Bloody Valentine

5. Famiglia

Bloody Valentine's POV

I stare at all the new faces in the room who are staring right back, their gazes never faltering. Every single person has at least one weapon on them which tells me that they do not trust and rightly so. I am known for my brutal ways along with my impulsiveness which I am sure will get me killed someday but it also keeps me alive. 

The men, just like Mariano, are tall and have that mean and serious look on their faces while the females are truing to understand me while looking at me from top to bottom. A girl, around Fabiano's age, starts walking towards me and I instinctively look at Mariano whose eyes haven't wavered from mine even once since I entered the room. He looks at me with a pointed look once my eyes meet his, telling me to stay put and not move a muscle. The girl stands in front of me and looks at me from top to bottom twice before meeting my gaze, smirking. 

"You are Bloody Valentine? I expected something more, I guess", she says in a clipped tone ad I swear I wanted to punch her in the face for talking to me like that. I clench my fists tightly and whisper the next words so only she and Anthony could hear them. 

"I am more than enough for you and your clan, sweetheart", I growl out and her reaction leaves me stupidified. She smiles brightly, loosing that edge and takes a step back, while looking at me face more like into my eyes. 

"I like her already brother. We are going to be great friends, I can feel it", she says just as Mariano gets up from his ultra-big chair which isn't even necessary but who is going to tell him that, right?

"I don't do friends, honey". 

"We will see about that B. I can call you B right? Bloody Valentine is very long and we already know you won't be telling your real name". 

"Not a chance. B is fine", I tell and she grins again and struts towards Fabiano who glares at her but she just smiles at him way too sweetly and stands beside him.

"Let me introduce you both to the famiglia. Follow me", Mariano says and we both follow him, not wanting to piss him or the others off. 

He stands in front of a man that looks like, he has done a lot of s**t in his life and he regrets none of it. He has many fading scars on his face, neck and on his arms. He looks like the older version of Mariano but gorgeous nonetheless. Guess the genes run in the family. 

"This is the former king, Carmelo Russo. He is now a consigliere of the famiglia. You will obey all his orders and they are almost as good as mine, understand?", I peer at the person I have always wanted to met. Carmelo has a very gruesome reputation in the crime world and while we were in that hell hole, we were given his torture techniques as examples. He is an gorgeous human being even at the age of fifty I guess but just the thought of being in his company has me shaking but I maintain my composure. 

"You are Bloody Valentine. Might I say that I expected more". 

"Why does everybody keep saying that?", I ask in a small voice, not wanting to piss him off.

"Because, you look really small for someone to have the reputation that you do". 

"Best you believe it then". 

"I will, when I see it for myself", his green eyes, similar to Mariano's look deep in mine, trying to see something. 

"Siamo sicuri di lei? (are we sure about her?)", he asks Mariano. 

"Deve ancora dimostrare la sua lealta  ma finora non ha fatto nulla di sospetto (she has yet to prove her loyalty but so far she hasn't done anything suspicious)", and at this point I have never felt so lost. 

"Tienila d'occhio insieme al ragazzo (Keep an eye on her along with the boy)". 

"Si padre (yes father)", Mariano says and after Anthony's introduction we move along and stand infront of a woman who looks like some fashionista or whatever they are called. She is gorgeous and looks like the same age as Carmelo. 

"She is the former queen, Amara Russo. You will obey her along with everyone ad don't even think about disrespecting her, because you won't only be having me breathing on your neck", Mariano says and we both nod. 

"Pleasure to meet you both", she says and puts her hand forward for me to shake it. Her grip is firm and her black eyes bore into mine, trying to read me like others but she too, will be disappointed as I won't break so easily, surely not with a mere eye contact. 

"Can I call you B?"

"Sure". 

"I look forward to get to know you", she takes me and the others by surprise with her words. 

"Don't look so surprised B, I think you will a special one", she says and Mariano growls, making her leave my hand and turn towards her son. 

"Che cosa? Intendevo come una risorsa (What? I meant like an asset)".

"Certo che I'hai fatto mamma (sure you did, mother). Moving on", Mariano gestures for me to walk while Amara talks with Anthony, who looks a little nervous, probably because Carmelo was looking at him with pointed look.

We stand in front of the girl from earlier but before Mariano could introduce her, she does the honors. 

"Alessandra Russo, the youngest sibling. Don't underestimate me because I can blow you up with one of my favorite explosives", she smiles at me with an evil glint in her eyes but I can tell that she is serious.

"Comportarsi (behave)", Mariano growls at her yet again like a rabid dog and I stifle a laugh at my  own thoughts. 

"Something funny, darling?", she asks. 

"Not a thing", I reply and she glares at me but a second later smiles, giving me a serious whiplash.

"We will be friends, I can assure you that". 

"We will see, honey", I reply with a sickly sweet smile and she returns it. 

"You already know Fabiano, Marco and Lorenzo", he gestures to the three men and only Lorenzo smiles at e while the other two glare at me, as they want to cop me to pieces. Too bad, I could kill them easily. 

"This is Mia De Luca, Lorenzo's wife", he introduces and the woman smiles at me. A genuine smile and I return it with an awkward one. Like I said, I don't smile much if it is not from seeing the torture I inflicted on my prey. 

"I have heard a lot about you. Nice to finally meet you", she says and brings her hand forward and I take it, shaking it. Her grp is tight too, letting me know that she is a gun person. 

"Same", I reply and Marco stifles a laugh. I turn my head towards him and glare. 

"Something funny, buff man?"

"Buff man? This is gold", Andrea says and starts laughing while Lorenzo chuckles along with Mia and Alessandra. Fabiano continues glaring at me while Marco aka buff man looks ready to slice my throat. 

"Sta 'zitto (shut up), Mariano screams at the laughing idiots while I smirk at the buff man.

"You will behave yourself and respect my men or you will find yourself dead in a ditch before you could even say sorry, understand?", I so wanted to tell him that he won't kill me as I am an useful asset to him but I refrain from doing so. 

"Understood", Mariano glares at me for a second before snapping his fingers and not a second later, a maid and a man enter. The man is in a suit just like those who I saw outside. 

"Your training starts tomorrow, so rest as much as you can because, it is going to be brutal", Mariano says. 

"Its nothing I haven't had before", I reply while looking him dead in the eyes. 

"Take them both to their respective rooms", he tells them both while he continued looking at me. 

The maid accompanies Anthony while the man drags me with him. This is f*****g unfair. Anthony is treated like a normal person while I am being manhandled. 

"Leave her right now", Mariano screams from behind us. The man lets go of me and I rub the spot where he held so f*****g tightly. 

"Who asked you to drag her like that?", Mariano asks as he takes long strides and stands right infront of the man. 

"Boss -", before he could continue, Mariano takes his jaw in his hands and squeezes it tightly. 

"I don't care what you gotta to say. We treat women with respect if they are one of us and she is now. So, don't you dare put your hands on her again or you will find a bullet in between your eyes, got that?"

"Yes boss", he wheezes out and Mariano leaves his jaw with force. I look at the man in front of me and a feeling of safety makes itself known. Now I know he won't ever touch me or hurt me on purpose unless I f**k up which I plan on avoiding. 

"Ask someone else to take her to her room, right now", Mariano yells in his face and the man nods vigorously before scrambling out of the room while a new suit comes in and asks me to follow him.

"I will see you later, B", Alessandra says and I just nod at her, mentally wishing she would stay away from me. 

The man opens a door for me and closes it softly behind me. Mariano wasn't kidding when he said that there will be guards stationed outside. On this floor, there are about twenty five I saw. 

The room is extremely spacious and beautiful, not at all what I am used to. The bed is huge with fluffy pillows and mattress, a warm blanket spread out. The balcony is mazing and the view is splendid. I can see a lake to the far corner. The bathroom is big enough to fir about ten people and the tub can almost fit five people. All my bags are empty because someone took the liberty and hung all my clothes and others things in the closet which is huge too. It also has some things that I am sure I don't own. 

"You liking the room?", a voice asks from behind me and I stop myself from attacking the person. 

"Mia". 

"Sorry for sneaking up on you", she apologies and I frown at her. 

"What?"

"You apologized". 

"Yeah so?"

"I am just not used to people saying sorry to me". 

"Well, neither am I but I didn't want my first impression to be rude", she says and I smirk at her. 

"I like you". 

"The feeling's mutual", she says and examines the closet. 

"Al did good". 

"Alessandra did this? Why?"

"Well, she was excited to have another female here. It gets boring for the two of us, you know", she says and I turn to look at her. 

"So, you give all your assassins rooms like this?"

"No. I like to believe you are special", I scoff at her words and she laughs. 

"Mariano chose this room himself. It is like a few feet from his, you know". 

"The f**k? Why am I on his floor? Is he that scared of me?"

"I won't use to word scared but fascinated, sure", I scoff again. 

"He fascinates me? Right". 

"We will see that", she winks at me and I roll my eyes. We both go outside and I find Mariano standing at the door, leaning on it. 

"Mariano", Mia acknowledges him and he nods at her. 

"I will leave you both to it. See you around, B", I nod at her and she smiles before leaving. Mariano closes the door behind her. 

"Settle okay?"

"You give these rooms to all your assassins or am I different?"

"Don't flatter yourself, principessa. You are here because I need to keep an eye on you myself". 

"So, I am a pain in your ass?", I smirk at him and scoffs. 

"Yes you are but being a part of the famiglia now, I can't kill you unless you betray us". 

"Should have killed me when had the chance then". 

"I didn't waste all my time and resources since past few years just to kill you". 

"So I am special". 

"Whatever. The dinner will be served soon, so lets go downstairs", he says and opens the door and struts out, leaving me to follow him. 

I take everything in as we descend the stairs. There are various paintings that look vintage and would cost more than my net worth. The statues, too, look extremely delicate and s**t. This place looks more like a museum than a house, well a castle, but you get the gist. 

"Who are all these people?"

"No one you should know", the arrogant bastard answers and I roll my eyes at him, not that he can see it. 

We enter the enormous dinning room which has a way too big dinning table. There are way too many chairs and the number of people in this castle are not even half of the number. 

"Why are so many chairs here?"

"You will know soon, piccolo", Andrea comes out of no where and places a hand on my waist. 

"Is everyone here?", Carmelo asks while Amara comes and stands beside Mariano, talking to him in Italian. 

"Will you teach me Italian?", I ask Andrea who chuckles and shakes his head. 

"No can do, piccolo. That is the only thing that you don't know", he says and I roll my eyes for the nth time today and its not even been 24 hours since I arrived. 

"You might find your brain if you keep rolling your eyes", Fabiano glares at me and I smirk at him. 

"You should try too. Let's see who finds it first, yeah?", I smirk at him and he glares while Andrea laughs, patting Fabiano's head. 

"Baby brother, she so told you". 

"Whatever", he grumbles some curses in Italian and I am this close in bashing his f*****g head in. He has been getting on my nerves since I first met him. 

"The men are here. Let's sit", Andrea says and tells me to sit beside Anthony, who I just saw. 

"Where is your room?"

"Second floor". 

"Damn. Am I the only one on the last floor", I grumble but Alessandra hears.

"Mariano's room is two doors from your right and Andrea's is right beside yours on the left. Good luck with that. That guy loves f*****g", she whispers but apparently Fabiano heard and glares at her. 

"What? I am just warning her". 

"Stop getting so cozy with her", the twins continue bickering and I leave them to that. Various women and men come out of the kitchen with numerous plates and bowls. Just looking at them has me salivating. Its been roughly ate hours since I last ate anything because Mariano was being a d**k in the flight. 

"Dig in, B", Alessandra says and I do just that. 

After half an hour, once I done eating is when I notice at least a seventy or so men sitting on the chairs, eating as though they are going to starve for the next two months. 

"They are the trusted men who stay here with us. Not like the inner circle, but next to them", Alessandra tells me and Anthony who, stares at them with wary eyes. 

"They won't dare hurt either of you unless they want Mariano to put a bullet in them or do much worse than that", that is not very assuring as some of the men continue glaring at us, particularly me. I haven't even talked to them and they are already looking at as if I am the enemy and they want to kick me out. I wouldn't want anything else to get back to my life in New York but not everyone can have what they want, can they?

"Domani la presenterai agli uomini? (you are going to introduce her to the men tomorrow?)"

"Si padre (yes father)".

"Anch'io vorrei esserci (I would like to be there as well)"

"Non hai bisogno del mio permesso padre (you don't need my permission, father)"

"Molto bene allora (very well then)", Mariano and Carmelo talk and I ignore them more like, have to ignore them as I don't understand a word. 

"I will teach some curse words in Italian, B", Alessandra says and I almost smile at her. I don't reply and I just stare at my plate. 

"Honey, you done already?", Amara asks me and everybody's attention turns towards me. I don't cower away from their stares. 

"Yes. I am done. Can I go to my room?", I didn't want to piss Mariano here as all his men could kill me right here. The two sitting in front me are already glaring at me. 

"Yes, you can", Mariano says and I quickly slide the chair out and leave the room, wanting to get away from all the glares. Not that they affect me but it was just irritating me. 

As I was gazing out the balcony, I hear my door open and I wish I had my dagger with me. 

"You should be down by 5 in the morning. I will introduce you to all my men and then we will start the training right away. Don't be a minute late. I hate tardiness", Mariano barks at me and I just nod in acknowledgement. 

"If you need anything, just use the phone and it will be delivered to your room. Don't bother to find kitchen, because you won't. You will get a tour tomorrow after your session", before I could reply he leaves the room and slams the door behind him. 

"Asshole", I curse under my breath and lie down on the bed, trying to find a comfortable position even though I won't be sleeping much.