Queen Of Killers

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Aliyana

13 years ago

The past should never be made in the present

And the present should never throw haze on the future.

Lies, a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive, an intentional untruth, a falsehood.

“What on earth are you devils up to?” Gabriel asks as he sits next to Mero on the carpeted floor. It felt great to be back in Seattle. It wouldn’t be much longer until the day arrived when I could finally say I was putting Chicago behind me.

Chicago was what I would describe as a prison, made specifically for the 5 of us. We were meant to only charter a flight first thing tomorrow. But I couldn’t bear another night in a city treated as one would a rat. It wasn’t the adults that surrounded us who made our stay in the city so unappealing, but the teenagers who would one day control it. I knew better than to tell my father, so did Gabriel, Mero, Michel and Ren when Capo Stagio Russo said that a teenager problem was a teenager problem. His words weren’t just words, they were a warning that what happens in his territory stayed quiet.

It was summer break and Papa would only land tomorrow from his trip to East Africa. Which made our early arrival the perfect time to finally release some tension we kept locked up these passing months. A lot was going on right now, and Gabriel and Ren were both out for some serious Russo blood. They were the top crime family in Chicago and also primarily our guardians until we graduated from high school.

It was a rule in the 5th State that a group of boys be sent away to their allies’ territory. It was meant as a sign of good faith. But my father sent me a girl to Chicago and our Famiglia. The Catelli’s insisted we granted them the same respect, so the Russo’s sent Elisa. Who was meant to be their offering but turned out she was my father’s daughter. Talk about a messed up family. And mine was right there on the top.

It wasn’t just Elisa, who wore the title of an illegitimate daughter but another, not so nice girl named Alice. She was already an adult and sister to Matteo Di Salvo, a much-hated member of the Russo family. Or if I were honest I should rephrase, I hated Matteo Di Salvo the most. The others never really disliked him, they merely just hated what they presumed he stood for.

“Where did you rush off to? Gone to play good boy by your uncle or did you decide to take a detour to a certain redheads house?” Michel asks Gabriel. Michel is comfortable at the bottom of my white comforter, playing with his switchblade he bought off a guy on our way from the airport. Ren and I take the top left of the bed, going through the hundreds of photos scattered on half my bed.

We were deciding, as we always did, which of the photos were best to show our parents. We tried to keep up the appearance of happy kids, for the sake of not starting a war. And also for not looking like we were made of ice. My father said that a made-man need not burn when he walked through fire. I wasn’t so sure how someone didn’t burn in the fire when a fire was meant to burn.

We were already burnt in the fire many times. The only difference is our scars were on the inside, and the windows which were our eyes were too small to notice.

In reality, we were so used to the bullying and the plots and plans Alec and his crew came up with to try to get rid of us. But cutting Gabriel’s car breaks set the record. They played dangerous games, and while we outsmarted them most of the time, we knew that our clock was ticking.

“How long do you think we can keep this s**t up?” Ren questions us, lifting a picture with the 5 of us at Pizzeria.

“I say we make a stand, we’re leaving that s**t hole next year. It will be the perfect time to teach the Russo’s a lesson,” Gabriel says from the floor. His blue eyes dilated and focused on Ren as I feel his anticipation and hunger for revenge vibrate across the room.

“I don’t see Alec ruling Chicago, he will cause an all-out war that the Capo Dei Capi would eventually have to intervene. Cassio and Camelid are henchmen, neither screaming Capo, I doubt either of them has the brain capacity to brush their teeth properly let alone rule a city as big as Chicago. Matteo, however...” Mero voices the same thing we are all thinking. Neither of the Russo boys was fit to handle a city as big and as dangerous as Chicago.

“Matteo is going to be the Capo of the Di Salvo, his family is close with the Moretti’s in England and the Di Salvo’s have always run L. A with the Gallo clan. I doubt he wants to rule a place filled with Russo’s. Chicago is nothing to him, but the land his father dropped him off at,” Michel says, getting up from the ground and stretching his lean body. He was getting buff in his late teens. I could see the promise of his athletic legs through his dark wash jeans that he currently wore like they were made to fit every part of his build.

I was the only short one left, with only a pair of breasts and an a*s to show for it.

“Do you remember the story about Massimo Catelli?” Ren asks, standing to his full height pacing the room.

I frown, but respond, “Yes, in the later 1800s Massimo and his 2 brothers, came to America with nothing but a fake passport and a pack of cigars. No crime syndicate wanted to be joined with the three of them. They were weak because they were only part Sicilian.”

“And he and his brothers didn’t appreciate that, so they slowly turned their cards, taking out every crime family that stood in their way. Until the Catelli’s controlled New York, it was 40 years later when the Castellammarese war took place. And John Gotti took the fall as a Capo. A legendary story and one that can be repeated in a much more civilized manner with careful planning,” Ren finishes the story, taking a seat next to me. I place one of the pictures next to the bedside table, sit up and look at him.

We all look at him. He is crazy to even consider doing what it is he is thinking. It is a suicide to all of our names. But it isn’t impossible, just madness.

“What are you suggesting, Catelli?” Gabriel questions. And I wonder the same thing because it sounds like he has finally lost all senses of his sanity.

“We take over Chicago. Our Famiglia is big, but we aren’t the biggest in North America. There are a lot of players on the board. If we took Chicago, we will not only cement the Catelli name further, but all of our families would benefit in the long run. Everyone would remember the 5 of us. If we manage that, we create Allies with the Di Salvo and the outfit. It’ll make us the biggest crime family in North America.”

“You are talking about a war, the Russo’s will never play fair. They aren’t going to just shut up and let a group of teenagers take their City,” Gabriel warns, shaking his head in disbelief that Ren would even suggest it. I hate to admit it, but I agree with how absurd it sounds.

Us, take over Chicago? I doubt Ren is thinking logically. So I laugh and throw myself on the pillow as he gets up. His lanky body makes me want to snicker as he slides a hand through his long hair.

“No, but taking their youth out and killing Stagio is a power play they can’t deny,” Ren suggests.

“Too dirty. A war against the Russo’s would mean their allies, which equals the Outfit. My Papa has only said bad things about the Outfit, they are ruthless,” I say. It is true, the Outfit was a group of undignified Italians that didn’t belong to a crime family to call their own. So they made their own family and the Sanati’s ruled the Outfit with an iron fist.

“If we take out Alec, and maybe one of us marry Elisa, we could be half-way there. I know Lucca Sanati. He is next in line to take The Outfit under his command. He used to be close with Marco and Deno,” Ren informs us.

“What do you think we should do?” Mero asks Gabriel, who says nothing but stares worriedly at Ren.

“Maybe wait for him to become the Outfit boss?!” Ren answers.

“No, Lucca is crazy. He hates the Catelli’s too much after Katrina died. This entire plan is ludicrous. If we want to do this we are going to need a smart plan, a long-term one that doesn’t involve Lucca or killing Stagio,” Gabriel says finally agreeing to Ren’s ridiculous plan a bit too quickly. Going by the fact that a second ago his face revealed how against it he was, I would say he had a plan of his own.

“How about getting a Russo to do our bidding? Take out Stagio, or kidnap Alec?” Michel suggests.

“You mean Elisa? No, absolutely not, she is 15 and my sister. This entire plan is ridiculous. If we agree to do this, I think we should keep our hands clean on the outside. We would have to be smart, as Gabriel says,” I voice out, becoming a player too.

“So what are you thinking, Miss Capello? Play unicorns?” Mero asks with exaggerated sarcasm and I roll my eyes, giving him an exasperated sigh.

“No, I was talking about chess, dumb nut. We play allies against allies. Not just in the Russo’s tight circle, but in ours too. How pissed off do you think our parents need to get before they retaliate?” I tell them, and Gabriel is the first one to smile.

“Like play the one against each other? Technically, we won’t be getting our hands dirty. But we create a war. Question is, how do we use the war to take over Chicago?” Mero asks, scratching his neck, frowning at me as the room fills with the taste of power. Because let’s be honest, we are spawn from the 5th State. We all want to have more power.

“We get someone to marry Elisa, one of us is better than any fucker Stagio will choose,” Ren says nodding his head in agreement to his plan.

“And Alec?” Gabriel queries.

“We leave him for now, if things get really bad, then we get our hands dirty. The question is, how the f**k do we start a war?” Ren says.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Michel asks with his attention on Gabriel.

We all stare at our friend, and he smiles.

“We go to our Underboss and tell him our plan, of course.” A plan forms as he says those words and it is on this day that the 5 of us, the Misfits that were shoved into Chicago, decide on a plan that would cost many of us more than we could ever have imagined.