Scared And Scarred

4️⃣ 0️⃣

Author's pov

When the Ortiz family reached the venue, they were all presented with masks. It wasn't a masquerade party but they could take off their masks after the introductions were made.

Introductions were to be made in ascending order of the power and strength of the mafia families. Being the most powerful mafia in the world, Ortiz would be the last to introduce themselves.

After an hour of introductions, it was finally their turn, Ortiz walked to the stage. Ferocia led the procession, walking in front of Alicia. Alicia was in the centre between her father and Lucas. All siblings were walking with Alicia, followed by her cousins, followed by the rest of the family.

Everyone spread out on the stage and the introductions were made. 

As soon as Lucas introduced Alicia, every person in the room bowed to their princess. It was an unsaid vow among all the mafia to protect the princess with their lives.

After the introductions, all the family left the stage except for Alicia, Lucas, their father and grandfather. It was time for Alicia's crowning. Alicia chose these three men to pass the crown to her, for her they gave and made her life.

Nicholas, her father, gave her life and taught her how to cherish it. He is her anchor.
Lucas, is the reason she is out of the hell hole. He understands her when no one else does. He is her shield.
Alejandro, her grandfather, is the reason she is standing here and this ceremony is happening. He is her north star.

These were the three pillars of her life. The fourth one was her mother, her guardian angel. She felt cherished, loved, and protected in their presence. They were her strength. She adored her rest of the family as well and equally but was slightly little biased for these three men.

They proudly placed a beautiful diamond studded crown on the head of their princess. Their eyes shone with pride and love.

"Remember princess, Chin up or the crown slips."
Her grandfather whispered in her ear, she looked in his eyes and nodded in understanding. She got the hidden meaning of what her Tito said, she believed that as a princess, she was given the crown so she could remember that if she raised her head in arrogance, the crown would fall back. If she lowered her head in fear or doubt, the crown would slip off. In honour of the crown, a princess should look in the eye of the problem and uproot it.
She got the underlying meaning of her grandfather's words. She repeated his words to her heart, memorizing it forever.

"You are a princess with the strength of a warrior and the compassion of a mother. Nothing can fail you."
said her father when she went to him after the ceremony. He kissed her forehead. Affection for his daughter was evident in his eyes.

Next she went to Lucas, he didn't let go of his cold-man mask but tightly embraced his sister, while whispering in her ears,
"You are not a damsel who needs saving, you are a diamond, nothing can break you, Xia."

She was grateful for having such a sweet and supportive family. Then she met with the rest of her family, who congratulated her and showered their blessings and love on her.

After the ceremony, the hall was turned into a beautiful ballroom, they dimmed out the lights and music played around.

Her stupid, possessive brothers took turns dancing with her so that no one could touch their baby sister. Ferocia were no less, even if someone would as much as glance at her, they would snarl and growl at them.

At the whole event event she only got to mingle with her brothers. But while she was dancing with Santi, a man cut them off and confidently asked Alicia for a dance. She thought Santiago would break his jaw but to her shock, they both had a mini glaring competition after which Santi backed away and the man took his place.

Alicia recalled him from the introductions, he was the leader of the Italian mafia. Alicia was lost in his beauty of the Greek god in front of her while following his lead.

"So princess, want to say something." he asked, his voice was swoon worthy but it broke the spell his eyes cast on her.

"how come my brother allowed you to dance with me instead of murdering you?" she asked him.

He turned her around to the beats of the music. Her back was touching his chest. He pulled her closer and whispered in her ear,

"Come si può impedire al re di ballare con la sua regina?" listening to him whispering in Italian, did some weird thing in her stomach.

"Care to translate," she said controlling her not-so-holy thoughts

"I don't have a habit to repeat, Principessa," he said with a smirk

"I know you are the Capo of Italians, what's your name?" she asked

"Vittorio Kale Di Costa." his name gave her goosebumps.

"Kale as in the vegetable." she started trying to diffuse the tension.

"Kale as in the moon of Jupiter. You see I am out of this world." he said with a teasing grin.

"So Mr Kale-, I hope you don't mind me calling you that?" she said lowering her voice as the music got dim in the background.

"I don't mind but I would prefer if you called me yours." he said winking at her.

"I don't give nicknames to strangers, Mr Kale." unfazed by her flirting, she left after that statement as the music had already stopped.

She went back to her family, her heart was racing at a weird frequency and her brain was replaying her conversation with Kale on repeat.

They all went to the dining room for the dinner. De Cosa's table was on the right of the Ortiz's table. As they were the second most powerful mafia. Alicia's eyes met with Vittorio's. They looked at each other for some time after which Xia diverted her gaze and didn't look in his direction through the entire night.

They returned to their home somewhere near midnight. Alicia retired to her room still thinking about the conversation she had with Kale- Luna de Júpiter.

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Happy reading :)