“What is this child doing here?” I hear a husky and powerful voice snarl at someone.
The voice alone is so commanding that I am forced to look up, to answer the demand that the voice has put forward.
As I looked up, I came face to face with a pair of beautiful but cold grey eyes, bottomless grey orbs that could pierce through anything. I have no idea who he is, all I know is that I am terrified.
The source of my dread right in front of me, with his perfectly pointed nose, thin lips, chiseled jaw, could have been an angel. But his eyes rage a war of their own, and despite those angelic features, he looks like the devil himself. The week-old stubble and boisterous jet-black hair sealed the despot look.
His imposing and frightening aura is like never-ending darkness, a black hole that will swallow you through. He just screams danger!! Instilling a strong sense of fear in everyone around, including me.
Unable to hold his piercing gaze any longer, I quickly looked down, releasing myself from the frightful grey eyes, only to be overwhelmed by a very bare bloody torso.
It’s like a piece of art with every muscle, contour, abs carved by a master and splattered with red, instilling fear and awe at the same time.
My trance breaks when that voice rings in my ears again,
“You, hey you, Stray I am talking to you!” he commands me.
“She is not astray. Well! At least not anymore!!” Set Agosti walks in from the opposite end. I never thought I would say that, but I am thankful for him intervening. This man is scarier than Set Agosti. Scarier than anyone I have ever met.
“This is no place for a child to play Set! I ask again, what is she doing here?” he barks at Set, and his voice has so much fuel that everyone almost whimpers.
“What do you know about playing Lucifer? You never play!”
What a strange name, Lucifer. Although it suits him, he is terrifying as Lucifer himself, but why would any parents name their child after the devil itself?
“You are no fun brother!” Set smirks
B-brother, Oh, no, so he is Set’s brother. Oh God, does that mean what I think it means? It is him, is he him…. I... the one I….to be…the tyrant, the Don of Cosa Nostra. No no no, I cannot, I don’t want to, this can't be happening to me.
I unconsciously step back, wanting to put more distance between me and my predator. I don’t want to be here, what if I beg him will he let me go? No, no I don’t want to be here. I muffle my sobs.
I am pulled out of self-pity by an almost growl-like sound, and I see the devil glaring at Set. He looks deadly, and everybody backs off, putting our heads down in submission, but Set looks unaffected and continues to smile casually.
Everyone and everything goes quiet, both the brothers are giving each other this weird look, it’s like they are communicating but not talking. If I didn’t know better, it would say that they are having a private conversation in their heads.
With every second as the silence prolongs, I can feel Lucifer Agosti getting madder and madder, his eyes become even more menacing.
“Unbelievable!!” He roars, breaking the deadly silence “A tribute! A GODDAMN GIFT for what?” he yelled deafeningly, turning to look at me, as on instinct I stepped back cowering in fear.
Lucifer is trembling with rage, but Set continues to stand there calmly.
“Relax Lucifer! You have already sent them such a lovely gift.” He says drily, looking around at the bloodied mess that we are all standing in.
Suddenly the man from earlier, the one in Don Luciano’s office who gave me a look over, steps forward & intervenes “I.. I..If I may Don, we just wanted you to know about the special work that we are doing here” he says, trying to sound confident & pointing at the club “th-this is one is as pure, as they come, fresh as a lily…uh uh… she is not from the rut, she is not even 18, a virgin”.
Of course!! He means me. I am unable to even bring myself to think about the repulsive words that are being used to describe me. Like I am some cattle being traded away.
But that’s exactly how I have been dealt with. How could father even give me away like that? I wonder if Nana & Maria knew about it.
Where did I go wrong? I did everything that they wanted me to and, even more, everything just to please them. All I wanted was their acceptance.
Never in a million years would I have imagined that something like this would happen. I feel disgusted with everything the mafioso, my father, and even my so-called family.
And this is when I realize that even if I ever escape them, I have nowhere to go, no family to return to, no friends to turn to. I thought I was lonely all this while, but now I am all alone.
The feeling grips my heart. I tell myself that I need a plan, I can probably run away from here. I try to calm my nerves and think of finding an opportunity to escape in between this mess.
As I focus back on the scene in front of my eyes, Set is staring at the man in the brown suit with a knowing smile.
“Oh, she is not even 18! Such a rare find. Isn’t it brother?” Set remarks slyly, keeping that knowing smile on his face.
Lucifer starts walking towards the man holding his gaze. The man lowers his gaze and steps back. With each step, Lucifer’s aura becomes viler and threatening, and the man continues to cringe.
“F-forgive me, Don Agosti! I didn’t mean to intervene…. I I know I spoke out of turn.” he almost whimpers under Lucifer’s gaze.
“You even dared to say our names. Haven’t you heard mutt ‘Agosti on your breath, can only mean…’” Set does not need to complete the sentence. We all have that lore committed to memory.
The man is trembling under Lucifer’s scorching gaze. He starts sobbing uncontrollably, not able to hold back. He is now on his knees begging for his life, but the next moment he does something shocking.
He takes out his gun, puts it in his mouth, and pulls the trigger, and there he is lying in a pool of his blood still holding the gun in his hand & the barrel of the gun in his mouth.
That man chose to take his life rather than face Lucifer Agosti. Why would someone do that? Who is this man, who has the power to instill such deep fear within people?
“Good Riddance! At least now I can swear to Avo that we didn’t touch this one,” Set says with a bored face.
The brothers look indifferent, like nothing happened. Like someone’s life is worth nothing.
This is all too much for me to take. I have never known any person who has died, let alone see someone kill himself in front of my eyes.
I am trying to hold myself, but my body is not able to cope with the tension of the last twenty-four hours. All of this looks so unreal. I hope this is all a nightmare.
I feel my legs starting to give up.
“Let’s go,” Lucifer says casually to Set? Does he mean me too? Oh, God!
And those two words seemed to be the signal that my body was waiting for. I start to fall unconscious of space and time, hoping this is a dream. Hoping this will be over.
Until something strong grabs me, keeping me from falling. And that strong thing makes me feel something…My mind and body are too overworked for me to try understanding anymore and I let the darkness take me in.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading the story, and giving it a chance.
A hand reaches for my face. I can feel the roughness, the calloused fingertips, but its touch is feather-light. Caressing my cheek, making me feel warm and protected. As I start to relish the sheltered feeling, a finger starts to trail down my cheek to my jaw and continue its journey down my neck. I feel something again… it’s an alien feeling like my skin has come alive and is dancing to the touch, leaving goosebumps in the finger’s path. I have never felt like this before. The sensation forces me to open my eyes and confront the source, and that is when I come face to face with those daunting grey orbs, blazing with anger and irritation. “Run Stray Run!!” as I hear those threatening words, my body bolts into action, and I start running. I am in a jungle and I run as fast as I can,, towards what I don’t know, but one thing is sure, and that is, I am running away from those grey eyes. I can hear noises in the background, loud growling, swords slashing, people shrieking. I am t
Lucifer’s POV I can see the child losing her balance, but I catch her before she hits the ground. As I hold her in my arms, I can feel her soft curves against my body, the slight swell of those breasts against my chest, and as if on cue her nipples harden under the thin fabric of her dress, reacting to the contact between our bare skin. ‘She is not a child!!’ my beast & cock moan in agreement, but I ignore it. “Great!! Now, what is wrong with her?” I barked, irritated with my beast. “Well let’s see!” Set starts counting on his fingers, maintaining his usual nonchalant style hooded with sarcasm. “Exhaustion, dehydration from crying too much, she has blood pooled around her feet, a man just killed himself, and the fact she was given away as a tribute today. I think the fainting spell is highly deserved brother, don’t you agree.” He is being oversensitive here, which is so not him? “Fine, she had a bad day! Why did you have to take her with you? You could have returned her to her
He was right!! I did not need a passport. None of them did!! We simply got off the plane, and into a big black SUV, zipping out of the airport without any interruption or checks. Not that I have ever stepped out of New York, forget about traveling across international borders. But even I know that you do need a passport to travel across countries. International borders are a part of the school curriculum, isn’t it? What kind of money & influence would make it possible to travel without passports? Is this how the rich & powerful live. There were about seven-eight SUVs for a dozen people, who had exited the plane with us. Well if you can those ‘giants’ people. Now if I come to think about it all these guys look somewhat like the members of the Luciano family. They all have the same very non-Italian physical similarities, that are hard to miss. They are all tall, super muscular making them more intim
Augustus Agosti was standing in all his six-foot three-inch glory in front of me. I know he is an Agosti and that should be enough of an introduction, but I have no idea who is he. There are mentions of the Lucifer and the Agosti brothers, but this man standing in front of me must be in his late forties or at best early fifties. So, not their brother!! And I know Lucifer had killed their father, so who is he? I mean you can see the similarity in their features somewhat. But he feels more human in many ways. He has kind eyes that wrinkle at the corner, and a broad warm smile that makes me want to smile back. He looks regal but still warm, to the usual cold & raw vibe I have seen with the two Agosti brothers. Following others, I too bow my head to pay my respects to him. “Oh no sweet girl, you don’t have to do that.” He says, shocking me & everyone around me. “I am just so glad to have you here! Come
Set’s POV Strangely, Lucifer moved this meeting to Avo’s office instead of his own office. We barely use Avo’s office. All thanks to that unreliable lift, Avo barely uses his office. Not that any of us needs a lift, even Avo at his age, but we need to keep up the pretenses for visitors. “Buon Giorno Avo! Hey Luc…” As I look around his office, it’s only Avo there, sitting on the sofa next to his desk. A smile starts playing on my lips, this is certainly a first. “He’s late!” Avo says smiling, with an extra emphasis on the word late. “Really! is that so,” I say, unable to hide the sarcasm in my voice, I take a seat opposite him. Lucifer doesn’t do late, ever, and everyone knows that. Lucifer always has everything planned, always. Even during his anger spells, he thinks through it all, the repercussions of his irrational actions and
I am awakened to loud grunts, people yelling & screaming. For a second, I panic, but then I remember where I am. I am residing with the Agosti family now, in Enna, far away from New York & my old life. I have been here for the last two weeks now. The noises continue to get louder, honestly, these screeching noises used to bother me in the beginning, freaking me out. But not anymore, I know everyone is just working out, or as they say here training. They are just a loud and rowdy bunch on the training ground. They train a lot, like at least four to five hours a day a type, and they train hard, really hard. It’s not your regular workout session, they do extraneous physical, they spar, and it gets bloody. And almost everyone trains, everyone. I guess it makes sense since they are the biggest mafia in the world. And I am living with them. Which strangely is not bad, not bad at all. It is different, yes,
Lucifer’s POV I hate people who waste time. And that is exactly what I have been doing in Milan for the LAST TWO weeks. Wasting my FUCKING time!! It was necessary to send a strong message so that no one dares to cross a line. NO girls, and NO drugs! Cosa Nostra has always detested all dealings concerning girls and drugs, except for those couple of years when that scumbag of our father was running the mafioso. But they all need to know that things are different now, that the liberties my father had taken don’t hold anymore. They all need to understand that our ideologies can never be compromised, my rule is the law, and the result of disobedience is my wrath. And my beast howls in agreement. &
“You are late!” Avo gives me a loud shout without glancing at me, while still working on his flower bed. I have never seen him talk so loudly. Worried that I have displeased him I start rambling trying to explain what happened. “Yes, yes, sorry for that. I didn’t mean to… I…” I stop explaining myself midsentence and look back at him. “You are teasing me, aren’t you?” I ask Avo, who has abandoned his flower beds and is now standing in front of me with a telling smile. He continues to stare at me with his warm affectionate smiling eyes for a while before he breaks the silence. “You seem better. And not just look better, but you feel better, stronger…… different even.” And I just give a coy smile in response to that. I know I have gained some weight & I don’t look as frail as I use to. But I am guessing Avo is just politely