Empire of Blood

I

In this world there was no one Milan Mancini loved and admired more than her father. He meant the world to her and she wouldn't have exchanged him for all the riches in the world.

There was no one like him in the world. When Milan was ill, he would stay by her side without rest until she was feeling all better. When she was sad, he would watch cute rom-coms with her without a single complaint no matter how much he hated her movie choices. When she was stressed, angry or simply feeling down, he would bake her some of her favorite muffins. No matter what the situation was, he would always drop everything he was doing for her.

In her eyes he was simply perfect. She loved and admired him so much that she believed she would forgive him even if he were to commit the most heinous of crimes. That was how it was supposed to be.

But now that the situation had presented herself, Milan felt utterly and completely heartbroken. The man before her wasn't the perfect and kind-hearted father she knew. He was a monster that had killed another child's father. As much as she wished she could just forgive him and move on, he had left a family without a head and she just couldn't bring herself to forgive it.

"Y-You killed him!" Milan's voice broke as she cried her heart out. She fell to her knees and turned the bloodied figure's face towards her. She began to heave upon realizing it was Evan Alexiou, her father's business partner and Leon Alexiou's father. Upon realizing the dead man she was staring at was her only friend's father, she began to hyperventilate.

"No," she cried, "no no no no NO!"

She jumped up from her knees and moved towards the corner of the room, as far away from her father and dead body lying on the floor.

"Some sacrifices must be made for the greater good, Darling," her father said, no emotion in his voice.

Milan couldn't believe the words coming out of her father's mouth. How could he defend himself by claiming that it was for the "greater good"? Milan began to wail, feeling her heart break even further.

Alfonso Mancini watched his daughter break down. He couldn't deny seeing her that way tugged at the bottom of his heart but it also frustrated him. He had tried to raise her as a fighter but instead the girl before him was trembling from the sight of a little blood. 

"Y-You killed him! How could you?" Milan cried harder.

"That's enough, Milan," Alfonso said with a warning tone. "If you don't be quiet, someone will hear you!"

Milan scoffed at her father as tears continued to drop down her face. Just as she was about to open her mouth to speak, a light knock sounded on her father's office door. Milan froze and her wailing came to an abrupt stop. As much as she didn't like what her father had done, some part of her felt fear of what would happen to him had anyone found out that he had just murdered someone. Would they take him away to prison or would Evan Alexiou's family get their revenge and kill her father too? No matter what were to happen to him, she knew she would not be alone for the rest of her life.

She felt a sudden sense of shame and disgust at herself for being so hypocritical. Because of her father's actions, a whole family was ruined. Leon was left an orphan and his grandmother had just lost a child. She couldn't imagine the pain they would be going through after finding out. No matter what were to happen, her father deserved it.

"Who is it?" Her father called out, staring at Milan as if daring her to make a peep. Milan gulped down, feeling sweat droplets fall down her face.

"It's me, Sir," came the voice of Lorenzo Ricci, Alfonso's bodyguard.

"Come in," was all Alfonso said before the door opened and a group of men walked in. Without any questions or even words exchanged, they walked towards the cold body of Evan Alexiou and picked him up.

Milan watched in fear as the huge men cleaned up her father's mess.

"W-What are they doing?" Milan asked, breaking the silence. A few men turned towards her, looking as if they were surprised by her presence.

No one answered her and continued with their task. Milan watched with her eyes wide as her father's men completely transformed the room and made it seem like the dead body lying right in the middle was just a fragment of her imagination.

She really wanted to cry out and ask them what they were going to do with the body but she couldn't bring herself to do anything besides stare at the scene before her like a stun mullet.

When they had finished their task and left the room, Alfonso who had been watching his daughter closely began to speak.

"Darling, it's late, I think you should go to bed now," he said as he took a few slow steps towards her. "Would you like me to read a story for you?"

Milan's lips quivered and a few tears dropped down her face upon the realization that this wasn't her father's first murder. It would have been impossible for him to be so inhumanly calm in such a situation had this been his first.

"H-How many," Milan cleared her throat before continuing, "people have you killed?"

"Hundreds," Alfonso simply answered his daughter."

"Why?" she questioned. She couldn't believe that her gentle and loving father killed so many people.

"How do you think you're able to live such a comfortable life, Darling? Do you think it's possible to make this much money simply by starting your own business? It's impossible to make money and stay clean. So I have made some sacrifices to get me to this position."

Alfonso didn't bother lying to his daughter. Despite her young age, she was excellent at being able to tell a lie. Not to mention, he didn't find any purpose in hiding it from her. One day she would take over his business for him so she needed to find out the truth one way or another.

"A-Are you part of the mafia?" Milan asked, suddenly feeling as if everything in her life made sense. The countless number of times someone had tried to take her father's life, the bodyguards that followed her family everywhere, the money and all the dangerous people she had met in her life. She had met one too many criminals for it to merely be a coincidence.

"I own the mafia," Alfonso told his daughter.

"You hurt people," she whimpered.

"I kill people."

"You are a criminal," tears began to flood down her face as the words left her mouth. She couldn't believe this was her father. She just could not believe this was reality. She couldn't believe it, nor did she want to.

"I am a criminal," Alfonso nodded, making Milan feel as if he had stabbed a countless number of knives in her heart. She fell to hear knees for the second time that night and began to weep into her hands.

"I understand this is hard to take in, but you need to be strong, Milan. One day you will be standing in my spot and you will own the Italian mafia. Now stop crying."

Milan looked up at her father with nothing but disbelief written on her face.

"I-I will take over?"

"Yes, Sweetheart. One day you will be the leader of the most dangerous people on Earth. You will be so powerful that people will shiver upon hearing your name."

Milan scoffed as she shook her head. "N-No, never! I will never be a criminal! And you will pay for your crimes!"

Alfonso smirked down at his daughter, "You're being ridiculous, Milan. It's late now so go to bed. We'll continue this conversation tomorrow. We can also finally start your training!"

"Training?" Milan narrowed her eyes. "No," she said more forcefully this time. "I will never lead your organization! I will never, ever be a criminal!"

"Milan," Alfonso said her name in a warning tone filled with Malice, "do not test my patience."

He tried to pull her up from her arms but she pushed him away just as he made contact with her skin. She pulled herself up and tried to stand tall in front of the monster before her.

“I won’t ever become like you. I will make sure you pay for your crimes! Y-You monster!” Milan spat, feeling her chest constrict upon muttering those words to the man she admired so much.

“You will make sure I pay for my crimes?” Alfonso scoffed, not believing a word that left Milan’s voice. He knew how much his daughter loved and admired him. He also knew that she would die before she let anything happen to him. “How would you do that?” he challenged.

Milan gulped before answering, “I will call the police.”

“The police work for me,” Alfonso grinned, making Milan’s stomach churn. She didn’t want to believe that the police really worked for the mafia, but she had watched too many crime movies to know that it was a high possibility.

“I will tell Leon and he will avenge his father!” Milan tried a second time. Although she didn’t think it would be effective, Alfonso’s face darkened at his daughter’s words.

“You will do no such thing!” Alfonso warned through gritted teeth. Milan didn’t know why, but the threat seemed to have worked.

“I will,” she said defiantly. “As soon as I leave this room, I will tell Leon everything. I will tell him you killed Evan and that your men took him away. I saw the bullet right between his forehead so I will tell him where it was to prove myself.”

With each word that left Milan’s mouth, Alfonso felt his anger grow. So much so that once she was finished, he did something he never thought he would do. He pulled his gun out and pointed it right at the center of his daughter’s brows.

A gasp escaped Milan’s lips. “Y-You are going to kill me?”

“You will not say a word to a single soul, do you understand?” Alfonso warned. “If I find out you have told anyone what you saw tonight, I won’t hesitate to send you to the grave.”

More tears escaped Milan’s eyes. She could not believe the situation. The man she thought held unconditional love for her was threatening to murder her. Did she really mean nothing to him? More tears threatened to leave fall down her eyes but she willed them away. Her heart that felt nothing but love for him was suddenly beginning to feel cold. She forced her eyes shut and tried to steady her breathing. Once she had opened her eyes, she saw that her father had dropped the hand holding the gun to his side.

“Once I leave this room,” Milan began, suddenly feeling very angry and cold, “I will tell Leon everything. If you want to kill me, just do it because I will stop at nothing to reveal what I saw in this room today.”

Milan didn’t know where the sudden fearlessness came from but she stood tall and stared her father directly in the eyes. Deep down she was terrified but she was also hopeful that her father actually had an ounce of love for her – enough to spare her life.

“What do you think will happen after you reveal everything to Leon?” Alfonso asked his daughter, his head titled to the side and a brow raised.

“If the police won’t punish you, Leon and his family will avenge Evan’s life.”

Alfonso laughed at the words that left Milan’s mouth.

“You think that kid and his grandmother will be able to lay a finger on me?” Alfonso laughed even harder. He suddenly sobered up and glared at Milan, making a shiver go down her spine. “I’ll tell you what will happen,” he whispered vehemently, “once Leon finds out, I will not only make sure he’s buried six feet under, but I will send every last living Alexiou with him, young or old, male or female.”

“You’ll kill him?” Milan pathetically asked, the words sounding more like a soft wind than actual words.

“In the most painful way possible.”

Milan could not bring herself to say anything else. She felt exhausted and devastated.

A few moments of silence passed between the father and daughter, both in their own deep thoughts.

“As you are my daughter, I will give you a choice,” Alfonso suddenly said, causing Milan to raise her eyes to his.

“You can either quietly live beside me and prepare to take over my business,” he offered, hopeful that his daughter will pick that option, “or you can leave this house and this family and live by yourself in the outside world.”

Milan narrowed her eyes. Both options were a nightmare to her. She could not imagine being away from her family but she also would rather die than be the boss of a criminal organization. But how would she even live on her own? She was only fourteen. She had never even walked down the street alone, let alone beginning a whole new life alone.

“If you choose to stay, you will begin your training as early as tomorrow. I will personally teach you everything you need to know to prepare you. Within a few years you will be the most powerful and most feared women in this world,” he began hopefully. “If you decide you don’t want that, you will be disowned and disallowed from using the family name Marcini. You will be nothing to me and you will never have contact with anyone from this household again.”

“That’s not fair,” Milan whispered, feeling her heart sink. She may not have had a mother or any siblings, but the workers in the house were her family. She had a special bond with each and every one of them and she could not imagine her life without any of them. She still could not even believe everything that had happened that night was a reality but suddenly she was being asked to choose between being a future murderer or being a homeless orphan. She couldn’t tell which was worse.

“Life isn’t fair, Darling.”

“I don’t want to be a criminal,” Milan said after a moment of silence. Her guilty conscience had taken over and made the decision for her.

Milan didn’t know what she would be getting herself into when she uttered the words, but one minute she was standing in her father’s warm office and the next she was standing outside in the freezing cold air with nothing but a jacket in hand.