Maid for the Mafia

**TINY**

Right about now, Ruby should be noticing that I've left. I knew she had some things to work out and I didn't feel as if there was time left to waste. There was no way that Alex was going to go down easily and as much as I wanted to be there to witness his comeuppance, there simply wasn't time.

I already knew where we should be headed and I *also* knew there was only one more flight going out that way this morning. I needed to be on it, so I left.

With any luck, Ruby would figure out that I had gone sooner rather than later. Because as much as I despised Alex for the way he was, I wouldn't wish what she has planned on any man that didn't like to turn the tables every once in a while. To frolic into Never Never Land, so to speak.

Alex was one hundred percent a predator, yes. But an eye for an eye had never helped anybody see, I learned that the hard way.

After I killed my sister's murderer, guess what? She was still dead. And so was he. Both of them gone to heaven as victims. I should have let the bastard rot in the karma of his own making. At least then I could look forward to seeing him in hell. Eventually.noveldrama

But Ruby wasn't in the mood to listen to any of that cosmic nonsense. She wanted blood. Or more accurately, she wanted that ass. Let her have it. When she was ready to join me, perhaps she would give me a call.

Am I trying to be the first man on the scene? Abso-fucking-lutely. Romany may not love me (yet), she may not want to marry me (also yet), but she trusted me enough to throw a few hints my way. Trusted me enough to ask me to come look for her. Maybe not in so many words, but in enough of them that I got the picture.

There wasn't a doubt in my mind that she had known she was going to be taken. So when Ruby sent me out to get a dildo for Alex's first walk on the wild side, I instead took it upon myself to check the one place I knew she had probably disappeared from. Alex's office. No one was supposed to know about his little tunnels, but I did. Oh sure, I knew Mickey probably knew about them too, and Damien, but they were *allowed* to know. I had to find out by playing out all the different scenarios that might occur that could possibly see Romany taken. After her cryptic warnings, I studied the lay of the land *and* Alex's books. Then I put myself in his head and tried to imagine all the things I might need if I were a boss like him.

• A secret escane, route, was among the very first that came to mind. After that it was easy. So tonight, instead of retrieving Ruby's weapon of choice, I headed straight for Alex's office, unlocked it using Mickey's keys, and not only found the extra copy, but a long strand of silver hair purposefully left by Romany to signal that she had gone. The shock came in realizing that she hadn't been forcibly taken. Someone who is grabbed doesn't find the time to cut and wind her hair. Sure, someone else could have done it, but they wouldn't have taken the time to braid it in that extravagant little twist style that she liked to use. I knew that was her favorite braid. I'd seen her do it a hundred times when she didn't think I was watching. So, I knew. She chose to leave and that only meant one thing. She had been in contact with Santos for some time.

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So then, I logged in to Alex's security system and unlocked the secret hatch, following in Romany's footsteps to search for anything else she may have left behind. When I found her phone, still on and mostly intact, I pocketed it and headed out the way she did, then followed the perimeter wall instead of taking the road. Once I was back in front of the mansion, my cab was already showing up to take me to the airport. Damien and I had left our bikes there after snatching Santos' driver. We had him and his sidepiece that had been waiting in the parking lot drive us to Alex's home. The sidepiece wasn't one for trouble, so we handed her a wad of cash and sent her packing. She was more than happy to exchange her sometimes man for a few grand. Ha! Women.

By the time I hit the airport I had twenty minutes to make it through security and check in for my flight. A flight that I'd booked while the rest of them played with Santos' driver. Slaving for information that he was never going to give. At first, I had planned to simply wait for Santos' phone call, but then Ruby had shown up and I'll admit, I hadn't seen that coming. Everything else, sure, but her? Nah. I should have expected it though. I knew she was in Urgent Care. Should have known she wasn't going to wait for any rescuers there. Not Ruby. No way.

But the fact that she knew about everything that went on while she was in captivity told me one thing. Santos wanted her to know. Either the man had someone high ranking on his payroll, someone who could get close enough to broadcast all the happenings for her like a twisted reality show, or he told them to her like a story. A very long story that might take hours to divulge. The first was highly unlikely, because for one, watching what happened to Romany that night was hard enough for me to do and I'm not her cousin. If Ruby had gained that kind of access, if she'd somehow gotten to watch it first hand? Alex would be dead RIGHT NOW.

So, no. It had to be the second one. He told her. Which meant, Santos wanted Ruby in a way that surpassed just her skills. He took the time to tell her about all the things that might drive her away from Alex. Took the time to drive her around the country, going places that made no sense, that were in no way a direct route to Alex's domain. He turned a five hour trip into three times that, just to detox her and feed her information while she was supposedly unable to hear him. He wanted her to turn on Alex, not because he needed her on his side, as part of his team., but because he wanted her to HATE him. He wanted her for his own. His very own. The same way Alex wanted Romany. The same way that I did.

Santos was in love.

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I studied the private flights tonight. There was only one destination that might take me

to a place secluded enough for Santos' to not only enjoy as a summer retreat, but

inhabited enough to offer all the comforts of a metropolis while simultaneously making it difficult for anyone to hide.

Only one destination that none of the bosses had any ties to.

And that was where I chose to go.

So now, I sit here, in the only seat available on short notice, first class. Thankful that I always carry my passport and ID, despite that I'm often told not to. Just then, the turbines cut on, and the pilot's voice is heard over the intercom.

"Good morning passengers of international flight 1086 to Auckland, New Zealand, this is your captain speaking..."