Book Read Free

Totally Devoted

Page 1

by Wanitta Praks




  Maid to the Mafia: Totally Devoted

  Maid to the Mafia : Book Four

  Wanitta Praks

  Wanitta Praks Media

  Copyright © 2020 by Wanitta Praks

  * * *

  All Rights Reserved

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This book was self-published by the author Wanitta Praks. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without agreement and written permission of the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Maid to the Mafia: Totally Devoted

  Author: Wanitta Praks

  * * *

  Copy Editor:

  Kimberly Dawn

  * * *

  Cover Design:

  Wanitta Praks

  * * *

  www.wanittapraks.com

  Contents

  Totally Devoted

  Prologue

  1. Reunion

  2. Negotiation

  3. Escape Plan

  4. Begging

  5. Giovanni Vs Lorenzo

  6. The Battle Begins…

  7. One Night in the Hospital

  8. Sisterly Bonding

  9. A Different Kind of Bonding

  10. A Family Affair Part 1

  11. A Family Affair Part 2

  12. Forgotten Memories Part 1

  13. Forgotten Memories Part 2

  14. Forgotten Memories Part 3

  15. The Most Beautiful Scenery is You Part 1

  16. The Most Beautiful Scenery is You Part 2

  17. Totally Devoted

  Epilogue 1

  Epilogue 2

  A letter from the Author

  The Mafia and His Maiden

  A Mafia’s First Love

  Prologue

  Chapter 1: Justin

  Chapter 2: Lily

  Her Majesty & The Four Kings

  The Billionaire’s Twisted Love

  Baby Be Mine

  Boss Lady

  Let Me Love You

  Books by Wanitta Praks

  About the Author

  Totally Devoted

  Maid to the Mafia: Book Four

  Giovanni Dente

  * * *

  She was his maid.

  She was his lover.

  But now…

  She was gone.

  * * *

  Giovanni Dente, the mafia boss of the Dente Clan, exudes power, arrogance, and charisma. No one dares to cross him, until one did, taking away his most beloved, Jenny Stone.

  * * *

  They had kidnapped her. And now there’s hell to pay. He’ll go in with guns blazing, not stopping until she’s with him again.

  * * *

  Because to her, he’s totally devoted.

  * * *

  Jenny Stone

  * * *

  I was his maid.

  I was his lover.

  But now, who am I?

  * * *

  Jenny is in love with the billionaire mafia boss, Giovanni Dente. For the past four months, she’d experienced it all. The love he gave to her, the care he bestowed upon her.

  * * *

  It was all like a sweet dream. But it really was a dream, because now she has to wake up and face reality. She was not the person Giovanni loved. She was not his Jennifer.

  * * *

  Reality hit her like a punch to the gut.

  Is it too late to tell him she loves him?

  Is it too late to make him love her?

  * * *

  Because no matter what he says and does, her heart is totally devoted to him.

  Prologue

  Don’t Forget Me

  Fourteen Years Ago

  * * *

  Jennifer waited for her friend, right under that same beech tree. It was hot today. The sky was blue; the sun was bright. She worried her bottom lip, chastising herself for making hot coffee. Maybe iced coffee would be better suited for today’s weather.

  She clutched the foam cup, feeling it had already gone warm. If her friend didn’t arrive any time soon, the hot coffee might as well be iced coffee. She giggled at her own thought. But he really was taking far too long. He should have been here by now.

  Did something bad happen? Did he fall down a ditch? She couldn’t help thinking of these scenarios.

  Her five-year-old mind was far too active for her own good. No wonder her family and teachers at kindergarten had said she had imaginary friends. But Gio wasn’t a figment of her imagination she’d made up as a result of loneliness. He was her real friend. Her first real human friend.

  The kids at kindergarten always bullied her, saying she was awkward and clumsy and stupid. They always pulled her hair and called her names like sesame seed buns because she had too many freckles on her nose. But Gio was different. He’d made her happy. He’d made her feel like it was okay just to be herself.

  She was so lucky to have met him that day. She was just in the park, on the swing, chewing her favorite sweet licorice, when she saw this tall boy that stumbled past her and collapsed against the nearest tree.

  Her mama said she shouldn’t talk to strangers. And that boy was a stranger. But he looked hurt. His face was covered in cuts and bruises, and he was clutching his stomach like he was in pain. She couldn’t help but approach him.

  “Hello. Are you hurt?”

  And the rest was history. They became friends. In the course of those few weeks, she’d viewed him as her older brother, her best friend, her teacher, and her idolized star. She looked up to him and listened to every word he spoke. He taught her to read and helped her with her homework. He was the first one she would confide in, the first one to share any good news. Because to her, he was her very best friend.

  She genuinely liked him. She wanted to spend the rest of her life growing up next to him, watching him change into an adult and seeing what life had in store for them both.

  She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t realize her friend had arrived and was staring down at her with that lopsided grin of his.

  “Gio, you came.” She beamed at her friend.

  He was dressed in his usual style: ripped jeans, white shirts, and black floppy hair messed up at the side. He was just so cool.

  “Yeah. I came.” He plunked himself down next to her. “Sorry for coming late. I had detention. Had to stay an extra hour after school.”

  “What did you do?”

  “Didn’t do my homework.”

  “I’m good at homework. I can help you.” She offered right away, although she wasn’t sure if she could be of any help. It was usually the other way around in their case.

  “Nah! I’m cool.” He gave her that lopsided grin again and rubbed her head. “But thanks for the offer.”

  “Licorice?” she asked, tearing a piece off the long strand.

  “Thanks.” She watched him chew. “Not bad,” he said after swallowing the glob of sugar.

  “Coffee?” She produced her next gift.

  He gave her a skeptical look. “What have you got for me this time?”

  He peeled back the lid, and she slapped him on the hand.

  “No peeking,” she scolded him. “It’s a surprise.”

  He laughed, the sound like a song in her ear. And she just wished she could make him laugh more because she loved listening to it. “Come on. I don’t like surprises. Tell me.”

  “Flat white.”

  “How do
you know all these coffee names?” he asked her.

  “My ma owns a café. She said I can’t drink coffee just yet, but I can practice making them, since I’ll own the shop when I grow older. Do you like it?”

  He took another sip and nodded his head. “Yeah. You’re improving.”

  And the compliment just made her go sky-high. “You really think so?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So...will you marry me, then?”

  She didn’t actually know what the word marry meant. She just heard a lot of the other kids using it at kindergarten because they wanted to stay together.

  But Gio was choking on his beverage, and she got worried.

  “I... How about I make you my lover instead...when you grow up, of course?”

  Lover? What’s that? Maybe lover is another word for friend, like getting married. So if they were lovers, they would stay best friends forever. Yes, she’d be his lover.

  But would he want to stay as her best friend, though, when she might grow up ugly?

  “Lover. Really? You think I’m beautiful? My pa says I’m not a beautiful child, so no one wants to marry me like they want my sister, but you’re the first one who says I’m beautiful.”

  “Hey, you are beautiful, Jennifer. Very beautiful. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

  Her best friend was so nice, but he needed to see the truth. She shoved her face right in his view and wiggled her button nose for him to see.

  “Even with the freckles on my nose?”

  “Yeah. Even with the freckles.” He nodded and patted her head again.

  “Then I’ll be your lover,” she said. “We’ll marry and live happily ever after.”

  She was so happy she kissed him on the nose. Gio smirked at her, then he fell into a boisterous laugh. She joined in too.

  “See, you should laugh like that. Don’t make anyone think you are not beautiful. You’re only a little kid anyway. You shouldn’t be worried about stupid things like that. Just be happy.”

  “Okay.” She nodded, taking his advice seriously, when she saw the pendant around his neck. It was of two dragons entwined together. She leaned in closer for a better look.

  “It’s very pretty,” she murmured.

  “This is a twin dragon necklace.”

  “Why is it called a twin dragon?”

  “See the two dragons. They are entwined together. That’s why it’s called that name.”

  “And it’s green. I’ve need seen a green necklace before.”

  “That’s cuz it’s made out of jade stone.”

  “What’s a jade stone? Is it a rock?”

  “Yeah, but it’s green and very rare.”

  “So it must be very important then.”

  “Yeah, it is. Do you like it?”

  “Mm-hmm. Very pretty.”

  “Then you take it.” Gio all of a sudden tugged the necklace off and put it in her palm. “I mean it. Take it. I’m giving it to you.”

  “You are giving this to me?”

  “Yeah.”

  “But it’s very important and rare. Why are you giving it to me?”

  “Because our friendship is very important and rare. And this necklace represents that.”

  “This is our friendship gift?”

  He nodded his head again. “Yeah. So you would remember me when we meet again.”

  Big fat drops started welling in her eyes. She rubbed them away, but they kept coming back.

  “Why are you crying?” he asked.

  And that was when her whole body shook, and she started crying out loud. She lunged at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face at the crook of his neck. “Are you going somewhere, Gio? Why?”

  If it meant losing her best friend and not being able to see him again, she didn’t want this necklace, no matter how important or rare it was. She pushed it back into his palm.

  “I don’t want it. If I don’t get to see you, I don’t want it.”

  “Silly girl.” She felt his big hand rubbing her head. “Of course I’m not going anywhere. I’ll come see you every day. We’ll be best friends. I’ll teach you how to ride a bike. This necklace, that’s for you to keep, so that a part of me always belongs to you. So that you don’t forget me.”

  She jerked her face from the crook of his shoulder and viewed him with a close eye. “Really? You’re not going anywhere, then?”

  She had just found a best friend. She didn’t want to lose him. So she needed confirmation that this was correct.

  “Nope. I’ll be here. Every day. Just doing our thing. We’ll hang out like usual.”

  She was satisfied, taking back the necklace and examining it closely again. “No one has ever given me a gift before,” she told him. Apart from Mama. “You’re my first friend and the only friend to give me a gift.” She smiled and hugged him tight. “I like you a lot, Gio. I like you a lot.”

  And she was so happy to hear he felt the same “I like you, too.”

  “I promise to wear it.” She told him again. “I promise to look after it and never forget you.”

  “Good. Because if you ever forget me, I’ll be very mad.”

  “I promise I won’t ever forget you, Gio. I’ll remember you forever.”

  “Kids, get in the car,” Mama shouted from the front door of the café.

  Jennifer didn’t quite hear her mother’s voice against the sound of the pounding rain. She was too busy looking at the streetlamps lighting up one by one, and thoughts of her best friend came into her head again. She had already seen him that afternoon, but she already missed his lopsided grin and his affectionate pat on her head.

  “Jennifer,” her mother called out again. “Get in the car.”

  She woke up from her trance and moved herself to the back seat, seeing that her older sister had taken to the back as well. She quietly shut the door and waited in the car.

  “What are you daydreaming about again, Jennifer?” her sister asked.

  “Nothing,” Jennifer said.

  Her sister didn’t believe her. “I can tell by that look on your face that something happened today. What is it? Tell me.”

  “No. There’s nothing,” Jennifer said, turning to watch the torrential rain pounding out the car window.

  Jennifer could feel her sister’s heated gaze at the back of her head, but she didn’t care. This was the one secret she didn’t want anyone knowing. She dug into her pocket, feeling for that jade necklace Gio had given her. This gift was their secret.

  Soon, the car went into motion, and she went back to daydreaming. A few times she turned to see her sister staring off into space, looking bored. She was bored too. It was going to be a long drive home. Having nothing else to do, she took the necklace out for another look, when a hand appeared in her line of sight and quickly snatched the necklace from her hand.

  “Oh, so that’s what happened,” her sister concluded from her strange, quiet behavior in the car. Usually she would yap nonstop. “Where did you get this necklace from? Did you steal it?”

  “I didn’t steal it.” She tried taking it back, but her sister was bigger and stronger, and no matter what she did, she couldn’t move fast enough to grab it. “Please give it back. It’s mine.”

  Her sister ignored her. “Mom, did you buy Jennifer a dragon pendant necklace? Why didn’t you buy me one, too?”

  “What dragon necklace? I didn’t buy Jennifer any necklace,” her mother said from the front seat.

  “So, you must have stolen it, Jennifer.” Her sister accused her again. “Where did you steal it from?”

  “I didn’t steal it. My friend gave it to me,” Jennifer finally told the truth.

  “I don’t believe you. You have no friends.”

  “I do. I have a friend. His name is Gio. He gave me that necklace.”

  “That dirty boy who you meet in the park gave you that necklace,” her sister came to her conclusion. “I don’t believe you. This necklace looks expensive. I bet it’s stolen. We have t
o report it to the police. Put him in jail.”

  “No. Leave him alone. And give me back that necklace,” she shouted.

  “Mom. Tell Jennifer to stop hanging out with that boy,” her sister told their mother. “We don’t even know who he is. He could be a dangerous person. He might even be part of those bad people at school. I heard they always get into fights.”

  “Jennifer, your sister is right,” her mom reprimanded her. “Stop going to the park. And stop hanging out with that boy.”

  Jennifer burst into tears. Her heart was aching. She had to protect her friend. She didn’t want him to go to jail. Her sister told her many times that bad people get to sleep in a cold dark place called jail, and she didn’t want Gio to go through that. He was a kind person. He didn’t deserve to stay in jail. So she defended him again.

  “No, Ma. He’s a good person. He’s kind to me, and he teaches me stuff. He’s my best friend. I promised him I’d meet him again. Don’t take him to the police.”

  “Enough, Jennifer. You are not to go to see that boy in the park again,” her mother said in anger. “And give that necklace to your sister.”

 

‹ Prev