Bloody Amore

Prologue

Anastasia's P.O.V

The knife hovers over my hand, the tip digging in hard enough to break skin. "Stasia, are you sure you want to do this?"

Glancing up, I meet my mother's gaze. Those same doe eyes that my sisters both share bore into me. "I'm ready mom."
There never was another path for me. I knew that from the minute I understood my family's origins.

"There is always another choice, but doing this means tying yourself to Cosa Nostra. Blood is forever Anastasia, it's irreversible if spilt."

"I know, and I accept that." My hand is quick in slicing the sharp blade across my thumb. It's a strange visceral feeling, drawing one's own blood. There's a sudden rush that almost makes me feel dizzy and just like that the moment I've been envisioning for so long is now over.

I watch as the red liquid races down my thumb, careening into the soft lines across my palm. My mom catches the liquid in a vial, screwing the lid tight after a few drops are secured."Aaron!" She calls out, despite my dad standing right behind her. The rest of my family lay in wait down below, whilst the three of us stand on the balcony.

Sure, in my opinion it's a little over the top just for some blood but in this family it's tradition to conduct a formal ceremony like this.

My dad is slow to catch the wound with a towel, allowing a few droplets to stain my white dress. There's no expected dress code, and yes, my mom warned me about wearing white today but I like the idea of purity becoming desecrated.
My dad presses the towel hard against my thumb, numbing slight stinging pain. "How are you feeling bunny?" God I hate that nickname. I always found myself longing for a nickname with more bite like a tiger but today it brings a strange sense of comfort that calms me like a gentle breeze.
"Fine, weirdly enough." I mumble, still trying to make sense of it all. "I don't know what to feel."

He meets my far away gaze, squeezing my shoulder with his spare hand. "That's okay. The day I had to do this it felt strange too. It's almost like an out of body experience." I nod, knowing exactly how he feels, despite him doing this at fifteen years my senior.

My dad married into the Romano family, taking on the name and all the responsibility that comes with it. Despite coming from a criminal background himself, it's strange how love tied him deeper into the underworld.

Taking a deep breath, I try to settle into my new reality.
Signing my loyalty and life away to the mafia is a big decision to make at sixteen years old, but I've always known this was the choice to be made.

I suppose if there's one thing I know I can feel, it's this newfound power in securing my legacy.

Once I turn 21, I'll inherit everything. Romano industries is one of the world's leading shipping companies in the public eyes but beneath the glossy facade is something much darker. It's that part which has always appealed to me: the drugs, the extortion, the loans, the protection.

Almost everybody becomes desperate at some point in their lives and it's that desperation that we feed on.
Now I'm bound by blood and in my world, blood is everything.

Blood is vital. Blood is life.

It's family and bonds and love all tied together. People are shaped by the blood they carry, it determines their fate.

Like mine.

I've been blessed with the blood that rushes through my veins. It's given me so much money and power that Donald Trump would weep at the sight of me.

Back in Italy, the blood of an initiate would be voluntarily spilled onto the card of a Saint. It was then set alight and the warning that followed was your flesh would burn like the Saint if you ever betrayed the mafia.

Nowadays everything is more advanced — even the mafia keep up with the times.

The blood is stored alongside all the other member's who pledged their loyalty in the same way. If you betray Cosa Nostra, then your blood would be used against you.
I remember this story my mother once told me. She meant it as a warning of the consequences of pledging your loyalty, an attempt to scare me away. Bobby Carvalle was an enforcer who sold information to an outside competitor. We lost millions of dollars worth of product because of it so as a punishment his blood was planted at a gruesomely bloody crime scene, earning him a life sentence in jail.

He didn't make it long.

To truly succeed in this world, you have to own it. — so that's exactly what my parents did.

They ensured that all parts of the legal system were on their payroll: judges, officers, lawyers and even witnesses to an extent.

Bobby was struck over the head during a change in guard shifts and left for dead. The matter was simply swept away and the world went on, free of another rat.

Maybe that's why my mom is so anxious about my decision?
Not even leaders are exempt from the rules. If I ever betray my organization, my head hangs too.

Not that I ever would of course.

Between her polished nails, she grips the vial tighter than a baby to their mother's hand. "I'll make sure it goes into the safe." Her lips press against my cheek, and I can feel the sticky remnants of her lipstick left behind. "I love you."
"Mom, I'm sixteen. A little old for kisses now." She laughs softly, using the pad of her thumb to wipe it away.

"Be a kid for as long as possible Stasia. The world you've just entered will destroy that innocence quickly."

I've seen my Uncle Kai beat a man to death, my father order his tiger Zeus to rip apart a praying man and my mother poison a whole room of people during a business meeting.
Of course, none of them know that. Sneaking around is my speciality, being discreet and observant is a skill I'm sure I'll need for my future profession. I'm just not sure how much innocence is left for me to cherish.

The sting bites as my dad treats the cut. I don't let it show though.

Weakness is human in nature. It's a reminder that you're vulnerable, capable of such emotions like fear for others to prey on. I don't want to leave others the chance to tear me down from my high throne.

To survive in this world, I need to become a God.