Maid for the Mafia
Traitor

**ROMANY**

My hands started to shake, my stomach tumbling like a rock down the mountain. Suddenly all I could see was my beautiful, brave cousin the way she looked when she was fifteen. Full of anger and fierce resilience as she packed a backpack and swore one day she'd be back to kill my uncle. Echoes of her telling me *'she would always be there for me'* play about in my head, warring with the promise she made to me when she left me here with Alex. *'I'll be back the day after tomorrow'*

But she didn't come back, she was delayed and then silent. And everyone told me that she would be fine because *she's Ruby!* And now... what is it that I'm hearing? I'm not even sure if I understood. Ruby is... "Where is she?" I asked suddenly, my body tensing with anger as the tears rolled from my eyes.

I felt someone's hands on my shoulders, gently coaxing me back toward the table, I shoved him off, glaring at Alex. He still wasn't acknowledging me, *the bastard*. So, I stomped all the way up to him and stood in his face. "Where is she?" I asked again.

His head was tilted to the side, his gaze glued to some point on the ground, still refusing to meet my eyes. I shoved him as hard as I could and although he didn't budge, his jaw flexed angrily. So I took it a step further and before anyone could see what I intended to do, I slapped him. The sound of it echoed like a crack of thunder and a chorus of gasps filled the room behind me. My hand was throbbing but I refused to give it attention. I'd hit him pretty damn hard and his chin was up now, his face a blazing red, but his eyes fixed to a point somewhere beyond me. *Goddamn him! I'll leave this place today.*

"Fine, you won't tell me! You won't even fucking look at me," I snapped, bopping him in the forehead with my palm. "And after everything - you think you can treat me like an object of yours? Something to refer to?" "Romany," I heard Damien say. "Baby, please come and sit down."

"No!" I yelled, thankful that he wasn't forcing me back into my chair. Again, I shoved Alex and again. The muscle in his jaw grew tighter and tighter each time I did it. Then suddenly, I had a better idea.

On impulse, I grabbed for his gun, knowing he wouldn't let me have it. His hand tightened around it instantly, but I grabbed his wrist in both my hands, clawing at his skin with my nails and ignoring the warning shouts of the men behind me. I only had seconds before one of them snatched me off him, I knew this, but I would inflict as much damage as possible beforehand.

Alex cursed, raising his arm with the gun, but I hung on. In the corner of my eye I saw Damien approaching and Mickey leap over the table to get to me. But before they could, Alex flipped me around, clamping his arms around me and sealing my back to his chest. Damien and Mickey froze, each of them a tiny couple of feet away. Their eyes were wide with fear and I didn't miss the scalding looks they were giving me, but I could have cared less. Fuck them. Let them be pissed. I focused on Alex.

I could feel the wild thumping of his heart as he held me there, it played second to the heavy panting of my breath. He burrowed into my hair and whispered in a voice meant for *only* me to hear. "Are you trying to kill yourself, huh? I will find out where she is, but you *will* sit down." Then his arms tightened around me, and I felt his teeth on my earlobe. My body shuddered and he groaned quietly. "Will you sit?" he whispered again. I nodded, and I could almost feel him smirking into my hair. "Good girl." He nipped again and then released me.

I felt him watching me as I lifted my chin and walked back to the table. Like a spoiled brat who had just gotten her way, I sat back down, ignoring the outrageous expressions of the boys at the table. When I looked back up, Alex was still staring at me and what in his eyes looked a lot like pain. That realization chipped away at some of my anger and burdened me with a new mystery. I would dive into it soon enough, but for now I turned my attention back to Stella, who was once again in the center of the tarp.

Alex walked up to her. "Do you see the trouble you've caused?"

Stella's eyes were heavy and her lips pasty. In all the commotion, I'd forgotten that she was bleeding from a gunshot wound to the foot. Sitting up a bit straighter, I was able to see the large pool of blood that had collected around her foot. *Jesus! Could you bleed to death from a wound like that? I wasn't sure.*

"I had a lot I wanted to ask you Stella, but it looks like I'm going to have to get most of my answers from your phone. Because I'm tired of playing with you," he placed the gun to her forehead and my hands tightened on the armrests of my chair.

Stella began sobbing, her head lolling from side to side. "Please Alex! Please! I swear I never betrayed you! I-"

"If you betrayed her, you betrayed me!" Alex screamed, pressing the butt of the gun into her head. "What is it about that, you cannot understand? You say you're not a traitor, but you send one of my best friends to her death. All because *you* are jealous."

My heart cracked in two right then and it took everything in me not to break down in tears.

*Ruby... is dead.*