Mafia Marriage

IV (Revised)

Donatella was adamant that Philomena and Giuliana forge a good relationship. Life was much easier if you got along with your mother-in-law, and Donatella was trying to make the transition from girl to married woman as smooth as possible for her daughter. It wasn't that hard to do, Philomena was a lovely person and had always wanted a daughter and would get one in Giuliana. Philomena was careful not to infringe or step on any toes in the wedding planning process, but Donatella was eager for her to be a part of it. Plus between the two older women, Giuliana barely had to lift a finger, except of course when it came to the flowers for the wedding.

"When can be have the bachelorette party?" Monica asked as she helped to unbutton the back of her sister's wedding dress. "The bridal shower is in a month," Donatella responded. "Not the bridal shower, the bachelorette party!" Monica said. "Giuliana isn't old enough to get into clubs Monica, and the last thing we need is for you to get her into trouble right before she gets married," their mother said sternly. Giuliana was normally a good girl, but with Monica she could get into some serious trouble.

"What if we stay here?" Monica asked. 'No!" Donatella crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at her middle daughter, "There will not be any bachelorette party, the bridal shower is enough! I don't want t hear you talking about it again." Salvatore was an intimidating man, but his wife could give him a run for his money. Although she was petite and dressed conservatively, Donatella Bellucci was a force to be reckoned with, with one of her infamous 'looks' she could make her kids clam up. That is just what she did in that moment.

Later that week, the three Bellucci girls were shopping for dresses they would wear to the upcoming party, where the engagement would be formally announced. For the past four years, the engagement had been kept a complete secret. If other mafia families had found out they would have been on the war path to stop it, but with them only knowing for two months there was not much they could do.

"What are you thinking you're going to go with?" Isabella asked the two other girls who were also going from rack to rack unsatisfied. "Definitely something sexy," Monica decided. "And when Dad sees you he's going to refuse to let you out of the house," Isabella responded.

"I like this one," Giuliana held up a gold, sequin cocktail dress with a mild slit up the back and long sleeves. "It's pretty, but it's a bit loud" Isabella commented, she was always more inclined to stay in the background and give the spotlight to someone else. "She should be loud, she's going to be in the middle of the biggest mob engagement in history," Monica said as she analyzed the dress that her sister had picked out. "No pressure of anything," Giuliana muttered.

She was starting to feel the ball of unease settle itself in the pit of her stomach, as crazy as it sounded she was going to be grateful when this whole thing was over. She just wanted to get married and get acclimated to her new life, as wife to a soon to be mafia Don and eventually a mother. It was a lot to take in at twenty years old, and the long wait only made it worse. Her anger at her father had subsided, she knew that she could have a match much worse than Giovanni. There were horror stories of women marrying men much older than them, nasty and mean, abusive and cruel. Giovanni had never shown her those characteristics, even though she had only met him five times. But Salvatore's judgement was spot on, she just had to trust that everything would work itself out.

"Are you okay?" Her sisters looked at her with concern. "Yeah I'm just feeling a little unwell," Giuliana fanned her face. "Do you want to go home?" Isabella asked coming over to her sister. "No, let's go eat!" Giuliana said putting enthusiasm into her tone as she put the dress back on the rack. "You aren't going to get it?" Monica questioned. "No," Giuliana shook her head, "It's not as nice as I thought."

Meanwhile, Giovanni was in the midst of beating a man within an inch of his life. The man had been caught trying to spy on Graziano operations for the Santorelli Family. Maybe Gio was taking his beating a bit too far, but the stress of his upcoming nuptials was weighing on him too. He never saw himself getting married, being responsible for the safety of another person was going to just add more to his already full plate. Then there was the expectation of children in the future, and the need to protect them. It seemed like the years flew by, and within three months he would married to Giuliana Bellucci. He didn't even know the girl, with the exception that she was beautiful and that she was obsessed flowers. The next time they were to see each other was at the engagement announcement, in the presence of associates and mafia members of both Families.

"Gio that's enough," Vincent grabbed his shoulder lightly to stop his brother from killing the man in front of them. The plan was to severely disfigure the man, but not kill him. "Go take a breather," Vincent turned his brother towards the steel door of the warehouse in an effort to calm his younger brother down.

Giovanni lite a cigarette once he was outside of the warehouse, conveniently located in the middle of the woods of New York. He blew out a breath and leaned against the side of the blacked out SUV as he stared at the clear, blue sky. He had been working day and night to secure all business interests, both legitimate and illegal. Once he was married, Giuliana's name would be included in all legal business ventures, and in order to keep those successful he had to cover the Graziano Family's tracks when it came to illegal pursuits. Giuliana probably wouldn't care about Graziano Enterprises but upon marriage she would be granted a share in the company, as would their children.

He objective was to protect her, that was it. It had been outlined in the marriage agreement between Salvatore Bellucci and Anthony Graziano that safety and protection was the main goal, not only for Giuliana but for both of their immediate and crime families. Giovanni was a bit surprised that Isabella had not been chosen as his bride, she was known to be so quiet and shy. But Salvatore explained that Isabella was more likely to crack under the pressure of an arranged marriage, while Monica would blatantly refuse, so the only viable option was Giuliana. She was a mix between her two older sisters, she could be sweet or she could be snarky.

Giovanni finished his cigarette and crushed it under his leather dress shoe. "Feeling the heat?" Dante snickered behind him. Giovanni flipped off his younger brother. "Are you scared of Giuliana? Just relax, I'm sure she'll take the initiative all you have to do is just lay there." Dante slapped his brother on the shoulder and grinned at him, Giovanni was not amused. "Hey kid!" Vincent called coming out of the warehouse, "You're the clean up crew." Dante grunted his displeasure before walking into the desolate warehouse to clean up the mess that Giovanni had made of the Santorelli spy.

"Let's get out of here," Giovanni walked to his SUV with Vincent following behind. "To Tiffany's?" Vincent asked as Giovanni drove the SUV back down the dirt road that was camouflaged by trees and bushes. "Yeah, I need to blow off some steam."