"No way in hell!" I scoffed as I got off my knees and away from the bucket that had the horrid metallic scent of iron.
"It's part of the procedure." Vinchenzo pressed.
"I would rather die then drink that disgusting stuff." I said as I blocked my nose using two fingers.
"Hand me my gun." Vinchenzo said as a man ran to him.
"Kill me." I demanded.
"I'm giving you a chance to drink it, Red. Drink it and you will live."
"Kill me." I demanded as I stood with my arms wide open waiting for the bullet to pierce so that I could die.
Vinchenzo lifted his arm that held the gun and aimed at me. His one eye was closed. His lips were pulled into a smirk. My brain was registering all the sounds and movements around me in slow motion. My heart was beating erratically. My palms were shaking. My outstretched arms were aching.
"Be prepared." He grinned viciously.
"3... 2..." Vinchenzo began counting down his arm raised, the gun still pointing at my forehead.
I shut my eyes closed and waited for the impact. I waited impatiently for the pain to hit me and hurt me but... it never came.
I snapped my eyes open to find everyone looking at me with small smiles on their faces. A man with grey hair approached me with a stoic expression and held his hand out.
"Benvenuti nella mia famiglia." He said and shook my head.
[Welcome to my family.]
"It means welcome to the family, Red." Vinchenzo said.
"So I don't have to drink the blood?" I asked hesitantly.
He shook his head, "No. This here will be stored forever. The minute you betray our family or be dishonest with your intentions you will be forced to drink this while you are tortured to death. My men will be very willing to rip you apart, limb by limb. All your screaming will not phase them as they pluck out your teeth and gouge your eyes out. All this will happen when you're alive and awake."
"You're crazy." I muttered shaking my head.
"I didn't claim to be otherwise. I'm just informing you of the consequences of betrayal."
"I didn't ask for the details, Vinchenzo."
"I thought you would like to know now that you are part of the family." He grinned.
"I didn't want to. You could've kept that disturbing imagery to yourself."
"Don't forget, you can run but you can't hide. I will always find you no matter what." He smirked before he grabbed the microphone and looked at me.
"We now welcome Miss Arianna Dawson to our family. All of you here bear witness to her taking the oath of the Vitali family." He said, his voice emitting through all the loud speakers, "She will be officially leaving on her mission in three weeks after she has completed her training." He than said before he turned to me.
"Welcome to our family, Red. I'm so pleased to have you come along on the ride."
"Sure." I scoffed rolling my eyes.
"She's got no manners, Vitali!" A man from the crowd yelled.
Vinchenzo darkly chuckled, "The course will perhaps teach her some. It's a shame her mother couldn't do so herself." He wickedly grinned.
He knew my mother was a sensitive spot for me. My mother passed away when I was fourteen years old after being murdered in her way to the grocery store. Her abdomen was ripped open, all her vital organs retrieved. She was left in a local restaurant's rubbish bins and was found by the rubbish removing company employee.
That's a sight I would never forget no matter how hard I try to. My family broke apart after that incident. My dad lost his job as an FBI agent due to messing up his health. My sister, Alissa, killed herself by overdosing on alcohol and drugs.
Vinchenzo grinned and walked off stage beckoning me to follow him. I walked off after him while he grabbed a cup of whisky from the bartender who looked terrified.
"I didn't think you would comply." He said.
"I didn't have a choice." I grumbled.
"You are correct in assuming that." He said sipping from the glass.
"I know." I grunted looking at the bandage on my palm, "It's going to scar isn't it?" I asked with a frown.
"Yes. That way it will remind you who you belong to."
"I'm not some piece of property. Just because I owe you my loyalty doesn't mean my body belongs to you!" I hissed.
"I never said that." Vinchenzo said as grabbed my wrist and practically dragged me to an office.
He ruffled through a bunch of drawers before he pulled out a massive file. Pulling out a few documents he threw them across the mahogany desk, in my direction.
"Sign at the bottom." He ordered as he lit a cigar.
"I would like to read it first." I said clutching the pen in my hand tightly.
"Go for it." He said as the door slammed open and in walked the older man from the stage.
"Vinchenzo, can we talk?" He asked.
"We can speak here, in Italian if you prefer, Father." Vinchenzo said as he smoothed out his white dress shirt.
"Non capisce l'italiano?" His father asked as he peered at me.
[Doesn't she understand Italian?]
"No, lei non lo fa."
[No, she doesn't]
"Questa è la ragazza che funziona per il servizio americano?"
[Is this the girl that works for the american service?]
"Si." Vinchenzo said nodding his head. I pretended to ruffle with the papers as though I was actually reading them and not trying to pick up some words that might clue me on as to what they are saying.
His father grinned as he looked at me and winked, "Lei è una bella ragazza, Vinchenzo. Ho un piano che ci permetterà di sbarazzarci di quei fastidiosi americani."
[She is a beautiful girl, Vinchenzo. I have a plan that will allow us to get rid of those annoying Americans.]
I looked up when I heard the words 'americani' I had a weird gut feeling that they were referring to me. I couldn't understand a single thing that they were saying and this annoyed me.
It annoyed me to the point that I promised myself the minute I got out of here learning Italian was on my to do list.
"Really?" Vinchenzo said looking rather interested at what his father had to say, "What is it?"
"Il piano che ho in mente è che fai innamorare questa ragazza con te fingendo le tue emozioni verso di lei. Lei deve innamorarsi di te, ma fai attenzione al figlio, non cadere per il suo fascino. Sarà quindi accecato dal suo amore per te che farà qualsiasi cosa includendo le informazioni sensibili al suo servizio. Questo è un modo per garantirci lealtà e informazioni da lei e lei non sarà così inutile per noi dopo tutto." Vinchenzo's father said as Vinchenzo looked rather disgusted.
[The plan I have in mind is you make this girl fall in love with you by faking your emotions towards her. She must fall in love with you but be careful son, don't fall for her charms. She will then be blinded by her love for you that she will do anything including getting us sensitive information from her service. This is one way to guarantee ourselves loyalty and information from her and she won't be so useless to us after all.]
"Father, do I have to?" He asked, almost pleaded.
"Yes. You must. It's for the best."
"Bene, lo farò."
YOU ARE READING
Reds' Mafia Leader ✔
Romance× Book One Of The Red Mafia Series × "I don't understand how you could do that to me. I trusted you." I whimpered. "That's your fault." "I hate you." "I don't care." He shrugged walking off leaving me alone to face everyone else alone. ××× On the v...
