Just what the Mafia Princess ordered

Sienna's POV Sitting in coach on a plane had never been my style before college. It had always been private planes, but that's what came with being an Esposito. It was designer clothes, hefty bank accounts, expensive cars and five-star luxury at every turn. But with all those perks came a lot of obligations and responsibilities attached. I won't lie and say that the benefits didn't outweigh the liabilities, but it weighed on me sometimes. My family taught me well over the years. I was independent and thick-skinned, able to care for myself no matter what situation I was thrown into, but the business my family was in was still predominantly a man's world. My father has always called me his little princess, and whilst I thought it was anti-feminine to call someone that, he is the only one that still gets away with it, as it's hard to be a princess when your family ran one of the largest criminal enterprises in the country. It's not like I was in charge of anything. That honor went to my older brother, Thomas who was just over two years older than me. He took over a few years ago after he graduated from college when my father retired and has been doing an amazing job so far. Even though my family raised me to believe that I could do anything and be anyone I wanted to be, it was still rare for a woman to be high up in the organisation, and my brother wanted me at his side. I was an integral part of the inner circle, meaning I had to be better at everything than the men who worked for us. Even then, getting them to respect my place was still a hard sell. It was a lot of pressure, so when it was time to apply to college, I decided to look outside the New York bubble I was accustomed to. That's how I ended up in Los Angeles. Much to my father's disgust, he would have preferred I stayed closer to home where his men could watch over me. My father had high hopes for me, he wanted me to attend Yale, Brown, Princeton, Harvard or even Columbia like my brother, but I wanted something different. I wanted a life outside of my last name. Everywhere I went back home, all eyes were on me, waiting to see what I would do and, more importantly, waiting for me to screw up to prove to everyone that I wasn't up for all the challenges that came with that last name. No one at UCLA knew who I was, and I finally got to be just Sienna or CiCi to my friends. I dyed my hair from my usual dark brown hair to a bright blonde. I toned down my extravagant lifestyle and tried to live like any other young person at college, even if that meant clipping coupons with my roommates to make our food budget stretch a bit further when I could easily afford to purchase our yearly shopping in one hit. Did I like lying to my friends? No, I didn't, but it's not like I could tell them the truth even if I wanted to. The things I saw and did for my family weren't exactly legal, and let's just say the truth could put us all away for a very long time. So, for four blissful years, I got to be just me, which was amazing. So by the time graduation came around, I was sad to leave it all behind. The life I built, the friends I had made, and that's where this trip came in. One of my roommates, Darcy, managed to score a beach house for next to nothing in Myrtle Beach due to a last-minute cancellation, so we decided to make a final summer trip after graduation before we all went our separate ways. Darcy would be going back to Las Vegas, Amelia would be headed to San Francisco, Johanna would be heading to Ohio, and, of course, I would be returning to New York. After this trip, it might be long before we would be in the same place again. I was put in a quad, two-bedroom dorm room in my freshman year. It wasn’t much: two bedrooms, a shared bathroom, and a lounge area, but it was where I met four girls that became my best friends and were the only way I made it so long away from my family. All of us girls couldn't be more different, but we all worked well together for some reason. Darcy was our mother hen. She managed our pooled funds and always took it upon herself to ensure we remembered to eat and get enough sleep. Amelia was our quiet, reserved friend. She always had her nose in a book but was just the person you wanted around when we got stuck with our work or needed help studying for a test. Johanna was on our varsity volleyball team and preferred being outdoors more than she liked being inside and was always off training or hiking or cycling. Me? They nicknamed me the wild child, I was always doing stuff they deemed too dangerous, but I got off on the thrill. I trained at an MMA gym to keep my training up whilst away from home, skydived, and even rode motorbikes for fun on the weekend. If it got my adrenaline pumping, I was all for it. They all thought I was crazy at times, but they didn't know my background. These past four years with these girls have been some of the best in my life. We laughed, cried, got drunk together and were always there for each other through the good times and the bad. We had made memories together that would last a lifetime. This trip was going to be amazing. The first thing I noticed when I got off the plane was the muggy heat that hit me straight in the face. Living in LA, I was used to the heat, but the humidity would take some time to get used to, and it would be killer on my hair. The airport was insanely busy, with lots of young people flocking to Myrtle Beach to start their summer vacation. After collecting our bags, we got our hire car and went on our merry way. The drive to our beach rental was incredible. I handled the arrangements for the hire car and paid a little bit extra for a convertible, but told the girls a white lie regarding the price. This was our last summer together, and driving along the sixty miles of coastline with the roof down and the music playing was my idea of the perfect start to our perfect summer. I felt all the stress from finals floating away with every breath of salty air. I was in awe when I pulled into the driveway of our home away from home. It was just what we needed. Its first massive selling point was that you could walk out the back door and straight onto the warm sand. The house was two stories with three bedrooms, so two of us had to share one of the rooms. After a few competitive rounds of rock paper scissors Johanna and Amelia were sharing together, Darcy had the other room that shared a bathroom with their room. I was victorious and got the master bedroom with my very own ensuite, but I was happy to share my bathroom when needed. We spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and then hit the grocery store for supplies to stock the kitchen. After an early dinner, the other girls explored the town a little, but I opted to stay behind and chill out for a little while. I walked on the beach, enjoying the cool breeze now that the sun had set and the way the water lapped at my feet. I loved how peaceful it was. New York was home, but everyone was always so busy, rushing to their next destination. No one there seemed to know how to stop and smell the roses. I may have enjoyed thrill-seeking, but I also knew how to relax now and then. When I returned to the house, I poured myself a glass of wine and curled up on the outdoor lounge on the back porch. The sound of the waves crashing against the shore was peaceful in comparison to the giggling coming from inside the house now that my friends were back. My name is Sienna Josephine Esposito. This is my story, my life, my summer. My last summer of freedom before becoming the woman I was meant to be. To make my family proud. A lot was riding on this trip, and I had to cram everything I wanted into these three months. All the stuff I wouldn’t be able to do with everyone’s eyes on me back home. I was going to dance with boys, drink too much, sleep too little, make bad decisions and have the time of my life.