The Mafia Princess Asked for a Beautiful Ashes Box Chapter 01

The Mafia Princess Asked for a Beautiful Ashes Box Chapter 01

Five years after I was thrown out of the Russo family, I ran into my brother, Dante Russo, at a nightclub.

He was the VIP who had dropped over a million dollars celebrating our foster sister Mia’s birthday.

I was the bottle-service waitress assigned to his room.

We didn’t exchange a single word all night. Not until I downed two bottles of whiskey for a five-hundred-dollar tip.

Watching the color drain from my face, Dante demanded coldly, “You’d rather degrade yourself like this than come home and apologize? You’ve got some nerve, Nina.”

I merely smiled and held out my hand.

“Five hundred. Cash or Venmo?”

The past was the past. I had no desire to dredge up those old grievances again.

But that five hundred dollars was exactly what I still owed on my urn.

Silence swallowed the private room. All eyes turned to me, each face registering a different reaction.

Someone finally snickered.

Dante’s expression darkened. Clearly, he found me embarrassing..

To people like them, five hundred dollars wouldn’t even cover breakfast. Yet I had humiliated myself by chugging two bottles of whiskey for it.

Mia looked me up and down with a sneer.

“Dante’s been waiting for you to come home, and this is what you’ve been doing? Aren’t you ashamed?”

I glanced at her. “I’m earning an honest paycheck. I serve drinks. I don’t sleep with customers. What’s there to be ashamed of?”

She gave a dismissive laugh. “Are you really that desperate for money? Drink two more, then. I’ll add another five hundred.”

The others immediately joined in.

“Do it! If Mia adds five hundred, so will I!”

“Count me in. I’ll throw in a thousand!”

Without hesitating, I reached for another bottle.

The door swung open before I could uncap it. The club manager hurried in, wearing the ingratiating smile he reserved for powerful clients.

No one in this business failed to recognize the Don of the Russo family.

The manager shoved me aside and bent toward Dante.

“Mr. Russo, did my employee offend you? Please don’t be angry. She doesn’t know when to keep her mouth shut. If she…”

“Are you going to drink for her?” Dante cut in, his eyes narrowing.

Sweat beaded across the manager’s forehead.

He didn’t want to defend me, but he also didn’t want a woman dying in his club. He forced an awkward laugh.

“That’s more liquor than most grown men could handle, let alone a young woman.”

“Then get out.”

Dante frowned impatiently, opened the briefcase beside him, and hurled several bundles of cash at the manager.

“That’s a hundred thousand dollars. Nina isn’t leaving tonight. Interfere again, and this club won’t open tomorrow.”

The manager scrambled to gather the bills, his smile stretching from ear to ear. Any concern he had for me vanished.

He thanked Dante and hurried out.

Every gaze settled on me again.

Dante leaned back with a cold smile. “What? Don’t you want the money anymore?”

I walked over, grabbed the bottle, and began to drink.

The first two had already left my stomach feeling as if knives were twisting through it. I couldn’t swallow this one nearly as fast, and jeers soon filled the room.

Dante’s expression grew darker with every second.

Just as I drained one bottle and reached unsteadily for another, he suddenly seized my wrist.

“Are you trying to kill yourself, Nina?”

“I want the money.”

I wrenched free, grabbed the last bottle, and lifted it to my mouth.

I already had a plan. The room was dim enough that I could pretend my hands were shaking and spill some of the whiskey without anyone noticing.

But after my first sip, a palm struck me hard across the face.

My head snapped sideways. The bottle slipped from my hand and shattered against the floor.

Dante glared at me through clenched teeth.

“Have you really thrown away every shred of dignity for money? Stop drinking. Even if you drink yourself to death, you won’t get a cent from me!”