30. Juliet
Chapter 30
Juliet
~1 week later~
"Juliet Hong Agosti."
I wanted to duck my head and run away into a dark corner to hide from the confused looks my whole graduating class gave me as I walked up the stage to get my diploma. The cheering from Luciano, Aidan, Leah, Sebastian, Ares, Evie, and some of the bodyguards from the bleachers didn't do much to ease my shame and embarrassment either. Anyone who saw them standing up and cheering instantly snapped their gazes to me right afterward, looking at me almost pityingly and all concerned and shit.
Yeah, probably not the best to have a whole mafia mob cheer you on at your high school graduation and have your association with them be made rather public.
Even after all this time with everyone, it was still kind of strange to have people figure out my connection to Luciano and The Syndicate—as in me living with Luciano and being associated passively. I wasn't necessarily fully ashamed of the fact; it just felt weird still. Also, whenever people find out about it, they put me at a distance, and that sucked, especially with how I was trying to resume a mostly normal life. Having people distance me before they even knew me or spoke to me was a bit of a barrier.
Not everyone was that way, though. Those who were in good standing with The Syndicate were more than welcoming of me—I fucking wonder why (note the fucking sarcasm). On the opposite end of the spectrum, I have noticed more hostility toward me from those who weren't on good terms with The Syndicate or Luciano.
It wasn't nice or appreciated, but this was the life I chose to step into when I took Luciano's hand. So, I had to learn to live with it.
At least it wasn't too bad with all the bodyguards around me, and Luciano was feared enough that so far, no one dared to try anything with me. Hopefully, that won't be the case for long, though. I didn't want to rely on Luciano's name and The Syndicate to keep people at bay. I wanted to make a name for myself, one people would fear as much as Luciano.
No, I had no intention of joining the bloody crusade The Syndicate was planning. Just because I was fine with the violence and bloodshed didn't mean I would partake in it. As much as I loved seeing people's lives crumble to dust, I wanted to remain hands-off—physically. I haven't put my theories to the test yet, but from what I've gathered from my cousin and his friends, what I cooked up in my mind would be just as effective and deadly as Luciano in the ring.
Oh, rounding back to The Syndicate and their plans of purging New York: Luciano still hasn't told me jack shit despite promising me that day in the office. To be fair, though, I did distract and drain him pretty well that day, and we were both busy the past week. I was busy wrapping things up with school while Luciano was occupied with making arrangements with Aidan for the rest of the members and their men.
We were so busy that we barely had time to crawl into bed with each other at night to get eight hours of sleep. Yeah, unfortunately, there was no sexy business throughout the past week because of our schedules and exhaustion by the end of the day.
But that would change tonight.
"Juliet, do not—"
The way Luciano's face grew red and irritated at me blatantly defying him by downing the shot of alcohol and flipping him off made me want to laugh. For the sake of my ass later tonight, I held it back.
"Gutsy one you got there, Luciano." Ares laughed mirthfully. "I like her, and I haven't even fully met her." The Greek man with dashing green eyes winked and grinned at me before looking over to Luciano, who glared jealous daggers at him. "You better keep her, or I will kick your ass for letting someone who is an actual match for you go." He playfully threatened his friend.
"I am violent, not stupid." Luciano snarked with a sneer. "Too bad the same can't be said about you."
Ares cursed at Luciano in Greek before nursing his bottle of booze in a sulking manner.
Grinning cheekily at Luciano, I picked up another filled shot glass from the coffee table. "Juliet, I swear, if you take another shot before you turn twenty-one, I will ground you until you are thirty." Luciano threatened with a tired groan while running his hand down his face.
"You're not my dad or the boss—"
Needless to say, I didn't dare finish that sentence because of the very pointed look of warning Luciano burned into me.
A chill washed over my body as I felt the color drain from my face when the corners of Luciano's lips twisted into a devious, taunting smirk. "I'm not what? I don't think I quite caught that, principessa ."
"You're not my dad… You're my boyfriend… Sir." I uttered with a pout as I hung my head slightly.
Smiling victoriously, he reached out, grabbed me by the waist, and pulled me into his lap so I was no longer standing in the space between the armchair and couch. "Good girl." He whispered with a soft chuckle in my ear.
"Sorry about that, just a little hiccup back home, but I got it figured out." Sebastian appeared in the area with an apologetic smile and sat down between Aidan and Ares.
Starting from Luciano's position at one of the armchairs, on the couch next to us were Aidan, Sebastian, and Ares, and on the other armchair across from Luciano and I sat Leah—oh, and Evie was present in Aidan's lap.
The whole area became quiet almost instantly with everyone present, and the air quickly grew tense and dire. "Thank you, everyone, for coming earlier than planned for Juliet's graduation," Luciano said after clearing his throat. "And I'm sorry it's taken this long for this introduction to happen, but everyone, this is my Juliet."
Heat instantly flushed my cheeks at all the attention on me when Luciano presented me on a platter to everyone. At least the tender smile and passionate look from Luciano's heart-melting eyes eased my nerves some. "H-hi, uhh I guess it's nice to meet you all and put faces to the voices finally." I smiled courteously with a small wave of my hand.
What happened next confused and intrigued me.
Ares exclaimed with glee and smacked Sebastian right in the middle of his chest with the back of his hand the moment I finished speaking. "Fucking knew it! You owe me that new bike now fucker." He laughed victoriously while Sebastian groaned and rolled his eyes.
"Better pay up to me as well motherfucker." Aidan chimed in with his own triumphant smirk at Sebastian before looking at Evie with a bright grin and whispering something to her that made her squeal with delight.
Perplexed, I turned my head to look at Luciano for an answer, only to be met with a lost look and shrug from him as he looked between his friends with bewildered eyes. "The fuck are you three going on about? What bet did I miss out on?" He questioned them after he gave up trying to figure out the mess.
A sighing groan from Leah and a shake of her head caught my attention. "Idiots. Men, all of them are idiots, I swear." He heard her grumble while rubbing her temples.
"Ares and Aidan called bullshit on your ridiculous 'I have a headache' excuse at that video chat meeting a week ago and said you were getting head from your girl under the desk, which is why you were acting funny," Sebastian explained with a scoff and shake of his head.
Throwing his hands over his face, Sebastian leaned back fully on the couch, throwing his head over the back of it and groaning into his hands. Sitting back up with a sigh, he looked at Luciano and me pleadingly. "Please don't tell me you were getting blown during the meeting, man. Please tell me these idiots are just dirty-minded fuckers." He sounded so desperate that I was tempted to lie and deny the truth just to save him and myself.
Running a hand down his face, Luciano remained quiet as he rested his hand across his jaw. His silence basically answered everything.
In response to the silent answer from Luciano, Evie snapped her head at me and shot me an overly interested look as she turned her body around to face me with a growing grin. "Girl, did you seriously blow him under the desk? Spill it. I need to know how much my little Juliet has grown into a kickass woman." She prodded me in Vietnamese, making me blush at the fact I'd been caught.
Of course, Leah jumped in as well. "Did you really?" She wasn't judgmental or disappointed, just rather interested, too, it seemed.
"Y-yeah, I was upset at him and wanted to mess with him. I mean, I thought I was sneaky and got away with it." I admitted with a cherry red face and embarrassed smile.
Giggling with a small wave of her hand, Leah replied, "Well, if it weren't for those two idiots being so dirty-minded, then you would have. I mean, I didn't know. I honestly thought he was having a bad headache. Don't ask me how those two came to the conclusion that you were under the desk. I don't want to know their reasoning myself for the sake of keeping my brain cells intact."
"Do you have any idea how happy I am for you right now? It's so good to see you getting more confident each and every time I see you. It really is amazing to see how much you've changed in a good direction since I met you that night at the fight." Evie's eyes started to tear up with her happy smile and cracking voice.
"We are all really happy for you with the progress you have made. It truly is stunning." Leah chimed in with her own happy and proud smile.
"You guys, you're going to make me cry." I could feel the emotions welling up in my eyes, ready to spill over if one more sappy thing came out of their mouths.
"What are you guys talking about? Did they upset you, principessa ?" Luciano's concern made me let out a small sob as I shook my head in response. "Then what's wrong? You look like you're going to cry."
"Happy tears, don't worry," I assured him with a giggling grin.
"Alright, alright, everyone regroup. We can all chit-chat about other shit later after we get Juliet up to speed." Luciano's firm voice projected throughout the living area, commanding the place.
Tightening his arm around my waist, Luciano settled a kiss against my temple before smiling at me softly. "I am sorry for not filling you in on the whole situation before this, but things have been hectic." He whispered to me before looking at the others as he cleared his throat. "Juliet, this is everyone from The East Coast Syndicate. You have already met Aidan and Leah, but the other two blockheads are Sebastian Caro and Ares Drakos." He gestured toward the two men, who rolled their eyes at Luciano in response. "They are in charge of Florida, so they remain there for the most part."
Twisting my eyebrows together, I settled my eyes on Leah. "You're a part of The Syndicate?" Yeah, call me stupid for not putting two and two together, but I honestly thought she hung around because she was their good friend. She was their good friend, and she grew up together with them, so I just figured she stuck around out for the sake of their relationship.
"Cornelia Nguyen, but I go by Leah. I don't like to make myself known because of my practice and all. I also don't have a stationed place, so I bounce between New York and Florida, respectively." She replied with her usual warm and friendly smile.
Well, that was a little hard to imagine. Leah was one of the sweetest people I knew so far. So, seeing her as a hardened and feared mafia boss was a little difficult for me. However, maybe I shouldn't shove my foot into my mouth because even though she was an amazing doctor, I didn't know much about her life outside of her profession. We hung out, but she never really opened up much about her personal life.
Tossing the information into my endless file of Syndicate info, I centered my attention back on Luciano. "So, what's all going on?" I tried not to let my nervousness show through, but my words trembled on their own when they came out of my mouth.
Running a hand down his face, Luciano gave a stressed sigh before starting, "After you told me the name that day, I called an emergency meeting with everyone to reveal the fact to them. From that initial meeting, we decided that we have had enough with our hands-off approach with the city's people, particularly those of the old mafia who we overthrew."
"It has been an issue since we took over decades ago, but we have chosen not to actively do anything about it to keep things peaceful between us and the old mafia. It was also kind of a sign of respect." Aidan quickly picked up when Luciano paused, sighing a bit at the end as he rubbed the back of his head. "In hindsight, we were idiots to put too much faith in them and got too comfortable and sloppy."
"To be fair, they haven't done anything worth acting upon, just small jabs every now and then that would be stupid of us to retaliate against." Luciano sounded so exhausted and regretful of that decision now, though.
Luciano started up after a while, his eyes lingering on me as if I were his lifeline right now. "Either way, to make a long story short, when you told me the name, I realized how deeply involved he was with The Syndicate and everything. I called a meeting with everyone else to discuss all our partners and workers and basically everyone, especially those with the old mafia crew."
"So, the past week or so, we've all been working overtime with digging through everyone within our network and picking out the bad apples to dispose of." Sebastian spoke instead of Luciano this time. "We've come up with a pretty hefty list that will take us a very long while to get through because we have to figure out who to replace the rats once they are gone. If we went in now and went for the throat, we would be stabbing ourselves in the foot with the turmoil that would happen within our ranks about new leadership."
An ache gripped my hands as I rubbed them nearly raw with anxiety. "I… I didn't mean to create this much trouble…" I muttered under my breath, not liking that I was the first domino to fall and cause this chain reaction.
My hands were forced to come to a stop from Luciano's firm grip on them. " Amorina , no." Snaking a hand up my back and neck, he massaged my nape to calm me. "You didn't create anything for us. This has been an ongoing issue that all of us have ignored. If anything, you ripped the blindfold off of our eyes to the shit show we have let happen and grow."
"Luciano is right." Leah's calming voice rang through the air like a soothing bell. "We should be thanking you for kicking our asses into gear."
Forcing the lump in my throat down, I chewed at my bottom lip as I thought about my next decision. "I want to see the list." I had to force myself to remain stiff, so I wouldn't flinch at my own demanding voice.
"I'm not sure that would be wise, Juliet. It's very long and extensive." Aidan's voice wavered with his confused eyes. "Why do you want it?"
Steeling my nerves, I straightened myself in Luciano's arms and looked at everyone with as much confidence as I could manage. "I want to see how many 'good' people out there are terrors in disguise to make myself feel less guilty about ruining them for all they are worth."
Forcing myself to pause, I carefully sorted out my next train of words. "I know you all want to regain your footing in New York and in passing Florida once they catch wind of the carnage up north, but I don't want a quick death for the people on the list. I want to tear their lives apart, burn down the image they have worked so hard to build and maintain, make them be loathed by everyone who used to kiss their feet, make them more homeless than the transients on the streets, and only then do I want them dying a slow and painful death."
Wetting my lips, I breathed out and took in a shaky breath before continuing. "They have ruined too many lives to have the mercy of a quick death. Even if they are thrown in the ring with Luciano, that isn't enough suffering for what they have done."
I wanted blood and carnage but my way.
"I want that list. I am going to put their lives on blast on the whole internet and drain all their bank accounts. I want to put targets all over their bodies with flashing arrows pointing right at them." Well, maybe not all of them "I want to make the others squirm while they wait for their inevitable end. I just want the smaller fry to send a warning and message to the others."I had another idea in mind as well.
"You know how outrageous that sounds, Juliet? To hack people like them and do that kind of damage isn't exactly easy. There aren't many hackers within our ranks either who we can utilize for something like that at this time." Sebastian sounded wary and had a heavy gaze upon me. "That isn't something feasible."
"I said I am going to ruin them. Did I mention anyone else in that equation with me?" I almost regretted my bitchy sneer when everyone looked at me in surprise. Giving some attitude towards a mafia boss who wasn't my boyfriend was probably not the best idea.
At least Luciano found it funny with how he laughed softly and patted my thigh. "Give her the list and watch her work while we make and execute our plans fully," Luciano told the others with a wicked and confident smile. "She'll probably get through it all by the end of the month or sooner."
"Hacking them will be as easy as trigonometry." I boasted about myself with a brightening grin.
"Trig is not easy," Aidan remarked with a chuckle.
"It is for me… I mean, all math kind of is…" If I were with my group of friends or this wasn't such a serious situation, then I would be gutsy enough to make a somewhat stereotypical joke about Asians being good at math.
"So, you're going to single-handedly hack God knows how many highly guarded people, tear their lives apart on the web, and make them go broke by stealing from them after you hack their bank account? You do realize you're only 18, literally just graduated from high school today, and probably have half the skills our men do." Ares's mocking tone and dismissive look sparked a bad fuse within me.
Bubbling anger heated my body and drove me to get off Luciano's lap to trudge to my room.
If they all think they can underestimate and undermine me because I am young, then they have another thing coming to them.
I'll fucking show them.