Arranged Mafia Daddy

Chapter 1Stella

1

Stella

G uess who impulse bought a month-long adult-only Caribbean cruise the day she broke up with her toxic boyfriend?

Yes, that’s right…

Me.

The woman dragging a clumsily packed rainbow polka dot suitcase behind her as she fumbles in her purse for her boarding pass.

Maybe I forgot it. That would give me the perfect excuse to go running back to my ex instead of committing to an entire month of no-contact.

There’s no cell signal in the middle of the ocean, and I declined the Wi-Fi package.

Insane, I know, but I need the break. It’ll prevent me from hopping back on my phone and trying to find matches that look suspiciously similar to my ex. Dark brown hair, bright blue eyes, and a smile that simultaneously says fuck me and beware .

Rebounds are fun and all, but I need a break after the past ten months of pointless arguments and gaslighting. I know that nobody is going to fuck me as well as my ex did, so I took the most drastic measures I could to ensure that I didn’t accidentally run into him at our local bar and end up hate-fucking all my progress away.

I need a fresh start, and if it means draining my emergency fund to afford this lavish cruise, then slather me in suntan oil and call me broke.

After all, I’m the queen of bad decisions. First, it was getting with Tyler, the toxic ex. Then, it was staying with him just because the sex was good. And my latest mishap is booking a month-long cruise with only two days to prepare for it.

I’m already getting cold feet as I step toward the counter where they’re checking passports and tickets. It’s like being in an airport. There’s security everywhere, and I still can’t find my boarding pass.

The scent of warm spices and coconut waft toward me, providing a brief distraction from my frantic search. I look up and almost gasp when I locate the source of the magnificent smell.

Standing a few places down in line from me is a man who should be banned from cruise lines for being too sexy. It’s almost obscene how attractive he is, with a broad chest and shoulders, tattoos crawling up his neck, and eyes as blue as the ocean.

Bluer than Tyler’s, in fact.

As if that wasn’t enough, his muscular body is draped in a silk Cuban shirt and shorts that show off his extraordinary quads.

My knees turn to jelly when he looks at me, catching me staring at him like I’ve never seen a real man before.

But I haven’t seen a real man before, at least not one as attractive as he is. It doesn’t seem fair, and I immediately feel a shimmer of resentment toward him. Not because he’s literally perfect in every way, but because I know a man that stunning would never choose me.

I’m sure he has a dozen women following him around at all times, but in this instance, he’s alone…

Impossible. I’m sure his girlfriend or wife is in the bathroom, rolling some expensive perfume over her collarbones before checking her lipstick in the mirror.

I sneak a glance over my shoulder again, pretending to have noticed something tickling the back of my foot.

He catches me looking again, his blue eyes sparkling with amusement as a smile tugs at one corner of his mouth.

But I got what I was looking for. There wasn’t a ring to be found on his large hands, which means he isn’t married.

I don’t know what I’m going to do with that information, but at least I know I’m not going to get slapped into the ocean by an angry supermodel for staring too long at her husband. I can sneak another look after I find my boarding pass.

And then I’m going to be on the same boat as him.

Thank goodness it’s such a large cruise ship. There are at least seven levels, and each one is crammed full of things to do. I’ll never be bored, and I desperately need the distractions after what happened between Tyler and me.

It was so sudden.

So jarring.

My brain has been buzzing with doubts for the past forty-eight hours, but I did the right thing. I can’t let him get away with something so disrespectful and obvious. I’m not the kind of woman who lets a man walk all over her, even if he’s a god in the bedroom.

I check my phone as I move up a spot in line. No texts. He doesn’t know that I’m going on a cruise. He thinks I’m having a moment , and that I’m going to snap out of the no-contact phase once I get lonely and come running back to him.

But that’s not possible on a cruise ship. I’ll be out in the middle of the ocean most of the time, and when I’m not, I’ll be sipping rum in a bikini somewhere hot. Really fucking hot. And I’ll be really fucking hot.

And then he’ll realize how badly he fucked up, and maybe he’ll be the one trying to run back to me.

While the fantasy of him begging on his knees is alluring, I know it’s just another way for me to mentally let him back into my life. If I were really over him, I wouldn’t even be thinking about him right now. I’d be thinking about how many crab legs I could eat before passing out in my bedroom and sleeping for twelve hours straight.

Or I’d be thinking about how many glasses of wine it would take to flirt with the handsome man behind me in line.

Probably half a glass, knowing myself. I’ve always been a cheap date, but my saving grace is the fact that I get too nervous to ever have sex on the first date. It takes at least a few weeks until I’m willing to commit to a man like that, and we have to be actually dating.

No hookups. That’s been a rule my entire life, and I doubt I’d break it for anyone.

The couple ahead of me moves past the security counter, and I realize it’s my turn to show my boarding pass… The one I still haven’t found.

“Oh, it’s somewhere here,” I say with a nervous smile, shuffling through my purse again as I step up to a woman wearing a white blouse and a bored expression.

I thumb through a few wads of cash and some receipts for all the new skincare makeup I bought to look pretty on the cruise. All of that is going to be a terrible waste if I can’t even get on board the ship.

My shoulders drop and I release a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding when my fingers walk over a thick glossy paper. I pull it out, handing the boarding pass to the woman at the security counter along with my passport.

She barely even looks at it before handing it back to me, nodding for me to move along.

My shoulders come down another few inches as I breeze past her with my polka dot suitcase rattling behind me. One of the wheels is wobbly from when I threw it too hard into the trunk of my car. The rage from Tyler’s betrayal hasn’t left me, and it’s going to take more than a few outbursts to get it all out of my system.

I take a deep breath, letting it out slowly as I walk briskly past a couple of greeters at the entrance to the cruise ship. I’ve never been on a cruise before, but after watching dozens of videos to prepare myself for the experience, I feel confident that I won’t screw anything up.

Thank goodness for the internet!

The inside of the ship looks more like an enormous shopping mall than a boat, with flashing signs, wide-eyed customers, and that echo you only find in places that feel like you’re outside when you’re safely sheltered by a fogged glass roof.

Excitement creeps through me as I make my way past a few souvenir shops and arrive in a quieter area. I’m almost tempted to go on a shopping spree, but it’d be better to get my bags in my room and take a quick shower first.

Then, I can venture out without burdens. I might even be able to leave my thoughts of Tyler in my bedroom as well.

I walk further, checking my boarding pass for my room number. I already collected my keycard before boarding, so all I have to do is get to my room.

But the number isn’t that straight forward.

B675.

I assume it’s on the second floor because of the B, but it could also be on the sixth… But then what’s the B for?

I look around, trying to figure out where I am. There aren’t any rooms here, but people are bustling past me with suitcases, so I know I’m going in the right direction. I continue down the hallway, squeezing past people as I begin seeing rooms.

There’s an F-something, and then there’s an E-something, and then I realize I’m approaching the end of the hallway without a clue where I need to go. I should ask someone, but there’s nobody left. Everyone has found their room, and I’m suddenly very alone.

I run my fingers through my hair and then come away damp with sweat. Why the hell is it so hot in here? I thought I was indoors.

I turn around, going back down the hallway when I realize that A, B, and C aren’t anywhere here. I’m probably on the wrong side of the boat, too caught up in taking in the views to realize I’m supposed to be reading the signs.

I’m sure it’ll be obvious when I get back into the main shopping area.

The red carpet leads me back to where I came from, and I follow it closely to make sure I don’t get lost again. This place is a maze, and I can only imagine how it’s going to feel when I’m drunk.

Maybe I should hold back on the drinking until I know the way back to my room by heart. I might end up in someone else’s bed.

My phone buzzes, and I immediately snatch it out of my purse. I’m secretly hoping that it’s Tyler while simultaneously dreading the idea of confronting him before the ship departs. I don’t want him talking me out of this.

My stomach drops and my heart leaps up into my chest when I see his name on the phone. There’s no way he could know where I am right now.

Or is there?