Elena Hart

"Rafael and Alessandra dated?" I exclaimed. We were in Alessio's office, he was sitting at his dark cherry wood desk going through paperwork. I always wondered what could keep him so preoccupied. I stood at the grand floor to ceiling windows across from his desk, they were open wide letting in warm sunshine. 

Alessio chuckled and continued to go through paperwork. "Why are you surprised? Do you not see the sexual tension brewing between them?" He asked.

"Well, Rafael is so intimidating. He scares me, and everyone else he encounters. I can't see him in a relationship, especially with your sister." I said holding my head in my hands, trying to make sense of the news. "She's so headstrong, don't their personalities clash?"

"They were good for each other believe it or not." Alessio said reminiscing. "They've been dating on and off since we were in grade school."

"Could you tell me about how they met?" I asked hopeful. It intrigued me; how could two people on my top five list of scary people, love one another? How did it begin? Rafael was so quietly intimidating, the kind of person that observes a room with guarded eyes. His guard was always so high, and he didn't speak much but his silence always spoke volumes. 

"That's something that you should talk to Rafa about."

I stood and left Alessio in his office, looking for Rafael. I found him outside, walking the perimeter of the estate, his hands held behind his back. "Hey Rafa." I greeted.

He didn't say much, he nodded and we began to walk side by side. "Did you need something?" He asked.

"How did you and Alessandra meet?" I asked hesitantly. The relationship between Alessandra and Rafael had always been taboo. Everyone avoided having conversations about it, at first I thought it was due to Valentin, but I was mistaken. I could tell there was more than an arranged marriage that kept them apart, something had happened. 

Rafa looked at me from the corner of his eye before exhaling sharply. I could tell it was a sore subject but I was just so curious. "We met at her fathers estate..."

FOUR YEARS AGO, PAPA ROSSIANO'S ESTATE.

RAFAEL POV

"How are you doing with Cecelia? Is she as good as everyone says?" I asked Alessio as we stood outside, passing a football.

"I'm thinking about breaking it off, she's really fucking annoying." Alessio said. "She has this whiny voice and all she does is gossip." He rolled his eyes and began mimicking Cecelia.

The sound of footsteps approached and Alessio turned to look at the intruder. "What do you want Alessandra?" He asked annoyed, they way older brothers get when their little sister interrupts their time with, "the boys." There stood Alessandra and Seraphina, complete opposites. One was fiery and outspoken, and the other collected and introverted. While Seraphina was beautiful, there was also something about her so predictable. Alessandra on the other hand always kept me on my feet; she also held no interest or attraction to me whatsoever. 

Alessandra rolled her eyes at her brother, obviously hearing the end of our conversation, then she looked over at me. I smirked and winked at her. "You're gonna say something stupid, please don't say anything stupid." She said.

"Girl, I'm gonna marry you."

What happened next, was unexpected. Next thing I knew, I felt a throbbing on the right side of my face. She had punched me.

"Don't ever try that again." Alessandra said before walking away, with a little more sway in her hips. I could hear Alessio laughing and saw Seraphina giggling behind her hand. 

I looked over at Alessio and glared. "That isn't funny."

PRESENT TIME, ALESSIO ROSSIANO'S ESTATE

ALESSANDRA ROSSIANO

"I need your advice." Alessio said sitting at his desk. Rafa, Antonio and I sat in different places of the dark conference room. Most of the room was covered in dark cherry colored wood and black leather. It went together perfectly.

"On what?" Rafael asked.

"Are we going to kill someone?" I asked raising an eyebrow. All eyes turned to me, they looked at me as if I was crazy. Can they blame me for asking? We're a mafia family, we always kill someone. I'd be surprised if we didn't, or is that just me?

"Marco Vitali is one of our partners, our families have done deals with each other since before we were born. His father is the Capo of the Albanian Mafia, and he is stepping down soon. We need to ensure that we will still have their partnership." Antonio spoke.

"How are we going to collect information?" Rafael asked, pouring himself a glass of burbon.

We sat in silence for a few beats before I spoke, "Why don't we have a party? All of our partners will be invited and we can get some of the guys to collect information." The three men stared once again. Rafa stared, Alessio rolled his eyes and Antonio dropped his head to the table.

"Why would we do that Alessandra?" My brother said rolling his eyes at me.

I sighed and rolled my eyes, "That's classic capo plotline." I crossed my legs, one over the other and pushed my hair away from my face. "Why don't I go in and lure him in like a siren?" I asked raising my eyebrows.

The boys considered my proposition having a silent conversation. "I don't know, you're pretty reckless." Antonio said. 

I scoff looking over at my brother, "Come on! I'm harmless. Right big brother?"

"You shot me...Twice." He glared once again. I turned to Rafael hoping he would agree with me.

"It was an honest mistake. On a scale from one to ten, how bad do you think it would go?" I asked Rafael.

"At least a twenty."

I rolled my eyes before standing and pacing the room. "What if I go in? Papa doesn't think that I deserve to be here, this is the perfect opportunity."

"Why would I send my baby sister into a cave of wolves?" Alessio retorted, sighing as he leaned back into his seat. "Marco has a wife anyway."

"Exactly. Have you seen me? I can be a vixen when I want to, I've always wanted to explore that side of myself." The two men in the room deadpanned, giving me annoyed looks. It took a moment but I stared my brother down, willing him to consider the idea. "Look seducing a man is basic and boring, besides I'd much rather go for the wife."

Alessio sighed, running his hand over his face, his family ring briefly glimmering in the sunlight. "Are you seriously considering this?" Rafael stated incredulously. He thought he had everyone under the impression that he thought it was a bad idea but truly he was being confronted with the green eyed monster.  

"What? Are you afraid of a little competition? Or is it the temptation? Imagining me with a girl Rafa? I didn't know you were so kinky." I teased. "But seriously? Do you want to see what kind of trouble we can get into? I know how to restrain myself when needed. What could go wrong?"

"Absolutely not." There came the unwanted voice of Ciro Rossiano, my lovely father.

My father always had this look in his eyes that made you wonder how many people he has probably killed and a grin that made you realize that he has probably lost count. My mother always told me that she had never seen him cry. He was the toughest man she knew.

Then she went on to say that the first time she saw him cry was when I was about 2 years old. She said that he placed a pen, a 20 dollar bill, and a gun in front of me. He wanted to see what I would pick as some kind of experiment. He wanted to see what I would grow up to be.

For example, a pen is smarts, the money was self explanatory, and the gun was my place in the mafia. My mother said that I sat there for a while, chewing on my fingers or something. Nevertheless, he waited for me to chose. According to my mother, I looked at him and smiled. I loved my father like I had loved no one else. I knew he loved me, he just had a terrible way of showing it. So when he spoke completely halting our conversation, I immediately felt the need to flee the room.

Crossing my arms over my chest I looked over at my father, I saw a reflection of myself staring back at me. With an eyebrow raised I opened my mouth, "And why not?"

"Did you ever think for a moment that the world believes you're mourning the death of your husband? Shouldn't you at least pretend to be grieving before you move on to the next man so quickly, what will everyone think Alessandra?" 

"The version of me they create in their heads is not my responsibility, father."

A loud sigh came from Alessio's mouth where he was seated at his desk. "It's been decided, we will have a party. Antonio send out the invitations, Rafael let the guards know and leave us." They both nodded and left, leaving the family with a tension you couldn't cut with a knife. 

Alessio sat at his desk wondering how he was going get the most stubborn people he knew to at least be cordial with each other. "Listen say what ever you two need to say to each other before we have so many people looking at our family so closely. We don't need to give anyone a reason to doubt our loyalty to each other." 

Neither of them spoke, Alessandra wouldn't even look their way. Their father rolled his eyes before straightening in his seat, "Alessandra, just try to pretend that you might miss your husband just a bit okay? You were married to him for five year, you know how seriously our culture takes marriage."

Her sharp eyebrow raised, before she started nodding her head mockingly. "You know we wouldn't be in this situation if it weren't for you. Never mind that though, of course it's my fault for not wanting to be in an abusive marriage. No wonder mom left you." Alessandra stood and made her way to the door but not before her father stood quickly and wrapped his hand around her neck.

The sharp eyes of Ciro Vitali were on his daughter, a fire now lit within them as he stood. "You know we don't speak of that woman." They glared at each other, dark eyes both refusing to back down. Alessandra once again felt like the girl she was five years ago-- when she wanted so badly to speak up in front of Valentin but couldn't find the words that were stuck in her mouth. 

This time thankfully, she found the words and pulled them from her throat. "Are you gonna do it this time? Or are you going to be a coward once again?" Then Alessio's was pulling their father away from Alessandra. Their father was frozen, he couldn't comprehend what Alessandra was saying. He didn't know that she remembered. 

A/N

Hi guys, it's been a while since I've updated this story. It's been almost a year, I had the worst case of writers block that I've ever had in my life. But I'm back and better than ever! I've got a lot of ideas and I hope that you guys will stick with me til the end on this journey. Let me know what you guys think of this chapter and if there is anything I can improve on or any plot lines you think might happen. I'd love to get your input.