I brush Brookes's hair away from her face before kissing her temple. I gently slide out from underneath her and wrap the covers firmly around her. I observe her and notice how peaceful she looks.

Sometime during the night she showered and changed into a shirt that I keep here for when I stay overnight.

I kiss her on her lips and she sighs peacefully. I go to her closet and notice bags from her latest shopping spree on the floor. I move around them and go to my tiny section of her closet.

I have two draws and a small rack with my usual suits and pants. I take off the sweats that I changed into last night and replace them with black Armani pants. I put on a black Armani matching button-up shirt and suit jacket. I pull on black dress shoes and my usual silver rings before leaving the closet.

"Where are you going at 8:15 in the morning on a Saturday?" Brooke asks half asleep. I look up from latching my watch onto my wrist.

I smile at her half-asleep form. I walk over and squat down in front of her. "I have to go to my parent's house to talk to my father about Viola and Tristano," I tell her.

"What happened to Viola and Tristano," she murmurs and opens her sleepy eyes.

I smile at her and take her hand. I trail my pointer finger along her palm as I tell her the reason why I need to go to my parent's house today. "My dad wants to marry off Viola to some cruel wealthy bastard and he also wants to send Tristano to a league of assassins that are trained in Russia and sent all over the world for different missions," I tell her and feel calm while telling her what my mother called me about yesterday instead of how angry I was in the car telling Will. It just proves that Brooke calms my raging soul.

Her brow crinkles and she stops my soothing circles on her palm by grabbing my hand in a tight grip. "Your father wants to marry off Viola?" she asks with anger underlying her words.

"Yes, but I do not know the jists of what was said. Mi Madre called me yesterday hysterical asking for me to beg him not to allow Viola to be married off," I tell her.

"My cousin Akeno went there before my uncle adopted him. He did not tell us exactly what they did, but whenever he would stay with us in our mountain cabin I would wake up to him screaming. Tara his sister would have to calm down by telling him he was not in the mountains in Siberia," she tells me like she is in the past.

I rub my thumb across her wrist and that seems to make her come back to the present.

"He is okay now but still has some episodes of panic attacks. But I would not recommend sending anyone there," she says worriedly.

I grind down on my molars as I think about Tristano being in the coldest place on earth. Brooke grips my hand tighter until I look at her.

"Before you leave can you kiss me goodbye?" she asks with a tired smile.

I smirk down at her as I lean to close the distance between us. The kiss is sweet and short. I lean back and her eyes are closed. I kiss her temple and whisper against her skin. "I love you, Brooklyn."

"I love you too Enz," she murmurs.

I chuckle against her temple since she used an abbreviation of my middle name. I stand and walk across the floor to her bedroom door. My hand clasps the door handle before Brooke orders me to behave.

"I will amore mio," I say before leaving her room.

***

I open the front door of my parent's house and it is silent besides my shoes on the sparkling marble floor. I walk in and close the door behind me before walking into the living room.

Viola and Tristano are sitting on the two seats in front of the unlit fireplace. Mia is sitting on the floor leaning against the wall with her dark purple headphones around her neck probably listening to the rap music she likes. My mother is sitting on the couch with two of my aunts and four of my cousins surrounding her.

My mother stands up as soon as I step into the room. "Mio Figlio," she cries and rushes over to me. She throws her arms around my neck. She cries into my neck and I rub her back soothingly.

"Mamma, va tutto bene, sono qui," I soothe her while rubbing her back. (Mom, it's okay, I'm here)

She releases me after another minute of holding me. "Scusa," she apologies, "ho le lecrime sul tuo vestito costoso." (Sorry, I got tears on your expensive suit)

"Mamma, it's okay," I reassure her.

"Mio dio! Massimo looks how tall and strong you are," A woman with olive skin, black hair that goes below her chin, and a navy form-fitting dress exclaims. (My gosh)

"Zia Daniella," I greet with a smile. She saunters over with her usual 5 inch high heels. She kisses me on both cheeks and gives me a light hug. (Aunty Daniella)

She grins up at me as she lets go. My oldest Zia Chiara comes up and kisses me on the forehead and greets me.

They sit back down and I greet my cousins. "Caterina, Aalina, Fiorella, Milia," I nod my head at each and every one of them. They smile back with happy smiles before Viola jumps up from one of the chairs and runs towards me.

She stumbles into my arms and I catch her before she falls to the floor. "Fratello, you can't allow papa to send Tristano away to an assassin league he will die," she pleads on the verge of tears. (brother)

"What about you sorellina?" I ask into her hair. (little sister)

She takes a step back and looks up at me with determination in her eyes. "I do not care what happens to me as long as Tristano does not go to Russia," she says.

"No. nessuna delle mie ragazze sarà mai costretto ad andarsene a meno che non lo vogolia seguire i propi sogni," My mother says with determination. (No. None of my babies will ever be forced to leave unless they want to follow their dreams)

"Mirabella, calm down my brother I will not harm any of your children. Even though he does not share his feelings often he loves all of you," Chiara says speaking the last line looking at Viola and me.

I nod my head because I know he has feelings for us, but none of them are nice feelings. The stomping of feet has me looking behind me and my father with a half unbuttoned shirt and a glass with a quarter of bourbon left in the glass appears.

His eyes roam around the room with a disgusted expression before he looks at me and his emotions move from disgust to anger. "Raggzo, presumo che tu sia qui per parlare dei miei piani per i tuoi fratelli ingrati," he demands with a slight slur to his words. (Boy, I assume you are here to talk about my plans for your ungrateful siblings)

I glance at my mom and see her deflated on the couch barely holding herself together. I nod my head towards my father and he leaves to probably get another drink before waiting for me in his office.

I grab the back of my sister's head and pull her towards me. I kiss her forehead before resting my forehead against hers in a reassuring way. "Farò il possibile per tirare per tirare fuori te e Tristano da questa situazione. Ti amo, sorellina," I murmur against her forehead before I leave and go to my father's office.

(I will do what I can to get you and Tristano out of this situation. I love you, little sister. )

I sit down on the leather chair in front of his desk he ignores me and pours me a full glass of bourbon before pouring himself extra. He pushes the glass towards me and I pick it up and take a deep drink. He leans back in his chair staring at me with hostile eyes.

I place the glass down on his desk in front of me before leaning back in my own chair. I meet his eyes and look into his eyes until he gives up on the staring match to pour more alcohol into his already full glass.

"What do you want boy?" he finally growls after minutes of silence.

"I want to know why you are sending Tristano to Russia for assassin training, and marring off Viola?" I swirl the bourbon around and around the glass as I wait for him to answer my question.

He glares at me before pouring the contents of his glass down his throat. He slams the glass against his desk and leans forward muscles straining under his long-sleeved button-up. I do not wince or look away at his raging face. I sit in the same position and continue swirling my glass's contents around and around.

"Boy, I do not answer to you," he leans back and pours more bourbon into his now empty glass. "I can do whatever the fuck I want unlike you who has to listen to me."

My empty hand turns into a fist but my face remains bored. "I would watch out father. Soon I will have all the power and you will have none, but for now how about we make a deal," I stop swirling my glass and place it back onto the table before leaning forward. My father's eyebrows rise at my declaration.

"What kind of deal?" he asks lighting a cigar.

"A deal of marriage to one of the biggest mafia empires besides ours," I tell him. "Instead of Viola marrying off, I will marry his daughter. The terms of my marriage with her are that I will ask her on my knee in a romantic way. She will say yes on her own terms and will not feel pressured into this. You will talk with her father about a contract while I arrange a proposal."

"I will of course be the leader of this joined mafia, but you will get to do whatever the fuck you want as long as it does not intercede with my plans for the mafia," I tell him. "My sister will get to do whatever she wants and will be able to choose any man she wants without you interceding in her plans."

He takes a sip of his bourbon and looks at me with an emotion that is foreign to be shown on his face. It disappears just as fast as it appeared but it was there.

"And what about Tristano?" he asks with his usual cruel smirk.

I bristle at his regard for his youngest child. I make sure to not so him my anger since he would just use that emotion against me. "When he turns 18 he will get to choose whether he goes to Russia to become an assassin, or what he wants his role to be in this famiglia," I inform him.

"What if he wants to have no part in the mafia whatsoever?" he tests seeing what I will say regarding my future leadership in this mafia.

I have to be careful in how I answer his question. If I answer; 'he has to have a role in the mafia' then I am betraying the people out in the living room. But if I say; 'he can leave with no consequences' then my dad will think I am not an appropriate capo. And no one in this world is getting my title because I have plans that will improve this life for my family and friends. So I answer with the best possible solution.

"If he wants no part in the mafia then he can leave, but he will not be allowed to visit, and can not talk to anyone in the family. He will be thrown out of the bloodline and will have no rights whatsoever in the mafia. He will be alone in the world with no family to protect him," I tell him confidently even though just the thought of my little brother being alone in the world makes my heart break just a little.

My father seems to like my response because his answering smile is villainous. "Fantastic, you better get to planning your proposal," he says reaching for the phone on his desk.

I stand and move towards the door. "I already have basically everything set up for the proposal," I inform him.

He does not respond or react as I leave his office, but I hear him greeting the person on the other end of the phone. "Ciao, Russo. I have an arrangement to talk to you about. Can you come over later today?"

I walk back into the living room and my mother is holding a pillow to her breast while Chiara talks about a museum she went to in Mexico a few weeks ago. My brother sees me and stands up waiting for what our father said and Viola follows him grabbing his hand waiting for me to say the words the could condemn him or rescue him.

Mia is not sitting on the floor anymore probably upstairs sketching or writing lyrics. I hear several voices drifting in from the kitchen, but I answer the questioning stares.

"Father and I made an agreement about marring Viola off," I pause taking a deep breath. "Viola is not going to be forced to be married. I won't get into specifics but I agreed that I am going to be the one who is to be married."

My mom's eyes flash with anger probably thinking about Brooklyn, but I stare at her in a pleading way and she stops whatever she was about to say from coming out of her mouth.

Viola's mouth drops open before she sits straights up and glares. "No, you are not going to be married off. You have done everything for this family. You should not be allowed to sacrifice any more of your happiness and wellbeing. If I must sacrifice my happiness then I will," she says the last part with a tremor in her voice.

"Viola, as your older brother I am the one who has to protect you. I have done it all my life, and I will continue to do it until the day I die," I tell her.

Her eyes begin to water before she looks over at a nervous Tristano. "What about me. Am I going to be sent off to be killed?" he asks with a defeated look in his eyes.

I stand up and look at my mother before answering. "You will not be going to Russa until your 18 and can make your own decisions regarding your role in this mafia," I tell him. My mother exhales a relieved breath and Tristano exhales a breath he was holding.

"So I can do whatever I want for a living?" he asks with a hopeful glint in his eyes.

I stare at him and feel a cracking in my heart at the words I have to say. "No," I say my mother's chin jerks up to stare at me in horror. "If you want to do something besides working in the mafia then you will be dead to this family. You will no longer be respected or have any power in this mafia. If you ever come back to find this family you will be killed for treason."

"What no," my mother barks in utter rage as Tristano sinks back into his chair. My mother glares at me with hatred an emotion that has never been directed towards me. "You promised to find a way for him to get out. This is not him getting out this is him going to his grave," she sobs.

I exhale a breath and grab her by the elbow and drag her down the hall to the master bedroom. I sit her down on her bed and squat down to look her into her brown eyes.

"Madre, I hate doing this. I want Tristano to do whatever he wants, but I have to be cautious with father. If I tell him to allow Tristano to go off scot-free and be able to do whatever job he wants and he can come back for the holidays; he will send your son, my brother off to his death. This is the best thing I can do to protect Tristano until I can make new rules," I tell her wiping her tears with one hand while my other hand is clutched in both of her soft hands.

She cries for a while and I just sit there comforting her because I know she feels like this is her fault. She chose to marry Fabian-my father which lead to this domino effect of abuse and toxicity.

She releases my hand to wipe at her runny makeup. "Mio Figlio, thank you for talking to him. I think I will get cleaned up before dinner," she tells me. I nod and take my leave.

I walk down the hall to the game room where Will, Brian, Zach, Sam, Riley, and Emery are. The boys are playing pool while the girls are commenting on the lovely decor that my mother put up when we moved in.

"What are you guys doing here?" I ask taking a stick and rubbing the tip with chalk.

"Sam and I picked up Riley and Emery from the nail salon after I got a call from my uncle saying the whole family needs to come here," Zach answers leaning over the table and hitting a purple striped ball into one of the pockets.

"Is Brooke here?" I ask as I lean against the opposite side of the pool table.

"No, Ricardo, Celine, Santino, and Rose just got here. Brooke is at her club finishing up her work before she comes over," Brian answers. He's leaning against the wall watching Zach miss the pocket by a mere inch.

I hear worried voices from down the hall and the guys must have heard too because we all walk out to the foyer just as Celine passes the phone over to Ricardo. Her eyes showed worry and panic.

"Where is my daughter?" Ricardo asks and I instantly know Brooke is in trouble.

'Turn it on speaker,' I mouth at him. He does and we can all hear the rough heavily accented voice on the other end.

"I want to tell you that your daughter will not die from blood loss, but the blood in her tesla seems to make my last statement untrue," Declan responds in a cooing voice.

"What did you do?" Ricardo snarls into the phone.

"I just ran her off the road and into a tree, but you should be proud she fought well before she ran limping into the forest," he says with a lunatics laugh that makes the hair on arms and neck rise.

My hand's fist just thinking about this fucking bastard facing Brooklyn. "You hurt my daughter this means a painful death," Ricardo hisses into the phone.

"No, it means whoever finds the bitch gets the bitch," he chuckles.

"You want to race to find my daughter?" Ricardo questions with a mixture of worry, anger, and panic showing in his eyes.

"Yes, may the best hunter win," he ends the call and we stare at each other for a few long seconds before we rush towards my father's office to begin this race for the love of my life.

***

How did you enjoy the chapter?

Thoughts and Feelings towards the character's actions?

Any favorite Characters?

Theories about future events?

-Mason

-Mason's father

-Mirabella

-Viola

-Tristano

-Ricardo

-Chiara

-Daniella

-Brooke

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