The Mafia's Good Girl
The Mafia’s Good Girl – Chapter 22

~ Violet ~

“Damon!” Violet gaped.

The old man turned around and saw Damon glaring deadly at him. He seemed to know who Damon was because he quickly let go of Violet’s hand and cowered back.

“Mr. Van Zandt,” he laughed nervously. “I’m—I’m just—”

“Get the hell out of my sight,” Damon cut him off, his tone dropped an octave lower.

“Yes, sir,” the man scurried away as fast as he could. Violet had never seen a grown man running away with his tail behind his legs like that. He must be so humiliated and scared.

Violet turned her eyes back to Damon, and he was watching her like a hawk. She was grateful that he was somehow here, but she was also curious as to why he was here in the first place.

“Damon, what are you doing—“

“What the hell were you thinking?”

Before Violet could finish her question, Damon already cut her off. He eyed her with a judging look and she didn’t know what that was for.

“What?” she asked.

“This isn’t the place for you,” he shook his head disapprovingly. Then he looked around the room and frowned. “Where the fúck is everyone else?”

“Dylan’s out on an errand and Danny has a thing—look why am I explaining this to you?” Violet let out a sigh. She didn’t understand why he was so mad. “Thank you for coming to my rescue, Damon, but I got the situation under control,”

“Yeah, right,” he scoffed.

“We have a panic button under the table. I was gonna call the cops,” she replied.

“The cops,” Damon rolled his eyes mockingly. “You’d be dead before they get here,”

Violet shuddered at the thought. As much as she hated to admit it, Damon had a point. That old man had a gun. If he had decided to use it on her, calling the police wouldn’t make a difference.

“What are you doing here, Damon?” Violet sighed again and crossed her arms.

“Is that any way to greet to the savior of your life?” he said with his head cócked to the side.

Violet couldn’t help but notice the smirk playing on Damon’s sharp jawline. His dark brown eyes pierced into hers and his jet black hair was messily tossed to the side. Violet swallowed hard instinctively.

“Relax, I just want a drink. How about a glass of scotch?” he said again.

Violet paused for a beat before she grabbed an empty glass and a bottle of their most expensive scotch. She poured the drink in front of Damon and pushed the glass towards him once she was done.

“Thank you,” he said.

Violet nodded her head and stood awkwardly in her spot. Damon took a sip of his drink and let out an appreciative sigh.

“Good scotch,” he commented.

Violet didn’t say anything and there was a moment of silence in the air. She shuffled nervously and her mind was racing. There must be a reason why Damon came all the way out here and Violet was anxious to find out.

“Last I remember, your house is stocked with whiskey. You don’t have to come all the way here just for a drink,” she said finally.

Damon narrowed his eyes and chuckled.

“Are you always this impatient?” he asked. There was a double meaning there and Violet couldn’t help but blush.

“Okay, then enjoy your drink,” Violet avoided eye contact with him and she turned to leave. Violet knew nothing good would come from staying around him too long. She decided she should just ignore him and continue restocking the bar.

“Wait, Violet,” Damon called out suddenly and Violet stopped her tracks. She turned around and waited for Damon to continue.

“You’re right, I’m not here just for a drink,” he paused for a beat and sipped his whiskey dry. Once he was done, he put the glass down and said, “I came here to offer you a job,”

“A job?”

Damon walked closer towards her and said, “I think this place is far below your standard. You can work for me and I’ll make sure you’re well taken care of,”

“What do you mean work for you?” Violet scoffed. “Am I gonna be your bodyguard or something?”

“No, I don’t need a bodyguard. But I need a new Number One,”

Number One?

It took a moment for Violet to realize what Damon meant. She remembered Talia telling her that Damon had a slew of girls waiting by his hand and feet in the estate. He’d assign them numbers and he’d change girls every so often.

If he’s asking me to be his Number One, that means…

“What happened to the blonde girl?” Violet asked. She remembered how eager that girl was at pleasing Damon when Violet was forced to watch her that time.

“Nothing, it was just time for a change,” Damon shrugged. “And you won’t be working for too long either, a month top,”

A month…?

“No, thank you,” Violet said quickly and turned to her heels again.

“But you haven’t even heard my offer yet,” Damon walked further and caught up with her. He was blocking the exit and Violet couldn’t get out of the bar.

“I don’t need to. Making that deal with you was a stupid decision and I’m not falling for the same mistake again,” Violet replied rather sternly.

Sure, one million dollars was a lot of money, but Violet felt so much shame and disappointment with herself afterward. There were nights when she woke up in terror because she had a nightmare of being back in that estate and no amount of money could ever bring her that peace of mind back.

“It wasn’t a stupid decision,” Damon shook his head in disagreement. “What’s stupid was that you used the money to pay your family’s debt when you should’ve used to get yourself out of this hellhole instead,”

“How’d you know about that?“ Violet gaped. No one except Dylan and her knew about the family debt and how much they spent paying it off.

“I gave you one million dollars and you spent it all in a matter of days,” Damon said in a mocking tone. “And now you’re back here, working minimum wage serving drinks to old disgusting men,”

“And what’s wrong with that?” Violet challenged back. “It’s an honest job and it’s better than selling myself,”

“And what’s wrong with selling yourself?” he replied. “It’s all just a business deal in the end,”

Violet was stunned at the audacity that this man had. If he wasn’t such a scary mafia lord, Violet would’ve slapped him right across the face. Well, she actually did that one time and it didn’t end well.

“My answer’s still no, Damon,” Violet said firmly. “If that’s why you came here then I suggest you better leave—“

“Three million,” Damon cut her off. He was speaking so loud, his voice echoed through the room.

“I’ll give you three million dollars for a month of your time,” he said again.

Violet’s jaw fell to the ground. She was adamant that her body was no longer for sale, she thought she had made it pretty clear, but of course Damon was unfazed.

“And before you ask, the answer is yes, I’m deadly serious,” Damon continued on shamelessly. He was grinning that devilish grin while Violet stood frozen in shock.

“Hey, Vi! Look who I ran into outside!”

Before Violet could gather her thoughts, she heard the front door open and Dylan’s voice shouting across the room. She turned her head and saw Dylan walking into the bar with Jesse Miller right behind him. Jesse wasn’t wearing this police uniform and he was just in a plain t-shirt and jeans.

“Jesse?” Violet gasped.

Damon followed her gaze and watched the two men walking in. Dylan was carrying a box of liquor in his hand and his smile dropped when he saw Damon standing by the bar so close to Violet.

“You still remember my name? I thought you’d forgotten all about me, you never even replied to my text,” Jesse laughed and kept his eyes on Violet. He wasn’t paying attention to anything or anyone else in the room except for her.

“Oh, well, that’s…“ Violet shuffled awkwardly as she didn’t have an answer for him. She couldn’t possibly say that she had to bail on their date because she ended up selling her body to a mafia kingpin.

Meanwhile, Dylan stepped closer to Damon with a protective aura emanating through his eyes. “Damon,” Dylan greeted him.

“Dylan Carvey,” Damon replied.

“Can I help you with something?” Dylan’s tone of voice was professional but also cautious.

“Nah, your sister already did,” Damon said with a taunting smile. “I was just leaving,”

Dylan’s fists were clenching, but Violet quickly threw him a ‘don’t do anything stupid’ look. Damon then took out a hundred dollar bill and put the money on the counter. He was now facing Violet and he leaned closer to her ear.

“Think it over and let me know,” he whispered lowly so that only she could hear him. “Offer expires tomorrow at midnight,”

Violet didn’t say a word and Damon stepped away from her. He gave her one last look before turning for the exit. He passed by Dylan and Jesse on his way out and he nodded curtly.

“Gentlemen,” he said.

Dylan and Jesse nodded back and Damon walked on. The atmosphere in the room became somewhat tense and Jesse kept staring at Damon’s back. He waited until Damon was completely out of sight before turning to Violet and Dylan with a frown.

“You guys know Damon Van Zandt?” he asked.

“He just comes here sometimes,” Dylan shrugged nonchalantly. “Why?”

“Word on the street is that he’s the new leader of the Luciano family,” Jesse said lowly and cautiously. Dylan quickly shot Violet a ‘don’t say anything’ look.

“Well, we wouldn’t know anything about that,” Dylan shrugged. “Plus, he’s not Italian. I don’t think they’ll let him take over just like that. Joseph Luciano has a lot of extended families if I’m not mistaken,”

“That’s true,” Jesse agreed. “But still, I’ve heard that he’s trouble. You two should be careful with him,”

“Us? Don’t worry about us! We ain’t got no business being around people like them. We’re just working here, right, Vi?” Dylan said to Violet, sounding rather nervous.

“Right,” Violet nodded her head, lying right through her teeth.

“Hey, I’m gonna go put this in the office, I’ll be right back,” Dylan said in a cheery tone and walked off. “Get Jesse a drink, Vi. It’s on me,”

“Oh, thanks man,” Jesse said.

“Anytime,” Dylan replied as he sauntered to the back door.

Violet walked back behind the bar and stopped right in front of Jesse. “What would you like?” she asked him.

“Just a glass of beer,” Jesse said with a smile. “Thank you,”

“We’re the ones that should thank you. You helped us out at the police station and you even drove us home,” Violet said as she prepared his order.

“That was nothing, really,” Jesse waved his hand carelessly in the air.

Violet didn’t say anything as she was filling up the tall glass of beer, but she gave Jesse a small smile. Jesse looked a little nervous and he started raking his hair with his hand.

“So, uh, how you’ve been?” he asked.

“I’m good,” Violet replied. She finished filling up the glass, so she put a coaster in front of Jesse and put the drink down.

“Dylan told me you just came back from an impromptu trip with your school friends?” Jesse said as he reached for the beer.

“Yeah, it was a spur of the moment thing and I was out for about a week. That’s why I couldn’t reply to your text, I’m really sorry about that…” Violet trailed.

To be honest, Violet completely forgot about him and that dinner date. She really wanted to go with him, but with her mom’s accident and the deal with Damon, going on a date with a cute policeman was no longer a priority. And after everything that happened, Violet assumed that Jesse would want nothing to do with her now.

“It’s fine. You just graduated high school. It must be a big deal, I get it,” Jesse replied with an understanding smile and it caught Violet off guard. He was so kind towards her, it made her feel worse.

“Thanks,” Violet said lowly.

“But, um, about that dinner,” Jesse raked his hair again and paused for a beat before continuing, “My friend is a chef and tomorrow’s the grand opening of his restaurant in Newport. He promised me the best table overlooking the Manhattan skyline, and it’s supposedly really amazing…”

Jesse put his glass down on the counter and his hand was only inches away from Violet’s. His fingers darted out and his pinky was touching her hand. Violet’s breath hitched in response.

“What do you say, Violet?” Jesse asked with that mega-watt smile playing on his face. “Can I take you out tomorrow night?”