We flew to New York instantly and made a stop at the hospital where Alyssa stayed with her mom. She wouldn't stop crying and blaming herself when really this was my fault. One day she's going to be fed up and leave me forever.
I have a lot of shit going on right now, the feds are on my ass and the Mazzani's are trying to take away my family's control of New York like they are some conquistadors. The thing is, every other crime family has tried before but failed and as soon as these new kids on the block come along they manage to persuade everyone else somehow to help them. Since we were the leading crime family in the field of weapons and drugs trafficking and loan sharking, they were trying to push us out so they could really start making some money. It was okay to say that because of everything going on, I was going to punish this family and my behavior towards them would be rabid.
I shook her a bit as she was stuck in a trance. She blinked rapidly coming back to reality.
"Hey, I have to go deal with something okay, your friends are coming to stay with you."
She exhaled before she turned to face me, "Okay."
I kissed her forehead while smoothing down her kinky hair, "I'll be back later."
She grasped the wrist of my hands since they were both occupied by her hair then she nodded.
I left the hospital with a strong urge to use the 9 mm pistol that was stashed in the roof of my car.
In the blink of an eye I was pulling up outside of my parents' house. I walked up the pathway to the door and after ringing the doorbell I was let in by the butler. I made my way up the stairs where I knew my father and my brothers stood waiting for me to start our meeting. I exhaled a breath as I sat down on a chair.
"How is she holding up?" Vincent questioned as soon as I sat.
I sighed before I took a puff of the cigarette I had just lit, "she's a mess, I've never seen her like that before and it's all my fault."
Vincent unbuttoned his suit jacket, "rather than sitting around blaming ourselves I would like for us to nip this at the bud before it gets even worse."
I nodded while stumping out my cigarette in the ashtray.
"Where are the Mazzani's?" Santino inquired.
Vincent exhaled, "I don't know but we're taking out those who are presently here and involved in the operation of taking us out. Next is Giovanni and his brothers Simone and Enrico."
Dante hissed, "I hate to tell you this big guy but if we do we're gonna start a war."
"I DON'T GIVE A FUCK they will learn their lesson. Alyssa did nothing to them and for that they will pay with their lives," I spat.
Dante chuckled, "why the fuck are you shouting? this isn't my fault you prick."
My eyes widened for a second before I sprung up so fast from out of my chair that it tumbled over. "What did you just call me?"
I had my gun out and everything since I was so pissed. Damn I'm losing it.
He had a smug almost taunting smile on his face, "What are you waiting for? Shoot me."
I was, I really was gonna do it until dad pulled the gun from my hand and quickly disabled it. I huffed and groaned while Franco silently chuckled.
I cussed in Italian under my breath at dad, unfortunately he understood it so he slapped me at the back of my head.
"I couldn't even shoot you if I wanted to. I kept remembering that you're my brother."
He rolled his eyes, "You don't think I know that?"
"Alright, Alright, Elijah we know you're very vulnerable -"
"Who's vulnerable? Cause I'm sure as hell not," I scoffed.
"If you would just let me finish- but you're on edge because your lover is hurting and we understand that but you can't keep acting on impulse," Santino continued.
"I can do what I want."
Santino smiled, "at least you didn't deny she was your lover this time."
I opened my mouth to speak but I was interrupted when my phone rang abruptly and I pulled it out and answered.
"Rossini."
"I'm sorry to tell you this boss but the cops are here and they have warrants to search your house," Luca said.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me."
He exhaled, "I wish."
"I'm on my way."
I gave him orders in Italian to hide something for me just in case my phone was bugged.
I hung up the phone. "So.... the cops are at my house about to search it for what reason I don't know but dad you need to talk to the chief downtown because something is going down and somehow this leads back to the Mazzani's."
I left the same time speeding to my house just a little further in Manhattan. As soon as I got there the cops showed me there warrants as they searched down the whole place tearing up shit that would have to be replaced all while I was counting how many of them it was to see if I could take them out.
They left after not finding anything suspicious and my brothers called to tell me that their houses too were searched. I have enough on my fucking plate already, but could I never catch a break?
I picked up Alyssa from the hospital making sure to stay away from her mother's room since she was awake, because up to this day Marie still thinks that Alyssa dumped me after Christmas.
"How is she?" I asked. I hesitantly slipped my fingers between hers and intertwined them when she wasn't looking.
She sighed, "She's okay, at least I can sleep tonight now knowing that she's good."
I nodded even though I didn't understand her pain. I never felt anything emotionally except for her.
"The cops searched the house today," I said monotonously.
This vibe between us was off, we weren't normally like this. The music playing in my car as well as the bleakness of the day contributed to it. It was like we were threading on thin lines with each other.
Her head snapped to the side to look for any signs of lying. "You can't be serious. I thought you could get away with anything?"
I exhaled, "According to my father I am not him. He is the one that funds their system so he can get away with anything."
"Wow okay, so why is all of this happening?"
"There is another crime family that is setting us up they want to knock us off the top of the food chain so they can take our place."
Her eyes widened, "Who are they?"
"The Mazzani's but don't ask anything else because I can't tell you, it's for your own safety."
She nodded and the car fell into comfortable silence.
"I want you to kill them Elijah."
"I'm sorry, what?" I blinked genuinely shocked by what she said.
"You heard me, I want you to kill them before this gets worse, so get your ass up and make sure you win this hide and seek game they are playing."
"Oh I was already gonna do that."
"I sure hope so," she answers.
I chuckled lightly before I reached over and grabbed her pussy under her dress to silence her.
"Shhh," I said putting my index finger to my lips then I removed my hand.
"You know what you can fuck off. Right now I'm just happy my mom is okay."
I smiled, "It's still summer and as soon as I deal with the Mazzani's I promise to take you somewhere fun maybe Cancun or the Maldives."
"But I still didn't get to go shopping in Italy."
"We can do that anytime and I'll even give you enough money to do so."
She rolled her eyes, "Who says I need your money? I've been saving, so I can shop with my own money Elijah."
I pulled up in front of our house before I sighed, "Why won't you let me take care of you?"
"You do take care of me."
"I take care of you sexually yes, but otherwise..."
She laughed before bumping me with her shoulder.
She exhaled exaggeratedly, "Your sexual jokes make me laugh all the time, thank you for that."
"You know that I just want you happy."
She smiled before climbing onto my lap and straddling me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and tilted her head to the side to look at me as I grasped her hips.
"I never really say this but you're really handsome, it's the eyes they're this weird light but gold looking brown." I smile.
She watched me intently as I watched her, "I'm grateful for you."
Her eyebrows shot up in surprise before a teasing smile spread across her face.
"Is that you being open about your feelings?"
I shrugged, "I guess."
She laughed before kissing me as we stayed parked in front of our house.
"I'm grateful for you too Elijah."
My phone beeped and I pulled away from Alyssa to check it. It was a message from Vincent telling me that he found the Mazzani's and we were leaving right away to catch them.
I told Alyssa I had to go and she went inside the house to stay under the protection of Luca and Antonio.
I would hope the cleaning crew would be finished by now so that she could feel relaxed and not out of place.
I sped away from the house driving at an unsafe speed in order to reach quickly.
~~~
"Right on time," my father called.
I just watched him kill a man and honestly I strived to be as pristine as him. Not a hair out of place and not even a speck of blood on his suit. His expression was grim as he led me to a room.
"You unfortunately missed the fun part where your brothers killed Simone and Enrico. Behind this door is who you've been after for a while."
He opened the door and there stood Giovanni tied from the roof of the room, I smiled.
"Let him down," I told the men.
He was let down and the men tied him up to the chair knowing my style.
My brothers were at my side alert and ready to chip in at any time.
"Hello Giovanni, how are you today?"
He didn't answer.
"Do you know what day is today?" I asked.
He didn't answer.
I got tired of him putting up this tough front so I took up a big wrench and gave him a swing out of it. He hissed squeezing his eyes shut.
"I said... do you know what day is today?"
"Saturday," he spat by my foot.
I raised my eyebrows when realizing how near it came to my expensive Italian loafers.
"Actually, today is your last day on God's earth."
I looked at the array of weapons laid before me, then I started selecting what I should use.
"How dare you, go against the principles of the Cosa Nostra, attacking my girlfriend and her family when they have nothing to do with our rivalry," I huffed.
"What should I do to you first, huh? I have an electric saw to get rid of the fingers that plot against her and I'll use my hands to gorge out the eyes that watched her. I am going to break every single bone in your body and I'm going to pull every single teeth from your gum. You shall feel physically what you made her feel emotionally."
I plugged in the saw signaling that it was time to saw off his fingers.
He screamed when I did the first and that's how the rest of the night continued. Him feeling immense amount of physical pain.
~~~
Vincent had called a very important meeting to announce the death of the Mazzani's.
"I would like everyone to know that this will be your faith if you try to test the power of the Rossini's again. I knew you were all in this because you thought the Mazzani's were your only chance to get rid of us since no one had been brave enough to do it. But we Rossini's work as a single unit effectively as we are one. Meeting adjourned."
I walked out of the meeting feeling higher than Jehovah there was fear in their eyes some even respect and I knew it would be a long time before they tried to test us. So I went home to relax with my woman.
~~~
A/N: Hey everyone I'm so sorry that I took so long to update but I've been so busy with school and shit and law stresses me the hell out. I'm gonna try to give you one or two more updates this month as next month I have exams. Anyways I need y'all's opinion, I'm thinking about ending the book at chapter 40 and starting a sequel as I already have an idea of how I would want this book to end and how to start the sequel, but at the same time I was wondering if I should just squash every issue and compile everything in this one book. Please let me know what you think.
Thanks for 11k reads y'all, buss a toast 🥂. Big ups to everybody reading my book. Nuff respect. YouForReal2 and all my other loyal readers who I can't remember right now, my love for y'all is large.