Page 5 of The Sicilian Princess
Rose
The man in front of me was rude and obnoxious. I wished he would just go away. He didn't order anything at the diner, but our waitress brought him a coffee anyway. Of course, he drank it black, like his soul. I barely remembered the drive here. I had been feeling paranoid and panicked since I got out of some state in the Midwest. After taking a series of wrong turns, I must've missed theWelcome to Texassign. I only stopped because I was starving. My hands were shaking on the wheel. I figured this was as good a place as any. I didn't expect to collapse in the diner or wake up in a clinic. That was the opposite of my orders from Vittorio. If my brother could see me now, he would be so disappointed in me. How was I supposed to live on my own when I could barely take care of myself? Passing out in the town's only diner, was not the way to keep a low profile.
"Excuse me?" I flagged down our waitress Haley. She came up to me with a big maternal smile.
"Is there any way I could speak to your manager?" The guy in front of me scoffed, causing me to turn bright red. I think I heard him mutter 'figures'underneath his breath. Haley kept her smile.
"I'm the owner; you can talk to me."
I let out a sigh of relief. She seemed like a nice person, unlike the big guy sitting across from me at the table.
"Are you hiring, by any chance? I'm new in town and really need a job." The guy whose name I never got spat coffee across the table. He was coughing up a lung. Was he shocked? I didn't know him well enough to get a read on him. All I knew was that he was taller than I was. I had to break my neck to even look at him. He was huge. If I tried to wrap my arms around his body, I wouldn't be able to. He had dark eyes. I think everything about this man was dark, his eyes, his coffee, his soul. He probably didn't have a compassionate bone in that massive frame he called a body.
"I was just thinking I needed some help," Haley brought my attention back to her.
I always tended to get distracted when I tried to complete a task. This town seemed to be quiet. I didn't think anyone in my family would think to look as far as Texas. I knew for a fact, the Falcone and Picone famiglias didn't have reach out here. That was enough for me. I was already tired to my bones. I needed rest. It wasn't good for my health, running myself ragged, but I also had to be pragmatic. I needed a job. The money I had wasn't going to last forever.
"Why don't you come on back to my office?" Haley suggested.
I nodded my head and rose from my seat.
"Oh no, honey, finish your meal first. I'm not going anywhere, and neither is this job."
Tears pricked my eyes yet again at the kindness of people around me. The only one who wasn't nice was the man seated in front of me, but every place had bad apples. Haley went to help another customer. The stranger in front of me drew in a breath and I knew he was about to make me angry.
"SoRose Thornberry,what's your story?" His words were dripping with sarcasm. He had his arms crossed over his large chest. His body language told me that he didn't like me at all. He was probably pissed Doc Brown forced him to escort me safely. As if I cared.
"Why should I tell you anything? I don't even know your name," I huffed. When you lived around the mafia, you knew how to throw down. I didn't know who this guy was, but he needed to learn right quick that I was not the one.
"Nick," he snapped out. I had a feeling getting him to answer any questions for me would be a hardship.
"Okay, Nick No Last Name, I truly don't believe I owe you anything. What, you think because you took me to Doc Brown that I owe you? You think you'reentitledto anything from me?" I crossed my arms as well, if only to show him I wasn't someone he could just walk all over. I might be running for my life, but I was still a mafia princess. No man was going to treat me anything less than. I refused to let them.
Nick unexpectedly laughed. It wasn't a nice laugh. The lines on his face crinkled up, making him look a little younger, so that was a plus. "Greer. My name is Nick Greer."
It was like pulling teeth with this guy. Didn't he know that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar? Probably not. He seemed like a man who would never bend to anyone else. His way or the highway. I was used to people like that. More than half the men in the Picone famiglia were like that. I may be a mafia princess, but I was raised to bend to the whim of whoever was in charge. With my new lease on life, I didn't want to be like that anymore. I didn't want to be forced to listen and bow down to the man. Nick Greer wasn't any different. He would try to push his own agenda if I didn't put him in his place.
"Well,Nick Greer,I'm Rose and I don't appreciate you trying to pump me for information. Are you going to tell me your life story? No? Then you don't need to know mine." I kept my back ramrod straight. Show no fear. That was the Picone way.
"You don't need to be working. Hell, you're sick, and you have enough money to get out of this town."
My head snapped to his. He was a nosy person, someone I was going to have to look out for. He'd gone through my belongings. I just hoped I hadn't left anything of my previous life for him to find. I had been smart enough to burn the letter my brother had left me, this morning before leaving the motel I was in. I couldn't slip up. My life depended on it.
"That isn't your call to make. You aren't in charge of me, and I don't answer to you." With that, I dabbed my mouth with a napkin and headed for the back office. I wanted to speak with Haley about a job and was going to settle down in this town regardless of what Nick Greer thought.
Haley was already in the office waiting for me. "Did you like the meal?" She was going through papers on her desk. She had a pair of glasses with a chain on them, making her look older and wiser.
"It was delicious." I was honestly surprised by how good the food was. Normally, a diner like this would have crappy food but decent coffee. This dinner had tasted good and the coffee was delicious. The service was excellent, but there weren't enough servers. In a small town like this, that was not a big deal. People would be pleasant anyway. Back in Philadelphia, people would have berated the staff for faster service. They would post in forums about how shitty the service was. They would probably even try to boycott the establishment. I shivered a little thinking about back home.
"Do you have serving experience?"
I shook my head no. Of course, I wasn't going to get hired. I didn't have experience doing anything. There wasn't a job called mafia princess. If there was, I would be perfect at it. "I don't have any experience. But I need this job. I'll work hard, I promise." I was begging. I didn't beg much in my life. I think the last time was when I wanted my father to let me sit in on a meeting with my brothers, to learn about the family's legitimate businesses at the tender age of sixteen. He'd said no, of course. How would that look?
"What did Doc Brown say about your health?" Haley was peering over her glasses at me. I think she was gauging whether I was going to lie to her.
"He told me to come back tomorrow, to talk about my prognosis. I guess I should be straightforward and tell you that I have a seizure disorder, but I don't want anyone to know about it."
Haley nodded her head. "I can be discreet, but you need to be honest with me about your health. I don't want you to get sick on my watch. I'm also assuming we need to do this with no paperwork, under the table, cash only?"
