Blood of The Mafia

The Engagement

CHAPTER 19

Mattia's POV

-Saturday Evening-

My breath was staggering. My nerves, betraying me. I felt a deep pit in my stomach like I was doing something incredibly wrong. I was. I was going to get engaged to a girl I didn't love. But... I was doing it for the mafia, my mafia. They were loyal to me and I would be loyal to them.

I looked towards my dad as he stood from the long dinner table with the white tablecloth. The fancy silverware and the best porcelain plates and other dishes.

My father cleared his throat, raised his champagne flute, and tapped it with his fork. "Everyone, everyone! My son, Mattia, has an announcement to make. Mattia..."

I hesitated for a second and then stood up, slowly. I felt my knees slightly shake, then I pushed in my chair, walked over Nessa and cleared my throat.

"Nessa, I ha-have known you almost my whole childhood. We have a-always been close. I-I want to show you how much you mean to me..." I pulled out the velvet box from my inside pocket and got down on one knee. I heard several gasps from the people around the table. I took a deep breath, scared of what this decision would mean for me... and for my future. Most importantly... Mia Bellezza... "Vanessa Rosario," she put her hands to her mouth covering her gasp and looked as if she was about to cry. "Will you... " I sighed, realizing and coming to terms with what this meant. "... marry me?"

Vanessa uncovered her mouth and shouted ecstatically. "YES! Oh my god! YES!"

She stood from her chair and jumped on me wrapping her arms around my neck and lifting herself in the air.

Everyone clapped and "aawwwed" as we hugged. Then after we were finished we went around the table and got a lot of congratulations from our guests. We danced to a couple songs and then I sat down leaving Nessa with her father and brothers. They all made sure to give me nods and words of encouragement and gratification.

I sat at our table and drank some more champagne. I didn't get up often, and I tried to refrain from conversation for the remainder of the night. I wasn't really feeling up to discussing what just might be my life's biggest regret.

-Sunday Morning-

As the sun came up I was already on the couch in the living room watching T.V. I got up early, and by got up early I mean didn't really sleep at all, just to escape my thoughts about Nessa. She had insisted on spending the night with me because it was our first night as an official couple. It was harder to stop thinking too much about my new  fiancee when she was sleeping next to me and stubbornly never taking her leg off of me. At 4 am I decided to just get up and go to the couch, I'd be more likely to actually rest there.

By 10 everyone was up and the chef was sending up our food. After we had breakfast we planned on taking a trip to the cemetery while Nessa went to retrieve her luggage and load it onto the jet.

Towards noon, we arrived at my mother's grave.

In 1955, my Great Grandfather, Giovanni Romano, challenged Mario Lionetti at age 24 for the crown over the Italian Mafia. He won it and ruled for 30 long years. He died when he was 54, but in that time he managed to make some incredible changes in our mafia. He expanded trade, made alliances, broke us free from certain forced partnerships, and expanded our warehouses to the North and Central Eastern Hemisphere. Without him we probably would have never been able to take down or gained control over some of the mafias we have, like the Spanish mafia and the American- Italian Mafia. Don't be fooled, there is a difference between the Italian- American Mafia and the Italian Mafia, we were never on the same network. It's a good thing my father was able to finally take care of them when he did. Bisnonno Gio (Grandpa Gio) really bumped our rank pretty high, leaving us up there with some of the biggest Organized Crime Associations at the time. He changed our ways and left with a bang, but one of the most amazing things he did was build a cemetary. It wasn't just any cemetery though, it was Il Cimitero dei Ricordati (The Cemetery of the Remembered). The first one was built in Capri, which is where my family and I are from in Italy, it's on a very small island off the coast of Naples. It was built to honor those who died that belonged to the mafia. To be put in this cemetery is a sign of high respect, authority, and glory.  My Great Grandfather himself was buried in Capri in 1985, and is now alongside his sons, Antonio and Piero. Antonio was the second Capo in my bloodline. He was challenged once when he was 32, but he won. My father has been challenged 4 times in the past, but evidently this man can not be beaten.