MarcoI wipe my hands on a napkin my driver provides for me as he starts the ignition.The Mahonnas girl is still shaken, eyes wide, skin as pale as a ghost, lips trembling. For someone who grew up in a mafia home she sure as hell isn’t taking this well.“You got something you want to say?” I grind out.“What did you do?” she whispers, looking straight ahead and avoiding my eyes.“Not that it’s any of your business,” I spit, “but I had someone to take care of. The whole reason I accepted that damn invitation in the first place.”She is silent and in the glow of the street lights blurring past us, I see the slight tremble of her body.Without thinking, I reach out to her and she jerks back, alarmed.“Don’t fucking touch me!”I smirk, loving the pleasure I’m getting at the sight of her being terrified of me. “There’s blood on your arm and as much as I always love to see a Mahonnas bleed, something tells me that’s someone else’s blood.”She glares at me in disgust before grabbing a silk
ViennaI feel his hand on the small of my back.“Keep your head high. And don’t lose the smile.”I resist the urge to punch my new husband in the groin. “Don’t tell me what to do,” I whisper “I know how to keep up with appearance.”He shoots me a look but remains silent as we glide through the doors of the ballroom.The governor of Newark decided to throw a party for his daughter’s engagement and invited the Rossellinis so this makes it the first public outing I am making as a Rossellini.The thought makes me want to puke all over Marco’s expensive shiny tux.The only reason I agreed to come is because I’m hoping that the governor also invited the Mahonnas and Contis to the ball and I can finally get some heavily-needed answers.Marco withdraws his hand to shake a minister who pulls him into a spontaneous conversation and I use the opportunity to scan the large hall for any sign of my parents.I see them almost immediately, seated in the middle of an expensive looking table wi
ViennaI hate my life.Or at least what has become of it.I stayed in my room for two days after my disastrous wedding, not leaving except for that one time I confronted Marco is his study.Wrong move by the way, that man is as dangerous at home as he is outside.The way his hands moved on my body reminded me so much of the things I can never have.The man I can never be with.I met some people the first day I came here – the domestic staff, some dangerous looking men dressed in dark suits, and a blonde lady I couldn’t place.My mother came to visit on the third day and she had some kind of flimsy excuse about why my dad couldn’t show his face.“He is humiliated,” she states.“Humiliated? He made a deal with the devil and shoved me headfirst into the crosshairs of a man whose best friend is a gun and he is the one who is humiliated? I am beyond humiliated, I am heartbroken, torn to pieces, disgraced and worse, I can't reach –” I break down and my mother pulls me into a hug. It is not
Marco“Congratulations boss,” Rick says, settling himself on the wild cat-shaped couch in my home office.I decided to work from home today to avoid the storm of the media as a result of yesterday’s happenings and him being here, in my space is defeating that purpose.I take a puff of the vintage cigar between my thumb and forefinger and inhale deeply before sending him a glare. “For what?”“For getting married. Smooth move by the way. Danielo Mahonnas would never have given off his daughter to you otherwise.”“He knew what he had to lose.”Danielo Mahonnas has had the upper hand more times than I can count. Years ago, when he had me under his foot and crushed. Deep.Not this time.This time, it was either lose the most valuable thing in his life, or risk exposure.Not like his daughter is the most valuable thing in his life, no, even I know that he values his position at The Vices more than he values anything else in the world, but every man’s daughter is his prized possession, espec
Vienna They say a girl’s wedding day is supposed to be the happiest day of her life. The day all her dreams come true, the day she glows and shines like the world is at her feet. Well apparently that didn’t apply to me because my wedding day was the worst day of my life. I glowed and shone, but inside, I was a bag of rotten broccolis, curled and soaked with the dirty wave of despair. *** *A day ago* My wedding to Rafael Conti had been scheduled three weeks after he asked me to be his wife. I was ridden with the joy that comes with getting married to the person you love. When you’re twenty-three and getting married, it may seem like the best thing happening to you. Everyone was excited, including my father – Danielo Mahonnas – which was an unnatural thing, considering how strict and hardened the man is. But Rafael is a Conti, the son to my father’s second-in-command and in the Mafia society my family belonged to – The Vices – it is always smiled upon when there is a marriage b