The serpent’s kiss

Chapter2

“What?? What do you mean?” I asked surprisingly

“You are going to be disguised as Giovanna D’Amico to marry a Lucchese,” James said confidently

“Mio dio! Wait a minute, I need a moment to understand the nonsense you’re talking about” Marco spoke almost standing

“You want me to let her pretend to be my daughter to marry a Lucchese??” He said pointing at me in awe. “What am I even doing in this whole plan of yours?? What’s my business?” He yelled angrily

“Hey hey hey, tone it down D’Amico! You have no right to complain, you are literally under our mercy here.

Whatever you’re doing is for your safety. You want to be given a low penance, you better play by my rules or i’d make sure you rot here. And tell me, what do you think would happen to your family and your little enterprise? Did you even think about that? Huh??” James spat on his face

“Porca miseria!” Marco cursed

James scoffed “We both know you’re also going to benefit from this so don’t sit there acting all goody. You’ve always wanted to secretly destroy the Lucchese’s or take over their enterprise.

You have always been jealous of their achievements because you’re always beneath them, so, don’t you think this is a great opportunity to see them go down? With you at least? The difference is that you are going to have your freedom. You can start over”

Marco looked at his feet defeated but there was something in his eyes. A look of excitement

He wanted the downfall of the Lucchese’s

“Good now…”

“Wait wait, I.. I don't understand.. can you please try to explain what you just said?” I waved to James cutting him short

“You’d be going…” I didn’t allow him to finish

“Great! Isn’t this…. Wonderful?” I laughed almost squealing

“I’m going on a mission, hiding my identity to get married to a Mafia king and you didn’t deem it fit to tell me or ask for my thoughts on it at least?? Am I some sort of robot that obeys any instruction?” I asked, angrily

“This is your job Aurora, This is the only chance we have to take down Lucchese. They are the biggest, we need to take them down strategically Aurora. We have no choice” James persuaded

“It’s not safe Boss, what if she gets caught?” Matteo spoke looking at me with a worried look

“That’s exactly why she’s a professional. I trust her to do a good job. Come on guys, we can’t lose this chance. I’d have to order you if I have to” James threatened, his eyes wild like this was a do or die affair

“Six months, that’s all it’s going to take”

“Oh God! We’re talking about marriage here!”

I was reluctant about the whole plan. I can’t imagine getting married to the one family I want to take down so bad. I know this is not the first time I’d do something like this but this is a Mafia world.

“Aurora, you don’t have to do this, you can withdraw from the mission. I’d support you” Matteo came over to me and whispered, his eyes filled with worry. He is so protective of me

Yes, I didn't have to do this but I should, I’ll get a huge promotion at work and my team will be given the respect we deserve. The barge that we so much want to have will finally be ours. This mission if done successfully will change our lives

“I’ll do it,” I said

“Aurora” Matteo called

“I should do it, it’d benefit us,” I said to him

“Exactly.. think about all the promotions and recognitions we’d get guys” James squealed

“I need your support please” I turned to Matteo while he nodded slowly

“When exactly is this mission to begin? Let's get over with it” I said

James turned to Marco who was still seated

“You have a daughter don’t you?” He asked

“Yeah sure you know I have a daughter. Giovanna.. Giovanna D’Amico, the only child of the D’Amico family. I sent her to the States when she was born for her protection. I didn’t want her to grow with any of these. No one except my wife has sent eyes on her” Marco said with a dreamy look on his face

“That’s great. Now I’ll need you to keep her there until all this is over. Aurora here will be your daughter who has finally returned. You’d set her up for an arranged marriage with one of Lucchese’s sons” James explained to everybody

“How do I even make that happen? Alaric would not allow that” Marco sighed

“I don't care how you do it. You could.. I don’t know strike a deal, tell them you’re in danger which you are” He smirked and continued.

“Tell them you need their help and the price is your daughter.”

“And what makes you think they would be interested in having my daughter?” Marco asked

“Have you seen Aurora? Damn, if i was a Lucchese i would marry her without batting a lash”, James said and winked at me and i blushed.

Of course.. I was beautiful, hot I would say. I’ve had and still have a lot of suitors but I’m just so career-inclined that I haven’t even had the time to look not to mention falling in love.

“We have Reinardo Lucchese, the elder brother and the underboss. He’s ruthless just like his father and dangerous.

While we have Zeno the younger brother, he’s not relevant in the family, he’s like a shadow in the family with not much respect for his name. We could use him in our mission. He could help since he might not like his family”

Matteo explained, pointing to the crime whiteboard in front of the room.

“I want Reinardo,” I said almost immediately.

“What? He’s the most dangerous Aurora. It’s not safe”, Matteo countered.

“That’s the more reason why it should be him.. He should be subdued, he should have a weakness and it must be me” I stood up and walked over to his picture.

“People like this are always a hard nut to crack, but if they are finally cracked, they’ll fall at your feet and that’s all the more reason I want him” I pointed at Reinardo’s picture.

“Looks like you already have it all planned, Aurora”, James smiled.

“I mean you made me get all excited about it.. "I badly want to see how vulnerable Reinardo Lucchese can get” I smirked.

“He is known for being cold-hearted though.. he has never had any woman in his life” Matteo added.

“Which makes it better… he’d be having his first love and we both know that first loves are always difficult to let go. "I mean I still cannot forget my first love, and it’s been ten years”, James said, smiling while Matteo looked at me with a longing look

I didn’t understand what that meant. Maybe I reminded him of his first love.

“Aurora, you're going to make sure to win the Lucchese’s trust. Every one of them. You’re going to make Reinardo fall in love with you and then, unexpectedly, we come in and catch them unaware. "Sweet!” James squealed like a baby.

He sure was very excited about this. If I didn’t know him well, I’d say he had a personal problem and gain in all of this but I know how hard he has worked. We have all worked, so the anticipation could be a little wild.