FourteenThe car had been a dream.Or a nightmare. I wasn’t sure anymore. Laura took me back to our dorm, with Billy and Giovani driving us. Mama said she would give me time to think about what I wanted to do. When I was alone with Laura at home, she asked, “Did my brother hurt you when you two were together?”I glanced at her. “What? Why would you think that?”She sighed. “Nero stopped by. He wouldn’t tell me everything that happened, but I knew it had something to do with that damned picture Cesare posted. He thinks because he’s named after an Emperor that he rules the world… he hasn’t yet learned that he doesn’t. It’s only that most girls when they see Cesare, they want him to fall in love with him. He’s totally helpless when it comes to you but you don’t seem to want anything to do with him.”“It’s not him,” I admitted, “It’s the underworld. You know what it’s like. You had to change your whole life because your family gets death threats…if you had it your way, would you even be h
Fifteen“I want you to come with me,” said Donatello.I couldn’t wrap my mind around the news that he had told me. How had he been my father this whole time? I suppose it explained why I could never seem to escape the underground. I was exactly like Laura. A mafia princess. I didn’t like thinking about that idea.At least, when I had thought The Fixer was my father, he had been someone from the outside.“But…the man that I thought was my father…”“He’s your uncle,” Donatello said, “he stopped working for the mob a long time ago. He went freelance because he didn’t want to be associated with our family. I cleaned up the business a lot. It took time and he was part of that.”“What about the woman I thought was my mother?” I asked.Donatello walked over to the kitchen table and sat down without being asked. He gestured for me to sit down next to him. I did as told, the same way I always did for as long as he had been in my life. He was the kind of figure that you simply didn’t say no to.
Sixteen“This is your security guard.” I looked from my father, Donatello, to the ‘security guard’ standing in front of me. It wasn’t Cesare. No, he would never stoop so low to be a security guard. He was a business man. He had to be the top dog. The president of the frat or CEO or whatever it was. But Galileo, his brother, was used to being second. He was okay with standing in his brother’s shadow. Especially if it meant tormenting the girl that his brother was in love with. I glared at Galileo, then back at my father. “No. I don’t like this.” “Then, you’ve got to marry Cesare.” I stiffened. I glanced back at Galileo. “Did your brother put you up to this?” Galileo smirked. “I was offered a job that paid better than the one that I had. I took it. It just so happens to put me in my brothers favor.” I glared at him. “You and your brother both suck.” He laughed. Then he glanced at Donatello. “You were rig
Seventeen Laura glared at her brother who was standing outside of the apartment. She then turned to look at me. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t like this.” I sighed. “This is my punishment for not marrying your brother.” She raised an eyebrow. “My other brother is your punishment for not marrying your brother?” I nodded. “My father, who oh yeah is alive, and is the man I thought was my uncle, has decided that he wants me to come forward as his daughter. He said that I either had to marry your brother, who he’s been working for years with in Italy, or have a security guard. Galileo somehow got offered the job.” Laura made a face. “Gali!” Her brother came into the apartment. “You know I work for her and not for you, right?” “I know,” said Laura, “I still have questions. Why have you suddenly decided to become my best friend’s bodyguard?” Galileo looked me up and down, and licked hi
EighteenIt was bad enough having one Luna brother to deal with. Having both of them around was an absolute nightmare. Cesare had suddenly decided that he needed to spend as much time with Laura as possible. He was always at the apartment. Fixing a bookcase that didn’t need fixing. Moving in random furniture, half-shirtless, when I knew full well that he had enough money to hire someone to do it. Hell, that Laura definitely could have paid for on her own.He lurked.He lurked at the college around my classes. He lurked at the coffee shop that I went to. If we happened to brush past each other in the hallway, he found any excuse that he possibly could to touch my hand. Or an arm. My cheek. My ass.If he even so much as grazed me, my whole world lit up in colors that I hadn’t seen before. It was as if I had only been painting in muted colors my whole life, only to have everything be in neon.Bright. Colorful. And loud. My heart raced, my cheeks flushe
Nineteen The brothers weren’t only haunting my waking hours. They were haunting my sleeping hours. Mostly, when I dreamed, I dreamed of Cesare. I wish I could explain why he was the one haunting my thoughts when I knew how dangerous he was. Not that either brother was exactly a kitten, but there was something about Cesare that I had never been able to shake. Even after I had slept with him, and failed at killing him, I would have been lying if I said that I hadn’t thought of him since then. It was hard not to. I had had his daughter. I had imagined telling him thousands of times over the years. Sometimes, he took me in his arms, kissed me, and told me that we were going to be a family together. Other times, he pointed a gun to my head. In my darkest moments, he was doing all of the things that I wanted him to do. He would pin me up against the wall of my apartment, pull off my pants, my underwear, and then he would rip his own off and thrust his coc
Twenty The charity event that Donatello was forcing me to go with him to was for inner city youth. He dropped off a dress for me to wear, and picked me up at my apartment. “Are you ready to go?” he asked when I came out wearing it. “I’m ready,” I said, “but I hate this dress.” The dress was red, extremely low-cut, and the black heels that I was wearing were already killing my feet. “You look beautiful.” Donatello took my arm and kissed me on both cheeks. I still wasn’t sure what I thought of my father yet. I knew I had barely liked him when I thought of him as my uncle. He had wanted to control everything that I did. Now that I knew the truth, that Donatello was my real father, it was even harder to like him. “I feel like I’m faking.” “You won’t be after tonight. After tonight, everyone will know that you are a Vitore. You won’t believe the kind of doors that will open up for you. Who knows? If you play your cards right, you
Twenty-one: Inside, I was surprised by the amount of important people I saw at the event. People for business, a few pop stars, and a lot of actors. Not to mention a couple of people I was sure were famous for something judging by the amount of gossip surrounding them and people taking their pictures. Influencers, maybe? Donatello kept on having people come up to him and he kept on introducing me as his daughter. I ignored most of the conversations and hoped that Danny Fox would make an appearance again. “Emmilia?” I heard someone call my name from across the room. I had been about to stuff a mushroom cheese puff into my mouth from one of the caterers wait staff when it happened. I paused, certain that I must have been mistaken about who the voice was. Because at that moment, it sounded to me like Nikos Balis. Vicky Marino, the woman I believed to be my mother, had told me that he was alive. But when Donatello appeared and to