Painfully Sweet

Chapter 3

"Zo ain't getting married," Adrian said, with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Why not?" My father asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Cause I said so," Adrian argued, he's always been very protective of me. I'm the only girl and technically the youngest, even though Sincere is only older than me by twenty minutes.

"What happens when she doesn't marry you?" Sincere asked.

"If she doesn't marry me, then we cannot ensure your gang's protection from the cartel," Luka said with a shrug.

"And what does the mafia have that any other gang doesn't? Why do we have to only do business with you?" Adrian asked as he leaned onto the table.

"And why do we need to be protected? What cartel would even care about us?" Sincere added.

"No, the real question is, how the fuck did we get mixed up with the Cartel in the first place?" I finally spoke up.

"It's Diablo," my father answered.

"You telling me we're in this mess because you got into a dick measuring contest with Diablo?" I fumed.

"It wasn't a dick measuring contest. I have my reasons," my father defended.

"Well, what the hell are they?" Adrian asked.

"That's none of your business," my father answered.

"Well it's my business," I spoke, "you want me to move to Italy and play wife, you answer the questions."

My father groaned and ran his hand down his face. "There was a mixup at one of the locations. A few of our guys got the times mixed up and when they went to pick up a delivery, Diablo's guys were there picking up too. They thought they were stealing, so they took care of them. Diablo called me and he wasn't being nice so I may have popped off a little," my dad explained.

"You're telling me, the future of my family is at stake because of some rookie motherfucker's mistake?" I gritted out.

"You're not sending her to Italy to play house over a mistake," Adrian told my father.

"Where are they now?" Sincere asked.

"The bando in Harlem," my dad answered with a sigh.

"Alive?" I asked. My dad nodded in response.

"Why?" Luka asked.

"They are two of our best men," my dad defended.

"They cost you more than they could ever make you," Giovanni said, "they are not worthy of life."

"I hate to agree with the Hallmark's," I said, "but they're right." That earned me a nasty look from Luka I just smirked and winked at him.

"We need their protection, this is a big fight," my father explained. I love this man but he's a real pain in my ass.

"How about I just deal with Diablo my way," I offered.

"You can't do that," my father shook his head.

"Why not?" Sincere asked with narrow eyes.

"Because this is bigger than us!" My dad yelled.

"Well, we wouldn't be in this bullshit if you wasn't on the phone popping shit. Whatever grudge you're holding against Diablo, you need to let it go!" I yelled. "but lucky for you, I'm not going to punish my gang for your mistakes. I'll go it Italy if it's absolutely necessary."

"Thank you, princess," my dad said softly.

"Don't thank me just yet. While I'm gone, you are not allowed to make one decision without consulting Adrian and Sincere first. You can't wipe your ass without their say so, do I make myself clear?" I commanded.

"You're not the boss of me. I do what I want, when I want," my dad said.

"And look where that's gotten us," I shot back. I looked at my brothers and spoke, "You two, I need you on full boss mode, no fighting. I want my absence to go as unnoticed as possible, act as if I never left. If you find yourself in a mess, stop and ask yourself 'what would Zo do'. Do not let me down. I'll expect updates every other day, if I don't get them I'll assume the worst."

My brothers just nodded along as I spoke. After everything was negotiated and sighed we all stood up and dismissed ourselves. When everyone was out of the room I turned around and said to my father, "Don't ever pull a stunt like that again old man, I won't hesitate to shut all this shit down."