Vegas Pete - A Mafia Romance (Completed)

Chapter 1

Three years prior 

I was curled up on the chaise longue in our library, reading, when a knock sounded. Liliana's head rested in my lap and she didn't even stir when the dark wooden door opened and our mother stepped in, her dark blond hair pulled back tightly and fasted in a bun at the back of her head. Mother was pale, her face drawn with worry. "Did something happen?" I asked. She smiled, but it was her fake smile. "Your father wants to talk to you in his office." 

I carefully moved out from under Lily's head and put it down on the chaise. She drew her legs up against her body. She was small for an eleven year old, but I wasn't exactly tall either with five foot four. Mother avoided my eyes as I walked toward her. "Am I in trouble?" I didn't know what I could have done wrong. Usually Lily and I were the obedient ones; Tay was the one who always broke the rules and got punished. "Hurry. Don't let your father wait," Mother said simply. 

My stomach was in knots when I arrived in front of Father's office. After a moment to stifle my nerves, I knocked. "Come in." I entered, forcing my face to be carefully guarded. Father sat behind his mahogany desk in a wide black leather armchair; behind him rose the mahogany shelves filled with books that Father had never read, but they hid a secret entrance to the basement and a corridor leading off the premises. He looked up from a pile of sheets, grey hair slicked back. "Sit." 

I sank down on one of the chairs across from his desk and folded my hand sin my lap, trying not to gnaw on my lower lip. Father hated that. I waited for him to start talking. He had a strange expression on his face as he scrutinized me. "The Russians and the Triad are trying to claim our territories. They are getting bolder by the day. Confusion filled me. Father never talked about business to us. We didn't need to know about the finer details of the mob business. I knew better than to interrupt him. "We have to lay our feud with the Bangkok Familia to rest and combine forces if we want to fight back the Russians and the Triad." Peace with the Familia? 

"There is no stronger bond than blood. At least the Familia got that right." I frowned. "Born in blood. Sworn in blood. That's their motto." I nodded but my confusion only grew. "I met with Theerapanyakul yesterday." Father met with the Capo, the head of the Bangkok mob? A meeting between Bangkok and Chiang Mai hadn't taken place in a decade and the last time hadn't ended well. It was still referred to as the Bloody Thursday. And Father wasn't even the Boss. He was only the Consigliere.

"We agreed that for peace to be an option we had to become family." Father's eyes bored into me and suddenly I didn't want to hear what else he had to say. "Kan and I agreed that you would marry his oldest son Vegas, the future Capo of the Familia." I felt like I was falling. "But, Father, I'm fifteen. I can't marry." Father made a dismissive gesture. "If I were to agree, you could. What do we care for laws?" I gripped the armrests so tightly, my knuckles were turning white, but I didn't feel pain. Numbness was working its way through my body. "But I told Kan that the wedding would have to wait until you turn eighteen. Your mother was adamant you be of age and finish school." 

So the Boss had told my father the wedding had to wait. My own father would have thrown me into the arms of my future husband now. My husband. A wave of sickness crashed over me. I knew only two things about Vegas Theerapanyakul; he would become the head of the Bangkok mob once his father retired or died, and he got his nickname 'The Vice' for crushing a man's throat with his bare hands. I didn't know how old he was. Vegas couldn't be that old, if his father hadn't retired yet. At least, that's what I hoped. Was he cruel? He'd crushed a man's throat. He'll be the head of the Bangkok mob. "Father," I whispered. "Please don't force me to marry that man." Father's expression tightened. "You will marry Vegas. I shook hands on it with his father Kan. You will be a good husband to Vegas, and when you meet him for the Engagement celebrations, you'll act like an obedient person."