Inheriting A Mafia

by K. L Hart

  “Yeah, Lorenzo may have mentioned it when I met him last night!” I grit.

  “We need the arrangements solidified before we leave today, we are on a very short time limit.” De Pont adds.

  “Unfortunately, I will not be marrying Lorenzo, I had no prior knowledge of this arrangement, I have also not seen any documentation to confirm my father had agreed to this arrangement and also I am a boss of my own area I couldn’t possibly marry the person who is due to take over a turf so far away, it's not good for business.” I say confidently.

  “The documentation can be emailed to you tonight, if you need to see it and Lorenzo understands his commitment to this arrangement and has selflessly decided to not be the boss for Philadelphia and stand by your side in Vegas, Matteo will be going back with Nicoletti tonight to take over as the next in line.” Franzoni states.

  “This is your test of loyalty to us, Sienna, if you don’t do this you will have betrayed us and that is a death sentence!” Marino says, his voice portraying his pity. I now know I have no fucking choice in this and by the way Matteo squeezes my shoulder and walks to stand behind Nicoletti, he does too!

  “I understand what I must do, but I will be verifying the contract first! Answer me one question, why send Matteo? Why not just send Lorenzo to help me from the beginning?”

  “Matteo needed to prove he was capable in running Philadelphia, but he couldn’t know we were watching him, this was the perfect trial run, or so we thought. Sienna you have proven to us that you are more than capable of filling your father's shoes and you have more than earned the respect of all of us at this table!” Marino gives a pointed look to the rest of the bosses. “You have made your father proud and if you continue how you have been, you will be one of the better leaders of the Vellucci leaders.” I nod my head in thanks and proceed to get up.

  “Make the arrangements without me, I entrust it will be a very lavish event, Matteo I need to finalize some details with you before you leave, please join me in my office while your brother helps to plan our nuptials!” The bosses nod their heads in agreement and Matteo follows me out of the room and into my Office where he locks the door.

  “Fuck!” Matteo Runs his hands through his hair before punching the wall and leaving a hole! That designer is going on speed dial!

  “Matty, if there was any other option right now, I would find it but there isn't I am going to have to do this!”

  “I know, but marrying my brother, Sienna I fucking love you! This is fucked up!”

  “I love you Matty but I can't see a way out right now, we have to go along with what they want, at least so we can find a loophole!” Matteo stalks towards me, he kisses me with all his anger and frustration and then stalks out of the room. I go to chase after him but Lorenzo appears in the doorway,

  “Sienna, we need to talk!” I roll my eyes,

  “What makes you think I have anything to say to you?”

  “I know this must be difficult but this could turn into a good thing, I can help you turn your turf into a kingdom, I can stand by your side while you rule over it!” I walk to my desk and lean my hands on the desk.

  “I don’t need your help; I also don’t get why you would want to give up being the head of your family to trail behind me!”

  “I don’t want this, I have to do this, just like you do, the least we can do is work together!”

  “I love Matteo, you know, that right?” I turn to face him,

  “I could see that from a mile away Sienna but feelings don’t come into business, and you are never to see my brother again, I will not be made to look like a fool!” I see red, rage makes my body shake and I grab the vase from my desk and throw it at his smug face! He ducks and its crashes against the wall, the glass smashing into smithereens as it falls to the floor. I'm panting as I watch Lorenzo straighten and smooth down his suit jacket. “Sort yourself out! I'll see you tomorrow.” He turns and leaves,

  “Fuck you!” I shout after him.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I send yet another text to Matteo which is going to be completely ignored, I watch as delivered turns to read and no reply, I throw my phone at my bedroom wall and watch it smash!

  “Hey, Sienna, please talk to me!” Casey says from behind the door, I ignore her again, I don’t want to talk, I want to murder Nicoletti and torture my future fucking husband! Everything was meant to be different now, I lost my dad and killed my brother and was meant to be free because of it not tied down to an arranged marriage! I can't believe my father signed that contract! It's true though and I have no choice, I have to give up Matteo and marry his asshole brother. I lay down and hug my pillow and feel the slow stream of tears coat it until I fall into a broken sleep.

  “Baxter!” I say through the intercom, “Get me all the stuff Matteo was working on for the Casino!”

  “Yes boss!” I am typing away on the computer but I'm hearing the tap-tap of the keyboard but I'm not focusing on the work I'm supposed to be doing! I'm just not with it today and if I'm honest with myself it’s Lorenzo, I do not want to see him or speak to him! I think I would be ok if Matteo left on his own terms but this, I am losing the one piece of happiness I have right now all because of a piece of paper! I just want to punch someone and if he walks into this office with his smug face and higher than mighty attitude, Lorenzo will have a fucking broken nose!

  “Sienna, you wanted to see me?” Casey asks as she peeks her head around the door, I maybe should have told her to come here instead of sending Sam to get her!

  “Yeah, talk to Baxter, you will be taking on all the stuff he does for me that is not part of the hotel side of things.” I say.

  “Ok, no problem. Are you ok?” She enters the room a bit more looking like a deer facing headlights, am I really that scary?

  “I’ll be fine, don’t worry about it!”

  “The twins are still here and wanted me to give you this!” she puts a piece of paper with two numbers on it. “They said they are here for you, and Matteo asked them to stick around.”

  “I don’t need babysitting!” I snap,

  “No, you need people to watch your back, people that know both Lorenzo and his Grandfather. Plus, they are a way to contact Matteo without causing suspicion or being caught out!” Casey Stomps out of the room and the corner of my lip tugs up, I love how she won't just take my bitchy shit!

  I barely get the piece of paper in my draw when Lorenzo walks into my office and takes a seat like he owns it and it hurts my heart because Matteo did exactly the same.

  “I hope you have calmed down!” He raises an eyebrow and I feel my nostrils flare.

  “Not really, but I don’t have any vases left, so hurry up and get on with it!”

  “We are getting married on New Year's Eve, you will act like the perfect fiancé and wife from here on out especially in public, in private you can throw as many vases as you see fit.”

  “Eighteen days, got it! And you have to pretend to be the perfect house husband from here on out, no more acting like your better than me in public! I'm the boss, you’re an add on from here on out! I don’t want people to get the wrong impression!”

  “Fine, Matteo, will not be attending the wedding I think that’s unfair and cruel to do that to both of you, Grandfather isn't happy about this but I made that a deal breaker.”

  “How thoughtful of you!” What does he want my gratitude? One nice thing does not make you a nice person dude!

  “Anyway, I'll be the one who is seen to be running the Casino and The Diamond Lounge now, I won't interfere in your business but you need a front man who is old enough!” I roll my eyes.

  “I know, that’s why Matteo was here in the first place!”

  “Please, Sienna, we have to learn to get along, neither of us want this but let's not make it harder by being at each other's throat all the time! I would really appreciate it if you tried to be a little nicer to me, I'm not as bad as I seem.” He looks genuine and I do feel a bit bad but what does he expect? I
sigh,

  “Fine, I will try to be nicer, but you need to understand this, I have just turned Eighteen, thanks for ruining my birthday by the way. I have just buried my father, taken over all of his businesses, become the head of a mafia family and I was never meant to do any of this! I have also murdered my brother and lost the one person who has made any of this worth it! So, if I'm a complete bitch, or completely unreasonable, just remember I'm dealing with a lot right now and you coming here has only added to that!” His eyes soften at my words and his Adams-apple bobs; he does feel bad, didn’t expect that!

  “I’ll pick you up at six and take you to dinner, we can start getting to know each other and be civil.” I nod and look back to my screen, I don’t want to be nice to this guy but if he feels bad does that mean he actually doesn’t want this? Is he as forced as I am? Am I a selfish bitch for not thinking about his feelings about our arranged marriage? I mean he didn’t go about telling me in a nice way, he’s made himself the bad guy, I'm not psychic, but I do feel guilty.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I wait nervously in my office for Lorenzo to come and take me to dinner, I do not want to be nice to this guy but I don’t have a choice, I realized earlier on today he did talk sense, I may have to be married to this guy for the rest of my life and do I want to make it awful and argumentative every time I have to see him, no, no I do not! I have convinced myself that to be able to do this I need to forget about Matteo when I'm with Lorenzo, like I would if Matteo was a normal Ex! I have to shut off my feelings and get on with it! Even the thought has guilt drowning me and I push it all down for me to deal with later.

  “Are you ready to go?” Lorenzo stands in the doorway; I nod and grab my purse. We walk silently to the car and then sit silently on the whole drive to the restaurant. We are seated outside and it is a really nice place so at least the food should be good! I order some white wine and then we continue the awkward silence.

  “Ok, tell me everything I need to know about you!” I blurt not being able to cope with the awkwardness anymore. Lorenzo laughs,

  “Where do I start?”

  “Start small.” I suggest, he thinks about this for a moment,

  “How about we just ask each other questions and promise to be one-hundred percent truthful?”

  “Sounds like a plan to me!” I give him a small smile but it feels forced and probably looks it too. The waitress brings over our drinks and I take a large sip, “Here goes, favorite color?”

  “Purple, you?”

  “Typical girl here, pink! Favorite food?”

  “Burgers, yours?”

  “Fries, go to movie?”

  “Lord of the rings.”

  “Ugh, Harry Potter is so much better, but my go to film is pretty much any Romantic comedy!”

  “Never watched Harry Potter,” he shrugs and my jaw drops.

  “Well, that needs to be fixed before we get hitched!” I joke trying to alleviate some tension and it works he laughs and this time when I smile it meets my eyes.

  “Let's go deeper! Closest friend?”

  “Casey! You?”

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  “I'll keep an open mind!”

  “Matteo!” The relaxation I started to feel fizzles away with that one word.

  “Really? It seemed like you hated each other,”

  “Yeah, well you do things you don’t want to when you have to protect the ones you love.”

  “Tell me about it?”

  “Grandfather always treated him different to me, he was always pushing him around and just basically hating Matteo, when I got to the age where I started taking on more and more responsibility within the family, I saw some things no one should ever see, let alone be involved in! My Grandfather does things differently to the rest of the boss’s, he has a thirst for cruelty and destruction! The man is pure evil and he doesn’t care who he destroys to get what he wants! I wanted my little brother as far away from it all as possible but because we were so close, he wanted to help me, wanted to be more involved so we could stay the team we always had been! He is all I have and I was all he had. I did everything to ensure he led a life more like yours and less like mine, he would never have a normal life but at least he didn’t have to watch men tearing babies' corpses apart in front of their parents, that’s the kind of soul changing shit I had to save him from.”

  “Shit! What is wrong with Nicoletti?”

  “I don’t know but the sooner he is gone the better, He has promised that while I'm here with you the businesses will be ran as Matteo sees fit and he won't have a say but how long his need for blood will stay buried I don’t know!”

  “Why don’t you just tell Matteo all of this, he would understand!”

  “I can't, not while Grandfather is alive, and he won't ever forgive me for this, I have taken away the only person he loves, I destroyed our bond and now I've stolen you!” Lorenzo runs a hand through his hair just like Matteo does and I smile.

  “You both are so alike! Why are you agreeing to this marriage, why don’t you just refuse?”

  “I did, and then he threatened to kill Matteo, had a sniper on him, I saw it through video call, I have no choice! I have men not on my Grandfathers payroll looking out for him while I'm not there but I'm doing this to save his life. Nicoletti is in his late eighties the man can't live for much longer than we can divorce and Matteo can come back! We just need to make this believable until that day finally comes.”

  “Well, why didn’t you just tell us that in the first place instead of ruining my birthday and acting like a complete dickwad!” Lorenzo laughs and I cross my arms, fucking guys, why do they make things even more complicated than they already are!

  “When it comes to my brother, I have to be like that, otherwise he would refuse to let me save him, he is kind and caring at his core and he would never put either of us through this even if it cost him his life!” I nod in understanding.

  “Well then, I don’t really see a reason why I can hate you anymore and we both know we will get out eventually, so let's just put on a show!” I say hopefully.

  “Agreed!” We both smile, and then his smile fades when the sound of gunshots reverberates around the street. Pain burns in my upper arm before I am tackled off my chair by Lorenzo, He uses his body to cover mine and I stare up at his face, I can see his mouth moving telling me to stay down and it will be ok but I cannot hear anything, everything is muffled. I try to look around and I see bodies on the floor all around me, some not moving, blood underneath them in pools, some cowering in fright and trying not to get shot. I look back up at Lorenzo who is staring down at me in worry his face is mere inches from mine. The sound of tires screeching has my hearing come back into focus and I can hear everything, the cries of people hurt, the screams of children scared and sirens of emergency services. Lorenzo pops his head up and looks around, he must deem it safe again as he stands and holds his hand out for me, I take it and pain shoots through my arm as he pulls me to my feet! I hiss and look down at my arm which has a bullet hole in it and blood pouring out of it. Lorenzo spots my injury and uses his hand to put pressure on it before leading me to my car where Sam is waiting to rush us away.

  “Take her to the hospital!” Lorenzo orders Sam,

  “No hospitals, my house and send for the doc!” I counter.

  Chapter Seventeen

  It doesn’t take long for the Doc to fish out the bullet and stitch me up, a few strong pain killers and I'm ready to go.

  “What do we know?” I ask as I reenter the kitchen, Casey, Sam, Lorenzo, Kegan and Kaleb are all pacing the floor, either on their phones or looking at screens.

  “Not much, we have the footage from the CCTV around the restaurant and we can see three shooters in balaclavas and a blacked-out SUV with no license plate!” Sam says as he watches the footage on his laptop.

  “Seven people are dies and another nine injured.” Casey adds.

  “Sienna, it could be the people who k
illed your dad, Luca said they wouldn’t stop and they were after you!” Matteos voice echoes through a phone on the table.

  “Matty? Are you ok?” I ask rushing towards the phone.

  “I'm fine, I'm worried about you!”

  “I'm good, Lorenzo shielded me! Are you coming back?” I ask needily.

  “Sorry baby, I can't, you know this, I'll look into the attack from here as much as I can but you need to look for your dad's killers! Lorenzo, fucking look after her, if anything happens to her, I will find you and I will kill you!”

  “I will, if the only thing I can do for you is to protect her, I'll do it with my life!” Lorenzo answers and I have a feeling that they can be brothers again, a team again! If only we could get rid of Nicoletti! Matteo hangs up the phone and my heart sinks a little but I swallow down the sadness and get on with the shitstorm in front of me.

  “Sam inform Uncle Rocco and the other bosses of this; they may be on the hit list too.”

  “Kegan, Kaleb can you recruit more men, we need more security walking the streets to protect the civilians?” They both nods.

  “Casey take my credit card and go and pay for all medical costs for the injured also go and speak to the next of kin for the deceased and offer to help with the funerals and assure all of them we are doing everything to catch the culprits.”

  The rest of the night we all stay up and find any sort of lead but we all come up empty handed; I drag my ass to bed at ten am the next morning but have a restless sleep, thinking of the shooting, Matteo, Lorenzos words about his fucked-up Grandfather and the pain in my arm.

  Chapter Eighteen

  It's been a week since the shooting and we have nothing to go on, I'm beyond stressed and now I have six body guards at all fucking times! I haven't been back to the Diamond Lounge since my birthday but Casey is making regular visits and she assures me everything is running smoothly. I have a plan and I have been debating it with myself for days, no one is going to like it but I have to do something, it is my responsibility to keep my men and the people of Nevada safe, the cops are doing shit as per usual, most of them are in my pocket but if they did their job a mafia wouldn’t be the main source of security here!