"Rosie, I'm no fucken angel. People like me are the ones I'm trying to protect you from."-Mateo De Leon
"What if I don't need protection? I'm old enough to handle myself now Teo."-Rosie
Rosie is visited by her godfather Angel Del Leon and his son Ma...
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-Aleksandra inspiration above
Rosie
Walking arm in arm with Mateo we set foot outside through beautiful arches full of roses in pink and whites and Italian ruscus. As we reached the final arch an announcer could be heard announcing, "ladies and gentlemen please give a warm welcome for: Mateo Adrián De Leon and the guest of honor, Rocio Giovanna De Leon. " The stage below us illuminated Teo and I as we walked into the limelight. The crowd below us was clapping as they watched us like zoo animals on display.
Teo walked ahead of me down the first step and turned around for me to grab his hand to get off the stage safely. Nino was waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs with his eyes smiling proudly. "You look beautiful mi niña " he complimented me as he pulled me in for a hug. Nino took my arm in his as we faced Teo. My godfathers face went from loving to cold and serious as he ordered Mateo. "Go talk to the Serafin's for me they are asking about the other days encounter." Teo silently nodded and walked away into the crowd searching for someone.
"Rosie, walk with me for the night" my godfather asked. I smiled back at him, and we began walking through the crowd. There were people of all parts of the world here. Most of them in suits showing off their wealth. Men walking around with heavy gold jewelry and tattoos. At one point I spotted a man missing a finger and another missing an entire arm.
A tall man with silver hair and the build of a football player accompanied by a pretty young blonde in his arm walked up to us halfway into the celebration. He shook Nino's hand and in a heavy accent said, " Welcome Rocio, I am Viktor Novikov, and this is my daughter Sasha. My boy is somewhere in the crowd discussing some business, his name is Alexei. I'll have him introduce himself to you afterwards. We hope to see more of you around Ms. De Leon." I shook his hand with a firm grip and gave him a slight nod. Nino looked over at me proudly, " You handled that very well mi niña. You didn't get intimidated by him and it shows you are strong."
Right after them another family approached us. I could tell they were Italian because they were speaking really loud to one another while they waited for the Novikov to leave. The eldest man stepped forward. He was a tall slim man in his early 50's. He shook Nino's hand and then reached out for mine, "Nice to meet you Rocio, I am Niccolò Lombardi this is my wife Gianna, and my son Aldo. Aldo was tall man with olive skin about early 30's and a foot shorter than Teo. He had gray eyes and a smile on him like he's trouble. He was wearing a grey suit with red tie. As I extended my arm to shake, he pulled me in on catching me off guard causing me to lose my balance. He kissed the top of my hand, "Nice to meet you Ms. Rocio, I look forward to dancing with you tonight." I pulled my hand away trying not to show that I want to punch his face in. Nino clearly witnessing the whole thing cleared his throat with a murderous look at Aldo, Niccolò cut through the tension and said, " I apologize for my son's actions, he can be a bit rough sometimes." Nino looked at Niccolò and give a silent nod of approval and with that Lombardi's' walk away.
