Secession: A Mafia Boss Series, Installment #2

Chapter 4 ~ Nicolai Constantino Bernardi- Giordano

~Victor POV~



The wedding ceremony was underway with Cannon in D playing, and the bridal party were walking from the back pool patio down to the beach, where the ceremony was taking place. My Aunt Lita and her son-in-law, Don Bianchi, were at the front of the wedding procession with baby Ari, who was dressed in a small white baby tux. Carmen, Bella’s Executive Assistant at her fashion company, and close friend to both Bella and Gia followed soon after as one of the two bride’s maids, then Sofia, the second bridesmaid, then Bella and then finally me and Gia. Bella had personally designed all the dresses for the bridal party. Even the wedding gown Gia was wearing were Rinascita originals. I couldn’t be any prouder as each piece was exquisite, show casing my wife’s talent. The wedding colors were powder blue for the bride’s maids, white and tan suits for the groom and groomsman. I wore a gray suit with a powder blue tie.

Although I was a little tense, I could not help but check out my wife’s cute round ass walking in front of me as Gia and I followed. She had on a long powder blue dress that hugged tight at the chest and hung loose and flowy at the bottom. The fabric seductively swayed back and forth, gently caressing her hips as the shape of her cute ass peaked through, making me imagine what she had underneath, if anything at all. I don’t know how Bella knew I was eye f*****g her but all of a sudden, she took a quick glance back from over her shoulder to look at me and gave a sheepish smile and a wink, causing me to laugh. Gia quickly jabbed me in the ribs to regain my attention.

“Can you two cool it for like two seconds,” Gia said unamused.

“Me!” I exclaimed incredulously. “You clearly can see Bella started this,” I teased, trying my best to tempt my impulse to reach down and pinch Bella’s ass. I noticed Gia rolling her eyes in response, surprising me as she was never one to lose her cool nor show disrespect, especially to me. I could tell she was nervous, so I squeezed her hand, and whispered for her to take a deep breath before interlocking our arms again as we made our way down the pathway to the beach. Gia’s shoulders relaxed, and she gave me a warm smile. My uncle Giuseppe Giordano, Gia’s father, died three years ago from lung cancer and, with my Uncle Vito having died eight months ago, Gia had asked me to walk her down the aisle. Though both men were sorely missed today, I was extremely happy to do it even though protocol dictated it as I was the head of the family, but nevertheless I was touched to have Gia asked rather than having it be so, following some old, fashioned edict.

My Aunt Lita had a loving marriage with Uncle Seppi. They had four children; Nicolai, identical twins, Gia and Sofia, and, lastly, Lorenzo. Uncle Seppi was a kind man, the complete opposite from my Aunt Lita. I imagine his calm and peaceful nature, even though being a mafia head within his own right, was able to even out my Aunt Lita’s strong, hard and at times ruthless personality these thirty plus years.

As I thought of my own unlikely pairing with Bella, I couldn’t help but smile. Bella had the ability to make me laugh, something I don’t remember ever doing for any sustained time before I met her, given my tragic childhood and at times too serious nature. My life all of a sudden had meaning and joy since she came into it, which was surprising given my initial hesitation about marrying Don Rossi’s daughter, who I referred to as the spawn of the devil before I got to know her, quickly realizing she was my saving grace, my angel personified. It didn’t hurt that she was sexy as hell too. It wasn’t a secret that I found my wife extremely attractive, taking many impromptu intermissions with each other, anytime, anywhere to shall we say reconnect.

I couldn’t help wondering how much our lives would change as Bella was possibly very much pregnant. Bella hasn’t told me yet and figured I was oblivious. It was funny that she thought she could hide it from me. She probably did not know I had her menstrual cycle mapped out on my digital calendar, labeled with a dark cloud and sad face emoji on those days. Isabella periods were always on schedule, coinciding with my very grumpy mood from the lack of physical activity for three to four days out of the month. But this past week, as I was preparing to enter my depressed mood, I was elated to find my cloudy, sad days were replaced with wall-to-wall s*x. I figured she must not know for sure or else she would have told me. I was ecstatic thinking that we would be having a little one of our own. I imagine my godson, Ari, who turned six months old last weekend, would love to have a little playmate. Ari was named after my late sister, Arianna, and belonged to my cousin, Sofia and her husband, Don Eduardo Bianchi, a close ally of mine. They have been married for three years.

Despite Sofia and Gia being identical twin sisters, they were very much different. Gia was shy, understated, while Sofia was overly confident and at times snobby. Unlike Bella, Sofia loved the power and influence she received as the wife of a mafia head and made sure to flaunt it. Bella, on the other hand, was tough, down to earth and didn’t mind getting her hands dirty to my chagrin as many times as I kept her from living out her Mobster Bella persona. Bella is beautiful, confident and talented but never made anyone around her feel small, despite our excessive wealth, power, and my influence as the biggest mafia boss in the world. That genuine humbling personality was what made me love her even more. All three ladies’ relationship was somewhat tense in the last few months, given Bella’s closeness to Gia, and Gia making Bella the Maid of Honor instead of Sofia. I told Bella to stay out of it and, as usual, the two sisters, Gia and Sofia will hatch it out as they always did.

As we made it to the edge of the aisle, the wedding planner, Melissa, held her hand up to me and Gia signaling for us to stop bringing me out of my reverie. I saw Bella continue to walk down the aisle that was covered with white rose petals. I could see a smiling Caden at the end of the aisle, in front of the floral arbor adorned with red, yellow, and white flowers next to Father Michael, and the beautiful clear ocean water in the background. To Caden’s right was Lorenzo and the two other groomsmen, Isaac and Sam, Caden’s college buddies. There were ten rows of seats on either side of the aisle accommodating the small eighty or so guests. The music stopped for a brief minute as all the guests stood up and faced our direction. The pianist and celloist, who were situated on a wooden platform on the beach in the far upper corner, began to play “Can’t Help Falling in Love”. Gia and I got the signal from Melissa to start walking down the aisle. She took in a big breath, and I smiled. To my surprise, I saw Caden wiping some tears from his cheeks as he saw Gia for the first time today walking down toward him. As long as I knew him, I had never seen him like this, and I couldn’t help but feel at ease that he would cherish my little cousin for as long as they live.

Once we were a few steps from the altar, Father Michael asks, “Who gives this woman, Ms. Gianna Elizabeth Bernardi-Giordano to this man, Mr. Caden Johnathan Banks for Holy matrimony.”

I smiled and jovially said, “I, Don Victor Antonio Bernardi do on behalf of the Bernardi and Giordano family.”

Caden then came toward us, and we shook hands before we gave each other a hug. He then took his bride’s hand as they walked up to Father Michael and the ceremony began as I took my seat.

The wedding nuptials were coming to an end. Gia and Caden had said their personally written vows, the “I do’s” and exchanged the rings. I found that I spent more than half the wedding staring at Bella. She looked so beautiful standing up there next to Gia. Both the groom’s men and the bridal party stood next to the bride and groom during the entirety of the ceremony at the front. By this time, Bella had a tissue to her eyes, looking adorable with her little nose redden as she was overcome by emotion from the joyous occasion and sobbed throughout the ceremony. I saw matching emotions from my Aunt Lita, who sat across the aisle displaying similar puffy eyes and a redden nose as she sniffled into a napkin. I couldn’t help but chuckle at these two women who were the toughest women I knew, reduced to a sobbing emotional mess over a wedding no less.

Father Michael then exclaimed, “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride!”

Caden gently cupped Gia’s face and kissed her. Before they pulled back from one another, as the crowd was about to erupt in jubilant howls, I heard aloud clapping followed by a deep bellowing laughter from the back. When I turned, I found a tall muscularly built man with long black hair, trimmed short black beard and dark gray eyes, standing in the middle of the aisle. I knew those eyes. He wore a white dress shirt loosely hanging over black slacks with black loafers. Though this man appeared to be slightly more muscular and rugged than the man I once knew; he’s dangerous aura was unmistakable. It was Nicolai.

“Wow! That is beautiful! Sister, this is beautiful…. But Caden, really?” Nicolai joshed, making a mocking facial grimace followed by a slight laughter.

I then saw Aunt Lita staggering out from her seat in confusion. She screamed out, “Nicolai!”

An echo of murmurs and gasps erupted from the guests before Nicolai responded, “Oh, Mama, it’s me!”

Aunt Lita appeared to be shaking uncontrollably from the shock as Nicolai said, feigning concern, “Uuugh…. Wow, Renz. Grab mom. She looks like she is going down.”

I saw a surprised Lorenzo quickly run to Aunt Lita as she fainted in his arms.

Caden was holding onto an equally shocked and weakened Gia while Sofia had dropped her flowers, with her hands over her mouth in stunned silence. Bella looked at me with concern and I nodded to her that it would be OK. I then signaled to Tony and the guards that were located at the far back of the aisle. They all surrounded Nicolai. I walked up to him, staring him down. Nicolai and I were of similar height and built. He returned my gaze with matching venom.

He then smiled, showing off his signature dimples he was known for, before saying, “I got your message, cousin. I guess I do have what it takes to face you, but I guarantee you will regret it—”

I cut him off, “Not if your dead!” I gritted out before signaling to my men. “Take him.”