Chapter 5

Dante’s pov:

Late in the night, I am as usual in my office, sitting at my desk reviewing some papers while having a scotch,

After that meeting with Anastasia, I need the burn of alcohol to erase every reminder of her from my memory from the way she walked so confidently to the way she talked to me, It was really hard not to admire a woman like her,

I hear a knock on the door, Without asking who it is, I let the knocker in, Because I know that it is her, Greta my house keeper,

Sometimes, I keep waiting for her to show up at my door, I just need someone to distract me from me all the burden I carry over my shoulder as a capo even for ten minutes every day,

Over the years, she made it a habit to check on me in the office each night before going to sleep,

“Dante are you still working at this hour of the night?, Per l’amor di Dio, my son how many times should I tell you that you need to rest?”, (For the love of god, Italian),

Greta is like my second mother, She is the one who helped raising me, She was there for my birthdays, for my initiation, for my first fight, for my first kill, And all the other important events in my life,

She truly cares about me like I am her own child, She is the only one who knows the real me, the one I hide underneath it all and keep away from everyone else,

“I know segnorita but work can’t wait.”, I say not separating my eyes from the papers that lay in front of me,

She sits on one of the chairs facing my desk, She goes silent for a few seconds, Knowing her so well, she has something in mind to say but she knows I won’t appreciate,

I put the pen in my hand down and I look at her encouraging her to say whatever she wants,

She exhales deeply before saying:” You know what really can’t wait, Marriage, Don’t you think that it is time to bring a beautiful bride to this home?”,

Here we go again with this marriage matter,

If there is one thing I know about Greta is that she can’t wait to hold my children, She has been waiting for me to marry someone for several years now,

“Segnorita, we talked about this, I made it clear that I don’t want a wife, at least not now.”,

She points her index towards me and she says:” Listen to me young man, You are thirty-two now, How long will you stay alone in this big mansion?, You need a wife and children that will bring joy to your life.”,

“But …”, I try to defend myself, But, she cuts me before I can finish my sentence, “No buts, let me finish what I have to say, Apparently, I need to knock some sense into you.”,

Greta is the only one who has the right to talk to me like this apart from my sister, And, I don’t have a problem with it,

“Dante, suo, a capo needs an heir, People will talk behind your back, if they haven’t already started, You need a son who will carry your legacy, an heir who will follow your steps and make sure that the Cosa Nostra family line will never die.”, (Son, Italian),

Fuck, I can’t deny that her words make sense no matter how I hate it, I have never in my life considered marriage as an option for me, The mere thought of being tied up to another person gets on my nerves, A wife is so demanding, She will want my attention, my time things and my time, things that I won’t be able to offer to her, Fuck, I can’t bear someone in my house invading my personal space, let alone sharing a bed with me,

“I am tired by now, I am an old lady as you know, I need to get some rest, I hope that you will think about I said.”,

She gets up and heads to the door, “Don’t be awake till late, Buenas noches.”,

“Buenas noches.”, I respond,

She closes the door behind her and I am alone again,

I pour for myself another glass of scotch and bring it to my lips, I think about what Greta said,

Although I can’t stand the idea of being trapped into a marriage, I shouldn’t be selfish, Fifteen years ago, I made an oath to the Cosa Nostra, No matter what happens, our family always comes first, I need to make sure that our legacy with not die with me, Greta is right, I need an heir who will inherit our empire, Maybe It is time to start thinking about marriage seriously,

I look at the cup in my hand, It’s completely empty, I get the bottle and pour more liquid, Then, I go back to my thoughts,

The hardest thing concerning marriage will be finding a bride, As a don I can’t marry any woman, She needs to be from a prestigious mafia family that occupies a high position in our business,

I go through all the single women that can be a fit for being my future wife, Nadia Angelica, the daughter of my consigliere, Angelia Nico, the daughter of one of my underbosses, Mira, the spoiled daughter of Alberto Mikhail, one of the most important drug dealers …, The problem is that none of these women meets my standards, A wife of a don must be strong, intelligent and capable of protecting herself in dangerous situations, I can’t guarantee that she will be protected at every moment especially if we are going through an attack which is a thing that happens a lot in the mafia,

I finally give up and I open my laptop to answer some important mails, In the mail box, I find the file concerning Anastasia Perez that has been send by one of my men, I demanded that a detailed research about her,

I open the folder, It contains all the important information about her,

Name and surname: Perez Anastasia,

Nationality: Spanish,

Age: 23,

Studies: International relationships, Washington,

IQ: 180,

Allergies: Strawberry,

(…),

It seems that I forgot one woman who might be my best option for a bride so far, Anastasia fucking Perez,

Marrying her will put an end to my war with her father just for appearances, I have a better idea to get revenge from him, through his beloved daughter,

I will be easy for me to give her a loveless marriage, I will ignore her day and night, pretend that she doesn’t even exist, She will be lonely all by herself in Sicily where she has no one, She will be powerless until she hates her life and despises her mere existence, I will make sure that her heart will be broken into million pieces,

Seeing his lovely daughter have a miserable life, Antonio will be destroyed, Just at the thought of it satisfaction fills me,

Anastasia is the precious diamond of her father that I will happily steal from him, She is a flower full of life that I will happily ruin,

There is never a better triumph over Antonio than to slowly kill his beloved daughter,

I just need to convince him to let me marry her and I already have an idea how to do it,

Anastasia’s pov:

The next morning:

I am sitting on the living room, as usual, having my morning coffee before leaving the house, when Papa enters the room, His brows are furrowed and his fists are clenched, Mierda, This is not a good sign, Something bad must have happened,

“My office now, Anastasia.”, He orders with a violent tone,

He seems so angry, This has to be serious, Papa isn’t normally a quick tempered person, He always controls his emotions even at the worse situation, It is a trait that I inherited from him,

As soon as the the door of his office closes behind us, He rushes to the little bar, He pours some bourbon, He finishes the whole glass in just one drop,

“Is everything okay?”, I pop out the first question the crosses my mind,

“How could it possibly be okay, Dante called me personally, In order to finish the war, he wants us to give him Galicia.”,

Is this a joke?, Galicia is one of our most important cities, It is located near the sea and has a huge port, so a lot of our trafficking happens there, We can’t just let it go, It’s insane,

“He can’t be serious, He knows that you will never give him a part of your territory, We can’t let Dante keep a close eye on what we are doing.”,

“That’s what I said, He made this offer, to force me to accept his other option, He said that if I don’t give him what he wants, this war will end the old fashioned way.”,

“What is that supposed to mean exactly?”, I question,

I knew that the Cosa Nostra are very conservative about their traditions, But, I didn’t know what these traditions consist of exactly,

“A marriage should be held between the Spanish mafia family and the Cosa Nostra, According to him, the two families should be reunited by a good cause.”,

“An arranged marriage really, Is this the 18th century or something?”, I say sarcastically which makes my father send a me glare,

“So who exactly will be marrying who?”, I ask,

“Dante will be the groom.”,

He is thirty and he is still unmarried, He needs to marry soon, I am sure no a woman has willingly accepted to marry him, So, he needs an arranged wife, Can’t wait to see Dante standing by the end of the isle waiting for his soon-to-be bride,

” This is a good solution actually, Why are you angry Papa?, I expect that we will offer him one of my cousins.”,

Silence fills the room, Papa fills his empty glass with bourbon again and takes a sip, I have a feeling that there is something that he didn’t tell me about,

“He made it pretty clear that he wants you to be the one marrying him.”, That’s when my jaw dropped,

Mierda, That’s not what I was expecting him to say,

I try to take a deep breath, but it seems that my lungs can’t function anymore, I try to say something but I can’t find the right words,

Without saying anything, I make my way to the small bar, my legs barely carrying me, I get myself a glass of whiskey, After these unexpected news, I need the alcohol to wash away the surprise,

I take a sip from the glass, Then, another, The burn of the alcohol on my throat reduces a little my shock, no my frustration, no my anger, no my …, whatever the hell I was feeling,

“What exactly did you say to him father?”, I finally manage to ask,

“I said that I needed time to think, I am not going to give you to him that easily.”,

I don’t say anything, I don’t have words to say, Silence fills the room before he speaks again: “What do you think about this situation, hija?, This is your life, your future after all, If you don’t want this marriage, we will think of another way to please Dante.”, (Daughter, in Sapnish),

With my hands, I lock my hair behind my ears, A gesture I always do when I am stressed, I start walking back and forth in the room while processing the news,

Calm down Anastasia and focus, You need to find a way to get out of this whole situation, “Just give me few hours to figure it all out.”, I say,

I approach him, put my hand on his shoulder, I say in a voice barely audible : ” Papa, count on me, I will find a solution like I always do.”,

His tense shoulders relaxe a little at the hearing of my words, And he nods, Without saying anything else, I get out of the office closing the door behind me,

I spent the whole day alone in my office thinking about what I am going to do,

By 11PM, I glance through my window, As usual, Papa is out in the garden fuming, It is a habit he developed through the years, I put on my coat to protect from the cold breeze of the night and I go out to join him,

Hearing the sound of my steps on the herb, he turns his head to see who is coming, Once he notices me, he extends his arm towards me offering me to sit right next to him on the bench,

Looking at the sky, he says:” The sky is so clear tonight.”,

I put my head on his shoulder, “I miss watching the sky with Mama so much.”,

“Me too honey, Me too.”, He says and he lets out a sight,

“So what is your final decision ?”, He asks,

“Papa, I think I have a solid plan that will help to take down Dante.”,