Chapter 2 - Joseph

When Selena walked into the room, she took my breath away. I had seen her countless times walking outside of her apartment and I was attracted to her. Now that I am this close to her, I can see her real beauty. She had the most beautiful black hair, big green eyes, and porcelain skin. She had the rare natural beauty that did not need makeup. She looked perfect in my eyes. Just thinking about her being sold to the Colombians creates a rage inside of me that makes me want to kill her father right here. I would enjoy slitting his throat and watching his blood stain the carpet. He does not deserve to be a father to Selena.

“Dad, what is going on?” I could hear the quiver in her voice. I guess it should be expected. I doubt that she had figured on her father coming home with two very large men. Her voice may show her fear, but her eyes showed a strength that has taken me by surprise. For a girl so young, she has a fiery spirit. Just the thought of that fiery spirit beneath me in my bed had me growing hard in my trousers.

“Selena, I have made arrangements for you to go stay with Don Rossi. He needs housekeeping staff, and I told him that you would be perfect at it.” What the actual fuck? I knew Joseph was a low life, but he is also a coward. He wanted to be man enough to reach out to the Columbians to sell his only daughter for sex trafficking, but he wanted to put it in my lap that I was hiring Selena to be a maid.

Antonio, my most trusted Capo, looked at me because he knew that Mariani was digging his own grave with every word that came out of his mouth. I slightly nodded my head to indicate for him to stand down for now. We were going to deal with Mariani on another day. As much anger as I feel right now for him, he would not survive the punishment that he deserves.

“I don’t understand. Dad, I am almost finished with classes so I can receive my diploma. I have worked so hard, please don’t make me go.” Selena was pleading with a man that could care less about her. He only cared about himself, and his daughter was a means to an end. If I had not found out what he had gone to Cartel associate, Manuel, Selena would have already been on the auction block at one of their underground sex clubs.

“Selena, I don’t give a damn about your diploma. You have never been anything but a burden to me. Ever since your mother left, my life has been in shambles because of you. Don Rossi is giving me the opportunity to finally have a life of my own. You can learn how to earn a living. A living better than what you were doing at the bodega.”

“Mariani, that is enough!!” Selena jumped at the sound of my voice. I could see that she was not scared of me only startled. “This is your daughter, and you will speak to her with respect. I have tolerated you for years Mariani because you are a good enforcer, but right now, if you do not leave my sight, you will not live to see the sun come up.” I expected Selena to plead with me to be lenient on her father. She just stood there as she watched her father walk out the door.

I had a big decision to make - whether to tell Selena the truth or not. Since her dad is such a coward, he chose to tell her that she is going to be my maid. She is going to have to adjust to a lot of things and do I really want to add to the stress she is going to be under. She’s so young to have been dealt this hand in life. I feel this deep need to protect her.

“Selena, I know this has been a bit much to take, but I need you to pack what things you will need to bring with you. You have to leave and come home with me. I made a deal with your father and I do not ever back out of a deal.” I could see on her face that she was getting pretty angry. I would rather her be angry at this moment than see sadness in her eyes.

“Sir, I honestly don’t care what deal you made with my father, I am not going anywhere with you. I have better plans with my life than to scrub your floors.” Her feistiness was hot and sexy. I have never had someone stand up to me like this and I am honestly enjoying that she is placing a challenge at my feet. Thankfully Antonio wasn’t here to witness this, I would never hear the end of it. He would constantly give me a hard time about this five-foot tall woman standing up to me without an ounce of fear.

I had to put my Don face into play or I would end up pressing her against the wall and shutting her mouth with a hard, deep kiss. Instead, I grabbed her by the arm and leaned down so we were almost nose to nose. “Selena, I don’t think you heard me. You are to pack what you need so we can leave or you can leave with just the clothes on your back. It doesn’t matter either way to me, but you will do as you are told.” I saw a slight bit of fear in her eyes, but there was still some fire.

She snatched her arm out of my grasp, and turned to leave. “Fine!” Just one word and she stomped off to the other room. It didn’t take her long to come back and all she had was a plastic grocery bag. Seeing this gave me another reason to want to do serious physical harm to George Mariani.

We did not exchange anymore words and walked silently to the car. If was so cold out and Selena did not even have a jacket. I could see her start to shiver. I ushered her into the car where she could get warm. Antonio was already in the back of the car waiting for us. I tapped on the partition and the driver headed out into the dark streets of the Bronx. I would be glad to get away from here and to get her as far away from here as possible.

Selena was tucked in as tight as possible next to the passenger door. She did not look at me or at Antonio. She was hard to read by just her body language. Her eyes were the windows to how she was feeling and I could only see the side of her face. It will be best just to give her this time to just try to process everything that has just happened. This ride could also give me the time to figure out how to handle things when we got back to my home.