Snake and Venom: Sheded skin

Chapter 7

I take a deep breath as I look at myself in the mirror. I have on this large red dress that looks similar to the one I wore when Rocco announced that we were to be married. I bite my lip as the memory takes me over. I could live off of our memories alone if I wanted to.

Oh how much I want to just get back in bed. To bask in those memories. I fought Rocco so hard. Fought the attraction I had for him. If I knew what was going to happen I wouldn't have wasted all the precious time. I guess that's why they say life is short and be good to the person while they are still here. I never got to do that.

My curls dance down my shoulders as the curls bounce. My hair has never been this curly before. Sophia is really good at doing hair. If I could, I would hire her to be my personal hair stylist. When I walk out of the bathroom Marcelo and Sophia are standing next to each other. She smiles at me when I do.

Sophia is also wearing a dress, but it's light blue like the sky. Marcelo is wearing a suit and his gun isn't very visable. You can never be too careful at these parties. At the end of the day it's everyone for themself. "You look...wow girl." Sophia smiles as she looks me up and down. She lets her hand trace over the red material clinging to my body. It is beautiful.

"Thank you Soph." I smile even though I'm not very estatic for this event. My lack of not being able to catch Marco with him right in front of me has put me in a slump. Do I really deserve this title. Is Rocco's father right and that I can't really do anything for it.

"You do look great Mrs. Merano. However is there something on your mind?" Marcelo asks.

I snap away from my thoughts and look up at him. Leave it up to Marcelo to notice when I'm not okay. He's going to prove to be not just a great bodyguard, but a good friend too. Is that what Rocco and Bruno had?

I sigh. "My mind is back what it's always on. I just need to smile through this ball though right." I force a smile.

"Right." He says with a sad smile.

"If you're not feeling up to it then we can cancel it." Soph says.

"No. We need to do this. We can't show them that this mafia is at it's weakest right now." I frown.

Sophia nods. "Okay then let's go."

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Music fills my ears as I get closer to the ballroom. Sophia is right beside me matching my steps as our heels click against the tile flood. Marcelo close behind making sure we are safe.

Once the doors open I walk in. There's a crowd full of people in the ballroom. They all turn towards me as I walk in. It almost makes me nervous how many eyes are on me. I don't show the nervousness in my steps though. I keep walking into the ballroom.

I' m above everyone. I remember Rocco saying it's safer this way because no one can reach us. It's better to stay away from a crowd full of criminals. I make my way over to the chair in the middle of the balcony so I can watch the ball. I won't be participating, but I can still watch.

As I sit down I see a few heads start turning and whispering to each other. I don't like gossip at all. Hopefully what their talking about isn't too bad. After a while everyone returns to the party.

People start dancing around the whole ballroom and I'm taken back to that day. The day Rocco had me in his arms. Twirling me around through the crowd. How everyone dissapeared around us. I could only see him in that moment.

How he pressed his lips against mine claiming me. I let out another breath trying to hold back the tears. I can't let these people see me cry.

About an hour in a half later everyone settles down. The drinks are probably starting to get to them. They've been here for a long time and theres so many to go out.

I stand up as I get ready to speak. I have to give out a speech to everyone before they leave. As I walk toward the balcony I motion for the music to go off. As it get's quiet everyone in the room turns to me.

I smile down at them all with a hint of a glare in my eye. I need to assert my dominance over all of them. They won't just accept that I'm the new leader of them. They barely know me.

"Hello everyone. I'm glad you could all make it. Now you're probably wondering why Rocco's wife is here talking to you all." I start. "Well if you didn't know, you know now. I'll be taking over."

Everyone start to make commotion at my announcement. "Quiet please." I yell and everyone goes quiet. "Seeing as Rocco is gone someone had to take over and that will be me. If you have any objections...well I don't care. You don't have any power to object. I'll be handling all your finances so I'd be careful how you speak about me also." I say.

To my surprise someone steps up. A fully tatted older man whose wearing a fancy suit. His hair is gelled to the back in. very sophisticated style. "You can't just take over for him. Do you know how powerful Rocco was. You can't possibly be capable of doing nearly half of what he did."

I take a long deep breath trying to control my anger. In order for me to win them over I have to become Rocco. The Rocco who doesn't let anyone talk to him any type of way. The fact that this man had the guts to come in front of me will show the others that they can too. I won't stand for.

Everyone starts to get loud again. I turn to Marcelo. "Bring that man to me." I say.

Marcelo nods and quickly walks down to the man. His eyes widen as Marcelo grabs ahold of him. "Hey! Hey let me go." He tries to fight Marcelo off, but Marcelo is stronger.

He brings him up to me and the crowd goes quiet again. "When you defied my husband you were to be killed instantly. Unfortunatley I'm not as lenient as my husband. I like to see you suffer before letting you go.

The man yells as Marcelo brings him closer to me. "Hold out his hand and give me your knife." I say.

Marcelo does as I say. "Wait no! Please no. You can't do this. I'm an ally."

"An ally who disrespected me. If my husband were here you wouldn't be alive to see the next day." I raise the long knife and slice it right through his hand chopping it right off. His blood splashes onto my dress. "Look. You ruined my nice dress." I frown.

"Ahhhh!" The man yells.

Marcelo lets him go and I kick him over the balcony. It's not too far up so he lands on the floor perfectly fine. Everyone watching the man in terror. "Does anyone else have something to say?" I ask.

No one makes a move. I smile. "Good. The party is over. Have a good night." At that I make my way out of the ballroom. Out of the corner of my eye I see Sophia staring at the man. Her hands are shaking.

Once the doors close behind me I lean onto the wall. Gosh that was crazy. I can't believe I did something like that. On the inside all I could feel was fear. Like what if this causes a bad reaction from all of our ally's. Then I thought about how Rocco would have never let anyone talk to me like that.

They will respect me a lot more after that. I let out a long sigh. "You okay?" Marcelo asks.

"No, I feel sick. I don't want my baby to be exposed to things like this." I place a hand over my belly. Seeing Sophia's reaction to what I did made me really thing. What if that was my son out there getting his hand cut off.

Sophia walks over to me. "My father won't allow that."

"I know. It was just a thought. You looked so scared."

"Yeah. I've never seen a man get his hand cut off before. My brother usually takes care of his business downstairs." She says.

"I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize. You were badass out there. My brother would be so proud of you." Sophia smiles.

"Thank you soph. That really means a lot to me."