Getting Along

Chapter 1 (rewritten)

I shut down the tv and close my eyes in frustration. 

It was pretty hard work to be well known and have a private life. Everything we do becomes a news headline. Dad kept the media away and made sure they knew little to nothing about our personal lives other than our legal business.

We were definitely not the most likable people out there. We are ruthless, we do dangerous stuff and there are more people who would pray for our death than actually wish us any good. 

We own the Italian Mafia. To be precise, I am the current head of the Italian Mafia. We are not the best people out there nor do we want to be. This mafia is our pride, our legacy and most importantly this is the life I choose for myself. There is nothing that could make me leave this life.

Once you enter in mafia world there's no going back. That was the reason we wanted to keep everything about Amanda private. Amanda knows about our mafia but she is not used to this life. She is yet to be trained to defend herself. Noone above 15, is left untrained in our mafia. Basic defense training was mandatory. 

Today was the day when my father was getting married to Amanda. It has been pretty tiring to manage the business, the media, marriage arrangement, security and then there are a bunch of my idiotic brothers who keep on adding more stress. And amongst all this my nervous father tops the list, adding to my headache. He has been having nervous breakdowns at random times when he ends up rambling about how useless kids he has who can't even arrange a wedding in a week's time. He has finally reached his breaking point and at this point I am just praying for Amanda's sanity. 

Amanda is a nice person. I didn't get to interact much with her but the boys liked her so I was content with that. Besides, dad finally found someone in his life and we couldn't be any more happier for him. After Amanda announced her pregnancy he has been over the top of the world. It is probably the happiest I have seen him since mom passed away. 

After mom passed away during a shootout, dad was completely lost. He was scared, depressed, angry, overwhelmed but mostly loney. He forgot all his pain and turned all his attention towards our upbringing. He made sure to take care of legal business and our mafia, and at the same time made sure that we never felt the absence of our parents. 

Around 2 year ago dad went on a business trip to Texas and there he met Amanda. She was an assistant to his business partner. Her husband had died a year ago and she was trying to get over him. Dad helped her through her tough phase and they just clicked off. At first we thought it was just a fling but last month dad introduced her to us as his girlfriend. Last week they found out that Amanda was pregnant and we couldn't be any more happier. The same day he proposed to her for marriage and here we are. 

Before they got together, Amanda had informed us about her daughter from her first husband. Her name is Luciana and she is 11 now. She is actually a prodigy. Luciana's father died when she was just 8 and she ended up in depression. After a year when she still couldn't cope, she decided to move to London after she got a scholarship to study at Imperial College. She had completed her high school at 8 years of age. She was also a pianist and a national level ballet dancer. From all the things dad told us about her, she seemed pretty amazing. 

Luciana was well known among all due to her talents. She had already refused to let people know that she is related to us. She wanted to keep her life at her university out of drama. We had decided to introduce Amanda with her maiden name so that no one can find much about Luciana. Before Sebastian Fernandez's future wife was revealed to the media, I had made sure to cover all her personal information and made all the changes in her legal name. I couldn't let anything about us get traced back to Luciana and put her in any form of danger. Luciana had no idea about the mafia and her safety became my first priority ever since the wedding planning started. 

Luciana had already refused for any security so I just had to go an extra mile making sure the media or school doesn't say anything about her. She was not on any social media so it was easy to keep her off grid and make sure no one gets her photo and links her back to us. It was needed for her safety. And even if our enemies did somehow discover Luciana's existence they will never be able to track her down. I had hidden all her information from school and even her university. I also put random universities across the world in her school information so that no one knows her real location. She had a private untraceable number so she was secured. Imperial College was a well known university and I was sure she'll be safe there until her identity is hidden. For precaution I am still going to have some guard follow her when she leaves college premises. 

Despite all this we never got a chance to meet her. Amanda said that she would come tomorrow so I could just hope she would be able to adjust to this new family of hers. 

I quickly finish my remaining work and decide to get at least an hour's sleep before the wedding. I wrapped up my work and made my way towards my bedroom. Just as I was walking from Amanda's room, I heard her talking on the phone. 

"Can you for once think about me Luciana? I don't care about your exams or anything. I have had enough excuses. You can repeat a year for all I care. Today is my wedding day and I want you here. Just come to my wedding and then leave. I need you to meet my new family and be a good daughter for once. Just don't disappoint me anymore and be here." I hear Amanda yell on the phone. 

That was something. I never knew Amanda had this side. Maybe she is just missing her daughter too much and wants her to be at her wedding. However I have a feeling that it was not the reason for her words. Things seemed a bit distant between them but I didn't have any right to intervene between them. 

With those thoughts I went to my room to get much needed sleep.

All that I know is after all this I deserved a trip to some isolated island with unlimited food and books.

I hope you liked the chapter. Do vote and comment. Appreciation and criticism both are welcomed.

Thankyou
-Dolly