It wasn't a surprise to see my mother and father frown in shame at my appearance. It's not everyday that they see their son arrive at important meetings or in public with a pirate picture on his face.
My cousins and uncle didn't even try to cover up their smirks. "Alphonso what has gotten into you?" asked my mother.
Arriane Rosa Rizzolo is the proud wife and mother to Allessandro and Alphonso Rizzolo. Like my father, she was born into a well-known and powerful mafia family; the Benedetti's. As cliché as this may seem, both families hated one another and when they found out that their heirs loved each other all hell broke loose. It was like another Romeo and Juliet story...except my mother and father didn't die.
Now let's talk about my uncle Alejandro and his wife.
Alejandro is my fathers younger brother. He is like another Rèmy except, well, funnier and tolerable. His wife, Gia de Fiore, is the eldest daughter of the de Fiore organization. Although not as well-known or big as the Rizzolo group, the de Fiore's are still capable of kicking ass. Alejandro and Gia have two children; Roma and Fabio. They are twenty six years old and have different personalities despite being twins. Roma is nice, kind, and well mannered on the clearest of days but bitchy and rude on the worst days. Basically, it all depends if she's having a good or bad day. Fabio, however, is more or less like his dad. He's funny, playful, and cool to be around but he can be serious when a troublesome situation presents itself.
Anyways, back to the meeting.
"Nothing madre (mother). It's that witch's fault for making me look like this."
"Catarina?" asked my father.
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"Because only Catarina has the balls to do that type of shit." he said while laughing.
"Alright guys, we've got more pressing matters to attend to. Sit nipote (nephew) and let's get down to business." said my uncle. He looked stressed, unnerved, and serious so I could tell that this meeting we were having was going to be very important. I took my seat next to Roma on our huge round mahogany table.
"So...who called the meeting?" I asked.
"It was me." said my uncle."I believe that we may have sneaky rats within our midst."
"Rats? What makes you say that father?" asked Roma.
"About a week ago, my branch shipped a large amount of drugs to Venezuela. The company undercover there was going to serve as our base until we could figure out how we were going to safely deliver it to Costa Rica. Let me remind you that this was a LARGE amount so of course the operation was going to be in secret. The men I sent to do the job were supposed to have updated me on the progress of the shipment but.."
"What?" asked Fabio.
"No one called me. Everyone in my branch knows that I get pissed if I'm not updated on my products. I waited about a day and half but there wasn't a single call or message so I sent some of my skilled men to investigate. What they found out made me absolutely furious." He said. He was clenching the shit out of his shirt and frowning deeply. Truthfully, I have never seen my uncle behave like this before.
"Calm down, Alejandro. Getting stressed will only increase your blood pressure." soothed Gia.
He calmed down a bit, but continued. "The men who I sent before were killed. Every last one of them. And the shipment? Stolen. This operation was top secret and was carefully planned for months so no one could have known."
"Do you think the FBI had something to do with it?" asked Fabio.
"I doubt it. If they had I'm sure that they would have made a move. Plus, we are stronger than them in both men and intelligence so I'm pretty sure they wouldn't want to start a war with us." replied my father.
