All Chapters of RUINED BY MY BROTHER'S MAFIA BESTFRIEND: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

76 Chapters

Cracks in the Armor

~~MASSIMO~~I wander around the house for the rest of the day in a daze after the confrontation between Seraphina and me. It's not fantastic, especially working in an industry that requires nothing less than full focus, but I can't help it.Every time I think I have my mind straightened out enough to concentrate on whatever I'm doing, Seraphina's face—firm and cold as she put me in my place and clearly erected a psychological barrier between us—swims to the front of my mind, and my focus is shot all over again.She said that we were nothing. That everything going on between us was nothing.It shouldn't have bothered me. From the outside looking in, she was absolutely right. She was just a girl I'd hired, eighteen months after she ghosted me following a one-night stand. There were plenty of other girls who had ghosted me after we'd slept together, and I hadn't thought about them as long or as hard as I thought about Seraphina on a daily basis.

Blood on Her Hands

~~SERAPHINA~~I swallow hard, and for a moment, the only thing I want to do is turn on my heel and run. The eyes of every man in the room feel heavy as they look at me, and Massimo's gaze is the heaviest of them all.God, what have I gotten myself into? I'd come here ready to hand in my resignation to Massimo and remove myself from the entire situation. If I was being honest, I was surprised that he hadn't taken the choice away from me after the line in the sand I had drawn earlier. I'd fully expected him to throw me out on my ass and force me to figure out a whole new arrangement for money without this job.When he didn't... well, I went on a bit. I couldn't stop thinking about the way he had looked at me, the hurt in his eyes, the way he seemed to want to say something before I had walked away...It tugged at my heartstrings far more than I wanted it to, and I decided then and there that staying here was not a healthy situation for me. I couldn'

Following the Scent

~~MASSIMO~~Seraphina, despite being clearly scared, out of sorts, and on the wrong foot, did an incredible job cleaning up the mess I'd created in a moment of impulsiveness.But I see her glancing around every time I check in on her, and the urge to run away and never come back is written all over her pretty features. She's far from subtle, my girl, and it takes everything inside me not to cross the room and kiss the life out of her so she knows that she's not alone and never fucking will be again.My strong feelings—anger and affection in turn—quickly morph into something resembling guilt, and by the time Seraphina packs up and heads out of the house for the night without saying another word, I know that I owe her.Not an apology. Never that. But maybe some semblance of acknowledgment for what she just did for me and the family.I grab my keys and follow her out of the house, walking silently so she doesn't hear me. She catches a rideshare in front of the house, and I slip into my c

Unraveled

~~SERAPHINA~~For a long moment, I can't bring myself to say anything. Massimo's eyes burn into me, flicking from my face to Luca and then back again, and the shock and disbelief that initially overtook his handsome features are quickly swallowed by anger as he glares at me."I won't repeat myself, Seraphina," he bites out. "What the actual fuck is going on here? I thought..."The hint of vulnerability on his face tells me exactly what he thought, and for a moment, guilt floods me.I was already feeling so shitty before he even showed up. I came home and walked into the house, and the first thing I heard was Luca fussing in the bedroom. I couldn't see my mother anywhere. I found her collapsed on top of my bed, and Luca's tiny little arms and legs were waving in the air in the bassinet next to her, his face red and scrunched up, telling me that he had been upset and trying to get attention for a while.It infuriated me, but even when I shook my mother's shoulder and tried to get her to

Blood Oath

~~MASSIMO~~It takes everything inside me to keep my composure after I leave Seraphina's apartment. My mind whirs, and the rage that fills me nearly blinds me as I get in my car and start driving.I'd thought that Seraphina was a slut, that she'd gone out and slept around with anyone who'd given her the time of day until she got pregnant. With every fiber of my being, I'd believed that was how that tiny baby with my eyes had come to be.But Seraphina had revealed herself to me, and I wasn't even sure if she knew how or why she'd done so.It hasn't been easy, and you weren't there for any of it.Why would she care that I hadn't been there? If she'd been sleeping around, if that baby was hers and hers alone, why would it matter that she'd disappeared, and I hadn't been there?There had been a colossal shift in how I saw the entire situation in that moment, and it took everything inside me to walk away from her when she told me to l

Into the Lion's Den

~~SERAPHINA~~My heart is in my throat as I walk up the pathway to the front door of Massimo's mansion the next day, Luca snugly wrapped in my arms, his car seat dangling from one hand. He looks around, his bright topaz eyes curious about the new surroundings, causing a flicker of guilt to run through me. I've been so concerned about anyone finding out about Luca that I haven't done my duty in making sure he gets out and has all of the experiences that life has to offer. All he knows is me and his grandma.The thought of my mother makes me crinkle my nose, and I deliberately slow, taking deep breaths to get my temper under control. She slept through the night, and when she woke up today, she was groggy and disoriented. It was clear what caused her to pass out the night before. Before I confronted her, I took the bottle of pills she thought I didn't know about and dumped them down the toilet, ignoring her cries to stop me.She told me it was just a mistake,

Father and Son

~~MASSIMO~~My son... is absolutely perfect.I can see the hesitation in Seraphina's eyes the second she walks into my home, and for a brief instant, I feel the urge to return to our previous dynamic—the one where I demand, and she obeys without question because she knows what I'm capable of.But as soon as my eyes land on the baby in her arms, the backpack on her shoulder, and the car seat dangling from her tense fingers... I know that things have changed between us. And there's nothing necessarily wrong with that—relationships between people change all the time, after all—but it's not something I'm especially used to.I almost hadn't been certain that she would let me take Luca. Admittedly, if I had been in her position, I probably would have felt hesitant about it as well. I didn't behave my best last night when I first found out, and despite the fact that my rage found a home and an outlet in Enzo while I questioned him, it still took hours af

Learning to Stay

~~SERAPHINA~~The rest of my workday passes in a blur, and only the fact that Luca seems happy and healthy and utterly smitten with Massimo every time I go to check on him keeps me from running screaming from this new nightmare.Well, that might be a bit harsh. The situation isn't really any different today than it was yesterday; I still need to make money, and I still have limited capacity and skill sets that allow me to provide for my son. Cleaning is still one of the only things that clears my head enough for me to breathe, and today is no exception—despite the memories whispering at the back of my mind of blood and murders and brains under my fingernails that needed to be scraped out.Unfortunately, the major difference between yesterday and today is that Luca is now in Massimo's orbit, someone he is aware of, and that right there is almost enough for me to throw away the security this job provides so that I can get myself and my baby the hell out of h

Laying Down the Law

~~MASSIMO~~I show Seraphina to her room and then spend the rest of the night in my own suite, despite everything inside me begging me to go to my girl and make sure that she and my son are all right.Of course, I know that she is. The house-wide security system allows me to check the cameras in any room at any given time, so it's as easy as the click of a button to ensure that everything is fine.I spend more time than I'm proud of staring at her image on the screen that night, watching her move about and soothe our son to sleep before she finally settles down and retires when it's clear that she can't stay awake anymore.I know that it makes me a bastard, but it fills me with a tiny thrill to see her conflict. To know that she knows this is what's best for her, our son, and even her mother, yet still wants to put up a fight.I hope that she never loses that fire. It makes things interesting.When I wake up the next morning, I f

The Space Between

~~SERAPHINA~~A few days pass after my forcible absconding to live in Massimo's house, and for the most part, he leaves me alone. Luca comes with me to my cleaning duties around the house in a little bouncer that appears the morning after—which I'm still doing because I'm not going to let him justify taking away my pay, even if I'm living in the house now—and for the most part, I go about the house like I have every other time I've been here.Oh, I can feel his eyes on me every minute of the day, especially after I notice the security cameras that are in every room—including my fucking bedroom—but physically, he's not around as much. I assume that it's because he's busy working, and I don't want his absence to bother me.Too much.On the third day, though, I'm only a little startled when I walk into the kitchen with Luca on my hip and find Massimo standing in the middle of the room, impeccably dressed with his phone in one hand. I know that he's n

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