Maid for the Mafia
Before You Go

**ROMANY**

As I fought with the trembling of my bones, I tried to tell myself Alex *didn't know for sure if Ruby was dead. He *didn't know* that, he *couldn't*. Because as stupid as it sounds, I could still feel her. Call it what you want to, instinct, psychic awareness, *delusion*. Whatever it was... somehow I just know that if she were *actually* gone, I would feel it. I'm her baby cousin and even though I'm not much younger than she is, she *always* took care of me. There is *no way* she would have left this Earth without sending me a message. Either by letter or by man or by fucking *medium*. She wouldn't go without letting me know.

Something inside of me is telling me she's alive and that is what I choose to believe. Besides, Alex just finished whispering to me that he would find out where she was. Why would he care where she was if he knew she was dead? He wouldn't. I turned back to the show in front of me, only vaguely curious as to what I missed.

Alex laughed, lowering the gun and shaking his head at Stella.

"I-"

"No, don't speak. You may only talk when asked to. So, answer me this"-she nodded and he knelt in front of her once more-"when you tipped Santos off about Ruby's coming for him, what did say? Did he tell you what he was going to do? Or were you just hoping he wouldn't kill her? Tell me."

"No! He didn't tell me. I don't know what he was going to do. I swear!"

"Oh, so you know nothing? Huh? I guess you only have tips for Santos. Nothing for me though."

"No! it's not like that! it's-"

"Silence. That wasn't a question. But this is. What about Romany? Hmm? What did he intend to do with *her*? Did you volunteer, her? Were you selling her to him? Come on now Stella! If you want to keep at least one foot, you'll need to give me more than 'I don't know'."

I stiffened, my ears piqued.

"I called him. Asked him for a favor," Stella said, glancing at me. "I sent him her picture the morning after she got here."

"Uh-huh. Go on."

"He... said he had uses for her. That he would pay me for her."

"And just how were you going to deliver her?" Alex asked coldly. "How in the fuck was he going to get her off of my land? Were you going to let him in?"

Again, Stella began sobbing.

"Answer me Stella!" Alex shouted.

"The guards!"She shrieked. "Gerald, Martin, Grayson! They are all working for him. He told me to drug her and leave her outside. He said he would take care of the rest. I don't know how he was going to do it. But they do. The guards do. They know."

I was panting, my breaths coming in large gasps. The memory of that night and how strange I felt, now it all held new meaning.

Alex nodded, turning around. "You heard that, correct? I want them dealt with. Now!"

Damien and Tiny hopped up and exited the room without so much as looking back.

"There are more rats here, cousin," Mickey said, his voice darker than I'd ever heard it. "I can feel it."

"These are the same guards that I have roaming my halls protecting me at night. No more of this. We will have to vet all of them again. And any of them that so much as twitch when I show them my dick, I am going to kill. We can replace them." Alex reaches for a bottle of whiskey on the shelf in front of him and takes a long drink. "With robots."

*Robots? He's joking, right?*

Glancing at Mickey, I was shocked. He looked ready to explode. There was a gun in his hand and it looked like any minute he might jump up and shoot Stella. With or without permission.

"She was going to sell her to that bastard!" I hear Mickey mumble before tapping his gun on the edge of the table.

Alex flinched, then chuckled humorlessly. "Yes. I heard her. I know one thing. There's no way to make an example out of her, because she is a woman. So her death will become nothing but an extra chore. Just another body for the crematorium," Alex said, eyeing Mickey as Stella began to whimper. "*You've* never killed a woman. So stop looking so excited." "That bitch is *not* a woman," Mickey replied.

"So go for it then," Alex urged him and I couldn't help but shoot him a look of absolute astonishment.

Alex DeMarco had to be the most outrageously antagonistic man on the planet.

Mickey glared at him, blinking his eyes in amazement before standing up. "I'm going to go and have some fun with the rats."

Mickey stopped just behind my chair, pausing for a long moment. Then he sighed and continued out the door. Alex shrugged, his eyes locking on me briefly before turning away and taking another drink.

Turning back to Stella, he said, "Unless I can have your permission to hang you on my front door like a Christmas wreath, your death will mean nothing. What do you think I should do with you, Stella? Cut out your tongue and take your fingers? Then send you home to mom? Or... you can go to Santos with one good foot and a letter of recommendation. That was you get to keep the tongue and fingers

"Alex! Please! I love you!" Stella cried.

I snickered, I couldn't help myself. She was responsible for Ruby getting caught. Try as I might, the more I thought about what she did, the more I began to daydream about walking over there and stepping on her bad foot. "You love me," Alex repeated, taking another drink of his whiskey. "Whether that is true or not does not make a fucking bit of difference," he snapped. "You will leave today. I don't ever want to see you nor hear of you again." "O-okay," she hiccuped, agreeing.

"Okay, then. Go. Get up and walk out of here, because that is the only way you're going."

She nodded, standing as best she could on one leg. With one last glare in my direction, she headed for the door.

"One more thing, Stella. Before you go," Alex said.

She turned around. "Yes?"

*POP! POP! POP!*

She never even had a chance to scream.