The Mafia

Chapter 2

Raven glanced nervously in his direction when Demetrio slammed the car door shut. She'd made sure to sit as far away as possible without appearing scared before he had come in so there was no more space to move towards. Her eyes were drawn to everything but him. He signalled for his driver to go ahead with a flick of his wrist. After a while the stiffness in Raven's shoulders began to recede and she convinced herself the journey would be made in total silence. Surely he would also want the other culprits present when he did what he deemed fit for ignoring his orders.

He reached for a leather bound box lying on the seat between them and withdrew a single Cuban cigar from the bunch that she saw displayed in a line. He brought it up to his lush, elegant lips and lit it with the flame from a lighter he'd seemingly produced from nowhere, drawing deeply on it before puffing the smoke out. She watched the scene quietly, dispassionately. She didn't know she had made a sound until his dark gaze went down his sculpted nose and landed on her own.

"Problem?" It was a deep rumble of a sound.

"Not at all," she denied softly. "You smoke all you like. I just wish you wouldn't do it in an enclosed place like this."

"Forgive me for saying this, but your wishes are the least of my worries right now."

"What else is new?" she muttered as she looked away.

She purposely made a point of not openly defying him, knowing the anger in his eyes had not dissipated. God only knew what he would do if he was pushed to the edge. Oh, she was smart enough to realise he wouldn't physically harm her because of her father, but the man had the power to place her under a multiple man guard. He could keep her indoors until her thirties!

"Take that thing off," he ordered, glaring at the ring Cosmo had won for her.

She sat on her left hand, hiding the ring from his view protectively. "No."

His dark head rose, completely forgetting the smartphone that lay in his long tapered fingers. "Excuse me?"

She did not hesitate. "Did I stutter? I said no."

"Don't make me angry, woman." If possible his gaze darkened further.

"You're already angry," she said petulantly. "Nothing I say will make a difference, so I might as well do what I want."

He took a deep calming breath and put out his cigar on an ashtray. "I don't think you understand, Raven. I'm telling you to take that bloody ring off your finger. Not asking. Don't make me repeat myself."

Their gazes held for an infinite amount of time, and they both knew that neither of them would give in. A contest of wills, this was, between two very stubborn people. Eventually, Raven dropped her eyes and said in a low voice. "I'm not doing it."

Demetrio straightened in his seat then leaned back with ease, moving away from her. He crossed his left ankle over his right knee. A ghost of a smile graced his lips, but not his cold black eyes. It was the kind of smile one would imagine on the devil's face as he welcomed you to hell; cruel, cold and taunting. As if he knew something she didn't. Given her rotten luck, she suspected that was exactly the case. He did know something she didn't, and in a way... he was the devil.

***

"He didn't have to ground me, that bastard. What the hell am I, eleven?" Raven grumbled two days later.

"It could've been worse," April commented.

Yes, it could have been. His alternative to confinement to their suite was separating the sisters. The only reason she wasn't a bundle of nerves was because of April's bubbly self. There was no way she could keep her wits about herself if she wasn't allowed to see her sister, let alone talk to her.

"You should talk to dad," April suggested softly. "He'll put an end to this. It's stupid."

She glared at April. "Oh great idea, while I'm at it, why don't I get some pliers to pull out my fingernails?" For some reason, she really didn't want Demetrio to think she couldn't get herself out of a sticky situation without her father's help. There was that, and the fact that she still wasn't quite ready to face the man any time soon. April knew this, but as she was a natural meddler she'd try to force things every step of the way.

Angelo strode in from the hallway, as the door was already open. An open door was her only connection to the outside world. "Demetrio will allow you to leave if you remove that ring from your finger," he said informatively.

"Aw is Demy jealous?" April asked. Once the girl came up with a theory she never let it drop.

"No sweetie," Raven said. "I think the word you're looking for is 'ass'. ‘Demy’ as you call him, is just an ass. Do you have a pen and paper, Angelo? I have a message of my own I'd like you to deliver."

He left the room and came back shortly with both. "I know I'm going to regret this," he murmured when she got a hold of them. She quickly scribbled a short message and folded it before handing it back to him with a bright smile.

"This isn't going to end well," April agreed. "Do me a favour and take a video of his reaction when he reads that."

A slight smile touched the edges of his mouth after he read the short missive. "What? Instead of running for cover? No, thank you. I rather like my life."

"What's going on between you two?" April asked the second Angelo left the room. She got up from her position on the chaise lounge facing the flat screen TV, abandoning the rerun of a popular soap opera and sat next to her sister on the bed.

"Nothing," Raven said, gazing unseeingly in front of her. "Well, actually that isn't quite true. There's something, but I'm not sure what it is. Does that make sense? Oh, God I'm losing my mind aren't I?"

"Yes. The man is a -"

"I know. There are a million words you can use to finish that sentence and none of them are flattering are they? I should do myself a favour and get him the hell out of my head. Now if only my head would let him go..."

***

A grim looking Angelo walked into his study after Demetrio called for him to enter upon hearing his knock. He withdrew a folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket and handed it to him.

"Excuse me," he said to the two older members of the family who had taken seats in front of his antique mahogany desk. If they did not take kindly to the interruption, neither of them gave away their displeasure. They knew better. In his late father's age group, they no longer did anything physical, but they had come to express their concerns with the return of Cesare Bacciarelli to the family. He had too much to do, and didn't have time to dispute the petty jealousies of old men, especially when he already liked them very little to begin with. Over the time that Cesare had returned, he and Demetrio had reconnected and he'd never admit it to anyone, but he still viewed the other man in a light he never could his own father. Even when his father was alive both of the men had been trying to weasel their ways into his good books.

He accepted the note after Angelo mouthed, 'Raven'.

Shock registered on his face when he read the words in front of him. It was followed by a slow spread of his lips into a rare full blown smile. And then he did something that shocked the other three men who were present. He laughed! Not just a light chuckle, but deep rumbling laughter that would have been infectious had it not been so shocking.

UP YOURS!!

The little minx! She didn't just defy him; she made him laugh while doing it. He hadn't laughed... really laughed in such a carefree manner since... well since before Cesare left when he was a child.

"Demetrio what is it?" Damian, the older of the two asked, not only sounding shocked, but worried as well. Had it really been that long since he laughed?

"Tell her she's allowed to leave her room, Angelo," he told the big man. "But don't lose sight of her, and she still isn't allowed to step a foot outside the gates, just to roam around the vicinity."

A knowing glint glittered in Angelo's dark eyes. "April, too?" he asked, seemingly polite.

Demetrio resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his friend's obvious teasing. "Yes, April too."

After Angelo left, Demetrio turned his attention back to Damian and Ciro. "Sorry about that."

"Raven and April. These are Cesare's daughters, not so?" Ciro asked.

When he met the other man's eyes he immediately knew what he was thinking. Both of the men had sons of their own, about Demetrio's own age. If they could marry into someone of Cesare's social standing in the family, it would raise their own.

"Yes, Cesare's daughters. I'm sure you saw them the other day. They live here at the mansion, and are under my protection." The thinly veiled threat did not go unnoticed. He knew Ciro's calculating ways and greed would have him try to make a match between one of Cesare's daughters and his son. He hoped it was April, because the thought of Raven with another man had him seeing red. He wouldn't want to decapitate anyone, but if push came to shove with Raven, he knew he would. Demetrio did not analyse why he felt this way, he just knew he did.

***

It took Angelo almost two hours to convince Raven that releasing her from her confinement wasn't a trap, a test or anything of the sort. Even as she took the first few steps in the kitchen, it was cautious.

"You trying to sneak up on someone?" she jumped in fright as Cris's voice whispered in her ear.

She reached up to smack him on the back of his head. "Next time you do that it'll be worse than that," she threatened. "Why did you scare me?"

"Oh, come on! You'd do the same, and you were practically begging for it. It won't work, you know."

She hopped up onto one of the seats by the kitchen island. "What won't work?" she asked.

"Avoiding Demetrio. I know from experience. When you try to avoid that guy he pops up everywhere." He sat next to her and slid a cider her way while he opened a beer.

She didn't bother telling him she preferred the beer. "So what's been going on these past two days?" she asked.

A teasing smile lit his already handsome features. "It's been... interesting. Every time Demetrio comes in a room where Cosmo is he leaves and vice versa. All because of a ring, I hear. Let me take a look at it."

When he did he chuckled outrageously. "This is what all this is about?" he exclaimed. "It's even worse than I thought. I hope Celia never gets a wind of this."

"It is none of Celia's concern," Demetrio said from the door. He walked in slowly, glaring unhappily at the gap between them. Jeez, Cris thought to himself, maybe he should just stamp 'Property of Demetrio' on her forehead.

Raven frowned. "Isn't she your girlfriend?"

Both of the brothers winced. "His girlfriend?" Cris spat, as if the idea revolted him. "Celia is his mistress."

It was her turn to wince. She might not like Celia, but the feminist in her didn't like the words that sprouted from Cris's mouth. "His mistress, huh? Do you think that's what she thinks of herself as?"

When she saw the confused frowns on their faces she knew there was no point in continuing the conversation. "You guys are jerks," she muttered. "I bet Cosmo doesn't use girls for s*x then give them demeaning titles like 'mistress'."

Cris rolled his eyes, and she didn't dare look at Demetrio because she knew whatever she saw would not be welcoming. Cosmo sauntered in then. He would have turned right back around had he not seen Raven smiling brightly up at him from her seat at the kitchen island.

"There's she is!" he took the seat next to her, trapping her between himself and Cris. "You're still wearing it. I thought he'd have bullied you into taking it off by now."

She glanced at Demetrio and saw him leaning back against the kitchen sink with his arms crossed watching them silently with a blank expression.

Cris stood up abruptly and reached for his younger brother. "Come help me with something outside, man." Reluctantly, Cosmo got up slowly while sparing glances at both her and Demetrio.

When they left, she didn't. She stayed put. When Demetrio took the seat Cris had just vacated she forced herself to turn towards him. "Thank you," she said in a low voice, meaning it. One more day cooped up in her room, and she would have gone crazy.

He shrugged. "You're welcome. I owed you, so thank you as well."

"What for?" she asked. She could never forget doing something nice for this man.

"Your note... it made me laugh. I haven't done much of that in a long time."

"No!" she gasped sarcastically, gaining a chuckle from him. "I'm glad I could be of help, even though the note was meant to piss you off." She wasn't just glad, she was ecstatic. The thought of bringing any form of joy to him filled her with a sense of accomplishment. Before her thoughts took an even more wayward turn than they already had, she recalled her conversation with April that morning. Stay away from Demetrio.

His dark eyes glittered all of a sudden, filled with humour. "I have a really bad feeling about you," he murmured, nudging her shoulder with his shoulder in a form of camaraderie.

Raven giggled and returned his friendly nudge with one of her own. "Funny, I was just thinking the same thing."

They both smiled and he got up to his feet gracefully. "I have to go. I'll see you at dinner."

"Before you go," Raven called out, halting him in his tracks. "How about a truce?" She held her hand out to him.

He enveloped it in his much larger one, taking note of how perfect they fit together, of the warm pleasant shivers that shot up his arm from the mere feeling of their hands touching. "Friends?” he offered.

"Friends," she accepted. They shook hands and she watched him leave while thinking of how she couldn't decide which view was better: the front or the back.

She slapped her hand to her forehead. There she went; once again letting her imagination run wild. Even if they wanted to be together, which they didn't, it didn't change the fact that there were so many factors that would work against them.