The Mafia King’s Forgotten Daughter

The first thing I learned about men was that they always wanted something.

Money

Power

Attention

Or your body.

The second thing I learned was that they rarely cared what it cost you to give it to them. 

I stared at myself in the cracked mirror backstage and pulled the strap of my costume higher over my shoulder.

“Five minutes, Gabby.”

I glanced at the woman standing in the doorway. 

“Thanks,Maria.” 

She gave me a sympathetic smile before disappearing. I hated that smile. The one that said she knew I didn’t belong here. The one that said she knew I was better than this. 

Maybe I was.

But being better didn’t pay the electricity bills.

It didn’t buy mums medication.

It didn’t put food in the fridge.

And it certainly didn’t pay for Emma’s school trip next month.

I looked down at my phone. Three missed calls, from my mum.My stomach tightened.I called her immediately.

“Hey, mum.”

“Gabriella?”Her voice sounded tired.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine.”

She always says she’s fine. Even when she isn’t.

“Did you take your tablets today”

A pause

“Yes”

“All of them?” I say because she tends to only take certain ones.

“Gabriella—“

“Mum”

Another sigh.

“Yes”

I smiled despite myself

“Good, how are the kids?”

“Asleep”

“And have you eaten?”

I looked at the vending machine in the corner.

“Of course”

Lie.

“Gabby I’m fine”

There was silence. Then she whispered, “ you shouldn’t have to do this.”

My throat tightened.

“Do what?”

“ take care of everyone”

I looked at myself in the mirror.

Twenty-three years old and working in a strip club at night, working another job during the day. Paying bills that weren’t mine. 

Taking care of two children who technically weren’t my responsibility. But they were my family.

“I’ve got it,mum.”

“You’ve always got it.”

“ because someone has to.”

Silence

I knew exactly what she was thinking. 

My father.

The man who had walked out on us when I was thirteen. The man who has promised he’d come back.

He never did.

Instead he married another woman.

A woman who was from a powerful mafia family. And apparently, we’d never been important enough to make him look back. 

“I love you,” mum whispered.

“I love you too.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah.”

I hung up 

For a moment, I just stared at my reflection. Then I wiped the tears from underneath my eyes. I didn’t cry at work. Ever. I grabbed my robe and walked through the curtain. The music started. And Gabriella Moretti

——————————————————————————

The club was packed tonight. Men filled every table, drinks scattered across polished black surfaces while cigarette smoke curled through the air.

I walked onto the stage, and the lights hit me, they were so bright they were nearly blinding. The music changed and that was my cue to start dancing.

I didn’t think about my mum, I didn’t think about the bills, I didn’t think about the ring on my finger.

My engagement ring.

A reminder of the man I was supposed to marry.

Daniel.

My phone had shown me enough messages over the past year to know exactly what kind of man he was. Yet I still couldn’t bring myself to leave him. Maybe because loving someone for seven years made me walk away feeling like admitting you’d wasted seven years of your life. 

I finished my set and stepped off the stage. A man immediately approached me.

“Private dance.”

“No.”,He frowned 

“You haven’t heard my offer.”

“I don’t need to.”

He grabbed my wrist. My blood ran cold. Before I could react,another hand closed around his own.

The man’s expression changed instantly.

“She said no.”

The voice behind me was deep. Calm. Deadly.

The customer then released my arm and I turned. I had forgotten how to breathe at the sight of this man. He was tall, dark hair, Black suit, no tie. The top button of his shirt was undone, exposing just enough skin to make my stomach flip. 

His eyes were almost black. Cold. Focused. Dangerous.

He looked at me like he could see straight through me.

“ Are you okay?” He asked.

I nodded.“Yes.”

His gaze dropped to my wrist. A faint red mark was already forming. His jaw tightened.

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not.”

He looked back at me.

“What’s your name?”

I hesitated.

“Gabriella”

Something changed in his expression. So quickly I almost missed it.

“Gabriella,”he repeated.

The way he said my name made my skin prickle.

“And yours?”

“Luca.”

Just Luca. I smiled faintly.

“Do you come here often,Luca?”

“No.”

“Then what brings you here tonight?”

His eyes stayed on mine.

“Business”

Of course. Men like him always had business, and they always came to the strip club to conduct their business.

I turned to leave.

“Wait.”

I looked over my shoulder. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a stack of cash.

“Private dance.”

I shook my head.

“I don’t do private dances.”

His eyebrows lifted.

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to.”

For the first time, something resembling amusement flickered across his face.

“Interesting.”

“What?”

“Most people don’t tell me no.”

“Maybe most people are scared of you.”

His eyes darkened.

“Maybe you should be.” He said.

I should have walked away, instead I smiled.

“Maybe.”

Then I disappeared backstage. I didn’t know it yet. But the man I’d just refused was the most dangerous man in the city. 

—-----------------------------------------------------

Across the room Luca De Niro watched her disappear.

“Boss?”

Luca didn’t answer. His eyes remained fixed in the curtain. His right-handed man, Matteo, followed his gaze.

“She’s the one.”

Luca finally looked at him.

“Yes.”

Matteo’s expression hardened.

“You’re sure?”

“I’d recognise those eyes anywhere.”

He pulled a photograph from inside his jacket. A thirteen-year-old girl. Dark hair. Green eyes. The daughter of the man who had just offered Luca a marriage alliance. 

Gabriella Moretti.

Luca looked toward the stage again. She had no idea. No idea who he was. No idea why he’d been watching her. And absolutely no idea that her father had already promised her to him. 

Luca slid the photograph back into his jacket.

“Find out everything about her.”

Matteo nodded.

“And the fiancé?”

Luca’s expression turned cold.

“Everything.”

Matteo hesitated.

“Boss?”

Luca stood. “Nobody touches what’s mine.”

He walked away.

Because one thing had already become painfully clear, he didn’t want the marriage because of the alliance anymore.

He wanted her.