“I Have Dinner Plans This Friday” — The Obsessed Mafia Boss Snapped When His Accountant Said She Was Seeing Another Man
Chapter 3
The following Monday, Luca was unusually distant.
Mia almost preferred his jealousy.
Silence was harder.
He didn’t call her into his office.
Didn’t tease her.
Didn’t ask whether she had eaten.
He simply worked.
Mia hated how much she noticed.
By lunchtime, she finally snapped.
She entered his office.
“Are you avoiding me?”
Luca looked up.
“No.”
“Yes, you are.”
He smiled faintly.
“I thought giving you space would be respectful.”
She crossed her arms.
“Since when are you respectful?”
He laughed.
“Since Friday.”
She sat across from him.
“You shouldn’t have to change because I had dinner with someone.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you acting like this?”
He looked at her.
“Because I’m trying not to become the man you’re afraid I am.”
Her expression softened.
“What man?”
“The one who thinks wanting something gives him the right to take it.”
Mia went quiet.
That was not the answer she expected.
Luca leaned back.
“I grew up around men who confused power with permission.”
“And you?”
“I learned from them.”
She studied him.
“But?”
“But I don’t want to be them.”
Mia looked away.
That was the first time she saw beyond the reputation.
He wasn’t simply a powerful man.
He was someone who knew exactly what darkness lived inside him.
And he was trying to control it.
“Why me?” she asked.
He smiled sadly.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I noticed you.”
“When?”
“The first week.”
“What did you notice?”
“You never treated me like I was untouchable.”
She laughed.
“You scare everyone.”
“You didn’t look scared.”
“I was.”
He smiled.
“I know.”
Their eyes met.
The air changed.
Mia stood.
“I should go.”
“Probably.”
She reached the door.
“Mia.”
She turned.
“Yes?”
“I meant what I said.”
“About what?”
“You’re allowed to have your own life.”
She nodded.
“Thank you.”
She left.
Later that afternoon, Mia discovered another accounting discrepancy.
This one was much larger.
Three million dollars.
The money had been moved through a network of businesses.
Someone inside the company was stealing.
She immediately notified Luca.
He became serious.
“How long?”
“At least six months.”
“Who has access?”
“Five executives.”
“Names.”
She gave them.
One was Anthony Russo.
Luca’s operations director.
A man who had worked with his family for fifteen years.
Luca stared at the list.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Could you be wrong?”
“Accounting isn’t about feelings.”
He smiled faintly.
“That’s why you’re here.”
They investigated quietly.
Mia followed the money.
Every transaction.
Every invoice.
Every transfer.
The fraud was sophisticated.
Someone knew the company’s structure.
Someone understood how to hide money.
Anthony was the obvious suspect.
But Mia found something stranger.
Some transactions had been approved using Luca’s father’s old authorization code.
His father had been dead for seven years.
Mia showed Luca.
He stared.
“My father never kept that code.”
“Then someone has it.”
He became silent.
“Who could?”
“I don’t know.”
Luca stood.
“Neither do I.”
For the first time, Mia saw genuine fear in his expression.
Not fear for himself.
Fear that someone had been inside his organization for years.
And if they could access those accounts, they could access much more than money.
