Chapter Two
Bianca
My body was hurting in the best way by the end of rehearsal. I was so close to my dream of dancing with a dance company. Not only would I get to tour and perform, but it had the added bonus of getting me far away from my father and his business.
Sure, being a mafia princess came with some benefits.
Namely, the money and safety it provided, as people knew not to fuck with the daughter of such a powerful man.
However, no one ever considered the other side.
The cruelty he inflicted on his own children, or how damn lonely it could be because nobody wanted to be friends with you either.
The world I was born into was simultaneously safe and dangerous.
I was tired of living in it, and dancing was my way out. I’d worked hard over the years–poured my blood, sweat, and tears into my career. My dad let me dance when I was younger to keep me busy and out of the house, but I kept it up because it was my escape.
“Bye.” I waved with a small smile toward the others; some returned it, others nodded, but none returned the smile. I couldn’t blame them. None of them had an armed escort taking them everywhere they went.
“You ready, Miss Morelli?” Mossimo Costa was standing outside the practice studio when I exited. He was big and burly with tattoos covering his arms and hands. He had a thick black beard, and his long hair was in a ponytail at the base of his head.
“Yes, Mossimo.” My brother made sure Mossimo was polite to me, and I returned the courtesy. Romeo hand-picked the guards who watched over us after he was named underboss. At some point, he would become the head of the family, and I could not wait for that day. None of us could.
Father was on borrowed time, and once Romeo was in charge, we’d all be safer for it. Until then, I’d stay focused on my goal of getting out from under my father’s control and away from the home that held so much pain.
“Let me get your bag.” He smiled and took it from my shoulder. “Are we heading to the house, or did you have errands you needed to run?”
I took a deep breath. “You’ve played babysitter enough today, Mossimo.” I wish I had anywhere else to go, but my circle basically only contains my siblings.
“It’s no problem, Miss Morelli.”
“I’m never going to get you to call me Bianca, am I?” I smirked. It was an ongoing argument between us. All the other guards did, and I’d heard him do so with my sisters. But for some reason, Mossimo refused to use my given name.
“Not likely.” He grinned, then opened the back door to the SUV for me.
“I will never bug you about it again if you give me a reason, Mossimo. You do it with Giana and Nicoletta, so why not me?”
“Because I value my life, Miss Morelli, and that’s all I am going to say about that.”
“Matt and D both call me Bianca. Why is it okay for them and not you?” I put my hands on my hips, not believing a word of his excuse. There was more to the story, and I was determined to find out what.
“You call him Matt?” Mossimo grinned. “I bet he loves that.”
“No, he hates it. Which makes it all the more fun.”
Mossimo threw his head back and laughed. “Just another reason I don’t fuck with you, Miss Morelli.”
“Why?” I asked as I climbed into the back seat and buckled myself in. Mossimo got in the front, his eyes meeting mine in the mirror, but he didn’t start the car as he quietly considered his answer.
“You’re different from your sisters. Giana is in your face.
She takes charge and can be as deadly as a crocodile when she wants to be.
You know what you’re getting with her, and she’s menacing from the start with an armor so thick it’s hard to breach.
She will make minced meat out of someone one day.
It will be fun to watch when she meets her match.
” He shrugged. “Nicoletta is a gazelle. She’s carefree and happy.
Innocent, even after everything she’s been exposed to in this life.
She’s harmless and too naive for this world. ”
“Okay, so we’re comparing my sisters and me to animals, got it. What am I?”
“You’re a lioness. You appear cute and cuddly, but you’re silently lethal and will go for the jugular before your prey even knows they're in danger. You know this life, and you quietly thrive in it. It’s captivating to watch.”
I sat back in stunned silence. I felt more like a zebra, trying to blend in until I could get out and away.
I did not see myself as he did at all. I was not a predator.
This life scared me for many reasons; it was why I was working so hard to escape it, the only way I knew how. The only way I could.
“How does this explain why you call me Miss Morelli and not Bianca?”
“As I said, it’s captivating to watch. Someone noticed that and warned me. I value my life, so you are Miss Morelli.”
I smirked, “Romeo warned you off me?”
Mossimo started the car and turned on the music, effectively ending the conversation.
It was a day of revelations. I learned a few things from Mossimo.
One, he could not read people for shit if he thought I thrived in this life when I was just trying to escape it.
He had a bit of a thing for me at some point.
He didn’t anymore as I was certain he was dating Lenora, one of my father’s capo’s daughters.
They may not have made it official yet, but they were about as subtle as a sledgehammer.
It also never occurred to me that Romeo would take such an action.
I didn’t know whether to appreciate the protective older brother act or to resent it.
I leaned against the headrest, closed my eyes, and planned how to make Mossimo call me Bianca. My last name wasn’t exactly something I was proud of. It was feared in Brooklyn as well as the other four boroughs. There was no getting away from it in the city.
Mossimo’s phone rang, but I ignored it, letting myself relax into the leather seat. “Yes, sir.” I heard him agree before he disconnected. I expected him to continue to my house, but he veered toward Manhattan instead.
“Mossimo?” I questioned when he didn’t say anything.
“Your brother told me to take you to the club. You will have to wait for him there.”
“Why?” It was rare that I got to go to a club at all because I had nobody to go with, but it was even more so that my brother would request my presence there. Especially at this hour, when it no doubt was in full swing.
“He didn’t say, Miss Morelli.” Mossimo hesitated. “But I did get a text earlier that I was to stay vigilant, so he could be expecting some kind of trouble.”
My stomach sank. “Are Giana and Nicoletta meeting us there?”
“No. Just us, your brother, and Lorenzo.”
I took a deep breath. Lorenzo Vitale was a pain in the ass.
He was a hot, rugged, all-consuming presence who knew how to drive me crazy as nobody else could.
Which pissed me off. The man made me want to fight and rebel against everything he said, and I didn’t know why.
My sisters saw him as a brother. I did not.
He was as overbearing and overprotective as Romeo.
“Great,” I muttered, trying to mentally prepare myself. I just knew whatever it was would change everything.