Ruthless

Chapter 7

Audenzia's POV:

After my father dropped the bomb about aligning with the Italian Mafia and starting a war against the Mexicans and the Cobras, we immediately flew to Italy.

On the private jet, my brothers and I were filled in with all the information we needed to know about what our jobs were in the upcoming days. I was supposed to work with the leader, Xander Romano. The plan is to stake out at one of their warehouses and eavesdrop to find information on the whereabouts of Alonzo Ramirez. He is supposed to be here in Sicily we just need to find out exactly where.

We are staying with the Romano's since apparently their whole crew lives in their mansion. At first I wasn't sold on all living together for the next few days, but that was until I got a glimpse of the house.

It was twice as big as ours in New York, and trust me our house is pretty damn big. "Wake up, we are here" Isaac shakes Rian who had fallen asleep during the thirty minute car ride.

The car halts to a stop at the top of the driveway, men immediately coming and opening the doors from every side. I nod a thank you to one of them who was standing with my door open as I got out of the limo. "We are meeting the Romano's and your hair is awful!" My mom whispers to Rian, her hands grabbing his hair and flattening it down to normal.

"Keanu, Malia, welcome to Sicily!" A man in his early fifties greets us. "Nice to see you again Rian, Isaac, and Gray." He says, shaking the hands of each family member. "You haven't met my daughter, Audenzia, yet."

"I didn't know you had a daughter" the man says. I am assuming he is Nicholas Romani, Xander Romani's father and the recent Capo of the Mafia until he passed it on to his son. "Yes well I like to keep her more of a secret, you can understand why."

To Nicholas, my fathers words are inferring that if anyone knew about me I would be a target, but in reality they refer to the fact that I had been kidnapped and tortured for sixteen years. Nobody outside the family knows about this, and that's how I like to keep it.

The man nods and comes to shake my hand, but I don't, I just let his hand linger in front of me. Call me rude but I am not a fan of physical contact. "Audenzia don't be rude!" My mom scolds me. "It's ok Malia." The man waves off my mom and takes his hand away. "I am Nicholas Romani, you can just call me Nick."

I nod and smile, happy that Nick didn't take offense to me not shaking his hand.

"Let's head inside yeah?"

—————————

Xander's POV:

"With all due respect, Ma, nobody is going to come in my room." I argued with my mom who was trying to make me clean my room for our guests.

"Xander that room is just terrible!"

I look to my brother, Cole, for help but he just looks away ignoring me. "Honey come greet the Lucesi's!" I hear my fathers voice from across the house. "Great" I mumble, not too excited about strangers staying in our house. Normally my parents stay at a house across town alone, but for this week they both are staying at the gangs house while the American Mafia is in town.

Pretty much our whole crew stays in the mansion, including me and Cole, and there are still dozens of spare rooms.

"Smile and be nice, boys!" My mom chirps, grabbing my arm and tugging me off the chair I was sitting in. "Let's go" I say to Cole. He groans and lifts himself off the couch.

When we get to the foyer, I find Keanu and his wife talking with my father, along with three boys about my age and the girl from the ball.

."If it isn't the infamous Xander Romano" Keanu jokes before pulling me into a hug. I don't have any time to process this. "It's good to have you all here." I say with a smile, my eyes meeting Audenzia's and seeing how she is equally as thrown off as me.

"Meet my sons, Gray, Isaac, and Rian, then my daughter, Audenzia." Keanu introduces all of us, proving that she had not told her father about any of our encounters. "Nice to meet you all." I say coyly, my eyes never leaving her panicked blue eyes.

"I have actually met Audenzia." I say, just to mess with her. "You have?" Malia, Keanu's wife questions. "I was downtown when I was visiting and I actually witnessed her fall into the river. I had to jump in to save her once I noticed she couldn't swim."

I was immediately given a cold glare from Audenzia, but everyone else just laughed. "That's why you were wet when I came to get you?"

She rolled her eyes as her brothers laughed at her. To my surprise she didn't object to my little story like I had expected, instead she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me.

—————————
Audenzia's POV:

I can't believe the man I was with was Xander Romano, and I also can't believe he is telling lies to my family! I could see a smirk on his face so it was obvious he was trying to get a reaction from me. Not wanting to please him, I just rolled my eyes.

"You two will be working together a lot so I suggest you get to know each other." Mrs. Romano says, putting her hand on Xander's shoulder.

Just great, I have to work with him.

"Excuse me?" He says, shocked. "With all due respect, I don't think she is capable of this kind of work."

"I am fully capable of doing this work, but thank you for your concern." Is all I say with an eye roll and a very harsh sarcastic tone. "I apologize for my sons rude behavior!" Mrs. Romani says, looking very upset with Xander, who stood there looking annoyed at the whole situation.

————————

Three hours have passed since we arrived at the mansion. I have managed to get settled in almost completely, and even take a nice shower. The time was rolling around eight so I decided to slip into pajamas and stay in for the night. I wear my favorite silk pajama shorts and a fairly loose tank top.

I haven't eaten since this morning, so I make my way downstairs to the kitchen. I was silently praying to not see Xander, but or course the universe is against me because guess who was in the kitchen making something to eat.

———————
Thank you for reading!

Vote and comment!

Also thank y'all so much for 150 reads!

1153 words