𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞."
                        ~𝐑𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐡~

𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐚

There are different variations of silence, I enjoy some, but the one that followed Uncle Raph's no had different shades and tones. Lia's hard breathing could be heard around the room, and her dark eyes sparked with unholy anger that threatened to blow up like a volcano. I have never seen her as angry and helpless as she was at that moment.

Romigi sat there looking ruffled, offended perhaps that a woman dared to question or even have an opinion about what he had to say. Over decades, no woman had graced this meetings; I wagered as I stared at the men looking at Lia with unconcealed loathing borne from knowing nothing they could do to her.

Today, even before she fully inherited her heritage, Lia made enemies; it was in their eyes how they glared at her. But she wouldn't be who she was if the anger and hatred in their gaze shook her. She remained unbothered, making Romigi feel like an underling instead of a powerful don.

"Forgive my daughter's outburst."  It was an outburst, everyone including Lia, knew it was. Men like these do not answer to or respect emotions.

"This is why women should not be allowed into these meetings, Boselli. They are hysterical and emotional." Romigi pointed out, scowling at Lia with a hostility that made me uncomfortable.

Uncle Raph smirked, leaning back into his seat, his hands lying lightly on the armrest. He looked relaxed and dangerous, his eyes too dark I couldn't tell the irises from the pupils.

"I'm not sure which women you've been interacting with because those I know are rarely hysterical, and Lia's anger is warranted; I'm almost boiling with rage myself. "

The murmurs in the room ceased, and we again were embraced in another silence, this time uncomfortable, dreadful.

"I have said, numerous times that I don't and will not condone child trafficking or child prostitution. "

"They want the job." Cried Romigi, though his voice trembled.

"I do not give a fuck if they want it or not." uncle Raph said in a soft, almost resigned tone.

"I'm tired of having this conversation whenever some of you run out of money. Romigi, what exactly do you spend your money on?"

He glared at uncle Raph with resentment. If they could, I got the feeling they could all kill him; they didn't like him, neither did he seem to like them either. This was business; they needed uncle Raph to exist as families, to be respected and revered by their peers as much as uncle Raph needed them.

"Not all of us are as rich as you are?" Verratti chirped in; I saw Carrie try to hide her face with one hand.

"And yet we had the same opportunities. Why is that, Verratti? Most of you have even been in this game way before Rom, B and I got here."

They looked at each other in unease, clearing their throats to cover the awkwardness.

"I will not tolerate anything I have mentioned before. You have known that about me for as long as we've been family. Find another way to earn money, join other businesses you may like, but as long as I'm the boss, my word is the law." 

Nobody else argued with him after that. Either no one wanted to risk being thrown out of the family or marked as a threat; either of those two screamed of demise.

After the meeting, Lia, Carrie and I sat down together, watching them take coffee and sandwiches, smiling and laughing amongst themselves as if they were best of friends.

It must be a gift to know and recognise fake from legitimate friendships because these people talked and behaved like allies while I knew their interests is what forced them to be in the same room.

A noticed, only uncle Raph's right hand men seem to like him, love him even. The other dons mingled among their peers.

Maybe because outside of this room, the three were equal in every sense of the word.

I stared at them seated together, their faces to the room, laughing at something my father said. This is what they wanted us to have with each other —friendship—camaraderie. If it was a bet,  they won that one. I was sure we loved each other deeply.

Zion wakes me up to eat or shower every now and then when I'm tired from practice. The last time I had the flu during a storm, he and Matteo took turns taking care of me through the night until I was okay. Sienna hacked one of my anti-fan blogs to shut him up. I think we are going to be okay. They were sure we would lead this family into the right direction. I promised myself, as I looked at them, that I would do more than they except of me.

"I'm so ashamed right now," I heard Carrie say. I moved my gaze to her; she had turned crimson, her face turned downwards, trying to hide from our gaze. Lia had her hand covering hers.

Did I miss something?

"Why are you ashamed?"

Lia scowled at me.

I shrugged, mounting 'what' to her.

"My grandfather wanted don Boselli to okay child prostitution," she murmured, making a low throaty laugh that felt more shameful than awkward.

I nodded without saying a word even though she couldn't see me.

"I didn't think he was the kind when I say him enter the room. He lookef frail and unproblematic. " Lia told her, still covering her hand. Carrie seemed to need comfort because she did not pull away.

She laughed a little too loud this time. A sound that felt as if it was forcefully pulled from the deepest of her throat to demonstrate her contempt.

"He is not frail or unproblematic. He threatened to cut off my father if he helped my mother"

"Oh," Lia whispered.

"She is the reason for the app isn't she?"

She nodded. I saw Lia reach out to her blazer pocket, pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to her.

"Thank you," she mumbled.

"It's okay."

She sneezed silently as of she was afraid to attract attention.

"She died at home with my grandmother and uncles. They could no longer afford her medical care."

"How old were you?" Lia's empathetic tone soothed her. It was soft, luring her to speak. "

"Nine. But she died when I was ten." Carrie raised her head, looked at Lia for a second and me for the same duration before leaning back in her seat. Although her eyes were red, and her mouth trembled when she tried to speak, her lips stretched into a tiny smile.

"You didn't live with her?"

She shook her head.

She did not speak again after that. Whether she regretted the confession or not, I couldn't tell.

Little after an hour, everyone left but us. I couldn't tell why we were left but while standing behind the patriarchs, I saw a couple of people checking out cars.

"What are they looking for?" I asked uncle Raph. He turned towards me, an endearing grin on his face.

"Bomb. Or whether the breaks have been compromised." he said calmly, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and dragging me to his side.

"I'm proud of you." simple words that had the most significant effect on me. 

"You'll do great."  he added, patting my chest, and kissing my forehead.

Once the inspection was over, I followed him to the car, but before he could enter, I saw him walk towards where Lia stood, cupping her cheeks; I think he said something funny because Lia smiled, her eyes gleaming with mischief. I could spot it from where I stood.

Then she laughed, and he hugged her before opening the car door for her.

Lia will be a force someday. But before that time, her father would teach her how to reign her emotions.

Today she'd shown her cards; we were taught never to do that. I could bet every man in that room now knows more about Lia from that one outburst.

I didn't talk during that car ride; I leaned back into my seat, listening to uncle Rom and Raph talk about the meeting. From what they said, a storm was coming, those men wanted an easy way to make money, and apparently, child prostitution and drugs were the quickest.  Knowing our family wouldn't condone it, I knew some of then would cut ties with us, hopefully, not all. I sincerely liked don Bastoni, and Morretti. From what we heard during our preparation meeting, they loved their children. Not like that was the measure of trustworthy men, but it was a sign—a good one. Seeing them today cemented what I had heard in the meeting.

*************************
                        𝐋𝐢𝐚
****************************

On Sunday night, Matteo walked into the billiard room with haste.

"What?" Luca barks, stopping from playing to look at him. He wore an oversized wool coat, a beanie that covered half his hair and jeans. He looked ridiculous and I told him so.

"Yeah, well. I don't want to be here. I'm supposed to be out with Dev carousing, but you motherfuckers can't be bothered to pick your phones."

"What's so urgent?"

He looked at each of us, pissed that none of us had any idea why he had to leave his carousing to grace us with his presence.

"Verratti called Raphael."

I looked at him with a blank gaze. Why would that concern us?

"You told his grandaughter to meet you and Sienna tomorrow at Pulse." he prompted, a frown appearing on his forehead.

"Yes. So?"

"Did you tell her the time of this meeting?"

Luca and I looked at each other, then turned towards Matteo shaking our heads with similar apologetic smiles.

"What time should I tell him?"

"I think one," I said.

"No, make it twelve." Nic interjected, I threw him a blank gaze.

"I'm going too," He stated as if he expected me to disagree.

"We are all going." Serena added.

I shrugged, and then Luc said, "I guess twelve will do."

Nic smiled, hitting a red ball.

When Matteo exited the room, Alessa trotted towards the door, closing it slowly as if she feared someone might hear us.

"You never told us how the meeting went." She whispered, walking back into the centre of the room.

"It wasn't bad," Luc said.

"It was horrible." I contradicted, abandoning the game and throwing my pole on the table.

"What happened?"

"They want dad to consent to child prostitution and drugs."

"Ew," Sienna shouted disgustingly, dragging her chair next to mine, then lifting her feet on the Billards table, a laptop on her lap.

"What did uncle Raph say?"

Serena asked, smoothing my hair like she could feel the turmoil within me.

"He said no."

"Lia wanted to kill Romigi."

"What?" Nick asked with surprise at the same time Zion asked who the fuck is Romigi.

"One of the don. He was the one that introduced that topic. He said young boys and girls bring a lot of money to an establishment. "

"Oh my God! Did he happen to mention the age?"

Somehow I couldn't find my voice.

"I think thirteen are in the ballpark, and it's a perk if they are virgins, apparently, men pay a hefty amount for virginity," Luca answered. I could feel tears in my eyes.

"Lia wanted to kill him?" Nic asked again.

"Yeah."

"What stopped her?"

"Her dad." I didn't know whether Nic was disappointed in me; I didn't want him to stop loving me because I wanted, still did want to kill a perverted mafioso.

Pulling his hand so he could crouch in front of me, I peered at him through teary eyes and asked, "you're not disappointed in me, are you?"

He shook his head, cupping one of my cheeks in his large hand. It's crazy how big he was compared to me when I was seven years older than him.

"And you still love me, right?"

"I will always love you." I smiled, and he tucked my hair behind my ears, kissing both my cheeks.

"I'm sure he deserved it." he whispered, jumping to his feet.

*********

Hey, babes. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you ever come across a competition in which this book is eligible, please let me know.