"With all due fücking respect Lucien, you don't have a choice,"
L U C I E N
"Staying here isn't going to help anything."
I snorted, my brother's words a passing thought as I stared at my dad whilst inhaling that fücking putrid smell all hospitals seemed to have.
"Your unwanted opinions aren't going to help anything either, so I suggest you shut your mouth before I do it for you," I quipped back easily and unaffected whilst sitting up straight, my hands gripping tight onto the roll of papers in my hands.
I heard Alex sigh, a sign of instant defeat which made me roll my eyes whilst he pulled up another chair and sat on the opposite side of my dad's bed.
It had been twelve days since he'd been hanging onto the thin line between life and death after returning from Sicily, two bullets piercing through his lungs in an instant attack that was suspected to be played out by the Lorento's.
I liked to call them sanguisuga in Italian.
Leeches...living off of you to sustain their life until they were fulfilled and got what they wanted.
If I had it my way, I'd let my trigger happy habit live to its fullest potential, killing each and every one of them until I'd made my point and was simply satisfied.
The thought always plagued my mind even though it was prohibited, the rules that shaped the lifestyle that I was in set in fücking stone, only been altered when the boss himself said so.
The reminder of hierarchy in the life I lived made me inhale a sharp breath, my thumb swiping against my lower lip before I leaned back into the chair I was in and tilted my head whilst silence consumed me.
I stared at the faint rise in my dad's chest, focusing on the puff of slight air that made him inhale and exhale manually. It made my fingers twitch, my vision settling on the plastic tubing that fed down his throat and pumped oxygen, allowing his lungs to heal on their own whilst the rest of his body regenerated lost muscle and strength.
Ironically it made me want to strangle others, my hands gripping against my knees as I imagined the precious breath of life caught behind my fingers as they pressed into the throat of the one responsible.
I could feel it. The struggle. The loss of blood. The life that I would fücking take without caring about-
"Whatever you're thinking Lucien, don't," Alex warned, pulling me out of my violent thoughts until I met his warning gaze with my glare. "You'll get yourself killed and I'm not in the fücking mood to be the only one left in this dámn family."
At his words I altered my gaze, an unspoken argument waiting to happen as the tension between us grew and my fingertips traced the uneven burnt skin of my right forearm. We stayed in silence as I did, my chest heavy and pulling in more weight when the doctor walked into the room and flipped a few pages on my dad's chart, the look on his face enough to set me off just as he went to speak.
"I don't want to hear it," I spoke, my fingertips crinkling the paper roll in my hand steadily until jagged lines marked it.
"Sir, as a professional I have to provide sufficient-"
"If you want to keep your fücking life I suggest you shut the fück up unless it's something about my father progressing," I told him, standing to my full height and stepping towards him when he opened his mouth to speak again.
"Lucien, sit the fück back-"
"I will rip your fücking tongue out and make you swallow it," I whispered, ignoring Alex and feeding off of the way the scrawny doctor in front of me visibly cowered under my gaze as I stayed a short breath away from him. "Understand?"
He nodded repeatedly, choking on the breath he didn't take as I stepped back and smiled.
"Good," I said, side stepping and moving my open palm in the direction of my dad. "Do go on."
Alex shook his head disapprovingly at me, something I easily overcame just as my dad's doctor went on, spewing medical jargon that lingered in my head for a split second before the door to his room closed behind me as I walked out.
I watched as it did, using it as aimless focus for my anger until I found myself filtering my gaze between my brother speaking to the doctor to seeing the room number on the door.
Room 302.
Jesus fücking Christ.
If the very number hadn't haunted me for the better part of the last three years, the last two weeks seemed to be doing that for me, mocking me again at this moment with the reminder that death seemed to linger in my immediate family.
I could take it as some sort of fücked fate considering it was the death date of my mother who had died due to a gas explosion, another unexpected and first of many attacks on our family.
For fück sake.
I sighed, rubbing my eyes with my fingertips before I pinched the bridge of my nose and inhaled deeply, the ache in my chest growing until it formed a palpable anger that burned the blood in my veins.
Vito Sabella had been the one behind it. His intent on ruining our lives – my families lives – stemming deep from a past rivalry his dad hadn't carried out before he'd died.
Ironically he'd only cursed his father to hell when I'd found him balls deep in a sleazy hooker a week later after my mother's death, my thirst for fresh warm blood that only poured from his throat driving my revenge just as deep as his skull took my knife.
He'd screamed for hours, begging for forgiveness that would never be given whilst I enjoyed skinning his fücking mother at that same time Alex cut the throats of his three daughters, the voices in my head coming together to form a single crazy state that had only started when I'd taken my rightful fücking place in placing a bullet right between his eyes.
Just to see the look on his face whilst his life was taken away from him was only one of the reasons why I'd stayed somewhat sane throughout the years, a heightened sense of pride from revenge soaked in the blood that ran through my veins to this very day.
It fuelled me, letting me do the very best at what I was good at – what I prided myself on.
In the world that I lived in it was the only way to survive. Being a pussy would get you nowhere but six feet under, a situation that I knew wouldn't happen to me unless I'd put my own fücking gun to my head.
Some people called me crazy for the way that I thought, they even hated me for it but I had no doubts that I could take care of myself and everybody else if I fücking had to...the reminder seeming all too ironic considering the papers that I was holding in my hand.
I exhaled sharply, running my tongue across my teeth as I took a seat in the chairs lining the corridor, my eyes set on the door of my father's room where the doctor walked out and froze slightly upon seeing me.
With a mocking smile I tilted my head in a silent nod, coaxing him to get out of my sight which he abided to easily by vanishing behind the bend at the end of the corridor. It made me laugh humourlessly, my eyes rolling at the way people were so intimidated by me just as Alex appeared and walked towards me, defiance in his step.
I watched unaffected as he did, shoving the papers in my hand to my inside pocket as I pulled out a packet of cigarettes, giving no fücks about the fact that I was in a hospital considering it was owned by us in the first place.
"Do you think embarrassing yourself and this goddámn family in front of everyone is going to get you somewhere?" Alex quipped, stealing the cigarette from between my lips and snapping it in his fingers.
"Well they get paid enough to deal with it," I spoke simply, shrugging and pulling out another cigarette from the packet until the box was snatched and thrown to the side. "Was that really fücking necessary?" I glared, standing.
"Reign in that fücking temper of yours before I do it for you," he threatened, nostrils flaring as he challenged my mood and left me feeling that all too consuming anger.
"How about you keep your hands to yourself before I cut them off and fücking choke you with them, would that-"
"These yours?"
At the familiar voice we both stilled despite our glares growing stronger, the presence of Salvatore Moretti soon getting the best of us until we both stood side by side and faced our boss.
We watched as he bent down to retrieve my thrown cigarettes, his hands soon digging into his pockets after he'd thrown them to the bin and walked towards us.
"How is he?"
"Deteriorating," Alex said simply, clearing his throat after his words before looking at me.
I didn't give him the satisfaction of the flinch his words caused me, the reality of losing another parent soon closing in on me until I sucked in a sharp breath and directed my stare at Salvatore.
"How are you two?" he asked, soon bracing his hands behind his back as he stepped towards the door of my father's room.
"Fine," we both bit out at the same time leaving an unamused chuckle to leave Salvatore's lips.
We didn't question it, instead I sat back down and rested my elbows to my knees whilst looking at my shoes, overturning plans in my head that fed the hunger of my bloodlust Alex had kickstarted.
My fingers clenched against my palms whilst the sole of my boots scuffed against the hospitals linoleum floors, my breathing slowing until I could hear my heart beat echo loudly in my head.
I focused on the steady beat, picturing the ways I could inflict torture on the one responsible for my dad's attack. It was easy to as blood splattered in my head, my lack of vision shining a light on my dark thoughts that twisted in my head like a fücked spider web.
For minutes at a time I sat in silence, listening to the beeps of heart machines from neighbouring patients, the calls of nurses and all sorts of medical jargon. It let me focus in on what I wanted, my muscles taut with strung tension that made my spine crack under the pressure until I envisioned my victim slumped over my feet in a pool of their own blood.
Lovely.
It made me smile. My lips curving into a satisfied smirk until I laughed quietly to myself and opened my eyes.
If it took the blood of the entire line of Lorento's to get to where I wanted, I'd fight-
"Walk with me," Salvatore said as I looked up to him from my hands, his words forming anything but a question.
I nodded once, standing up and seeing Alex back in my dad's room with his phone pressed to his ear whilst he talked to someone, running his hands through his hair. He seemed pissed, something that I understood considering the situation and the pressure it put on the both of us, me especially now as I walked with Salvatore and felt the crinkle of papers against my chest.
"Hai preso una decisione?" Salvatore interrupted, my head turning to him as we both walked through the corridors of the hospital, careful to talk in a mannerism that didn't demand attention.
I turned over his question of whether I'd made a decision in my head, the papers in my pocket feeling heavy as I clenched my fingers into fists, overturned the words in my head and inhaled.
I didn't respond initially, my tongue stuck in my fücking mouth as I swallowed and rubbed the back of my neck whilst trying to figure out an answer.
"Lucien, I haven't got all day," he pressured, becoming impatient as we kept walking without a response from me.
Answers lingered in my head, circling my thoughts until they suffocated and I wasn't able to speak. It made me rub the side of my cheek, cold air soon hitting my face as we stepped outside the hospital, Salvatore's stare burning holes into the side of my head when I puffed out a breath and finally spoke.
"Keeping her safe...how do you know I'll be able to do it?"
At my words Salvatore chuckled over the cigarette he placed between his lips, his hands covering over the flame from his lighter before he blew smoke and looked at me.
"When your mother died, you killed one hundred and twenty six people in the period of two months because someone took away something you cared-"
"How does this have anything to do with watching over your daughter?" I asked bluntly, interrupting his words as ash fell from the end of his cigarette.
"It showed that you'd do anything for revenge and the safety of the rest of your family," he said, raising his eyebrows at me when I didn't say anything immediately, instead processing his words as I inhaled deeply and spoke.
"With all due respect I don't care for Aria the way I do my family."
He glared.
"With all due fücking respect Lucien, you don't have a choice," he bristled, angry lines appearing on his face as I bit down on my teeth to stop myself from saying something I was sure I was going to regret. "I am your fücking boss, if I ask, you do. Understand?"
"Salvatore-"
"I've put my trust in you to keep my daughter safe just like I did with your father. Don't make me regret that dámn decision because he never did."
Internally I twitched, wordless in reply to his words that made me scuff the heel of my boot into the gravel blanketing the outskirts of the hospital.
I knew he was right – that I had to comply whether I liked it or not. He ran an empire, built it bigger than his father and was now a mafia kingpin who stood right at the fücking top with his head held high.
Smug fücking bastard.
"What's in it for me?" I questioned calmly despite knowing that I was overstepping set in stone rules, blue eyes meeting my own in a fire of rage that I'd come to know was frustration.
He looked me over, a crease forming where he frowned and blew out smoke once again. It took him a moment to reply, silence consuming us until he squashed the butt of his now finished cigarette between his fingers and spoke.
"You keep Aria safe just like your father did and I give you full fücking permission to kill whoever you see fit as retribution for him," he proposed, his words piquing my interest. "You will escort her when she is in the estate, leaving it and be by her side with every single step she takes once you pick her up from Sicily."
I inhaled, soaking in his words as my muscles tensed and teeth grit once more. It wasn't news to me that he kept Aria as far away from business as possible, the death of his wife prompting the impulsive decision for his daughter to go and stay with his father all the way in Sicily.
It had been nine years since we'd all seen her, my memory blurring over her face that didn't seem clear in my head with all the information that was fücking drowning me inside out.
"If a single hair on her fücking head is touched our agreement is over and you'll be six feet under before you can even take your next breath, capito?" Salvatore snapped, cutting through my thoughts with his words.
"I haven't-"
"You will be there as her security, and in an act of an emergency her life prioritises yours. If you are still breathing whilst she isn't, I will rip out your spleen, choke you with it and then set you on fire."
"I haven't agreed, Salvatore," I bit out through gritted teeth, swallowing at his indirect threat.
"But you will," he spoke simply. "Bloodlust is the type of hunger that overrides every sense in the body till it is fulfilled."
At his words I slowly blew out a breath, closed my eyes briefly and pictured it.
Dark, warm and coating my fingers was the blood of my victim, their head blown off and plastered in bits against the wall behind them. Their lingering screams echoed in my head, deafening me in the greatest fücking way possible.
It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand, my fingers twitching at the thought of firing a gun between someone's eyes until they bled out in the palm of my hand. Family trees would be eradicated, pay back in the form of blood and lives slipping through my fingers like sand until I was satisfied and made a point to other's to not cross lines with me.
I could envision it now.
An act of revenge brought to life to take the very same thing away from others.
...and all I had to do was fücking baby sit.
"So do we have a deal?" Salvatore asked, a smug smile curving my lips as I turned to him and nodded, bloodlust closing the window on an agreement that I had yet to know would cause me more trouble than I'd bargained for.
"You have a deal."
*A/N*
*yells into the unknown*
OK SO HELLO IT HAS BEEN LIKE FIVE MONTHS SINCE IVE BEEN UP AND WRITING AND DKDJSJDJ
what better way to start over than give my OG mafia babies the story they deserve (!)
if you didn't quite catch it, this is a re write of my story Deal (its up on my profile still) I have a tendency of not actually editing my badly written stories but instead writing entire new stories with the same(ish) plot - only this time my male character has changed!
So yah there's that
If you haven't read Deal then hello hi 👋🏼 welcome to the (new!) laria fam 😊😊
I'll be updating weekly!! I already have chapter 2 done and chapter 3 is half written so YAY at myself
I enjoy mafia sm so I won't be paying this story dust and will promise to provide y'all with a selfish murderous mafia man who will dote over his woman 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍
ugh, lucien is such a man
ANYWHO
Lemme know what you think!
Vote, comment and all that shiznit! And also add the story to your library so you get notifications when I update next!
Twitter | btwitssurina
I love y'all so much 💘