The Mafia Boss’s Fiancée Kicked a Poor Waitress for Saving a Dying Dog — She Had No Idea Whose Dog It Really Was.

Chapter 5

Haley came home on a Tuesday, and she was the whole world in a denim jacket.

She was twenty, a year into college, and she hugged her mother at the door of number 42 like they’d both been drowning, then knelt to Milo — home, healing, old and brave. “Hello, my sweet boy. You look skinny. Are you doing okay at school?”

“Relax, Mom. I’m doing great.” She’d made apple pie, and the house on the dying street was briefly, impossibly, a home.

“So,” Kayla said over pie, “a little birdie said you might be dating someone.”

Haley’s fork stopped. “I do have a boyfriend. Lucas. Two years. But I never told you, because — his dad is the boss of the Blazing Fangs. We’re just ordinary people. He’s way out of my league. His family basically runs Lion Town; they even have a branch of the Silver Blade backing them. A powerful family like that — a girl like me would never fit in.”

“Haley. There is no such thing as a man out of your league.”

“Mom, I know you’re trying to make me feel better—”

“If you two love each other, and he treats you right, I will make sure the marriage happens. I don’t care who his family is.”

“I don’t think his parents would accept me right away. But I do believe Lucas really loves me.” She looked up, hope breaking on her face. “I didn’t even tell him I came home. If you wanted to meet him, maybe we could surprise him.”

“That sounds perfect. Two years, and the families haven’t met. Let’s pay them a visit.”

“I just hope his parents like me, and don’t look down on where I came from.”

“Haley. As long as I’m around, no one has to look down on you. No one.”

—

The Blazing Fangs were a third-rate gang in Lion Town, which meant a third-rate gang with excellent taste in wine. Leo, the boss, had built the family on laundromats and greased palms, and he’d spent his life waiting to be seen as a peer. The call from the Silver Blade changed everything.

“The legendary Silver Blades has promised us a two-billion-dollar deal.”

“Two billion?” Lucas said. “They’re the top-ranking organization in the whole region. Why would they even notice us?”

“We’ve been pretty successful lately. It doesn’t matter how. If we secure this deal, the Blazing Fangs will skyrocket to the top of the Lion Town underworld.” Leo’s eyes went narrow and bright. “And if that happens, your marriage alliance with Evelyn might actually be possible.”

“All the other gangs are trying to cozy up to us,” Lucas said. “Evelyn’s family used to look down on us — but she contacted me. She wants to request a meeting.”

“Now is the time to get rid of that little fling you’ve been having at school.”

“You mean Haley?” Lucas laughed, the sound of a coin being dropped. “Like I’d mess around with a broke girl like her. I would have dumped her ages ago if she weren’t so convenient.”

“That’s my son. Once the Silver Blades backs us, we’ll be the top dogs in Lion Town. Haley’s dreaming if she thinks she can be in our world. Her dad died ten years ago, and her mom just scrapes by on random jobs. They’re bottom feeders. It’s pathetic, how she really thinks I’m in love with her.”

“So dumb,” Lucas agreed, “it’s almost funny.”

Evelyn’s family arrived at noon. At 12:15, the doorbell rang.

“Can we help you?” Leo’s wife said at the door, her smile already inventorying the visitors’ clothes.

“Lucas?” Haley’s face lit like a lamp. “I came back early to surprise you. Did you miss me?”

“Uh — yeah. You’re Haley.” The smile sharpened. “Lucas mentioned you before.”

“And I’m Kayla, Haley’s mother. Haley and Lucas have been seeing each other for quite some time, and our families haven’t met, so we decided to come pay a visit.”

“Hi, Mr. Leo. Hi, Miss Linda. I’m Haley. Lucas’s girlfriend.”

“Wait a second.” Leo came to the door, glass in hand, laugh a blade. “Girlfriend? Our Blazing Fangs family is one of the most prominent in Lion Town. It’s a bit of a stretch to think Lucas would have someone like you as a girlfriend, isn’t it, Haley?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean exactly what I said. We just secured a deal with the Silver Blades — the top organization. We’re about to be the big shots in town. A poor girl like you can never be with someone like Lucas. You don’t belong in our world.”

“Mr. Leo, please.” Haley’s voice had gone small. “Lucas and I have been together for almost two years, and we really love each other. Lucas?” She looked at him, and the hope in her face was the whole story again, and it was breaking. “Tell him. You don’t feel the same way?”

“I never said I loved you,” Lucas said, flat and bored. “We were just messing around. I thought you knew that.”

“Lucas,” Kayla said quietly, “Haley has been with you for two years. I can tell she really cares about you. Have you just been using her?”

“I’m only telling the truth. It’s not my fault Haley deluded herself into thinking it was anything more than it was. She threw herself at me. That’s on her, not me. I never promised her anything.”

“How dare you,” Kayla said, hands still, “be so cruel to my daughter.”

“Sir,” Leo said, to his wife, to the room, “you think we’re not good enough for you. No money, no power — worthless.”

“Just stating facts.” The wife looked at Kayla’s coat, at Haley’s shoes, and her smile was surgical. “Look at what you’re wearing. You should step back a little. That poverty stench might rub off on us.”

“Leo,” Kayla said, and the house’s temperature dropped by a degree. “I tried doing you a favor. You really think that without my support, your little irrelevant gang would survive?”

“How dare you?” Leo’s face went red. “We made it because of the Silver Blade! What has that got to do with you? A low-life like you has no place talking trash here.” He snapped his fingers. “Get these two out of my house.”

“Sir,” the butler said, “Miss Evelyn and her family are here.”

“Oh, excellent. Bring them in.”

The door was closing on the two women in the rain when Kayla said, “Do we warrant an introduction?”

“I’m so sorry,” the wife was saying, to the girl in pearls sweeping past. “I don’t even know where she came from. She just appeared out of nowhere. She actually thought she could marry into our family. She even brought her mother!”

The pearls girl laughed, a knife. “We go to school together. She must have followed me here. I’ve seen plenty of gold diggers like this. They always think that by marrying rich they can cheat fate. But a duck is always a duck. She’ll never be a swan.”

“Evelyn is absolutely right,” Leo said, the door closing, the warm house swallowing the two women like a mouth. “A graceful young lady like you — having you marry into our family would be an absolute honor.”

“It’s not true,” Haley said to the closing door. “I was never trying to marry rich. I’ve loved Lucas with all my heart.”

“Love?” The door clicked shut. “Take the hint.”

On the porch, in the rain, Kayla put her arm around her daughter, and Haley’s shoulders shook. “Why would he bother with me at all?” Haley said into her mother’s coat. “I heard I deliver food just to pay for my college tuition.”

“No, baby. You don’t deliver food. I do.”

They walked home through the rain. The marigolds were soaked. Milo met them at the door, and the tag caught the porch light, and Kayla looked at the name on it, and at the dark window of number 40 where Glenda was watching, and she said: “That deal. They treat it like their lifeline. In two days, they will regret it.”