Falling Angel | a Mafia Story

Chapter V

"Don't be that way, fall apart twice a day,

I just wish you could feel what you say"

A couple of days had passed, and I was slowly getting used to my new routine, spending most of my time in the kitchen since nearly every dinner was held in the big dining room with at least ten people each night.

I had to do a lot of cooking; a skill that, apart from instant noodles, hadn't been in much use lately and was quite rusty.

Thankfully, Elli taught me everything she knew about pastries, roasts and everything else that would come in handy in an established kitchen like this one.

That morning we had already spent two hours preparing different kinds of cakes, tarts and cupcakes for an event that would be held in the afternoon, and by the time the last tray of cupcakes were in the oven I was covered in flour and icing from head to toe.

Elli had gone off to get changed and I was in the midst of cleaning the mess we had left on the kitchen counter as Dario entered to fetch himself a drink.

At the sight of my presence his face was overdrawn with that  a familiar look of displeasure at my encounter, but his eyes held humour as he chuckled, his right eyebrow raised as he took in my appearance.

"What's your deal, Cupcake?"

Glaring at him I continued cleaning the kitchen. 

"Even though I greatly appreciate the upgrade from 'Woman' to 'Cupcake', I would very much prefer you would call me by my name, Dario!"

Filling a glass with water and heading for the door he dismissed my request with a flick of his hand and simply answered over his shoulder while he headed out, flashing me a toothy grin in my direction, accompanied by a sly wink.

"Whatever you say, Cupcake!"

Seriously?

Cursing him under my breath I could not stop myself from throwing the kitchen cloth I had in my hand after him, but either he didn't notice or he didn't care, for no reaction whatsoever could be drawn out of his steadily departing figure.

Ever since that scene in the basement his ice-cold mannerisms towards me had melted slightly, and for him to call me a nickname, be it a very annoying one at that, was a big deal.

It was not like I was trying to warm up to these men, but I had figured it would make my life quite a bit easier if they didn't despise me to the guts, so I tried to be nice, to not argue too much.

Surprisingly enough I found that goal incredibly hard to pursue whenever Antonio was honouring me with his condescending presence.

The second that I was greeted with his silky voice and all so evident smug face I had to physically restrain myself from clawing out his hypnotizing swirls of amber eyes.

"You've missed a spot, principessa," his deep voice snickered as he passed by the kitchen and saw my flour covered self, his hand gesturing up and down my entire body.

Heaven help me...

Grinding my teeth to stop myself from getting into trouble I just continued scrubbing every last surface clean, but instead of minding his own business he actually entered the kitchen, watching me I intently as I retrieved the last load of cupcakes from the oven.

"You know, for a daughter of that lazy bastard Silvano you actually don't handle yourself too badly around manual labour," he said, and even though in Antonio's twisted mind it actually might have been meant as a compliment it made my insides churn in anger.