Capo Dei Capi (Secrets of the Famiglia Part 1) novel Chapter 48

"Marrying you is a guaranteed death sentence to Sartini's daughter. You know how he feels. The Famiglia won't be happy with your sudden choice of bride, no matter your fucking reason. I say she is fine where she is."

"Why, because she's a half-breed? Just say it, brother!" I stare at the bare grey walls, a mirror to everything that surrounds this entire fuck up we in.

"I am not going to say what you already know. Wait for the Moretti girl, have a son. Once you take over from DeMarco, divorce her, hell, force a marriage with Sartini's daughter. I don't care. But, right now, I am not in the mood for another war. Remember Vince and Lucca? All over fuckin' pussy, look where that ended up? 6 years of fuckin' headaches. The damage it has caused our family, still is causing our family, look at what Lucca did to Amariya, Mischa."

My brother is acting logically. That is Deno, always thinking of everything from all angles. But logic is my brother's strength and weakness. And that will be his downfall.

I am proud of him, he turned out better than the rest of us. He is the wiser out of my father's 5 children- strong, brave, intelligent, and deadly. The things we need to survive in our world.

Now we were down to four.

I get up and walk toward the glass windows looking at just one of the Cities soon to fall on my shoulders. The weight of it all has been sitting on my shoulders since I got back from the Navy. Taking over territory is one thing, ruling an entire Continent is another altogether. I never wanted to be the Capo.

I never wanted the life gifted to me on my birth.

Refusing it wasn't an option, but life had a more challenging road for me when it took the decision out of the equation. I am not sure when I decided to tempt fate and landed up with all of it.

But here I am, the un-wanting heir, the Future King of Kings, and all I can think about is a face of a girl in a green dress, standing barefoot in a glass cage staring at the stars with a challenge in her gaze, yet so lost, empty.

"Do you remember the day when we first saw her? How old was she?" I ask Deno.

"Twelve, where are you going with this, Marco?"

"Sartini handed her a Glock; she didn't need words. She shot that man. You said she wouldn't, but she did. Do you recall her pause, her face, do you remember that?"

"Yes, she looked like killing him was logic. He killed her mother, she was exacting revenge."

"A Mezzosangue," I say.

"Sartini should have never let her do it. He was crazy, still is. He holds her in high regard. Everyone knows she's his favorite, but he puts her life at risk as is. Aliyana doesn't deserve the fate you want for her, or the one her father has thrown at her, and she certainly doesn't deserve the fucking mess she will inherit from her mother." No, she doesn't

"In the Bratva, when a person kills your parent, their life and death belong to the first child. Sartini was teaching her. How many women in The Famiglia can kill someone?" I ask Deno.

"A handful. Our dead mother being one of them, but Aliyana isn't the firstborn."

"No, she's not. She is, however, half Russian. The Bratva, at least the ones in Manhattan and Canada, consider her family. They will be loyal to her no matter what. Aliyana is a perfect choice. A wife who will protect Mischa at any cost."

"She is a child herself, barely out of her teens. You think you are going to convince our father that Sartini's daughter is going to make our family stronger?" Deno laughs.

"I don't need to convince anyone. He isn't going to agree. You know how he feels about the situation, and Sartini will never forgive our father for what he did."

"We won't give her away Marco, Mischa is family. I will go to war with Lucca if I have to, fuck Amariya will kill anyone who gets too close. But, Sartini will never let you marry his daughter, especially if he finds out you only doing it for gain. He has given her a choice, and whether he likes it or not, her mother has made sure that Aliyana will always have a choice."

"Not entirely. Mischa needs protection. I can't do it like this much longer. Lucca is looking for Mischa, and Amariya has disappeared, probably hiding in fuckin' DC again. Anya is up to something, I don't trust our sister not to do something stupid."

"Let me ask you something, when your tongue was down Aliyana's throat, did it cross your mind that you would have to marry her for life? The Bratva won't take likely their own getting divorced by us. They would want you to bare an heir or two."

"Yes, I have."

"So, you okay with handing them your first child? And what about the future heir to our family? Which needs to be 100% Italian! Which was the reason we asked for Moretti's granddaughter." Deno comes to stand next to me as we both stare at the buzzing city in the distance. Knowing our future ahead of us is no fairytale.

Two brothers born to be leaders.

"An illegitimate Italian child will be just as good an heir as any. We both know that more than anybody. Like we both know I have no intention of having any kids, that is what we have Leonardo and Anya for."

"You think Aliyana is going to be okay with having no kids? Or her husband fuckin' his way through Seattle while she sits at home and raises someone else's child?" Deno laughs, but I am not laughing.

Nothing about this is funny.

Dante Moretti was the last Capo Dei Capi, he is one of the most feared Capo's in the world at 87. He is the Godfather of all Godfathers and his granddaughter; Camilla Moretti is the apple of his devil eye and the most protected woman in America. She is also the first person I chose to marry.

Well, 'did' want to marry.

Since I saw Aliyana up close and smelt her innocence mixed with something dangerous. That kiss, her bottle-green eyes, when she stared at me, having her, is a need. She is no more the sacrificial lamb I saw with a gun in her hand. She is something dangerous, something I want. Camilla has protection, but Aliyana will have power.

"I think she will do the right thing and protect the ones she loves," I tell my brother.

"Aliyana will gut you in your sleep and feed you to those wolves she keeps around. The only thing small about her is her height. Be careful, brother."

"You know her so well."