Chapter 7: Maid

*Road leaving New York City—11 AM*

***

The car was moving quite rapidly. Daisy was still thinking she committed her life’s biggest mistake. On the outside, Daisy was bored, staring at the horizon. On the inside, she had just gained access to the entire curse word library.

Ah, the horizon was so pretty, just as she wanted to put a rusty nail in her eyeball. Ah the sea, so mysterious, so wonderful, she wished she was drowning instead.

Daisy was in a limousine. A pretty good one. A black Mustang trotting on the silver road. She stopped looking at the window to instead take a glance at the reason she was there at all: Marco.

The Ricci leader was lighting a chocolate roll and slowly licking and eating it, all the way from the police station until then. All that way, he was either looking, from the corner of his eyes, at Daisy or the surroundings of the car inside. That was a habit that Daisy was intrigued by. Marco finally finished eating his chocolate roll and focused on Daisy for the first time.

“Say, what a view, huh?” He asked cordially.

Daisy stopped looking outside and saw Marco glazing at her. She was seeing his captivating eyes but was unphased. Daisy knew who he was, and knew his true nature, so she wasn’t afraid. She was rather confidently unamused.

“Quite beautiful,” Daisy agreed, with an empty smile.

“Now… Daisy, right?” Marco began, clapping, and holding, his hands once.

“Yes,” Daisy answered, fixing her posture to face her new boss.

“Daisy, Daisy, you remind me of someone…” Marco commented, reaching for his box of chocolate rolls. “Want a bit?”

“No, thanks, chocolate causes acne,” Daisy replied, again gazing at the horizon.

“Lie!” Marco shushed Daisy while interrupting the last word. “What causes acne is the hormones that chocolate stimulates. It’s a domino effect. I’ve eaten one of these every day for the last three years, and look at me! Not a single zit.”

“Oh, I see it,” said Daisy, trying not to make it obvious she was amazed by Marco’s awfully good skin.

“Get used to it,” Marco sighed, as he put the box back in his pocket. “Working for me, you’ll see me having these once per day, and maybe you’ll be the one responsible for buying a new box at the end of every month.”

“You make people buy your stuff?” Daisy asked, genuinely curious, returning her eyes to Marco.

“You think me, future leader, or vice-leader, of the most powerful gun mafia in this city, will be walking on the streets in the public eye?” Marco replied, with another question. “Not ever, apart from Bella Ragazza! The other me will do the rest.”

“The other you?” Daisy asked.

“If given the right material, I turn into a master of disguises,” Marco bragged, sinking his head in his shirt and covering his forehead with his hand.

“That’s awesome, but doesn’t it become obvious that it’s you?” Daisy inquired, giggling in her mind.

“I am a fairly good disguiser, and this disguise thing is the only time I would like to dress in drag,” Marco answered, lying back in his seat. “Now tell me, Daisy, do you like cognac?”

“Cognac?”

“Yeah, do you think it’s strong?”

Daisy remembered their first encounter at the Bella Ragazza nightclub, so she thought a little bit about it. The encounter passed like a movie in her head, the exact words and shots, like she was the spectator and that was her favorite movie ever.

“Yes, I’m not into alcohol,” she finally said.

Marco’s smile faded away for a moment. Was Daisy really the one he was hoping for? Since he had seen her at the police station, his head was pulsing with joy. What if he came to the right place at the right time to find the girl of his dreams? He really should thank Kill Krill for screwing up his nightclub last night.

“Oh, alright,” Marco said, recovering his smile. “Just for curiosity.”

Curiosity, eh? Daisy knew his true intentions. Not in a lifetime Daisy Neems would reveal she was the Slavic Cinderella he was hoping to find. Well, she wouldn’t reveal, so he must find it out.

“Hey, we’re here!” Marco noticed, pointing at a huge brick wall.

Daisy finally got to see her future home for a while, at least for one year. Behind those brick walls and the metal gate, she could see the biggest mansion her eyes ever witnessed, which says quite a lot for someone who lives in New York City. The mansion, all built with bricks and masonry, was something to be amazed by. Daisy herself was in awe of it. The car stopped. Marco knocked on the little glass window to talk to the chauffeur.

“Lascia a me la cordialità,” he said to the chauffeur.

The chauffeur, a sympathetic old fellow with a mustache and a slight bald spot, gave a weak snort in agreement.

Marco left the limo first, closing the door, and leaving Daisy in. She peeked with her head outside. Between the metal gate and the mansion, there was a mighty thirty-meter gap. A good place to have a run.

Then, Marco opened the door to Daisy. He gave Daisy his hand. Daisy looked at him reluctantly. He looked at her with sympathy and a kind smile. Daisy was still apprehensive but slowly gave her hand to her new boss. While Marco held her hand, Daisy could feel the warmth of it, also feeling his holding it hard. Not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to make her feel that she would be held if she tripped over and fell.

“Signora,” he said with a deep soothing voice. “Welcome to your new home for the next year.”

“It’s beautiful,” Daisy thought loudly.

“Yeah, I have to agree, even though I didn’t bathe today,” Marco giggled.

“Pardon?” Daisy overheard part of that.

“Nothing, it’s just pretty beautiful, I agree,” Marco instantly replied, almost stuttering. “May I introduce you to its insides?”

“Sure, I guess,” Daisy said, confident, but still with a bad itch on the stomach.

“Don’t worry, since you’re my maid, you are to be treated at least humanly,” Marco comforted Daisy, holding her shoulder from her back and, with the other hand, showing the mansion. “You’ll have a nice room with your own bathroom, you get to have meals with the family, even roaming around freely on your break time, we even have a nice cinema room.”

Daisy’s eyes were shining brightly as Marco described her new life. She forgot she had a small apartment in New York City, and imagined herself as a princess of some sort. The only price for this new lifestyle was to clean the house. Not a big deal at all!

Marco finished explaining when his eyes met Daisy’s. Daisy knew what being connected to the mafia could bring her: answers. Not long ago, one of the mafia families had scarred her deeply. Only when justice is made, then Daisy would know inner peace. But, while she is barely starting, she decided to enjoy this moment, leaving the professionalism behind for some minutes.

Daisy made seductive eyes when she turned back to see Marco staring at her.

“May we enter, capo?” She joked, with a soothing tone.

“Why, certainly, madam,” Marco giggled.

Marco held her hand like a gentleman and conducted her through the mansion’s front door.