A Promessa

Un Capello

Alessio has the patience of a saint... unless you mess with his daughter.

—*—

Crimson was raised the old-fashioned way. No pampering. No babying. Misbehavior and defiance are met with severe punishment. Some people found that kind of upbringing cruel—some even considered it child abuse. Crimson couldn't disagree more. He didn't get to where he is now by being overprotected.

Hell is a dog-eat-dog world. Only the strongest survive and make a name for themselves—especially in this business.

Carmen could never understand his point of view. No, she insisted on babying and pampering his heir, trying to keep him away from his rightful heritage. She made him weak. She turned him into the fag pussy he is today. It's only natural that he'd get her out of the way before she completely ruined Moxxie.

Bianca was like his wife in that sense. She, too, loved pampering and babying her children. He'd seen it the few times she and Pietro accompanied Alessio. Crimson was fond of his consigliere's son, but Bianca kept Pietro as far away from him as possible. The one-time Crimson managed to interact with the shark pup when he showed him the kind of weapons his daddy used, which ended with a smack on the face from Bianca's tail.

Then again, they were both women. Naturally, they'd want to baby their kids while they're still small. It's all they're good for. Surely men don't make that mistake, right?

"There, there. It's okay, bambina. Let's get that cleaned up."

Unfortunately, Alessio, of all people, proved him wrong.

Crimson watched, stunned, as his consigliere kissed the scrape on Giulia's knee before placing a bandaid on it. And it didn't end there! Alessio carried his sniffling daughter to the kitchen and gave her a popsicle.

"All of this fuss over a scrap on the knee, Ale?"

Alessio ignored him and carried his daughter back to the room where she and Pietro stayed.

Crimson murmured under his breath. It's been two years, and that girl has yet to utter a single word. She understood what was said to her but never replied.

Because of this, Alessio babied and pampered his daughter much more than Carmen and Bianca combined. He couldn't spend an hour without checking on her. Crimson never heard the slightest sternness or annoyance in Alessio's voice when he spoke to Giulia. He'd always cut her meals before serving them to her.

All of this drove Crimson nuts, but he refrained from intervening. She's Alessio's daughter, not his. He had no say in how Alessio raised his children, just as the shark never intervened directly, nor did he call Crimson out on Moxxie's upbringing.

Perhaps it's because she's a girl? Yes, that must be it. He's heard that fathers tend to pamper daughters more so than sons. For a brief moment, Crimson wondered if he'd treated Moxxie differently had he been born with a pussy instead of a dick.

—OOO—

A few hours later, Crimson yelled at Titus over the phone.

"I don't care how long it takes you or how you do it, finish the fucking job, or it'll be your jaws I'll be hanging on my wall!" the Don snarled before slamming the phone on the desk with an angry snarl. "I swear to Mammon, I'm surrounded by incompetents!"

CRASH!

Alarmed at the noise, Crimson sped out of his study. Pieces of broken china porcelain lay scattered across his wooden floor alongside a puddle of water and flowers. And standing next to the decorative table that once held the expensive vase was none other than Giulia.

"Do you have any idea of how much that vase costs?! And that water is going to ruin my floor!"

He didn't know what infuriated him more: the fact that his expensive décor lay broken on his floor and got everything dirty or the stunned, confused look the dolphin calf was giving him. She wasn't afraid. This must be the first time someone's ever yelled at her.

The thing about Crimson is that whenever he's having a bad time, he becomes a ticking time bomb. Once the anger reaches a boiling point, he has to hit something—or someone to vent out. First, it was Carmen who constantly intervened in how he raised Moxxie. Once she was gone, Moxxie became the next—and more frequent—target.

With both of them gone and no one else around, Crimson targeted the only person who happened to be in front of him: Giulia.

In a blind rage, Crimson stomped towards the girl and raised a hand.

An iron grip took hold of his wrist before he could bring it down.

Turning around, Crimson was met with the glowing red eyes of his consigliere. But something was wrong. There was a very dark feeling to his icy gaze. He'd seen it when Alessio was in charge of torturing the Family's enemies with his bare hands.

But it'd never been targeted at Crimson himself.

"...You and I have been friends for a long time, Crimson. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you, and you know it." Alessio's voice was devoid of emotion, but Crimson didn't miss the undercurrent of cold rage. "But if you touch as much as a single hair on my daughter's head, you'll learn firsthand what it's like to have me as an enemy ."

Crimson felt a shiver down his spine. He knew instantly that Alessio wasn't bluffing. His right-hand man would kill him with his bare hands if he ever brought any harm to his daughter.

The shark released his wrist and picked up Giulia, whispering soothing words to her as he carried her away, leaving his scared-out-of-his-shit employer behind.

All the while, Giulia kept staring at Crimson with Bianca's pastel blue eyes.