Amber
"Hello princess. How are you?" He laughs humorlessly.
"What? Did you think you were really going to get rid of me so easily?" He walks over to Alessandro who is tied to a chair. His face is bruised and he is barely conscious. He punches him.
"NO!" I sit up as I wake up from my nightmare. I turn to see that the sun is already up. I grab my cellphone to check the time and see I have to get up. I hear a knock on my door.
"Amber? Is everything ok? I heard you yell." It's Nicholas.
"I'm fine! I'll be out in a few minutes."
"Ok." I hear his footsteps walk away from my door. I take a few deep breaths and compose myself. I get up and head over to my closet to pick my clothes. Today I take charge of the Mafia. I can't help but feel anxious. I know there will be people that will object but I am doing this. I pick out my clothes carefully. I want them to take me seriously. I pick an elegant yet simple dress and put my hair up. I look in the mirror and feel satisfied with what I see. I take a few deep breaths.
"Remember Amber, this is for Ale. He needs you." I build up my courage and decide to get out. It's time to face the day. I head to the kitchen first to have breakfast with the others. Everyone is already seated as I walk in. The room falls silent. I look at my family, Marcos being the only one absent. Antonio, Giovanni and Angelo are there as well.
"How are you Amber?" Nicholas breaks the silence.
"Fine, thank you." I sit down at the opposite side of Antonio. We each sit at either and if the table.
"So, it is a big day today for you." I hear him speak.
"Yes." He nods and looks at me cautiously.
"It's not that I am doubting you but are you sure you want to do this? There is no going back on your word."
"I am sure." I say with a straight face. I have no doubts. I want to do this. He seems satisfied with my answer and smiles.
"Very well. We will give you our full support." I nod in appreciation. I can tell his words are true.
__________________________________
I feel my hands start to sweat. As soon as we were done with breakfast, Antonio called all of his men and ours.
"We will be holding this meeting in English to facilitate the conversation." I see many faces. All completely stoic. Antonio, Nico and myself are standing on the stairs looking down at the crowd.
"As we all witnessed yesterday, Alessandro our capo has been taken. The moment he replaced his father he was asked to choose his replacement should anything happen to him. For those of you who don't know or remember he chose Nicholas Bianchi who has served as his right hand man since the start. Now, we also know there are rules we follow. By right, there is someone else who can take Alessandro's place before Nicholas. The rules state that the spouse is allowed to fill the spot temporarily should the capo be unable to. If he does not return a voting takes place to decide if the spouse is fit to continue ruling. The choice for now is made by said spouse and here we have Amber Santos. She has accepted the responsibility so I ask you all give her the proper respect she deserves. Famiglia, welcome our new capo."
I hear a few people clapping, some are cheering but I see a man suddenly move to the front of the crowd and yell in anger.
"So now we depend on a girl who doesn't know the first thing about running the business! Look at her! What will she do? Nothing! Now all you need to have is a pretty face and you can become capo! You are making a joke out of this Mafia." I see Antonio's face hold the anger I am feeling. I maintain a composed face and step forward just as he was about to speak. I hold a hand up and he keeps his quiet. I walk down the steps until I am face to face with the man. We were completely engulfed by silence. You could feel the tension in the room. This is what it feels like. People are afraid of my reaction. With one command I can take his life. I don't like it. People fearing me. They say everyone wants power. I don't want it if this is what it brings. I will for now because Alessandro needs me to.
I bring my hands up and clap slowly. Making sure he understands that I am mocking him. I remember what I've seen in the past. I don't want to be cruel but I remember that Alessandro once told me that in this world you have to do what is necessary. I try to remember the cruelty of my father, of Dominic and do my best to imitate them. I have to be tough, otherwise they will not take me seriously. If I want to succeed I need to play my role. After three slow and loud claps I speak.
"I applaud your bravery. Your name?" He looks at me and realizes that I am not as helpless as he made me to be. I hold his gaze.
"I have no reason to tell you." I hope this works. I try to imitate a movement I had seen before. I move as swiftly as I can. I may have not built great stamina but I had become good at controlling my body and making swift, fluid movements. I take hold of his wrist and quickly move behind him. I twist his arm with one hand as I hold his shoulder with the other. He tries to fight me through his pain but he fails and I eventually manage to bring him to the ground. As soon as he is down I grab his face in one of my hands while making sure my fingers press into his skin while placing my knee into his back. I twist his head into an uncomfortable position so he is looking at me.
"I will ask once more. What. Is. Your. Name?" He debates whether to continue rebelling or actually listening to me. I see the resignation on his face and he opens his mouth.
"Luca." He says angrily and in a low tone.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you." I have to make sure he understands that I am here to lead them. They need to see that I am someone who is to be taken seriously, otherwise they will not follow me.
"Luca." He says in a calm and slightly louder tone. I get off of him and stand. As he starts to get up I extend my hand to him. I can see him struggling to decide if he should take it or not. In the end he sighs and accepts it.
"What Luca said is partially true. I am new to this. I haven't been here for long but I have a team behind me. The most important thing about this Mafia is that we are a family. Luca has learned his lesson. He disrespected me but he is a part of us. I understand this is a big change and I don't expect you all to immediately accept it, however if you want things to go back to normal I need your cooperation. I gave Luca my hand because even if he has shown a rejection toward me, I don't feel one toward him. Famiglia. It's a word I heard Ale say countless times. That is what we are. The world sees us as the Mafia but they don't know the bond that is created once you become a part of it. If one of us fails the rest of us need to be there to help them right their wrong. My intention is not to disrupt the order that you have established, all I want is to get my husband back. But... I won't tolerate nonsense. There will be consequences if any of you choose to disobey my orders. I am the boss, even if it is temporary. I am not here to put up with insolence. I will lead you all and you will follow, if you do not wish to...I can't promise you will be as lucky as our friend here." I place a hand on his shoulder and I feel him stiffen.
"Now, I believe there is an oath you are meant to make. Luca will lead you all. Unless..." I turn to look at a few men while trying to get my point across. I wasn't actually asking, I was daring them to say something.
"...someone else has an issue here?" Silence.
"Excellent." I walk back up the steps and stand by Antonio once more. His voice booms across the room.
"You heard her. Luca?" He turns to look at the man that had opposed.
"Giuro di servire fedelmente il mio capo..." After he says the first lines, I hear all the voices speaking in unison.
*I promise to faithfully serve my boss...*
"...e la mia famiglia." Both Antonio and and Nicholas are now two steps below me speaking with the rest.
*...and my family.*
"Dai la mia vita alla mafia." It actually sounds...beautiful. I watch as these men pledge to serve me. I don't understand the words they speak but somehow I can feel what they contain. I watch Nicholas' face and see pride behind his eyes.
*I give my life to the mafia.*
"Vivo per loro e morirò per loro."
*I live for them and will die for them.*
"Insieme." I see them all waiting for my response. Alessandro told me about this. Him, Nicholas and Marcos had heard the oath as children and used as a personal promise as well. They would always be brothers and take care of one another.
*Together.*
"Sempre." I say in response. This is it. I am now the official leader until Alessandro comes back.
*Always.*
"Before you leave... I know it is not required for me to give an oath but I just want to say that I will do my best to protect you all and to do everything in my power so we do not fall. I promise to serve this Mafia just as you will serve me. Thank you." I hear a few more cheers than before. It seems like I made a goos impression. I know that not everyone will like it but they have no choice but to accept it. I see them all stand in place as they look at me. I think they are waiting for me to end the meeting.
"You are dismissed." They all nod in respect and each begin to walk toward their destinations. I hear chatter fill the room and eventually die down as people start to leave. As soon as the last person walks out I sigh and slouch my shoulders slightly. I smile as I see Vince, Max, Cleo and Maddox making their way toward me.
"I am very proud of you." Maddox says and I have a small feeling of triumph. I know that it is only a small step but it's one step closer.
"Thank you."
"Where did you learn that?" Max asked excitedly. I can't help but laugh.
"I remember seeing someone use it once but I didn't think I would actually manage to do it. The training has really helped." We talk for a few minutes but I cut the conversation short.
"As much as I love talking with you all, we have to start planning." Everyone goes serious. We walk to the meeting room to discuss strategy.
"So, Amber what do you want to do?" Antonio asks. I sigh.
"Well, first we need for our men to keep digging for any information and as soon as we have it we can know where we need to plan things. The first thing we need to fin out, is whether they are staying in Italy or if they have gone back." I get a few nods in response.
"Another priority is taking care of any traitors, but I've been thinking. We need a few of them, at least a couple to feed them false information to divulge." I pause and sigh.
"I already know what we are going to do when we figure out his whereabouts. He still wants me, so I'm going to be the bait." I see a few shocked faces.
"Absolutely not! We will plan something to infiltrate their base and..." I stop Nicholas.
"Nico, you haven't even heard what I have to say. I won't actually be in danger. I will be the bait without actually being there. That's why we need the rats..."
"...so that they give them false information about us. He will think he has a chance to get to you but we will be attacking his safe house while he goes on a wild goose chase." Axel finishes what I was saying. I smile at him.
"Exactly." I see everyone thinking it over.
"I think that is actually a very good plan. It's better than trying to simply attack them." Antonio says.
"I agree with my father." Giovanni speaks up. I see the others nod in agreement.
"That is actually an excellent plan Amber." I look at Nicholas who is smiling at me.
"Right now it's a waiting game. We need to have solid information before actually doing anything. Our task for now is finding who the traitors are and getting rid of the most of them. We need to figure out who is giving out information to Cobra specifically because I doubt all of them informa the same person. We need them to think they have us fooled and act trustworthy towards them. We may actually have to give them some real information so that they don't suspect a thing. Then, when the time comes we have to feed them the false information."
"Let's do this then." Axel smirks at me.
"Who knew you would be such a natural at this?" He adds. I feel the mood lighten a little and soon I start discussing some other things with Nicholas. He is trying to explain the business to me. Today he is going to start by telling me about all our collaborators and rivals. He is going to give me every bit of information they have about any existing gang. He is also going to tell me about the most important members of our Mafia.
Alessandro
"Oh good, my son in law is finally awake!" I groan as the light hurts my eyes. I feel a strong pain in my arm and I have a throbbing headache.
"Don't worry, we won't kill you until we have my daughter. I want her to see you as the life leaves your body. For now we're just going to have some fun!" I feel him kick me as I still lay on the floor. I let out a groan. He kicks me a few more times before grabbing me by the collar of my shirt and landing a solid punch to my face. I try to fight back but I feel very weak. They must have drugged me. How long have I been here? Daughter? Amber! I feel my pulse intensify. I hope she is fine. He leaves as I lay on the ground in pain.
"I'll be back." I try to sit up but the dizziness stops me. I manage to see that my bullet wound has been treated. Of course. He can't risk me dying before he has his fun. I try to remember what happened. The wedding, the vows, the kiss, the gunshots and Amber. I sigh. Hopefully Nicholas did as I told him to and kept her safe. Now, I just have to stay strong. Nico will come for me.