Trials & Tribulations | 18+
Every young girl dreams of becoming a princess someday, right? Wrong! That wasn't my dream- far from it! I dreamt of a day where, upon reaching my eighteenth birthday, I could finally escape my neglectful "parents" who only acknowledged me when it suited them.
But all that changed when I learned my 'parents' had been arrested on drug charges, and an unknown side of my 'family' had been looking for me since before I had even been born. Enter Mr. Castellucci and his seven sons, and I quickly understood why Maria had never mentioned a previous marriage or her other 'children.'
These men were not the dashing princes riding white horses; they were dark, imposing, and intimidating figures. And Mr. Castellucci was determined to take me back with him to his lavish home somewhere in Italy -so far from my comparatively uncomplicated life in New Haven, Connecticut - and begin building my new life there with them. Although wary that these men had a more nefarious and sinister reason for taking a sudden interest in me than being a 'long-lost family member', they were doing an excellent job of easing me into a false sense of security by treating me like their long-awaited 'Principessa'.
Desperate for their love and approval, while struggling with my inadequacies and haunted past, I was naïvely unaware of their ruthless nature and sheer power. I did not realise the scope of their 'charm' until it was too late. Far too late. Until I was precisely where they wanted me: under their thumb and control, with no prospects of ever escaping them as Maria had done before me, I was nothing more than a bird locked in a gilded cage, that they had deviously led me to believe was the price of love and safety. Let it be said once and for all: The Italian mafia did not ask; they took what they deemed as theirs to take. And I was THEIRS.
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This is my dark, twisted take on the popular Mafia, Older Brothers/Younger Sister, and Lost/Found Daughter/Sister tropes.
