The Mafia's Mute obsession

Delia POV.

"Scrub properly!"

The sharp voice made me flinch.

Tonia, the highest ranked maid, stood at the entrance of the kitchen with her arms crossed tightly over her chest. Her cold eyes moved over me with disgust.

"You missed a spot."

I scrambled back to the spot I'd missed, scrubbing hard, one hand pressed to my chest in silent apology.

"Be sorry for your existence." Her voice was flat, almost bored.Important guests are arriving tonight. If the boss sees this mansion dirty, I'll make sure your life becomes even more miserable than it already is."

I lowered my gaze immediately and nodded.

She scoffed in irritation and walked away.

The moment she disappeared around the corner, I let out the breath I'd been holding.

My knees ached. My back ached. Everything ached.

Two years inside the De Morgan mansion had taught me one thing clearly: invisible people survived longer. And I was invisible. The lowest maid. The unwanted one. The girl nobody defended when the others blamed me for missing items or unfinished chores.

I'd come here at seventeen, dropped off like something left behind hoping for a fresh start, hoping to survive long enough to leave. So far, luck hasn't found me.

Thunder shook the mansion, sudden and violent.

---

Lazarus De Morgan and his men entered the mansion with a dark presence that hovered around the building. A devilish, ominous aura swallowed the halls like a ticking bomb waiting to go off. His men moved like shadows behind him, ruthless in their silence, deadlier for how they stared and signaled to each other.

He was known to be an impatient man, he liked things done quickly, neatly, exactly as he ordered. So the mansion stayed orderly at all times whenever he was around. No mistakes. No dust. No dirt. No noise.

I was in the garden, cutting rose stems, lost in thought about my own sad life, when I heard footsteps I didn't recognize. By the time I came to my senses, it was already too late. He came earlier than I expected so I'd lost track of time.

Lazarus burst into the garden, his men trailing a careful distance behind him, close enough to obey, far enough to avoid his temper. A phone was pressed hard to his ear, his knuckles pale around it.

"Say that again, he said. His voice was thick and husky, his accent smooth despite the danger under it dominant, strong. Strong enough that the men behind him went still and looked away. All except one his right-hand man black, who stayed fixed at his side.

I froze near the rose bushes, a basket of clipped stems forgotten at my feet. I hadn't heard him coming the rain had covered his footsteps. I knew I wasn't supposed to be there. Now it was too late to disappear.

"Two months, Lazarus continued, and Vittorio still hasn't signed the transfer. A pause. "He'd better pray I don't have to come there myself because if I do, it won't end in a conversation."

He paused again, listening.

"Pass the phone to Vittorio."

A moment later, his voice sharpened. "Two months, and the estate files are yet to be signed. Was that part of our arrangement?

Even from where I stood, I could hear the man on the other end pleading, breaking.

"Please, Don De Morgan." His voice cracked audibly. "I'll pay you back every cent, I swear it on my wife and daughter's lives. That estate is all my family has left. Just give me time. I'm begging you."

Lazarus let the silence drag out a bit, Long enough that the man's breathing turned torn on the other end. Then he laughed , low, humorless.I don't need your wife. I need something more precious to you.

You swore on your daughters, Lazarus said sinisterly. His tone was calm, almost laughable, which made it infinitely scarier. "Interesting choice. Most men swear on things they're not actually afraid to lose."

He paused, Smirking.

"Sarah and Mia, isn't it?" Lazarus murmured, a cruel smirk touching his lips. "I hear they're both very close by these days. It would be a shame if something happened to such beautiful girls. Especially the busty one Sarah I'm sure my men would find them... very entertaining to play with.

"Please!! Don't touch them, please!!" the man screamed.

"I haven't touched a hair on either of them yet, Vittorio." Lazarus's voice hardened. Though I did have to deal with one of your men last week. Found him sneaking around my property, taking pictures of every man who walked through my gates photographing my meetings, my associates, anyone he thought you'd pay well to know about. Unfortunately. "He won't be reporting back to you. Not anymore."

My blood ran entirely cold. What a monster, I thought, my heart beating violently against my ribs.

I'll be keeping a close eyes on your daughters.

He laughs devilishly.

"Noo..please, I..."

Lazarus cut him off. You have until Friday to pay up or sign the papers. I want you to spend every hour until then understanding exactly what you're about to lose.

He didn't wait for a response. He hung up.

My whole body had gone rigid somewhere around "Busty" "i'm sure my men would find them entertaining" and the killing of his associate! What a Monster I thought to myself, I didn't remember deciding to step backward. My feet just moved on their own, the way they might if I'd touched something too hot or cold to keep holding.

Move move now! Before he turns around

A step, then another. Slow. Careful. My eyes never left Lazarus's back.

I just needed to reach the hedge line. Disappear back into my invisible existence before he or his right-hand man saw me.

My heels were a bit noisy so I bent quickly, fumbling to slip off my heels so my footsteps wouldn't give me away and that was when my hand mistakenly pushed the edge of a stone planter.

The terracotta wobbled, I prayed silently and fearfully that it would settle back in place

But I guess my luck ran out, cause it didn't.

BOOM!

It tipped and shattered against the floor, spilling the soil and broken stem of white roses across the wet path.

The sound was intense. In the dead quiet Lazarus had left behind him after ending the call, it might as well have been a gunshot or bomb.

I froze in place, still holding one shoe dangling from my finger, my breath caught up and I couldn't breathe or move. In that instant I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole.

Lazarus turned around in fury and our eyes locked in...

Our eyes locked in and I was as frozen as an Ice block

It was the first time I'd seen his eyes up close, Emerald. So bright, sparkly and beautiful that I felt hypnotized by it. What a rare set of eyes.

I understood in that instant, exactly why the maids whispered about him the way they did, it was my first time being in his presence and it could be my last I thought.

His body was built like something out of myth, he was very tall and majestic, his veins tracing down forearms that looked capable of ending one's life without much effort.

How much more a little nuisance like myself, I shivered with the thought.

For a second I got lost into everything about him but was pulled back into reality when his thick, dominant voice cut out my frozen state.

Then I realized I was a dead meat!

Who are you !! How long have you been here? What were you doing here? Answer me before I pluck your eyes out and cut your tongue off.

I was shaking like a leaf caught in a storms, my knees gave out before I told them to, and I dropped down, my hands moving fast ,signaling, gesturing and shaking whatever signs I'd managed to teach myself over the years, trying to let him know I was sorry and apologizing in the way I can and could.

Tears slips down from my face , he crotched to my level, closing the distance until there was nowhere left for me to look but him. then he smirked, a slow devilish one and laughed, like my fear was the funniest and entertaining thing he'd witnessed in a while.

Well well well, he said in an amusing tone, like he was only just understanding what he'd caught "Aren't you a sneaky little mute rat. then he laughed so loud that I flinched.

Did you actually think that would keep you safe?

I shook my head. No I hadn't thought about any of that, I just want to disappear.

I pressed my hands together begging him to let me go and that I won't say anything to anyone. not that I can. Friendless also..Even though I knew it wouldn't be that easy for him to let me go, I had to try.

"why are you here, this late"? A pause.

Or should I ask if you're deaf too.

I shook my head again. Harder than before

With a swift move. His hands closed around my throat and grabbed me clean off the ground. My feet kicked helplessly in empty air, my hands trying to hold onto his wrist not to fight him off of course, I wasn't stupid enough to sign my own death warrant! But to relieve a bit of the pressure crushing my windpipe.

Tears streamed freely now from my eyes, very hot tears blurring my visions and dripping against my cold skin, dripping down onto his sleeve.

He is such a devil I thought, he was so quick to cause a poor me pain, I just wanted the night to be over.

It was the longest night of my life.i have had worse Night but this was the worst of them all.

Please please I can't breathe, not that he could hear me or my thoughts and not that he cared!

Some instinct or maybe just the will to survive made my free hand dig into my apron pocket. I found the A5 medium notebook and pencil I always carried. My only voice. My only chance.

My hand shook so hard the pencil almost slipped twice. I pressed it to the paper anyway. My writing came out uneven and messy in the dim light.

Sir, I won't tell anyone. I was in the garden cleaning.

I pushed the note toward him. My arm shook from the effort. My chest burned for air he wasn't giving me.

He didn't loosen his grip. Not yet. His eyes dropped to the page for only a second, then came back up to my face. Cold. Watching me. Like he was deciding if words on paper meant anything, coming from someone who could still lie with her hands even if she couldn't lie with her mouth.

I wrote faster, desperate now. The pencil tore a little through the paper.

I didn't know you were here. Not until it was too late. I heard you don't like people roaming around when you're here, so I waited. I was trying to leave without being seen. I swear. Please believe me don Lazarus!

Even if what I wrote might have been an excuse to him, I still had to try my best in letting him know it wasn't intentional.

My eyes blurred from tears and lack of air, I couldn't feel anymore. My face was so red I felt I could pass out any moment from now, I held the note up as high as my shaking arm could reach, right in front of his face. I needed him to read it before my body gave out.

He let go of me. I dropped hard onto the floor, my knees hitting the stone, air rushing back into my lungs so fast it hurt. I coughed violently, holding my bruised throat and knee.

Lazarus casually picked up the notebook from where it had fallen. He read my messy handwriting slowly, a cruel smirk crossing his face.

So tell me, "he said, his tone flat and mocking. "why should I keep you alive? You heard everything. You heard exactly how I threatened him

He crouched lower, bringing his face inches from mine. "why should I let you live? What good does that do for me?

I didn't move. I barely dared to breathe.

"I don't care if you live or die," he went on. "I kill people every day. So give me one good reason." His eyes moved over me, slow and mocking. "

His emerald eyes raked over my body, slowly and mockingly. "You're already just a mute rat. And by that uniform tag, I can tell you're one of the lowest maids here, you aren't even useful enough to matter to anyone.

He tilted his head, studying my teary face. "Your life is already miserable. Maybe I would be doing you a favor by ending it'

He smirked again, waiting.

Tears flowing like a river from my eyes uncontrollably

I grabbed the notebook again, my hands trembling so hard I could barely hold the pencil.It was still my only voice, my only way to survive. His words kept ringing in my head. "Not even useful enough to matter. Your life is already miserable."!

Tears fell as I wrote.

I'll do anything, sir. Anything you want. Any errand, any task , I'll be your extra pair of eyes and ears. No one pays attention to me in this house. That means I can move around without anyone noticing. I'll be careful with any order you give me. I won't get caught. I don't care what you ask of me, I'll do it. Please don't kill me. I'm not ready to die. I want to live.

I held the notebook up, my whole body trembling, sobs breaking out of me even though no sound came with them.

What a handsome devil, I thought. He hadn't wasted a second wanting me dead. Looks really can be deceiving.

Lazarus paused after reading my words. His eyes moved over me slowly, head to toe.

"You'll do anything I ask?" he said. "Anything at all?"

He smirked evilly.

My stomach twisted in knots, I didn't know yet. Exactly what I'd just agreed on.

I nodded aggressively because my life depended on it if I wanted to make it alive.

He stepped closer, the heavy leather scent of his jacket filling my senses, slowly, deliberately, he reached out and touched my cheek. His calloused thumb brushed against my skin, sending an electric jolt of pure terror straight down my spine.

"What can you do for me? and what's your name? he asked. his emerald eyes digging deep into mine.

My breath caught, I opened the notebook with trembling fingers and wrote as quickly as the graphite would allow.

My name is Delia Stacia sir, I can do anything for you, Sir Don Lazarus. Please give me a chance.

"Delia Stacia" he repeated, the way the syllables and the tone of my name rolled off his tongue sounded like a heavy dangerous melody.

Stand up.

My legs shook, but I pushed myself to my feet. He was so tall that I had to tilt my head back to keep looking at him.

His eyes moved over me, from my soaked uniform to my shaking hands still clutched against my side. He was studying me the way he might study a lock, deciding if I was worth the trouble of opening. He let out a quiet hum.

"Small," he murmured. Quite Easy to overlook."

I didn't know if it was an insult or a plan.

"How long have you been in this mansion?" he asked suddenly.

"Two years sir", I wrote

He began to walk around me, slowly the way a man circles something he has just bought. I stood frozen, my fingers digging into the notebook. My heart pounding in my ears. I could feel his gaze on me the whole time, calm and patient in a spooky way.

He stopped in front of me.

"Two years in my house," he said, "and I have never noticed you."

I lowered my eyes, well cause I've been invisible and also pushed into works that the low maids do and I also try to avoid been seen. I thought.

"Look at me."

I looked up. I didn't dare not to.

That's the part that bothers me," he said, his voice dropping. "Something in my own house, right under my nose, and I never saw it." His mouth curved, but there was nothing warm in it.

He looked at me like something he was ready to tame and train under his wings with an evil smile on his face.

He was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke again, his voice was calm, and that was worse.

"Let me explain how this works, Delia stacia." He said my name slowly, like he was testing how it felt to own it. "You heard something you weren't meant to hear. By every rule I live by, that should be the end of you.

My stomach turned instantly. Pleading with my face and eyes that I won't betray him.

Because you can't speak doesn't make you trustworthy, at least you can understand and you can write? Can't you? he said

I can, I wrote down but I won't betray you sir, I wrote, I promise you with my life.

I knew I was going to regret it in the long run by swearing with my life, but I didn't have a choice, not with the mafia city god.

With your life," he repeated, and the smirk faded as he read the page again. "You're offering me the one thing I could take from you tonight.

I nodded, my face as open as I could make it. I wanted him to see that I wasn't lying, that I had nothing left to lie with.

"Understand something, Delia." He stepped closer, and I had to tilt my head back to keep looking at him. "I don't take promises. I take guarantees."

My throat felt tighter. I lifted the pencil, but he caught the notebook before I could write.

"Don't answer yet." His voice was quiet. "Listen."

I stayed still.

"You understand every word I say. You can write. You can run to someone with a note in your pocket and tell them what you heard." His eyes held mine. "So your silence isn't proof of anything. It's just a door I haven't locked yet."

Locked. The word made my skin go cold.

"Here is how I lock it," he said. "From tonight, you don't belong to this house. You belong to me." He said it slowly, like he wanted each word to land. "Your hands. Your eyes. Your silence. Your life, since you offered it so freely."

I couldn't breathe, I felt powerless and more seen than I had ever been since I got to the mansion.

He continued...

"You go where I send you. You answer when I message you. You're not to tell anyone about me, You will report only to me!!." His gaze dropped to the notebook in my hand. "And if I ever find out you have, I won't ask how or why. Cause you will be a dead meat."

Okay?

I nodded frantically, my whole body shaking.

"Good girl." He reached out and tucked a strand of wet hair behind my ear. It was a small, almost careless gesture, and it made my heart stop..Your life is mine now, You're mine "And Nobody else touches what's mine. Remember that."

I stared at him, frozen. "Nobody else touches what's mine"? I wasn't a person to him. I was a thing he had found in his garden and decided to keep and yet I was already his. I shivered at the thought.

And yet his fingers had been gentle for half a second, and I hated that I noticed

"Say it," he said.

I froze. He knew I couldn't. He watched me struggle, and something flickered across his face, too fast to read, and scary to try to think of.

I lifted the notebook with trembling fingers and wrote one line.

I belong to you, Don Lazarus.

His plump lips, smiling. A smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. As he read it.

Say it again, he said suddenly

I wrote it sharply again.

I BELONG TO YOU.

His lips curved again to something definitely not warm, then he took the A5 Medium notebook and slid it into his pocket. Like everything I have belongs to him now.

I stared at him in a frozen state.

That was my voice. My diary. My only safe space in this house since my only friend eliva was taken from me. I wondered if she was dead or alive after what happened to her.

It wasn't just feelings in there. It had my recipes for cooking and mostly everything I had noticed about this house,about him, his guards and other whispers and warnings l'd heard from the maids concerning the mansion businesses.

God, I was so dead, if he gets to read it, I thought to myself in terror.

Then he said

"you will be given a phone instead" that way you will be able to respond to me immediately I message you. You'll have 5minutes to respond if not there will be consequences.. More information will be passed to you soon by my guards

"And Leo" he called out sharply to one of his slim guards. Whom I noticed was giving me a perverted look since Lazarus was talking to me.

Get her a blanket.

He turned to leave, and my legs gave up there in the quiet garden with the rain still drizzling a bit, my cheek still warm where his hand had been, and the terrible, confusing knowledge that I was no longer invisible, no longer free, and no longer sure which of those frightened me more.