The Alliance: The First Book in the Mafia Boss Series

As Isabella looked outside her New York City sky-rise apartment, seeing the sun begin to rise over the city, she thought to herself how nice it would be to just get in her 2023 Maserati Levante and ride straight out of the city. This very thought had begun to consume her every waking moment the closer it had gotten to the wedding. A wedding she did not want but had no choice but to go through for the sake of this latest rendition of the Rossi and Bernardi peace alliance. She doubted that this would ever bring true peace to the two warring families. There was so much bad blood between the two that she doubted her f*****g its head and pushing out Rossi-Bernardi heirs or hellions would wash away the blood that had already been spilled on both sides. She could feel every hour, minute, second pass by and the ticking sound of her Grandfather's Clock in the hall of her apartment did not help much. It began to match her heartbeat. TICK-tock…. TICK- Tock…. TICK-tock, then a BOOM. Her breathing began to become haggard, and she found herself gasping for air. Was she having a panic attack? What the f**k! She hasn’t had a panic attack since she was little, after her mom went missing and never came back. She wondered if this was what was adding to her dread. Not only was she being forced to marry a man she did not love, f**k a man she did not even know except for his reputation of being a player, short fused and plainly, an ass, and these were his good qualities; she did not have her mother with her. She imagined her mom would have cherished being “the mother of the bride”. She would have loved helping her pick out the wedding dress, arranging the flowers, looking for the perfect venue. But this was not the case. She was alone being bullied by her father, Don Alphonso Leonardo de Rossi, who did not love her and could care even less about sending his only daughter to marry the son of the man who he called the devil, the late Don Enzo Alexandre Bernardi. Don Enzo had been dead for nearly 20 years because of circumstances Isabella did not fully know, but his reputation and cruelty outlived him and to her trepidation, his venom coursed through the veins of his only living son, Victor Antonio Bernardi. To the unknown casual observer, Victor was handsome, rich, intelligent, and ambitious. At age 34, he had amassed his own wealth separate from his family’s billions that were mired by street violence and notorious illegitimate businesses. He appeared to be every Mafia family’s wet dream, a more palatable, charismatic, clean-cut leader with a bright smile, clear blue eyes, the Golden Midas Touch, but do not fool yourself, he is a mafioso through and through. Isabella walked toward her coffee table and picked up the open Business Insiders Magazine adorning her husband to be in the “Movers and Shakers” of the business world. His facial profile was very appealing. His chiseled face, his 5 o’clock shadow, his slightly curled jet-black hair only accentuated his very blue eyes compounded with that puffy bottom lip curled up in a knowing smirk that says heart break and devastation. Any woman would love to be with him, beneath him, owned and used by him except her. She knew better, beneath this polished facade was a man who did not hesitate to pull the trigger on business deals and most literally against his enemies, and she was his enemy for many more reasons she had yet to know. Isabella had been “engaged” with this man for nearly a year and had yet to meet him or spoken to him directly. She knew of him but, given the nature of their family wars, they did not travel in the same circles. Last year around this time, she was graduating from Stanford University with her bachelor’s degree in business administration. She had hoped to see her father in the crowd but was not surprised he was not there. Instead, Dino, her burley 6'5" bodyguard with a heart of gold, gave her a big hug as she came off the stage after receiving her diploma. Dino was her bodyguard when she was just eight years old and was like a big brother and father put together. He even brought Isabella her first sanitary pads at fourteen years old and had her promise to never tell anyone in her life if she did not want to be found in the Hudson River. He appeared gruff and tough on the exterior and most likely he was when he had to be, but to Isabella, he was always Mr. Marshmallow. That, too, was their little secret. ~Isabella POV~ [Start of Flashback] “I’m proud of you Trouble,” Dino said as he gently put me back down from picking me up. It was those times that my 5’6” height was even more highlighted next to his. He then looked at me with a sad glint in his eye that lasted for just a second. “Thank you, Dino,” I said, appreciative that at least someone was proud of me. He smiled before adding, “Trouble, we are flying back to New York tonight, OK.” “Dino, I can’t do that! My friends and I are celebrating tonight. What’s the hurry anyway? It is not like my dad cares to have me home. He didn’t seem to bother when I was gone for four years,” I said in one breath. “I don’t know what to tell you, Trouble. He’s the Boss and we both know what the Boss wants. He gets OK,” Dino said without mixing any words. Well, we both knew, but I sometimes did not give a f**k. I responded while narrowing my eyes, “I’m going out tonight. We’ll fly out tomorrow.” Dino knew that once I put my mind to something it was going to be one hell of a time to make me do the opposite, so he started rubbing his hand through his glistening bald head and finally acquiesced with a slight nod. “I guess a flight delay could happen. But, one night, Trouble”, he grumbled. At the time, I was taken aback at Dino for not putting up a little fight or protest, but the next morning I knew why he agreed and that was because he felt sorry for me. Dino allowed me one night of fun and celebration because, literally, my world, as I knew, was going to take a drastic turn. It was exactly 5:52 am and Dino and I were on my dad’s private plane getting ready to fly out of Palo Alto to JFK. My friends Nina, Jackie, Jeremy, and I had a blast last night. We took shots, grinded to the music and did a bar crawl. I vaguely remember dancing with this cute red head with hard muscles everywhere in one of the bars and started making out with him until Dino pulled me off kicking and screaming. Poor Joe, or was his name Dave, went after to stop this big black guy carrying this small hysterically screaming white woman, only to change his mind when Dino showed him the outline of his Glock. Joe…or Dave backed away very quickly after that. Not that anything physical would have ever happened between Joe/Dave and me. I was a virgin and still am, for what reason I don’t quite know. s*x was just something I had not crossed off my list. I was 22 years old and figured it would happen when I got around to it. As I leaned against my seat trying to keep my head from pounding any more than it was, I heard my phone vibrate in my purse. I looked and saw it was dad, and I instantly sent it to voicemail. I placed my dark shades back on only to be disturbed by Dino as he handed me his phone. It was dad. “Hi, Don Rossi, how can I help you?” I asked in a stern voice. I only referred to my dad as Don Rossi, to piss him off, but instead of responding with his usual retort of “sarcasm is not pretty, especially on little girls with no tongues”, he gladly said, “I hope you remember that as I tell you what is expected of you as your Don.” I knew then that things would take a very dark turn. Before I could respond, my dad began, “I have accepted a generous offer from Consigliere, Vito Bernardi, the uncle to Don Victor Antonio Bernardi, for your hand in marriage.” I was stunned to say the least. “What did you say…. are you f*****g serious?” I yelled through the phone. I saw Dino shake his head, silently telling me to tone it down. My father was not someone who stood for disrespect. “It seems like you forgot who you were talking to and what I am capable of,” my father responded in a low gritted voice. “I’m sorry Dad, but you can’t…” I began to plea, but he cut me off. “But I did, and not a moment too soon as I saw you slut-ting it up last night,” he asserted. I was shocked to hear those words from him. I looked at Dino, and he shook his head in confusion. “Who told you that?” I spat back. My father responded with a chuckle, “Your fiancé sent me pictures questioning if you were still pure. He doesn’t want used goods.” I was stunned. I not only found out 5 minutes ago I was to get married to a “Bernardi”, but to make matters worse, he was already keeping tabs on me. My father continued, “Isabella, this marriage means an alliance for peace and prosperity for both families. I need you to act accordingly and behave yourself as if you have sense. I will not have you become an even bigger w***e than your mother ever was!” he shouted. [End Flashback]