Mafia Daddy: A Cinderella Adult Fairy Tale

by Henry, Jane

  My father’s mistress from long ago .

  My father looked at me, his eyes narrowed, as if he were trying to verify my ignorance. "The very same," he said in a low hiss .

  I shook my head. "And why would I get a summons here for banging her stepdaughter? What could I possibly do with this knowledge ?"

  "You fucking idiot," Emilio growled, but my father held up a hand .

  "He may have pissed you off, but he's my son, and when you are in my presence you will treat him with respect ."

  I held Emilio’s eyes, not blinking. I wouldn’t cave .

  My father spoke softly, the deadly calm I hated. "It is too suspicious, Dante. Why would you keep the girl a secret? And why, of all the millions of girls you could have chosen from, did you have to spend the night with her ? The one affiliated with the woman who tried to tear the family apart? What are your motives here, son ?"

  My fucking motives? The irony scalded .

  My motive was to hold what was good and pure. To take care of the woman who looked at me as if I hung the moon. And to keep her the fuck away from anything and anyone that would even look at her the wrong way. And here I sat, victim of circumstance, the two of them convinced I was fucking her to undermine the family or some other twisted shit like that .

  Jesus Christ .

  "I don't have any motives," I said. "I banged her. She was a sweet piece of ass." My hands shook from the lie it hurt to say out loud. I'd told so many lies I'd already paved my road to hell with them, but this one... this one killed me. This one took the one good, pure thing I had and smashed it all to pieces. "I had no motives. Tonight, I go to the masquerade, and tonight, I pick a wife. That's all that matters, right? I choose a bride, I take the throne, Emilio gets second-in-command. You retire in peace and we all live happily ever fucking after. Yeah ?"

  My father blinked. "Watch your mouth." For a man who took the lives of others without batting an eyelash, he was oddly disturbed by curse words .

  I didn't respond, and neither did Emilio .

  "So she was just a piece of ass," Emilio said. "You have no plans to see her again ?"

  "No," I lied, not knowing how I'd get out of this, how I’d save her, near wild with the need to keep her the fuck away from their evil claws .

  "She isn't coming tonight ?"

  I shook my head. "I can't imagine how. She doesn't have the money or the time to do something like that. She doesn’t even know about it ."

  Their eyes met. Had they detected something in my speech? Did they hear the desperation ?

  The half-crazed longing ?

  I unfastened another button at my neck. It felt suddenly too warm in here .

  The phone buzzed on my father's desk and he smacked it. "Yeah ?"

  "Is Dante with you?" My mother .

  "He is ."

  "Are you almost done ?”

  My father frowned at me, staring across the room before he nodded slowly. "We're done here," he said, hanging up the phone, not bothering to be polite to her .

  Was this my future? To be married to a woman I did not love, trapped in a position that forced me to teach people respect and fear ?

  He looked at me across the room. "I'll take your word for it, son," he said, and as he looked at me a muscle twitched in his jaw as Emilio’s eyes focused on me. "And tonight, you'll keep your word. Understood ?"

  I swallowed. "Of course .”

  He looked at me for one more moment before he let me go, then he gave me one short nod. "Go, then ."

  I left, and went to seek my mother. I didn't know how any of this would play out .

  But I would do whatever I had to do to protect Gabriella .

  A s it grew darker, the night wearing on, I stared in the mirror, hardly recognizing myself .

  I supposed I looked good enough to parade around. Good enough to find a fucking wife. I fit the part .

  I wanted to punch something, break something, watch it splinter beneath my fingers. I needed to find Gabriella, but it would be stupid chasing after her now .

  The only way to keep her safe was to keep my distance .

  Tonight, I'd play my part and find a girl. I would do whatever they told me to if it fucking killed me .

  "Meet me at midnight ."

  We had a date tomorrow. Jesus. How could I uphold that after all that had gone down ?

  I held her in my hands, for such a brief time, and now... now I'd have to let her go .

  "May I get you anything, Mister Villanova?" Guthrie, my personal assistant, stood in the shadows of my room .

  "Get me hard liquor," I said. "In my small silver flask. Something good, something strong, something that'll get me through the night ."

  I glanced out the window, at the teeming, twinkling lights that highlighted the city, unable to do anything but stare, as I let my mind wander .

  I'd tear off the suit and tie and put on my jeans and t-shirt and boots. I'd take nothing but cash and my wallet, and I'd find her. I'd hire someone if I had to but now that I knew her name and the restaurant where she worked, I'd find her. She'd fight me, maybe, but if I told her... if I told her she was in danger, that they could hurt her, that I had enough money for us to leave and never look back... would she go ?

  Would she trust me ?

  I closed my eyes, allowing the fantasy to bloom. "I'll go with you, Daddy," she'd say, her beautiful green eyes gazing up at me, so trusting and sweet. And I'd take her. We'd drive until we didn't even know where we were. We'd leave it all behind. We'd find a new home. I'd marry her in a little chapel somewhere, and make her my wife. We’d never come back .

  But it was just a fantasy .

  They'd find me. They'd find her. And some way or another they'd hurt her .

  The door opened and Guthrie handed me my glass and a flask. "Thank you .”

  My phone buzzed. I clenched my hand around it a moment before glancing at the screen .

  My mother .

  "It's time, Dante. Come join us, son ."

  I took another long swig from the flask, the elixir I needed to steel myself for what lay ahead .

  "On my way ."

  I stood with my father, at the head of stairs overlooking the hall. It was ridiculously extravagant, and I smirked in scorn at the frivolity below us. So fucking ironic that the most violent, amoral people in the state could feign such beauty .

  Crystal hung from the ceilings, while couples twirled beneath the lights, in step to the full string orchestra dressed in tuxes that played before us. White-gloved waiters and waitresses served cocktails and hors d’oeuvres as I looked on in disdain .

  I knew dozens of the women and men who danced before me. Many were money-hungry, greedy, ruthless. I wanted none of them .

  I'd give anything to take my girl to a little diner that served French fries on chipped plates with cans of Coke, would give anything for just for a minute with her purity, her innocence, the cleansing wholesomeness of Gabriella .

  I watched as a woman most would call gorgeous entered the room on the arm of a tall, darkly handsome man from my crew. She wore an emerald-green gown that fit her well, her full bust nearly spilling over. Her lips were painted red, her hair done up in a fancy, severe up-do that accentuated her high cheekbones. Men turned as she walked on dangerously high stilettos, her hips swaying to the music. I nearly scoffed. Other men found such women attractive. I did not .

  I'd seen beauty. I'd tasted beauty. I'd held beauty in my arms .

  No other women would turn my head .

  "She has a goddamn nerve," my father hissed next to me, and I looked at him in surprise. He pointed a finger with narrowed eyes at a woman I didn’t recognize, someone who held the arms of two young women. One was dressed in a floun
cy black gown that made her look like some kind of possessed bat, and the other was dressed in a crimson gown, wearing heels that defied gravity. She held her head up with pride as they made their entrance, each holding masks to their faces. I did not need to see beyond those masks to know their eyes were greedy, their mouths pursed or twisted .

  "Agatha," my father growled. I looked at him in surprise. Agatha? Gabriella's evil stepmother ?

  Jesus Christ .

  "Why is she here?" I asked, feeling the tension seep into me as my fists clenched by my side and I looked harder in the woman’s direction. "What does she want with us ?"

  My father narrowed eyes before he spoke. "There are many things you do not know, Dante .”

  What a strange thing to say now .

  "That woman and I have a history," was all he said as he continued to stare below. "She's wanted in on the family since before I could remember, and she's done everything in her power to get there. Tonight's no exception. She brought her daughters here because she wants one of them to find you ."

  My stomach twisted. I felt suddenly sick .

  "That's ridiculous," I sputtered .

  My father shook his head. "If you knew our history, you'd know just how ridiculous it was." He took a sip from a champagne flute and he looked over the crowd, thereby dismissing the imposter. "I don't care who she is. She's dead to me, as are her daughters ."

  It wasn’t surprising. My father spoke like that often .

  I watched as woman after woman filed in the room but I did not take my eyes off of Agatha and her daughters. The room now teemed with women. They were, supposedly, beautiful. But none caught my attention. None were her .

  "I'm going to take a walk," I said. "I need some fresh air." The cool metal flask banged against my chest, tucked in the vest I wore, calling to me. I stepped past my father, ignoring the men who stepped aside, his army of bodyguards. He held a hand up, not even looking my way, dismissing them from following me. He knew I’d come back. I had to .

  I made my way to the garden, decorated in a white trellis with roses and greens, a beautiful, ornate structure guests walked under to get to the ballroom. To the right sat my mother, her ankles crossed while she watched the arrival of our guests, sipping a glass of wine. When I reached her, she looked up to me and grinned .

  She looked regal, almost, the way she held her head high as I approached .

  "Dante," she said, inclining her head .

  I just nodded back, as she turned to watch the women approach the ballroom. "Does it astound you to know that one of these women is your future wife?" Her voice dropped to a whisper as she continued. "The one you will spend the rest of your life with. The one who will bear your children." She sighed deeply. "I hope fate is good to you tonight, Dante ."

  Fate would not be good to me .

  I shrugged, about to reply, when I saw her, I fucking saw her, and my world came to a screeching halt .

  She wore the most beautiful blue dress I'd ever seen. It looked like it’d been painted on her, silvers and blues that dipped low in the front revealing her full, beautiful breasts .

  I'd buried my face in those breasts. My heart kicked up and my breath hitched .

  The dress narrowed at the waist then billowed out in filmy, silvery skirts. Though she wore the signature mask that all guests held to their faces, there was no denying who she was. And it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough to hide her from them, damn it .

  What the fuck was she doing here ?

  "I'll be back," I said to my mother, trying to appear nonchalant, but knowing she wasn’t stupid .

  If she replied, I didn’t hear her, for the blood pounding in my ears prevented me from hearing a thing. If she waved to me, I didn’t see her, as I could only see one heartbreakingly beautiful woman in the room, the only one who didn’t belong there .

  I nodded and waved on autopilot to those who greeted me as I passed, needing to get to her before anyone else did, needing to get her the fuck out of here, but she was headed in the opposite direction .

  If she was approached by another man, if anyone ever touched her... I'd have to kill him, and avoiding murder was probably a good thing .

  "Excuse me," I said, pushing past a woman who held a glass of wine to her lips, accidentally spilling her wine .

  "Hey!" she said, but I couldn't be bothered to stop. I glanced quickly at the spilled wine and when I looked back, Gabriella was gone .

  "Sorry!" I yelled over my shoulder. Where was she? Where had she gone? I was torn between wanting to find her, needing to take her someplace safe, and wanting to turn her over my knee and spank her ass for even coming. How could she? This was not safe. This was not a place I wanted her to be. Fucking hell, if he ever saw her… if my father knew she was here... But she didn’t know, and that was my fault .

  I shoved past a couple taking selfies by the garden, and raced past a couple making out by the gazebo. I turned my head to the left and caught a glimpse of silver and blue, but when I raced ahead, it turned out it belonged to someone old enough to be my mother .

  I had to find her. Jesus, I needed to find her now . And when I did, I'd teach her to stay where she was fucking safe .

  I turned the corner by the entrance, and I came to a screeching halt. There she was. There she stood, holding the eye mask tentatively up to her face, but it could not mask her fear. Her innocence. Her purity. I ran as fast as I could, just as her hand went to the doorknob that would take her to the entrance, to where my father stood watching each one of his victims enter .

  "Gabriella," I hissed, and I knew she heard me when she froze. She turned to face me, and the mask fell, her mouth opened in surprise, and her brows lifted. I reached her then, snagged her hand and pulled her along with me. "Follow me. Let's go ."

  She was frozen in place. "Dante?" she whispered .

  "Yeah, babe. It's me. Now move . You shouldn't be here. Jesus, if he sees you ..."

  “Who? Why? What’s the matter ?”

  “Jesus, Gabriella,” I fumed. “Do what you’re fucking told or I swear to God I’ll spank your ass. Move !”

  The threat to spank her seemed to effectively motivate. I tugged, and she ran, but not easily. I glanced down .

  "What the fuck are you wearing ?"

  "Oooh. My slippers. Did you see these? They're custom-made, Dante, decorated with real silver and real diamonds, and one of a kind. They don't fit anyone else because my feet are weirdly tiny, so they had to be adjusted, you know? And they must've cost a mint, but I have no idea — "

  "Hush," I hissed, "Tell me later, baby ."

  I tried to walk as discreetly as possible without arousing suspicion, and she trotted to keep up .

  "Well, then," she huffed, "Nice to see you, too ."

  "It is nice to see you. You look beautiful. Now be quiet, for Christ's sake ."

  She blinked, but she obeyed, and finally, finally , we came to a clearing, out in the back, where the trees covered a vacant patio, and a swing faced out away from the crowd. I brought her to the most private place I could, and when we got there, I pulled her onto the swing to sit. Our chests heaved from running, and I couldn't say anything for a minute while I caught my breath. She finally put her mask down, and grinned at me, and my anger and fear melted away. Her cheeks dimpled, her eyes lit up, and her whole demeanor changed .

  God, she was breathtaking. And she was here .

  "You look stunning," I said, taking her hand and kissing her fingertips. "Amazing ."

  "Thank you," she whispered. "I... I wasn't going to come. But then Ruby told me you were coming ."

  Who the fuck was Ruby again? And why the fuck did she know my business? What was this all about ?
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  "She said you would be here, and that helped me make my decision," she said. "I honestly had no interest in coming otherwise ."

  I looked around me. Didn’t look like anyone noticed us yet, but they would. Soon, they’d be looking for me. I wished I could tell her I was glad she came, but I wasn't. I was pissed, and fucking nervous as hell, and I didn't do nervous .

  And then she leaned in and looped her arms around my neck, and brushed her sweet cheek against mine. "Are you glad I came, Daddy?" she asked. God, I couldn’t send her away. Not now. She continued, her voice wobbling a little. "Do you not want me here? You don't look too happy, and I'm not sure why ."

  "Baby, listen," I said, burying my face in her sweet-smelling hair, wishing that our circumstances were different, but as she held onto me, something in me shifted .

  Why did I have to do what they wanted me to? Why was I here, fucking hiding the woman I loved? Did I have no power in all this? Yeah, I didn’t want her near them. I wanted to keep her safe, out of their reach, but it was too late for that now .

  I made my decision then. I would not be cowed. I would not back down .

  They fucking knew who she was. So why would I change who I was? She was mine. She was fucking mine , and I'd do whatever it took to protect her .

  "Of course I'm happy you came, Gabriella," I whispered, holding her close to me, and I knew then, there was no going back. I’d have to tell her. She’d have to know who I was .

  God .

  "Honey, I have a question for you." I tugged her a bit closer .

  "Yes?" she asked, her head cocked to the side .

  "Do you know anything about this party tonight?" I asked her. She shook her head slowly, her eyes growing concerned as she looked at me. Her Ruby had been selective then .

  "But I... I do know that my stepmother came. That she brought her daughters, and that she did it because she's hoping to get an in with the..." her voice dropped. "The Villanova family." She hadn’t put it together yet. Sweet girl. And then she looked at me and her mouth slowly opened, her eyes betraying her fear before fluttering closed as realization dawned on her .