(Book 2 - "Code of Silence" - maybe changing name. Give me ideas)

"The Mob Boss and His Enemy's Daughter"

Natalia grew up under her father, Vito Gambino, the most ruthless and most hated mobster the world had ever seen. Through her observing eye, she learned how to eat or be eaten. However, she was locked away like a princess in a tower. When Vito forces Natalia's hand to his underboss, she can't help but want out of the cage her father, the king of Chicago, put her in.

Alessandro Rubino, a quiet but highly intelligent man, just so happens to be the one to set her free.

He's after her castle, ready to capture the King and force the hand of the princess. The only thing is, Natalia just might be escaping one cage just to end up in another.

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Prologue (unedited)

Natalia

My mother placed my plate down in front of me. Her blonde hair was twinkling under the light of the chandelier. I couldn't help but stare as her hazel eyes captured my own. Wrinkles were beginning to touch the ends of her eyelids, but she still looked young and beautiful. A smile graced her lips as the lightest of freckles danced across her nose like gold sprinkles on a vanilla cake. Her hair touched the bottom of her back and moved gracelessly with her every move as she sat down right beside me.

"Eat up, baby," she told me. Her tone was empty, a sound I only heard when my father was near.

There was hardly a time I could remember her being happy. One time, it was when I had turned five and we danced the night away in my pink fairytale bedroom. Another time was when we had gone shopping when I was twelve. We darted through the mall, trying to escape security, and once we did, my mother had never laughed so hard in her life. We hid from them for hours and hours, buying up all we could. Mother never talked to me as much as she did that day. I had never seen her smile so true before. In some strange way, she was brighter, more alive, more beautiful.

I smiled at her as I scooped up my green beans on my spoon. As I ate my favorite food, I couldn't help but notice the way she sat there stiffly. She only watched me, but didn't dear touch her food despite her growling stomach.

"Why aren't you eating, Mama?" I asked her.

"You know your father doesn't like you calling me anything other than mother,"

Mother scolded with a sigh.

I frowned.

Father always had such strict rules that I could never understand. It wasn't like I had the option to ever disobey him because the consequences he enforced was no where near a slap on the wrist.

In my thirteen years of living, I couldn't remember a time I had ever seen him smile. Much less, be happy. For as long as I could remember, Father meant business and only business. He loved no one. Not even me.

Just in time, my father's classy shoes slapped against the flooring as he made his way to the other side of the table. His suit was clean and neat, his hair was perfectly pushed back—not a single stray strand in sight. His underboss, a man about Father's age who had worked under him since I was a baby, strolled in right behind him. He eyed me, and a metallic taste coated my mouth as I almost cringed in distaste.

My mother, sensing my uneasiness, cleared her throat. She grasped the attention of the underboss before he gazed straight ahead instead of at me.

"Greetings, my husband," Mother greeted with a curt nod.

"Greetings, Father," I mimicked like a pet bird—just as monotone, just as empty.

Mother casted me an appreciative smile. I knew she liked when I obeyed Father, even when I didn't want to. I quickly noticed that all of my wrongdoings were blamed on how 'incompetent' Mother was. Instead of ever raising my voice at me, he would raise it at Mother. Not only his voice, but his fists, too.

Just as my father dug his fork into his green beans, my mother began to eat. I relaxed, knowing that she was now able to eat the meal she cooked.

"Mi Amore," Father addressed Mother. She sat her fork down and gave Father her full attention.

Just as she did, Father whipped out a gun.

Birds once chirped all around me. The smooth call they sang to each other was nothing like the firing of bullets only seconds away from me. I could feel their love pouring out of every chirp as it kissed my cheeks and caressed my hair. Despite the clenching of my heart, I pretended to listen to the heavenly song of birds, and suddenly, everything was okay.

"Natalia!" Mom called. She stretched her hand out to me, but I didn't move an inch—even if I wanted to, I couldn't. Obey, Mother always told me. Obey.

I turned to face her, watching as the life drained from her eyes. Father slipped his gun back into his side before sitting back down in his chair at the head of the dinner table. I lowered my gaze to my food. It had splats of my mother's blood on my green beans.

"Your mother was a traitor, Natalia," my father said. I finally broke from whatever trance my food put me in to gaze at him.

I watched as he grabbed a napkin and dabbed the side of his mouth with it.

"And what happens to traitors?" he wondered.

"They die," I answered with no hesitation.

"Good girl," Father praised. Again, his underboss eyed me down as my father continued to eat his food like Mother wasn't dying right beside me.

I wanted to look at her, but I was scared I would cry. Father dared me to never cry. Father would kill me for showing mercy. So, I gulped down the tears threatening to spill from my eyes, and with the fork, I played with my bloody green beans until Father had enough.

The consequences of breaking the rules was bleeding out right next to me. If I wanted to survive, I had to obey. I had to be all Father ever wanted.

—

This story will be exclusively available on my Patreon in the $3USD tier (for now). I'll have it on Wattpad when I get through quite a bit of chapters. I'll have updates once a week for it if you'd like to follow the story. Go to the link in my bio or go to https://patreon.com/eroticmarie