feelgood up there."

"I know," he acknowledges, going back to whatever he was watching on his phone.

"So are you going to tell me, then? I mean, what's the worst that can happen? I find a phone and call Ruby?"

His chin lifts and he pockets his phone, sending me a non confrontational side scowl as he unlocks my side table and swivels it so that it locks in place in front of me. "I was watching a *very* interesting show. You have taken me from it."

"Well then put it on the big screen. Maybe we'll both enjoy it," I say just as Anna reappears bearing a plateful of golden fried chicken wings and the crispiest most golden looking fries these eyes have ever seen. "Ohhhh my," I grin. "Anna, I love you."

She giggles, setting the food on the table and promising to return with a glass of ice

water.

Santos thanks her for his as well and then gazes over at me from behind a handful of fries. "It's not the kind of show that you would appreciate watching, I don't believe." "You're probably right," I agree. "I hate television."

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Santos laughs. "Me too."

"Hmmph," I mumble, my mouth completely occupied with the juiciest, most salivating bite I've had in a long time. "Chicken and fries. I'm shocked. Alex would never serve something like this for lunch. He's way too fancy."

Santos snorts, digging into his plate like I imagine Tiny might do as the pair of them are about the same size. Just that thought and now I'm wondering. How will he react when he finds out that I'm gone? Will he remember what I said to him? Will he even care? He didn't ask me many questions that afternoon when I lay all those subtle *hints* out for him. Maybe all he wanted was to fuck me and didn't hear much of what I said other than, 'please'.

But... I don't really believe that. I remember the way Tiny treated me that night. When we went to Mickey's restaurant. It seemed like that was the very first time I had truly caught his attention. Or maybe, that was the first time he was allowed to let it show. Who knew? But I had a hunch that - just like he did that afternoon - he would take the initiative if given the chance. He is going to come after me. Even if the others decide

not to.

"New Zealand," Santos says, interrupting my thoughts.

"What?" I flinch while polishing off the last wing on my plate. "What about it?"noveldrama

Santos laughs, then shakes his head, using a cloth towel that Anna provided him with, to clean his face and hands. "That's where we're going. I have a place there. A beach house. It's small, but all mine. Only a couple of people in my entire world know about it."

"On the beach, you say?" I throw him an encouraging look. "Ruby loves the beach. When we were little we used to play this game - a sort of fantasy 'where would you run away to' kind of game - and Ruby always picked the beach. Always. She came up with that game one time when her dad hit my mom for the first time. I was crying. I was scared to death- and she took me aside and promised that everything was going to be okay. That she knew how to stop him from ever hitting my mom again. And she did. To this day, I don't know what she threatened him with, or how she did it, but that asshole never raised another finger to my mom, not even after Ruby disappeared." Santos nods, looking thoughtful. "Her dad was a drunk. I looked him up back when my cousin was murdered ten years ago and I was asked to-" he cuts off, clearing his throat "-to find out who might have been involved. That was the first time I'd ever heard of the Red Raider."

I eye him, arching one eyebrow at him dubiously. "Oh? Was she the only one you looked up? I mean, there must have been other suspects, right?"

Santos flashes me a thousand kilowatt smile. "No."

"Oh!" I chirp, in shock. I had gathered after living at Alex's place for the last couple of months that Ruby wasn't just a 'Club Manager' for Alex. That she was an assassin. But... *TEN YEARS AGO?* Ten years ago Ruby was fifteen. "Oh my God. So..."

He nods, sitting back to play a hand over his demonically manicured beard. "So her first assignment - her pledge, so to speak - was my cousin. Dana's oldest brother." "Oh. Shit. So you weren't just looking her up you were-"

"Casing her," Santos says. "Yes. Building a file on her before I killed her."

Rage. Again. It steams my ears and I glare at him. "She was just a kid."

Santos sends me an incredulous look. "Don't tell me tell your boyfriend Alex. I *never* recruit anyone for a job of that magnitude until they're at least twenty-one."

"Ohhh," I taunt him. "Of course not. Because that would be illegal." I roll my eyes heavenward and he laughs. "Well. Something must have gone wrong with your hit, because she's still alive."

Santos loses his smile, meeting my eyes carefully. "I didn't order the hit. I was supposed to, but never did."

I'm shocked. "Why?" I can't help but ask.

He smiles, gazing out the window. "Because even then... there was just something

about her. Something that I couldn't bring myself to destroy."