𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦/𝘈𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘳𝘢
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦
It was a clean stab wound, right between the ribs and straight to the heart.
Enzo gave the signal right as she drove the knife into her father, and when I entered, Dante had her against his chest, his arms around her head to hide her from the world. Blood had dried on her hands, smearing across the wedding ring, she was my bloody angel, and I stopped in front of Dante, carefully running my hand down her spine, "Bambina," Dante released her, and she turned to face me, "Come here."
Aurora walked straight into my awaiting embrace, her forehead pressed against my beating heart. She wasn't crying, but she was numb. I could tell by the way she didn't respond to the blood sliding down her arms. So I just wrapped my arms around her head and kissed the top of her hair. She deserved to end him, deserved to be the one to drive the blade into his heart. And I knew she wouldn't regret it, but I could tell she was trying to process the truth of what she had done. A girl who so desperately wanted her father's love, ending him, losing him completely.
I heard the clatter of metal behind me as my guys removed the blade from Angelo, and felt Aurora jolt at the noise. And when I looked up at Dante and Enzo, the emptiness was there. Children, these weren't men and a woman, no, they were children, mourning a life they never got. I was blessed with my parents. My father never let power corrupt him as thoroughly as Angelo Coppola did, sure, my father wanted control of the city, but I was still his priority, he still showed me love, and he protected my mother. My father loved me, fiercely. Angelo used his children as pawns. Played them against each other. It was Aurora against Enzo and Dante, and she was always losing.
Yet, they all lost.
Not only was the piece of shit they called their father gone, their mother and grandmother could never step foot back in the United States. They'd be arrested instantly. Not because of me, but because of the wrap sheet of crime that Angelo committed. If the FBI got wind that the Mrs. Copolla's were back in the States, they'd be swept up and locked away. The Coppola children were officially alone. Isolated from their families, and it wouldn't take long for people to figure out how powerful the trio was, especially if they all had a hand in controlling the Coppola family. Aurora's word was law in my family, and it would be over here too, it had already been decided.
Aurora pushed out of my embrace, stepping back into her brothers, and I understood, she needed them. So I leaned forward to kiss her nose, "I'll be back with a rag to wipe down your arms." She looked down, no emotion on her face as she took in the red stuck to her skin. That pretty diamond I placed on her hand no more than three days ago, covered in her father's blood. I expected a broken sob, but the breath was knocked out of me when I saw those gray eyes void of all emotion, and a nod being my dismissal.
I walked to the guest bathroom, pulled the hand towel from the ring, and wetted it, and by the time I got back to the office, Angelo had a sheet placed over him and Aurora, Dante, and Enzo were standing in a circle, their foreheads pressed to each other while they held hands. These were the moments I never saw, but knew Aurora relished in.
I placed my hand on the small of her back and she pulled from her brothers, color back in her face and some emotion in her eyes again, although it was difficult to decipher what those emotions were, but she gave me a small smile, holding her hands out while I started to wipe down her arms. "Are you alright?" I asked softly, seeing a small smile finally form, my own growing when she flexed her fingers around mine, just a small movement that had me pausing.
"It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be."
The chuckle that left me made my chest feel lighter, "You're never doing that again," I told her softly, running the towel up her arm, her beautiful skin appearing in streaks as I wiped away the blood, "This was a one-time thing, I will never send you in to kill ever again."
Aurora smiled, "Good," She whispered, looking over her shoulder to where her brothers were, both of them offering small smiles, "I didn't much like the feeling of the blood, but," she turned back at me, "I felt relief knowing he's never going to hurt me or my brothers any more, even if it's just us now."
I slid the diamond ring off her finger to clean the skin under it, wiping it before sliding it back onto my wife's finger. Wife, no longer a secret relationship, she was mine, completely, and now nothing, no one got in the way of us. So I pulled her to me, keeping one of her hands in mine before I leaned down to kiss her, smiling when I felt her press up on her toes to kiss me deeper, her hand splaying across the back of my neck to keep me to her. She was mine, fully mine. So when I pulled away, pressing my forehead against hers, I squeezed her waist once, before whispering to her, "Why don't you three wait in the garden, so you don't have to see what else has to be done?"
Aurora nodded, looking over at her brothers before offering her hands to them.
Dante and Enzo slipped their hands into hers, and nodded at me, offering a tense smile. Years, they served their father for years, so to make sure their work didn't go unnoticed, I cleared my throat, "Men," everyone stopped what they were doing, "All in favor of the heirs of Angelo Coppola becoming co-bosses of the Coppola say I." Aurora grinned at me when I raised my hand saying I.
And then the chorus of the single letter echoed around the room, Bucky and Sam walking into the room with their hands held high, echoing the same word.
Dante and Enzo smiled, looking down at Aurora who held their hands, she was the final vote, the only one who mattered to them. I saw the way she squeezed their hands, before lifting them both above her head, on her toes since her brothers towered over her, and spoke with sincerity, "I."
"Congratulations," I told the men, "We swear you in tomorrow in front of the commission."
And then they left the room.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
𝘈𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘳𝘢
We stood outside the fountain in our family garden.
"So," I asked, looking over my shoulder at the monster of a house we called home. There was no warmth to the walls, it was a prison, just a pretty one. "Are you going to continue to use this monstrosity, or are you going to move further into the city?"
"We'll stay here for a while," Dante murmured while Enzo hummed his agreement, "It holds the memories of us," of my brothers and me, so I rested my head on my brother's shoulder when I turned back towards the fountain. Such a pretty garden for a home that held demons that none of us were ready to face, "We can't wash away the bad, but maybe we can replace the bad with the good."
Enzo squeezed my hand and I looked over to him, my brothers, my only friends, the only family that has ever shown me any amount of love. "Let's swear something," Dante rested his chin on my head, watching our brother as he spoke. "Never let this get in the way of us, mafia can go away, but this," he gestured to us, "This is forever, and we're all we have left. I'm tired of fighting with you guys."
I squeezed his hand, "I swear to never let anything come in between us."
"A blood oath," I looked up at Dante, "a permanent reminder that we swore to ourselves, three matching scars." Dante looked down at me, waiting for me to shake my head and hide from the pain like I always had. But not this time, I wouldn't run from this, a way to tie myself to my brothers forever. "Three scars, three bloods mixing in the water, we will never forget."
Enzo and I nodded, watching our brother walk into the house to grab what we'd need.
It didn't take long, but Dante returned with a knife and a first aid kid. And then with precision we've all had since we were children taught to defend ourselves, we sliced a thin line down our palm, holding them over the water. Droplets of blood fell before us, swirling in the once pristine blue, three people mixing to become one family again. "I, Enzo Coppola swear to never let power, money, or the mafia come between my blood, my brother, and my sister, we will forever be one. I swear it on my blood."
I relished the sting on my palm and flared my nostrils before I looked at my brothers. "I, Aurora Coppola Rogers, swear to never let money, greed, power, or the mafia come between my blood, my brothers, we will forever be one. I swear it on my blood."
Dante wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me into his side and kissing my temple before he cleared his throat. "I, Dante Coppola swear to never let power, money, or the mafia come between my family, my brother and sister, my blood. We will rise together, we will fall together. We will forever be one. I swear it on my blood."
Silence overcame us as we watched our blood in the water, swirling and mixing until the water diluted it completely and disappeared. "Coppola Rogers," Enzo grinned, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, and wrapping it around his hand before he reached for me, sitting me on the bench so he could start wrapping my hand. "It has a nice ring to it, little sister."
I smiled at him, wincing when he wiped down my hand with an alcohol wipe, Dante beside me cleaning up his own wound. "Do you really think I'd leave my last name completely behind?"
"We wouldn't blame you," Dante murmured, grunting when he wiped his own cut, "It's not like it wasn't an embarrassment to bear that last name as Angelo tried to sell your virginity, as we tried to help him."
I shrugged, watching Enzo wrap my hand carefully. "I may have been ashamed to be related to Angelo, but never you two," He closed my fingers around the bandage to make sure it would stay before we traded spots and I was starting to wipe down his bloodied palm, "Angelo's sins aren't yours to atone, and what you guys did to me was under his command. Protecting your life doesn't make you evil," I shrugged, "We've all done questionable things. But I wouldn't change it because you two are still here."
Enzo was staring at the scar on my chest, and I did nothing to cover it as I tossed the wipe aside and started wrapping my hand, finishing before I reached to wrap Dante's. "We almost killed you," Enzo whispered, "How can you forgive us?"
I gave him a small smile, "Enzo, I forgave you because it was under Angelo's command, whatever happened to me was because of him, and he knew hurting me was the best way to hurt both of you," I took both of their hands, watching my brothers as they watched me, "I forgive you for whatever you've done to me. We're the only blood in the states we have left, if I can forgive you then you can forgive yourselves."
Dante wrapped an arm around Enzo while I rested on my knees before them, my hands still in theirs. "To start the new family," Dante smiled, "Together."
"Together." Enzo and I echoed.
The backdoor opened and I turned to see Steve, Bucky, and Sam walking towards us, their mouths in a tight line before they saw the three of us, and I saw Steve's eyes zero in on the bloody knife and our hands wrapped. "Do I dare ask why there's blood on a knife and all of you have your hands wrapped?"
I stood before him, his eyes softening instantly when a warm palm slid across my hip, "Blood oath, a long-standing tradition in the Coppola family, the reminder of a promise that can't be broken."
"So there was no malice in it?"
Enzo and Dante shook their heads. "Nope, just a promise to stay together," Dante explained.
"Forever," I concluded, looking at the five men who meant everything to me, knowing that ending my father, was the best decision I could've ever made.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅