The Prodigy | ✔︎

43

I gave Little Red one last glance just before walking out of the room. I made sure to leave the door open so that Leo could watch her from afar.

When I made it to the hallway, I found Leo was waiting patiently outside the door.

"She will be in my room for a large duration of time. You aren't allowed anywhere near her. I don't even want you speaking to her. When she notifies you that she's ready, I want you to bring her to me as soon as possible," I instructed Leo.

I could see it on his face that there were about a million questions he wanted to ask at the moment, but he refrained.

"Where's Rosalinda?" I asked.

"She's out by the garden, Don," he answered.

"And Adriano?" I wondered.

"I'm here, Saint," Adriano said, grasping my attention. I turned to him. It had been a while since I last seen him. He healed nicely which I was grateful for. I couldn't bare seeing the damage I had done to him.

"It seems like we have a meeting to attend." I smirked. "This game is finally going to come to an end."

***

I looked around the table. It didn't happen a lot, but every mafia family in Chicago was in the same room. Morelli, Rubino, Santoro, and me, Venturi.

Tino Morelli was the eldest. His hair was like a salt and pepper mixture as grays swayed with black. His brown eyes held wrinkles that confirmed his age. He began to get fuller, losing the muscular frame he once had. He had been in the game for the longest amount of time, yet he was the least frightening of all. The only thing he had going for him was being a model citizen in the eyes of the community. He was best friends with the President of the United States, and he attended more charity events than he did shipments. It was probably why he was so broke, as Little Red revealed to me.

Alessandro Rubino was only barely older than me. He was the quietest of everyone. With black hair and green eyes, there was a fierceness to him. He had completely taken over the mafia of one of the most respected men in Chicago. After murdering him, then forcing Don's daughter to marry him, he made all of the men submit to him. He reached out to me for an alliance, and I accepted. I knew I liked him the moment I heard about what happened. It was dark, but that's the kind of thing that went on in my world.

Lastly, there was the pretty boy, Tommaso Santoro, the youngest of us all. With blonde hair and blue eyes, he was born into the mafia, being the heir to one of the greatest mafia don's of all time. He had a legacy to live up to, and from what I heard, he was doing well at living up to it. Tommaso was a sadist, one of the craziest motherfuckers I ever met. However, he hid his insanity with the pretty-boy smile.

"Good morning!" Tino declared, grasping my attention. "Just a quick briefing while we're all here together... there is no word from the drug lords in New York. They interfered with Santoro and Rubino's shipments. I think they may want to return to war. Be ready for the declaration at all times."

I rubbed my chin.

"Now, back to the subject at hand. I'm sure we have all been trying to deal with a little problem... Red," Tino said, looking directly at me.

I leaned back in my seat, making sure I kept my gaze stern. There was a smirk playing on my lips. He probably thought he had the upper hand, but little did he know, I was cooking up a little something of my own.

"Well, all of us except for Saint, isn't that right?" Tino asked, everyone turned to me. Adriano stiffened behind me. He was behind me with a few of my other soldiers. We all had men standing around just to make sure the meeting went smoothly.