Growing Up Mafia

2.) Little Rat

I was flung into the office of what I assumed belonged to Rafael. I fell to my knees, my head slamming against the wooden floor beneath me.

The door slammed and I laid in my uncomfortable position on the ground for what seemed like forever. My head ached, my knees were sore...my heart broken. I started to cry as images of earlier came flooding back. My brother was probably laying at the bottom of the ocean...dead, and I was here waiting on my fate all at the hands of these sick bastards.

My father had been in debt with Rafael for a long time now. He had been warned of the repercussions if he didn't pay him back, but it never mattered to him. My father ran a small restaurant in the worst part of the city so it was no surprise that it didn't make nearly enough money to stay open. He struck a deal with Rafael and the deal was never met on my father's end.

He had been receiving threats for nearly a year now, and my brother's death wasn't the first one that was carried through with. My mother was taken by some of Rafael's men while she was out getting groceries a couple of months ago. We had been told that this was going to happen, but of course, my father never did what he could have and paid Rafael back.

She had been back for a few weeks now, and she hadn't spoken a single word to any of us. My father had told us what he presumed happened to her and sadly, that made all the sense to me in the world.

I squeezed my eyes shut tightly, my tears hitting the wooden floor beneath me as the office door clicked open and then slammed closed.

Heavy footsteps walked right past me before I heard someone sit down in the only chair in this room. I opened my eyes and brought myself to a sitting position as much as it pained me to face the man all of my grief was caused by.

Neither of us said anything. I stared at him, my face giving away every single hateful emotion I was feeling towards him. His face was blank, but I know he couldn't have been very pleased.

Tears started swelling up in my eyes again and I broke down. Hysterical sobs consumed me as I started dragging my self over to the end table in the corner, so that I could pull myself back onto my feet. I turned to face Rafael, "Does it not hurt you even a little bit? How can you do so much damage to someone's family and not feel anything?" I was surprised the words came out as clear as they did. "Why wouldn't you hurt the man who made the deal with you instead of the innocent people in his family?"

"Did I not hurt the man by hurting his family though?"

I shook my head slowly, "He didn't care about us. He couldn't care less if one of us took the fall for his mistake! Have you told him about my brother yet? He won't care."

"He seems to care an awful lot about you though. I needed to find out how to hurt him and the only thing that's made him even flinch...is knowing that you're here under my roof."

I hardly believed that.

He always seemed more interested in my brothers. It was difficult to even get the time of day from him.

"You must have told the wrong man than," I said coldly.

He simply shook his head at me. "I don't make mistakes, Gia."

I wasn't ok with him giving me nicknames. My name was Gianna and I'd like if he called me only that. I had a strong feeling that me telling him that would only make things a lot worse though.

I folded my arms over my chest and sucked in a deep breath, "Why am I here? What did you do to my mother while she was here? Is my fate going to be the same?"

An evil little half smile snuck its way onto Rafael's lips as he folded his hands in his lap and leaned back comfortably in his chair, "I didn't do anything to your mother. She wasn't my type. My men, however...well that's a different story. Not one for your ears."

"You raped her," I accused, a vile taste filling my mouth. How could people be such monsters?

"I didn't, my dear. I prefer not to get my hands so dirty."

"But you're totally fine with other people doing it?" I spat.

He started to look slightly angered, his stupid smirk finally disappearing from his face, "When you've been in the mafia for as long as I have, you become numb to such things. What one person sees as a horrible act committed, I see as justice served. You don't get to cross me and then walk away unscathed. You or the people you love are going to pay."

I let my arms drop to my sides, "And how am I going to pay for something I didn't even do to you?"

That stupid smirk came crawling back as he leaned forward in his chair, "Well, that does seem to be the question, doesn't it?" He took a small pause, my heart speeding up at the sight of his grotesque amusement. "I don't actually have a plan for you quite yet, but you seem promising so I'm going to keep you around for awhile. Until you prove that you don't deserve to be treated like everyone else here, you'll live nicely. You'll have your own room and eat our food with us. You won't have chores unless you prove to be a difficult case. You're going to be treated like a Queen, little rat."

"So I'll be staying for awhile?"

"You should probably get acquainted with the people around here, yes."

I nodded before numbness consumed every inch of my body.