Hello all my lovely readers and writers J Firstly I would like to say a huge thank you to Kelly Anne for hosting this event again and for having me back for the third time. It's a wonderful experience and a wonderful platform to meet new people.
I was going through my laptop the other day – seeing what old ideas I had lurching around in hidden folders when I found an old story that I started working on a long time ago and never finished. As my current stories Magic's Mark and Steel: The Transformation are drawing towards their ends, I was thinking that the Wattpad Block Party would be a wonderful way to showcase a sneak peak of this old-but-new story.
Mafia University – Prologue
John Colletti leaned back in his leather chair behind his walnut desk while slowly letting the cigar smoke seep out of his mouth. New York had been his now for over 20 years, not the New York you read about in the papers or the city the tourists visit but everything in the shadows, everything underground, dirty or criminal it all passed through him and he was the one that held all the cards.
Opposite, on the other side of the broad desk in his study was his brother Tommy; they both shared the same dark brown hair and brown eyes. His brother had for the last 14 years held down the New Jersey territory and together the Colletti brothers were respected and admired as the two only authority figures of this stretch of urban land. Tommy made a move in the chair, changing his weight on the seat, whilst rolling a cigarette in his hand, but before he had a chance to speak Elena interrupted him.
"So Anna-Belle, my beautiful daughter has proven herself and her worth" She said with a voice filled with both pride and worry.
John, looked lovingly at his wife with her piercing ice blue eyes and dark hair and thought about how her Russian accent had softly washed away over the years, now he could barely hear a trace of it in her voice. But what his wife had said was true; their half Italian half Russian daughter who was born into the New York criminal underworld had indeed proven her worth. Anna-Belle had grown up with it in her blood, she did not see it as something bad or something she feared, their daughter had just naturally adopted to the circumstances of her family's trade and adjusted to it. Elena, who had grown up in the cold and harsh reality of Russia, was not the typical mafia wife, she had insisted on their daughter's involvement from an early age. If she doesn't have the talent or head for the game we will know early on and we can way her options Elena had argued.
John gripped the cigar between his fingers and brought it to his lips, he did indeed not marry the typical wife within the underworld, where daughters were mostly kept out of the game and where first sons of mafia families rarely hade a half of the experience at the same age as what his daughter already had achieved. So he cleared his throat and put the cigar down.
"What did you say that they are calling her?" he said, looking at his wife and brother for answers. Tommy stopped rolling the cigarette for a moment and said
"They call her the Queen of Japan, Taku is the one that coined it" he smiled quietly and added "Smart boy, that one. He has been by her side since her first year in Little Tokyo"
John thought about this for a second, he had not approved of Elena's initial idea of pushing their fifteen-year-old daughter into controlling a block of Little Tokyo, in New York City for the Colletti Empire. But his wife had been firm, with their name attached to their daughter she would not be in any real danger and she was sent some heavy bodyguards from families of both Russian and Italian mafia decent. If anything John had thought it comical, sending his young daughter out with a group of men standing tall like a forest around her to control the criminal activity of a small block in the busy Little Tokyo. He had assumed that she would give up, that she would grow sick of the daily ins and outs of business and book keeping. But for him, letting her play with a block in Little Tokyo was like any other father giving their child a dollhouse. To his surprise and his wife delight, after a month Anna-Belle had sent back three of tall and broad shouldered bodyguards on the grounds of slacking off with the work and disrespect. In the family home around the dinner table when John had tried to bring this matter up to discussion with his daughter, she had merely shrugged her shoulders and said
"Daddy, if a man won't work for me the way he should why would I want him there?" Months later he found out from some of his associates in China Town that before his Anna-Belle had sent off the three men, she had recruited six locals from the neighbouring block in Little Tokyo.
"I thought that she would use the block like a dollhouse." He admitted to Tommy and Elena and they nodded. He added "I never quite realised how much she had picked up from just listening to us talking around the table."
"She found Taku quickly and used him well. The information he gave her slowly built her up to create the scene that unfolded earlier this evening." Elena said proudly. She frowned for a little bit and added "Why do you think that he was willing to help her?"
Tommy looked over at his sister-in-law; he knew what the developments meant for his niece. She was no longer a mafia daughter, she was now even if only a small one – a mafia boss. He put down his cigarette and said
"Taku admires her, I would goes as far as to say he adores her. He started out helping her because of that, but now that she has restored his family name he feels indebted to her. If anything is to bank on, it is the pride and justice through revenge that is felt by the Japanese." John nodded and rose from the chair
"The boy is no fool, he knows that what has happened tonight would never have taken place without Anna-Belle or the Colletti name. He also knows that when I retire, my beloved daughter will not only be Queen of Japan, but..." the corners of his lips turned into a smirk "She'll be the queen of New York"
Elena's face had a sudden flash of relief on her face and she said
"Then, in good time, there will need to be a new prince of Little Tokyo"
John sat back down in the chair and realised that what he had considered a comical experiment, throwing a block of Little Tokyo into the control of his fifteen-year-old daughter had turned out to be quite the golden move. Now, during the year of her 20th birthday she held a firm control of the whole neighbourhood and was making good headway of controlling China Town too. The Japanese criminal underworld had taken her on like their own queen and the Koreans and Chinese were not far behind. Anna-Belle was fluent in all the three languages, another positive effect of throwing her into the game when she was still young and the sons of all the important families in Little Tokyo had tonight during a banquet, after a rather chilling but impressive display of power from his daughter, kneeled down and declared her the queen of Japan. He was interrupted in his thoughts by the voice of his wife.
"So what should she do next?" Elena said, looking for suggestions from Tommy and her husband. Tommy looked back at her and stated quite simply
"Compared to other mafia sons of her age, that would have just received their first block to control right about now, she is miles ahead. She can afford to wait a few years with university. Let her figure out the difference between gaining control and maintaining it." John nodded toward his brother
"Let her rule for a while, learn the difference between the two. She should be ready by her 23rd, I think that Providence University would be good..." He smiled slightly at the thought. Elena raised her voice and said
"Let's not push her towards Mafia University. Let her choose on her own, if she's thinking along the right lines she'll end up there anyways."
"How can you be so sure?" Tommy frowned
"Look what Anna-Belle have achieved just by listening to dinner conversations, do you really think that she wouldn't choose a suitable degree at the same university as her father and uncle attended?" Elena smiled slightly at the thought.
Tommy nodded and said
"Are you going to tell her about why it's called Mafia University."
John slightly shook his head and chuckled
"No one told you or me, Tommy. So why would I give her that handicap? After all she is her fathers daughter and she is the Queen of Japan..."
Thank you so much for reading. Don't forget to use rafflecopter to enter my giveaway – I'll be dedicating 5 chapters of Magic's Mark to 5 winners!
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