A Mafia Heiress Poured Ice Water Over the Waitress—Then Her Brother Asked for the Waitress’s Employment File

The ride back to the estate was dead silent.

Leandro sat next to me in the back of the armored SUV, his presence a heavy, undeniable weight. He poured a glass of amber liquid from the car's minibar and pressed it into my shaking hands.

"Drink," he commanded softly.

I took a sip. The whiskey burned my throat, but it stopped the violent shivering.

"You saved my sister's life tonight," Leandro said, staring out the tinted window at the passing city lights. "But you disobeyed my direct order."

"If I had waited, she would be dead," I argued, pulling his oversized suit jacket tighter around my shoulders.

Leandro turned to face me. The streetlights flashed across his sharp features, making him look dangerously handsome.

"And if Russo had pulled the trigger a second faster, you would be dead." He leaned in, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "Do you have any idea what it did to me when I heard those three taps?"

I stared at him, my heart skipping a beat. For a fraction of a second, the cold, calculating mafia boss was gone, replaced by a man who looked genuinely terrified.

Before I could process what that meant, the SUV pulled through the iron gates of the Perry Estate.

The house was completely awake. Lights blazed from every window. As we walked through the front doors, Arthur Perry was standing in the foyer, leaning heavily on his cane. He looked ten years older than he had that afternoon.

Stella was sitting on the stairs, sobbing uncontrollably into a towel.

"Leandro," Arthur growled, his voice thick with exhaustion. "Is it true? Russo?"

"Russo was bleeding the accounts and selling information to the Rossis," Leandro said coldly, his demeanor instantly returning to ice. "He blackmailed Stella because she owed a drug debt. I have him in the warehouse."

Arthur closed his eyes, gripping his cane until his knuckles turned white. He looked at Stella with absolute disgust.

"Get her out of my sight," Arthur spat. "Pack her bags. Send her to the clinic in Switzerland. If she sets foot in this city again before she's clean, I'll shoot her myself."

Guards instantly stepped forward, pulling a screaming Stella up the stairs.

Arthur then turned his cold, dead eyes to me.

"And who is this?" he demanded.

"She is mine," Leandro stated, stepping slightly in front of me.