Love Slave to the Mafia Boss's Passion

I knew that she meant well but why did she have to sneak up on me?!

"Umm…is Hayden back yet?" I asked the first question that came to mind.

"I’m not sure but the car he usually uses right now is parked in the garage," the maid replied smoothly.

"So, he’s back already?" I asked for confirmation.

"I think so. He did leave this morning but perhaps he came back early. Sorry, I don’t know anything about his schedule," the maid replied humbly.

No, surprises there, honey. Even I know nothing about the specifics of his schedule. I didn’t even know that he was back, and I guess I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t spotted him just now.

"Alright…thank you," I thanked her.

The maid bowed politely and excused herself. She headed into Hayden’s wing of the mansion, and I figured that she probably had some work to do there. If Hayden is really back, he should come to see me soon. Maybe he got back but has work to do. That was what I told myself as I returned to Hayden’s bedroom to fetch my mobile phone.

When I returned to my art studio, my hands were shaking, and I felt so insecure. Little Hayden was asleep on the floor, probably from boredom because I had locked him in here.

After pacing around the room restlessly for a while, I decided to give Hayden a call before this drove me insane. It was probably nothing. It’s not the end of the world that he came home early from work and it shouldn’t be an unusual thing for him to enter his brother’s wing of the mansion. Afterall, it was his mansion now. I couldn’t explain it, but something made me feel so uneasy about all of this.

"Hayden, are you back yet?" I asked immediately once the line connected.

"Why?" he asked, rightfully confused.

"Umm…nothing really. I think I saw you in the house, but I wasn’t sure…" I said before holding my breath while waiting for his response.

"Good eyes. I’m back, I skipped out on a couple of meetings and sent Luka in my place," Hayden replied casually.

"Were you tired?" I inquired, suddenly feeling worried.

"Not really but there’s some stuff I needed to sort out back here. I’ll head over to see you when I’m done," Hayden said a little sternly.

Sensing that it wasn’t a great time to talk or take up more of his time, I decided to hand up as soon as possible so that he could get back to whatever he was working on.

"Oh, alright. I’ll see you then," I said before hanging up.

Little Hayden had woken up by that time and he looked at me like he knew a secret that I didn’t. The moment that thought ran through my head; was the moment I was convinced that I was starting to lose my mind. I laughed a little to myself before running my fingers through my long hair.

After tying it into a casual bun on top of my head, I clapped my hands together and began focusing on the painting in front of me.

…

"Thank you so much and I’m so very sorry that I can’t be there to deliver this to you in person. I’ll make sure that it is safely delivered to you. Yes, sure…thank you so much again," I said happily before hanging up.

This morning, I received my first payment for the first portrait that I had completed based on the new price range that Hayden had quoted. It was still hard to believe that the price of my work really did increase by ten folds. There was another piece of work that was close to completion as well which meant that I would be getting another payment soon.

Getting your first paycheck or any paycheck is a good cause for celebration, right? Maybe I should get Auntie to prepare a special dinner as a casual way to celebrate my mini success. With that idea in mind, I decided to give Auntie a call. The old woman spoke through the phone in a cheerful voice after I had assured her that she didn’t have to come see me in the studio.

"I’ll get the chefs to cook up something extra nice. Anything specific that you have in mind?" Auntie asked.

"Not really. Any of Hayden’s favorite foods will do," I replied.

As for me, I wasn’t a picky eater. When life was tougher, you didn’t have the luxury to pick and choose your food that much. I could eat just about anything and the food that the chef always served was beyond average. After thanking the old lady politely, I hung up the phone before turning my attention back to the almost complete painting.

If I worked hard on it today, I might finish it before Hayden comes back. Hopefully, Hayden wouldn’t be back late today because it would be a disaster if I had to eat the specially-made dinner alone. This client that this portrait was for was a little bit more of a perfectionist than the first client and he paid a lot of detail on his hairline and his facial hair.

Getting that right was a big challenge for me. Painting hair was just difficult to get the look of the texture right.

By the time it was 6PM, my back hurt and so did my eyes. Little Hayden seemed bored as well. I took a few steps back to look at the overall painting and sadly, I couldn’t call it complete and ready. The hair needed more work although the beard was fine now.

Guess that will have to wait for tomorrow, I couldn’t physically continue right now, not to talk about the fact that I could barely concentrate with my eyes strained.

Suddenly, my phone started ringing. I peered at the screen to see that Auntie was the one calling. She usually doesn’t call me so this might be something urgent.

"Yes, Auntie?" I answered the call.

--To be continued…