Bloody City: Deviants

Chapter Twenty-Four

Arianna

I sat in my office at the casino combing over the increasing amounts of paperwork since I had to keep Matteo and Alessio on a business level informed. There was also all of the new parts of the casino I was implementing for anyone who cheated, I needed contractors trusted by the Familia to come in and make that one room easier to use for those who cheated the casino.

I knew there would be increasing duties so my entire goal for being here was to get all of it caught up so that I could find an actual balance for everything else that went on here. I also knew that Ginevra was coming to have lunch with me here, and having the Don's mother here would definitely have its benefits. Ginevra and I had also never actually talked for very long so this would give us a chance to get to know one another since I was apart of the family now.

I had only now almost a month after my wedding to Alessio realized just how deeply rooted I was becoming in the life Alessio and hid family lived in. Being the princess of the Valentino Familia had its luxuries I hadn't needed to do much, I was just trained to be pretty, and poised, to spend money on what I wanted, and to take on some roles of a traditional wife. Now I was the wife of the Don and was running one of his casino's. The same voices that cried out for change when Alessio was coming up in the Salvatorini Familia before Italy feared him and his siblings, now were forced to look on at the changes he'd made while still valuing the old traditions of the Familia.

Riccardo Salvatorini would have a caniption if he saw his sons wife working.

It was common knowledge that the women of mafioso's never had to work though I had insisted on going to school before I was married which my parents had respected, though for Gabriella it would be harder because she'd be made Matteo's in all of five weeks. I suspected my sister and Matteo weren't much better then Alessio and I were before our wedding, yet they also weren't as public for events as Alessio and I. Matteo had his wedding, and Gabriella lived by the ocean, likely enjoying the fact the house she lived in was simple and not overly extravagant while the one I lived in couldn't be described as anything but a palace. All Salvatorini siblings homes were like that, I just hadn't expected it.

I also hadn't expected to have the freedom to work inside the Familia.

Looking up from my desk I watched as people moved through the casino from section to section until they got to where they wanted to be. The watchers I'd put out walking around and looking at the game play though cameras were also used to catch people in the act. I suspected cheating happened, and I knew that loan sharks existed to lend money though it always had to be paid in full or there would be consequences to pay for it, likely the basement of the Familia Villa.

Through the crowd I spotted the spindly figure of Alessio's mom, who I knew wouldn't be alive long with how she ate, and I knew her children all wanted her to get better but she never would, not soon at least.

Turning back to my work I kept reading through reports that I was given every three hours on wins. A million here, two million there, half a million in another section. Twelve million a day wasn't uncommon, even if prices were high, payouts existed and that typically drew back the wins for the house, but kept people coming back.

Filing it all together into a folder I slipped it onto my shelf and returned to my seat before a knock came from the double doors of my office and Rocco stepped in followed by Ginevra dressed in a pantsuit and wrapped in a fur coat. It was a pity that I could see her deteriorating, and often wondered the reason for it was more then just the Stockholm syndrome, but that no one was ever pinned the responsibility for her husband's death, and the assumption given was that they had been killed during the first purge of the Familia.