The Darkness Within Us

Chapter 8

Lorenzo

Once Anna left for the bathroom with Antonio trailing behind her, I turned to my brother. He shook his head at me incredulously. "You couldn't have called and given me a heads up that you were bringing a girl home?"

I smirked at him. "I thought I'd surprise you." The truth was that I hadn't decided to take her until I saw her on the bus. I had been following her for a few days, watching her flat and even had Sam, one of my men, approached a friend of hers to gather intel. I had liked her, in principle. But I still wasn't sure. So I followed her onto a bus. It was then, looking down at her face blushing as she knocked into me that I knew, she was going to be mine. It was a gut feeling and I trusted my gut. My gut had managed to keep me alive so far. It was then, that I put the plan in place. We had hacked her phone so we knew when she was planning on leaving her flat. I had ordered Sam to be stationed outside of her flat and to drug her when she left, the rest of us would come and collect her in the car. It hadn't quite gone to plan though, she was too feisty to be taken without a fight.

Alessandro narrowed his eyes at me. "Why her though? Why some random English chick when you could get any girl in New York?"

"She was the one who killed Bruno Rossi."

Alessandro let out a low whistle. "Well damn, you're telling me that short ass girl was the one to kill that nasty piece of shit?" I nodded. Bruno Rossi was a hit man for the English mafia. He was notorious for the vicious ways in which he disposed of his enemies. He seemed to love killing too much, he went rogue on a killing spree, not discriminating between friend or foe of the mafia. At the time Anna killed him, the Capo had put a bounty on his head. He was becoming a liability. I found out about Anna earlier that week when I met up with the Capo of the English mafia on business. He told me in amazement how this 20 year old girl had done him a favour by killing Bruno. Although her name had never been released into the public, the mafia had links to pretty high up officials allowing them access to the information.

"I would have needed to take a girl at some point anyway, I just decided to choose someone strong enough to handle our life." Within the New York mafia, tradition dictated that any new Capo would need to take a woman to be his wife from outside of the famiglia. The act of taking a woman symbolised that the new Capo would be strong enough to take what was needed for the famiglia to prosper. I didn't really give a shit about the tradition but it was what was expected of me as the son of the current Capo. I did care about making sure my future wife was strong however. It was often the case that the women taken were either daughters of mafia defectors, the women of rival gangs or complete outsiders. These women were often racked with emotional issues from being ripped away from their loved ones. It was worse for complete outsiders who didn't understand our world of violence, death, and darkness. It wasn't unusual for these women to break down and suffer an early death, no longer having the will to live in our world.

My father had slightly cheated the tradition. He took my mother, who was a daughter of a defector. My mother had never wanted to leave the famiglia and was grateful to my father for bringing her back. Although my parents didn't love each other, I saw first-hand how his reign as Capo benefited from having a strong partner beside him all these years. I wanted the same thing for when I became Capo.

I was startled from my thoughts by a commotion coming from the bathroom. Alessandro and I both instinctually reached for our guns but before we could investigate further, an angry Antonio burst out of the bathroom carrying Anna over his shoulder. He not so gently dumped her at my feet. I scanned my eyes over her body. No obvious injuries. Antonio, however, was bleeding from his shoulder and had what looked like a screw sticking out from the source of his bleeding. "This bitch just fucking stabbed me with a screw and tried to escape." He spat out, his fury evident.

I raised my eyebrow slightly bemused by the situation before me. I looked down towards Anna at my feet and smirked. She slowly raised her head and met my stare. I looked into her eyes trying to read what she was thinking but it was as if she had put up a defiant wall, not allowing me to read her true emotions. I turned to Alessandro. "I told you she was strong."

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I sent Antonio off to see Doc, it was a fairly shallow wound, Antonio had suffered much worse, but I didn't have a clue where Anna had got the screw so he needed a tetanus shot. I ordered the remainder of the men to go home and rest. They would resume their duties tomorrow. I shook my Uncle Giovanni's hand and thanked him for his work on the trip. Being my father's younger brother he acted as somewhat of a role model to me, teaching me the intricacies of the business and had become a trusted advisor as I began take more responsibilities from my father's shoulders. He clapped me on the back and nodded towards Anna who was intensely staring at the floor as if she could create a hole purely from willpower. "Good luck with that one."

Once the men had left, I went over and took Anna's arm. At first she flinched away from me but she thought better than to try and escape again. I guided her to the car as she refused to look at me. I opened the door and pushed her in. Alessandro was already waiting in the backseat for us. I slid in after Anna so she was sandwiched between the two of us. I wasn't going to risk her trying to jump out. She looked so small next to Alessandro's large figure. She couldn't have been taller than 5 foot 4, she wasn't skinny but she had petite features. I followed her glare to her clenched hands. I knew that her hands would disappear in mine.

"Take us to my penthouse." I instructed the driver.

"Are you not taking her to meet father?" Alessandro questioned as the car began to roll. My eyes flickered to Anna. She was doing a bad job of pretending not to listen. I shook my head. "Not today, I'm fucking jet lagged. I'll speak to him tomorrow." Alessandro nodded understandingly. He probably realised I needed to get a handle on Anna a little before I could introduce her to father. She definitely couldn't go round stabbing people in his presence.

Alessandro and I spent the rest of the car ride discussing the less interesting aspects of my trip until we pulled up outside my building. I leant over and whispered into Anna's ear. "Don't try anything, you'll regret it." She nodded quickly. I opened the car door, my hand immediately tightening on Anna's arm. I pulled her out behind me. Anna's eyes darted around the street trying to make eye contact with every person passing us. It's obvious she wasn't used to the busy city hustle. It took a lot to get people's attention. Her eyes settled on a cop who was standing not too far from the entrance to my building. She pulled against me as if she was going to try to go towards him. The cop looked up, taking in Anna's obvious distress. He moved closer but then realisation spread over his face as he recognised me. He instantly took a step back. "Mr Alessi sir, it's good to see you." I simply nodded towards him. Anna slumped slightly in defeat. She'd have to learn, I owned this city.

My vice grip didn't leave her arm until we reached my private elevator. When we reached the penthouse I placed my hand on the small of Anna's back to usher her out. She rushed out, eager to get away from my touch. I bristled slightly. To be expected though. I began to walk up the stairs to the second level of my penthouse. "Come with me." I instructed. She hesitated, her eyes darting around for an escape route. I sent her a commanding look and she begrudgingly began to follow me. I showed her to the spare room. "This will be your room." I told her as I walked in. I turned around to find her holding onto the doorframe as if it could protect her from me. Her voice quivered. "What are you going to do with me?"

I paused and took in her frightened frame. I gestured for her to sit in the arm chair in the corner of the room, pondering how to tell her she was to be my wife.

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A/N

Hiii,

Hope you're all well and enjoyed this chapter.  I'm currently neck deep in uni coursework because they decided that to replace exams (because of corona) they were gunna give us 9000 words as coursework. So kind of them.... 

Anyway, please let me know what you think by voting and commenting! It really does mean a lot to me. What do you think about Lorenzo's tradition? Pretty fucked up right? How do you think Anna will react.

Lucy x