The Mafia Family

025

Anastasia Russo:

I peeled my eyes open to Francesa smiling down at me and softly stroking my hair.

Confused, I rubbed my eyes and groaned with tiredness as she stood up.

"Francesa?" I said, wondering why she was waking me up.

"Feeling okay? Still a bit hungover?" She asked in a concerned tone as she brought over a glass of water and cut apple slices to my nightstand.

"I'm okay. Just tired," I replied, trying not to look her in the eyes knowing I saw her with Dante at the party.

She sat down on the bed beside me. So many thoughts were rushing through my head. I kissed the guy my sisters probably in love with. And to make it worse I can't seem to ignore my feelings for him.

"You look upset. Did father scold you?" She asked calmy, placing a gentle hand on my cheek.

I shook my head. "It's not that it's just-"

Before I could finish my sentence, someone began loudly knocking on my bedroom door.

"Is she dressed yet?! We're gonna be late." Yelled Matteo from the other side of the door.

"She's not ready yet- tell them to give us 20 minutes." Francesa yelled back as she nudged me to get out of bed.

"Late for what?" I asked, confused once again as she ushered me to the bathroom.

"We're going to Dubai for the week. To see family."  She replied hastily.

"Family? There's more?" I said, feeling like this was all a dream once again.

"We have cousins, aunts and uncles. Like a normal family would," She said as she began searching my closet.

"This family is anything but normal." I said with a sigh as I splashed my face with water.

--

Francesa picked out a comfortable outfit for me to wear at the airport. I'm grateful I have her for things like these, if I didn't i'd probably be wearing my old ripped shirts everywhere.

We left my room and was escorted downstairs into the living quaters by guards. Father and the boys were impatiently waiting around the living room table when we arrived.

"Goodmorning princess." Elio said softly as he walked over to me and gently kissed my forehead.

Lorenzo was still obviously angry, he was blatantly ignoring me as the others were checking if I was okay.

"Come, we shouldn't leave too late so we can be there for dinner." Father said as he took my hand.

--

We arrived at the airport to where our private flight was parked, around 20 guards stood around it for our entry.

I was nervous, this would be my second time on a flight, and the first one was terrifying.

I anxiously dug my nails into my skin as I followed everyone inside. I was the last on, and felt my stomach drop when I saw the only empty seat next to Dante.

Why the fuck was he here? I searched the area in confusion until I spotted Naomi smiling and waving to me in her seat next to her father who was talking to mine.

Right. I forgot about the whole mafia thing, our families are basically connected.

Dante didn't notice me come in, and sure as hell didn't notice me when I sat down in the seat beside him. Father looked busy, and so did everyone else, I couldn't cause an immature fuss about having to sit next to someone I don't like.

Thankfully, Dante ignored my presence. He was looking at something on his phone, and he seemed tired or distracted.

"Fasten your seatbelts please, the flight will start shortly." Announced the woman on the speaker.

I looked down at my seatbelt and began helplessly fiddling with it. God I know this isn't brainscience but I can't wrap my head around it.
I pulled, tugged and yanked until finally I gave up and dropped the belt in defeat.

I heard Dante chuckle from beside me. Of course he'd been watching me struggle for his amusement.

I felt his hand slide across my thigh, I was about to slap him when he pulled away and I realised my belt had been buckled in under a few seconds.

"It's not that difficult to figure out, Russo." He said with a cunning smile.

I ignored him and sat back in my seat.

Around 5 minutes had past, i'd closed my eyes and felt myself falling asleep until suddenly the ground shook and the world felt like it was collapsing. I jolted upright and looked outside of the window, the plane was coming off the ground. I felt a nervous pit in my stomach and dug my nails into the armrests.

I barely handled it last time when Lorenzo held my hand, I don't know if I can manage this again without fainting or throwing up.

I felt a pit in my stomach as I tightly closed my eyes and hid my head in my arms. Nothing could be worse than this.

The plane shook once more as it went further up and I felt my heart speeding up. My eyes subconsciously filled with tears.

"Make- it stop-.." I whispered, the words barely escaping.

Suddenly, an arm wrapped around my shoulder and pulled me into their chest. I was shaking uncontrollably, I closed my eyes and couldn't even think for a second. My mind too filled with all the worst case scenarios. I felt safer in someones arms, I knew it had to be Dante but I held onto them for dear life anyway and stayed in that postion until the turbulence had ended.

Once I felt the plane running smoothly, and my breathing had calmed down, I slowly tried pulling away but his arm remained stiffly around my waist.

"I'm fine, let go." I grunted, trying to escape.

"Gonna have another breakdown?" He teased as I shot him an annoyed look.

He let go and I leaned back into my own seat, flushed with embarrassment.

"Do you know where we're going?" I asked, my curiosity got the best of me.

"This whole thing is for you. You dont wanna know how much the rest of your family have been begging to see you. This whole thing is a pain in the ass." He replied bluntly, staring outside the window.

"Then why does your family have to come?" I asked.

"My cousins live in Dubai too. Everyone's connected in the Mafia." He said as he checked his watch.

I nodded and sat back into my seat. I've never thought about the idea of having cousins, never even considered it when I came here. I wonder what they're like, if they actually care about me.

a/n:

HI LOVES!! ill write the next chap tmrw and itll be a long one 💕