Gael's Naughty Angel: A Mafia Prince Romance

An hour ago, Angela, Rick, and Trigger put away their dinner leftovers in the fridge and wiped down the counter. They would be heading home after the last of the workers had left and planned to come back early the next day when they expected delivery to arrive for some new indoor plants that would make the interior even homier.      

Her phone rang, confusing her when she saw the real estate agent on the screen. And when she spoke to him, the blood on her face drained. She gasped, earning concerned looks from Rick and Trigger. When the call ended, she faced the two men and blurted, "Gael is on his way here!"     

"That's not right." Rick dug his phone from his pocket and swiped on the screen. "He didn't say anything about flying here tonight."     

"I don't have anything from him either," Trigger confirmed, checking his phone.     

"The hell? Neither do I, boys! Does that matter right now? The point is, he is on his way here!"     

"Why?" Trigger wondered.     

Angela started pacing in the kitchen. "Gael called my agent five minutes ago. Apparently, he'd been trying to look for the new owner of this house. I obviously didn't make it easy for him because I made sure my agent didn't reveal any information about me, but then Gael told him just now that he wanted to make sure that someone was here—the new owner—so he could drop by! And now he's on his way!"     

This was such a surprise that she panicked, making Rick slightly panicky as well. The man wanted to rush outside to wait for Gael, looking a little out of it. He had been like that the whole week they visited the house. Rick was a dangerous big, cuddly bear who cooked and knitted but was also afraid of his boss that even a tiny lie like keeping the truth about Angela's new house from Gael was already eating him up inside.     

Trigger and Angela had to stop Rick several times when he attempted to wait for Gael outside. The big man liked keeping secrets with Gael but keeping a secret from Gael was so much different. He looked at Angela like she asked him to kick a puppy. Rick was overly dramatic.     

Angela was so not ready to face Gael yet. She was excited about his arrival, especially that he arrived a day early, but the prospect of him seeing the house with less than what she planned for him to see the first time he was back here made her anxious. There were still some touches in the house that were supposed to be done tomorrow. It should've been plenty of time before Gael arrived but that wasn't happening anymore.     

Rick and Angela bickered in the kitchen, the two of them pacing, while Trigger watched them panic, snickering every now and then. She couldn't leave now that she knew Gael was coming.     

Then the knock came and their eyes widened.     

Rick raced towards the door. Angela hissed at Trigger to stop the man. There was no way Rick would beat her from welcoming, surprising, and telling Gael. She would never let Rick live if he ruined this for her.      

Trigger scrunched up his face and reluctantly tried to stop Rick—because let's face it, who could stop a bear?     

The three of them exchanged muttered expletives as they scrambled towards the front door. Rick was damn near shouting his most sordid secret to his boss when Trigger clamped his hand over his mouth just as Angela swung the double doors wide open to a very confused Gael. He surely didn't expect to see them all there. But, surprise, baby!     

Unsure how she did it, Angela took all of him in, welcomed him in a rush, and pulled him inside the house, shutting the door behind them.     

Still with his hand in hers, Gael scanned the three of them—still obviously shocked to see them there. "What…" was all he managed to utter.     

"Surprise!" Angela happily bounced in place, her smile so wide, and her arms raised in the air as if presenting the massive house, one of her hands still holding his.      

The other two, Rick and Trigger, managed a contrasting "Surprise" a beat delayed after hers. Very nice coordination.     

"Wait…" Gael gaped at her, then briefly looked around the foyer and a small part of the living room and stairs. "You bought this house? This is your new house?"     

"Yes!" She beamed, biting her bottom lip, her eyes sparkling, looking so excited like a puppy bouncing at her owner's feet.      

A chuckle escaped from Gael as he took in the little part of the house that he could see. "How?"     

"I'd love to tell you everything, but long story short, the management that first bought this house from you planned to renovate it before putting it back on the market. Something happened to them, so the project was a bust. I was just lucky to have snagged it before they could put it back up for grabs. I didn't waste any time and bought it."     

"So this is why you didn't want to show me… You've been hiding this project from me since then…"     

"I really wanted to surprise you. I've been looking for a similar vibe of this house everywhere for weeks, but…" Angela waved the air. "Doesn't matter now. What do you think? Are you surprised? Wait—what were you doing here in the first place?"     

Gael laughed, the tension on his face and shoulders going away. He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck and pulled Angela closer. "I planned to buy it back. I was stupid to let this go. I couldn't stop thinking about it."     

"Awww…" She tiptoed and planted a big kiss on his lips. "Well, this is ours now. I was supposed to show you this tomorrow but you're here now. Want me to give you a tour?"     

Before they could walk away, Rick immediately spilled, his words dripping with regret. "I'm sorry, Boss. She forced me not to tell you. If it makes it better, keeping the secret from you kept me up at night. I don't want to do it again."     

Gael stifled a smile. He wanted to laugh. Poor Rick. "It's okay." A surprise like this? Definitely worth the secrecy.     

Rick still looked unsatisfied as he heaved a sigh and then Trigger pulled him outside to give the couple some privacy. "It's good to see you, Boss," Trigger gave Gael a quick salute and then closed the front door behind them.     

Once they were alone, Gael and Angela walked deeper into the house, and for the first time since he arrived, he thoroughly examined the whole space.     

From the brightly lit foyer, the bottom of the stairs was rounder and it curved upward to the second floor with wrought iron staircase railing, wooden handrails and treads. To its left was a formal dining area with a long solid wood table and cream chairs, and to its right, he assumed, would be a living room. The fireplace had a stone finishing but there was no lounge set yet. Angela said she wanted him to be there when she shopped around for it.     

There was a little reading nook next to the living room—by the window and under the top of the stairs. He knew that was what Angela wanted back when she used to stay here with him. The area next to it was an informal dining area with a smaller long table—a modern one this time, still with plastic coverings on the table and low back chairs. It was connected to the modern kitchen on the left side of the house where every fixture and cabinet were new—light wood, dark grey, and warm lights made up the whole design.     

The house was a modern Mediterranean style which very much felt like home already. Gael loved everything. Angela dragged him to the backyard where she blabbed about the pretty landscape and explained that the huge rectangular hole on the ground was supposed to be a hidden pool with a movable floor that would rise up to hide the pool when not in use. That was pretty cool.     

The second floor had been redone and Gael was also amazed at how Angela designed the whole thing. There was her office, two spare rooms, and the master bedroom where there was no bed and furniture yet but the walls were now painted Ultra Pure White and one side of the wall was knocked down, replaced by a floor-to-ceiling window that was also a one-way mirror with the backyard view, extended to the hundreds of meters of trees spreading outward.     

His heart raced inside his chest at the surreality of it all. Everything was perfect.     

"So… What do you say? You think you can live here with me whenever we're in Mayne?" Angela softly asked, her voice full of hope.     

Gael faced her, took her hand, and kissed the back of it. "Are you asking me to move in with you?"     

"Well… We've practically been living together for months. And it's only right to have this house when we're in town right? I mean, in New York, we have your houses. And here, this could be ours. Our home."     

Now it was Angela's turn to be surprised. The corners of Gael's lips curled up. "How about…we make this house our permanent residence?"