Filed to story: Bring It On My Mafia Life Novel (Rhea & Lukas)
So she stopped, taking a backseat from all of their activities. Carmine would have given up entirely if not for her son. Since Victor wanted that lifestyle, she had to be there to protect him in case things didn’t go well. What kind of mother would she be if she can’t protect her son? She lost Albine, she wouldn’t lose her son Victor too.
Victor was still crying in pain when an idea formed in his head and he turned, shouting, “Dad?!”
His mother turned in the direction as well, wondering why her husband would be here – he was totally non-mafia – but it was that moment of distraction that Victor needed to make his escape.
“You unfilial son!” Carmine shouted after she discovered she had been tricked and went after Victor who ran into the lobby as if the devil was on his heels.
Welcome To His family
Lukas shook his head at the drama going on between mother and son; they were hilarious. Victor and his mother were by far the most normal people in this organization and Lukas was not going to lie, he sometimes wished he could get into his cousin’s shoes. You know, to see what it is like to come from a loving home where your opinion mattered and your feelings are considered. They seemed so happy – he wanted that too.
The smile was still on his lips when someone suddenly stood in front of him. Because Lukas had been distracted, he hadn’t noticed her coming and only caught her figure from the corner of his eyes at the last minute.
“If this isn’t our very own Lukas,” She smirked, showing off sparkling white teeth and an odd amusement in her eyes that could almost be mistaken as mockery.
“Cindy,” He breathed upon seeing his other cousin – one of his second cousins.
The girl was young, eighteen-year-old Lukas guessed – he wasn’t exactly in the mood to keep tabs on his relatives – and she kept a minimal affiliation with the family business because she was a celebrity. Cindy was more engrossed in using the family’s name and resources to boost her career – which meant nobody crossed her because of her background.
Perhaps because of her family’s influence, Cindy was a trouble magnet and was by no means remorseful for her scandals – that never comes to the limelight – because her cousins were there to clean up her mess. So yeah, in one word, you could call her a spoiled brat.
Standing at five foot eight, Cindy was quite tall with her long professionally dyed rainbow-colored hair tied up in two scrunchies. The half-up pigtails gave her a perky double ponytail effect coupled with her doll face made her look super playful, especially with pieces of hair left out around the face.
With her make-up face and a little star tattoo at the corner of her eyes, Cindy had one hundred dollars bills manicured onto her finger looking much like the pop star she was. And yeah, those dollar bills are very much real because they were ripped and then placed on the plastic nails before they were painted by her nail technician. The girl was a big show-off and Lukas was the least gladdened by her company.
“You look very good, the boss position treating you well?” She inquired, her eyes lit up with curiosity.
…..
“Why?” Lukas glanced down at her, donning his indifferent mask once again. He could not show his emotions, that was the number one rule of being a boss, “You want a taste of my position? Just say it, who knows I might be magnanimous enough to let you rule for a day,” He appeared to be joking when he wasn’t. Two can play this game.
“Nah…” Cindy cooed, placing the tip of her pointed nails at the base of his throat and Lukas didn’t react even though he knew she could hurt him if she dared to sink them a little bit deeper enough to break the skin.
From a distance, Lukas could see the way his security details stiffened and were about to make a move when he gestured to them with his eyes to stay still. He could handle this.
In the hands of an enemy, that single nail was an effective weapon and positioned at the throat which was quite a vulnerable part of the body, Lukas wondered if his ostentatious cousin knew the message she was trying to pass across?
Her grandfather had killed his uncle, Albine, was she trying to do the same? Lukas guessed she didn’t know that since the girl was an airhead anyway.
Cindy went on, this time dragging the nail down to his chest, scratching against the fabric of his top, “I prefer to sit back and watch the work being done, however, if you’re still feeling magnanimous enough, my brother would do a good work,” and by brother, she meant Gabriel – another of his cousin and competition.
“So what do you say to that?” She actually looked hopeful, finally taking her claws of a nail off him.
Lukas smiled at her, however, before she could detect his next move, he grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her head back earning a surprised squeal from her and as well drawing attention to them.
“What are you doing?!” Cindy’s eyes were now wild with a hint of fear in them.
“I guess your parents didn’t teach you how to respect your elders, let me give you a little lesson on that,” Lukas’s expression held a dark promise and before Cindy could cry for help, he flicked her on the forehead with his finger.
Just a single flick and Cindy screamed as if a knife was being held to her throat yet Lukas didn’t care nor did anyone dare to interrupt him. As long as he didn’t kill her, even Cindy’s bodyguard wouldn’t interfere because Lukas held the sovereign authority as the boss.
Even with all his position, she wasn’t scared enough to touch him, Lukas scoffed in his mind as he continued to punish her. It wasn’t until Cindy was a crying mess and her forehead was a deep shade of red that Lukas finally let her go.
“Mummy!” Cindy shouted at the top of her voice.
“That’s enough!” A voice boomed from behind and a stern-looking female appeared, striding towards Cindy.
She was wearing a two-piece suit that framed her figure in all the right places looking formal yet sharp with her hair gelled back and her bag by her side.
That was no other than Adele, the elder sister to Cindy and a relative to Lukas as well. But unlike the others, she was an illegitimate child.
Upon reaching Cindy, Adele landed a slap that whipped her head to the side, saying in a stretched tone, “You should be lucky he didn’t give you worse punishment for disrespecting him!” She scolded her.
However, Cindy looked up with animosity and when Lukas had been expecting a fight, Cindy simply shove past her – pushing Adele out of the way – swearing.
Even after the huge show, Adele stood still, without a trace of emotion on her face and when it was obvious that Cindy had left, she bowed her head in apology.
“I’m sorry for that, please forgive her “
Without waiting for his response, she had already turned on her heel, heading into the lobby.
Lukas simply watched her till she was out of sight and let out a deep breath.
Welcome to his family.
You Are In Trouble
If there was anyone that interested Lukas amongst his second cousins, that would be Adele.
It wasn’t uncommon for the male in the family to have mistresses while the wives pretended to be oblivious to it, however, they made sure complications aka a child didn’t arise from their affairs.
But his uncle Benjamin had failed at that and there came about the birth of Adele. And while he should have sent her away to avoid conflict in the future, Benjamin cared much about the number of his children – that would go up against them. So Adele stayed especially after he lost two of his sons.
It was obvious that Adele went through hell in the hands of Benjamin’s wife especially after she gave birth to her long-awaited daughter, Cindy, two years after she arrived in the family. And while others in her situation would break and give up from the maltreatment, Adele stood tall and prevailed. Now she’s a core member of the organization.
With a driven, hard-working, and no-nonsense personality, it was obvious that Adele’s efforts in the organization were underrated and she was prejudiced on the grounds of being a female and a half-blood.
But Lukas didn’t dare to interrupt, for women as diligent as Adele, they preferred to make it on their own and he wasn’t about to divulge into his cousins affairs anyway. It was equivalent to stepping into a hornet’s nest.
There was a change in the atmosphere the moment Lukas entered the hall but after a glance or two his way, everyone went back to their conversation. But this time their conversation was measured and careful as if they didn’t want to say something that would be detrimental to them later.
Lukas could feel uncountable eyes on him yet he looked relaxed and showed no fact he was bothered even when he knew the meeting today was all about him. He instead chose the opportunity to scan the hall, trying to see who he was up against.
After his careful countdown, there were a total of twenty of his family members in attendance today, and out of which, he had two on his side – Victor and his mother. He hoped.
…..
In this line of work, there was no permanent friend nor enemy and it was better to be prepared for a little backstabbing so it doesn’t hurt much when it plays out. Hence Lukas concluded that he was all alone; it was a battle he had to fight by himself. If reinforcement came, glory be to God.