Filed to story: Bring It On My Mafia Life Novel (Rhea & Lukas)
There was a tense silence after that speech and Victor finally glanced up at him, guilt-ridden.
“I’m sorry I doubted your intentions,” He apologized, “I was just concerned over the welfare of the gang seeing the unrest there is now. And you know of all people knows what happens when there’s unrest, cracks begin to appear in the organization. They all seem to agree that you’ve lost your mind and gone on a killing spree. There are concerns that you might be worse than your father, although he never betrayed them over a woman,”
Lukas practically winced over that statement. Do they think he was that easy to distract as much as Rhea was the beautiful and far most interesting woman he has seen so far? Those charming eyes of hers do not affect him. She can’t bewitch him.
“I would hold a meeting and calm their horses. I acted out of character as well but I was so scared to lose the only connection I have to Elijah,” Lukas lied through his teeth.
The truth was that the instant he saw the unconscious Rhea with that bag over her head, he lost it. At that moment, he had seemed like an alpha wolf who lost his mate – what’s with him and mate again? – and entered a blood haze. He was craving for vengeance, willing to obliterate anyone that aided in the killing of his beloved.
Beloved? Wonderful – note the sarcasm.
“Then if you’re going to be doing that, you need to keep Rhea away from the men,”
“What?” Lukas’s brows furrowed.
“I’m not telling you this as your consigliere but as your cousin and family, the killing is still fresh in their memory and one, if not more, might go after Rhea,”
“You’re trying to tell me that they would try to harm Rhea in my territory?!” Lukas’s anger rose, “Then they should come, I’ll put a bullet -“
“Then what?” Victor interrupted him, “When does the bloodbath end? Moreover, the Luciano elders would not stand still and watch you end a legacy they’ve built even before you were born. They put you here, and they have the power to remove you as well,”
And his father would like that so much, there was a sour taste in Lukas’s mouth as he realized that. He can’t let that happen, not now Chloe was in his father’s hands and he – Lukas – was still growing his powers.
“However, you forget one thing, Victor, it’s also imperative that I instill fear inside of them, that way they would respect me,” Lukas told him but to his surprise, his cousin gave him a stupid look.
“Really?” Victor cocked his head, “You really want to do it this way. In that case, why don’t you go grab a book and pen and grabbed some tips from daddy while wagging your tails, I’m sure he’d appreciate it,”
Lukas groaned, rubbing his palm down his face. Sometimes, he wished Victor wasn’t family so he could hit him once.
“What do you want me to do then?” he asked him, leaving the ball in his court.
Victor said, “I’m sure your father must have heard the news already and would be interested to know how you will handle it. As expected, he would want you to subdue the gang. Who knows he would actually be proud you shot three of your men to show your authority, but because of a woman? He would not be proud of that. But you would go the opposite way, “
“Opposite way?”
“Appease your men,”
“Appease them?”
“The three deaths today would remind them to be on their best behavior and your appeasement would display your magnanimity,” Victor said.
“And how exactly do I carry out this eer ….. appeasement?”
“Return Macy to her former position and compensate the family members of the ones you killed,”
“Hell no!” Lukas cursed as soon as he heard his cousin’s ridiculous suggestion.
Victor sighed.
“That is not happening!” Lukas stood his ground.
Each time he heard Macy’s name, all he could see now was how she stood over Rhea’s limp body with a smile. She stood by and watched the light almost leave Rhea’s eyes, it was not something he was going to forgive soon.
“Listen to me, Lukas, I’m not a huge fan of Macy as much as you are not now, but everyone knows she’s good at what she does and you having by her side would show you’re still level-headed and not blinded by that witch,”
Lukas could tell that the witch they were talking about was Rhea. When did his gang members become so chatty? It seems he has become too kind.
“Moreover,” Victor went on, “Macy is not returning anytime soon since she’s having her nose repaired. I have to say Rhea has quite a fire in her,” He found it amusing at the end.
“Yeah, she does,” Lukas acknowledged, reminiscing the first time they met at the coffee shop. Thinking about it now, the girl has quite a potential that can be improved with training. Nope, no going there.
“Fine, Macy would stay but after a good break, however, that doesn’t mean she’d have the same authority as before.”Lukas agreed.
“Fine. And Rhea?” he pried.
Lukas answered, shifting on his feet, “I would return her to the Redgiant as agreed after I’m done getting the information I need about Elijah,”
“Really?” Victor’s brows arched as if he didn’t believe a word he said.
“I told you….” Lukas’s tone was filled with seriousness, “I’ve had enough pussies, I can’t be trapped down by one,”
“In that case, that’s good to hear, cousin,” Victor tapped him on the back proudly while Lukas broke into a wide grin, wallowing in the glory.
The tension around them finally relaxed and both cousins began to converse about other issues when Lukas asked, “So how about Mimi? How’s the lesson going?”
At the mention of Mimi, Victor’s face distorted at once and Lukas caught all of it.
“By the look on your face, I can tell there’s a story to it,” He grinned.
“Gosh, don’t even go there. The girl’s a cavewoman. She hit me!”
“Ouch,” Lukas said, yet leaned closer, “What did you do? Kiss her? Hit on her?”
“She says I insulted her coffee,”
“You did not!” Lukas burst into laughter.
“I did not, maybe a little? But the point is, it was all part of the lesson,”
However, his cousin was busy laughing at him.
“I can’t believe this. Rhea and Mimi must be from the same planet. No wonder they’re best friends,”
“Yeah, wait – what?!” Victor was stunned, “They’re best friends?! You’ve been hiding this from me?!”
Lukas merely shrugged.
But his cousin narrowed his gaze at him suspiciously, “You got her best friend a ridiculous job here, what are you planning, Lukas?”