The Mafia Contract Series

Sienna is seriously grating on my nerves, and I want her to leave, but if I make a scene, she will use it against me.

“Honestly, Louisa, you should loosen up a little. I mean, for God’s sake, Ashton Michaels is the best you can expect, and I would have marched him up the altar before he could change his mind.”

“Then it’s a good job you’re not me because I have expectations.”

She laughs out loud. “You and your expectations. Word of advice, sis, you need to lower your standards. You’re hardly the belle of the ball and the pickings are getting slimmer the older you get. In fact, you’re known as being difficult and once a girl gets a reputation, it’s all downhill from there.”

“Are you here just to throw insults, or is there a reason for your visit?”

I lower my pen and sigh. As always, Sienna is bored and thinks baiting me is the best cure for that and she shrugs, sucking the lollipop in her ruby red lips noisily.

“I’m just saying you should snap up, Ashton. His father is the head of a bank, for Christ’s sake.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

You wouldn’t have to…” She waves her arm at my books. “Work for a living. I mean, what’s that all about, anyway? You’re an heiress, not a pauper. You don’t actually have to earn your own money, so grab a personal shopper and do what’s expected of you. The future is bright, so open the drapes and let the sunlight in.”

“Fuck off, Sienna, and go and work on your tan. You know absolutely nothing about me and don’t pretend you care.”

“You’re a little touchy, aren’t you? I was only trying to help.”

She huffs and chucks the lollipop into the trash can and storms out, slamming the door behind her and leaving me in blissful solitude.

Focusing my attention back on the contract I’m reading, I try to empty my mind of useless frivolity.

It’s true I don’t need to work, but I want to. Being a trophy wife is not a future I want for myself and I’m mindful that if I want to take over my father’s business one day, I will need to be better than everyone else.

The door opens again, and I huff with exasperation. “I told you…” “Louisa.”

I straighten up as the abrupt tones of my father command my attention and he breezes inside and says casually, “I have a meeting tomorrow in town I want you to sit in on.”

“Of course.” I sit up and take notice because this is new. I may work for my father in a very junior capacity, but he’s never involved me in a meeting before. The most I get to do is read through contracts and do the filing, so I wonder what’s changed.

He wanders over to the window and, for some reason, looks a little disturbed.

“Is everything ok?”

“I’m not sure.” He huffs and appears to focus on something outside.

Wandering across to the window, I stand beside him and see Emilio, his security guard, heading back to the gatehouse.

“What’s the problem? Perhaps I can help.”

“Doubtful, but the gesture is appreciated.”

“Is it the business?”

I hold my breath because if the business is in trouble, that’s big news and he laughs softly. “No, the business is strong. It’s well, family matters.”

I’m a little anxious because I’m family and Sienna’s words are haunting me right now. I’m lucky that my father is supportive of my choices but the fact I’ve turned down every suitor has not gone unnoticed, but I never really thought it mattered. Now I’m not so sure.

“Is it me?” I sound anxious and he turns, his kind smile lighting up his face, putting my mind at rest in an instant.

“Of course not. You’re possibly the only one I can count on around here.”

“Sienna?”

He sighs and rakes his fingers through his hair in a gesture that scares me more than anything because my father doesn’t do uncertainty, worry or anything that makes him out to be any less in control of all our lives.

“It’s Vivian.”

My heart lurches because I hope to God there isn’t any trouble between them. Ever since Vivian came into my father’s life, the world has been a much brighter place.

Sienna’s mother was a bitch and used my father like an ATM. He was besotted by her and indulged her with everything she wanted, even turning a blind eye to her many affairs, just desperate to have her in his life. She was the proverbial gold digger, and their daughter is shaping up to be much the same. When she ran off with a movie producer who could offer her the Hollywood lifestyle she craved, I remember breathing a big sigh of relief and for a period I stepped into her shoes as the hostess and lady of the house. Then he met Vivian, and I was happy to step aside. Unlike his previous wife, she isn’t interested in fame, money and being seen in the right places. All that matters to her is family life and making it amazing for us all, and if she has done something to burst the bubble, I am more fearful of that than anything.

“What’s the problem with Vivian?”

He looks so troubled I wonder if she’s ill. That can only explain the despairing glint in his eyes.

He shakes his head. “She has a visitor, and it may alter things around here.”

“A visitor?”

“Yes, a man showed up at the gatehouse and asked to see her.”

He exhales slowly. “Emilio ran a check on the guy, and it appears he’s got connections I’m not happy about.”

“Is Vivian in trouble? Danger even?”

I hold my breath and he merely shrugs, which is not the answer I was looking for.

“I’m not sure.”

Now I’m really nervous and he turns and smiles and if he thinks that will reassure me, he’s wrong.

“Maybe I should go and see for myself. I just wanted to tell you about the meeting and warn you that things may be a little different around here for a while.”

“OK.”

I watch him leave with the sense of a storm approaching. My father looked weary, as if he was resigned to something that he could do nothing about. As I glance out of the window, I wonder about the current visitor. Who is he and why is something telling me everything is about to change?