Becoming the Queen

BELLA ROSE 20 YEARS OLD

“Bell! Boss wants to speak to you.” Jones yells as he walks into the gym.

“Where is he?” I pant as I walk to my water bottle.

“In his office. Be expecting the Don.” He grimaces. There must have been another attack. We have had seven attacks in the past three years. All spread out. Every family along with CNBS has been hit.

I nod at Jones as I make my way to my dad’s office, waiting for him to grant me access inside. He gets straight to the point.

“Bella Rose, have you thought about your ranked members?” he questions as he sips his whiskey and looks over some paperwork on his desk. Jones was right he is in Don mode.

“Will, Austin, Lee, and Elijah will be my lieutenants. Zander and Jones will be my right-hand men.” They all have their own unique traits.

“Good choices. We just had a shipment come in. Go inspect it. Take your ranked men with you. Work the job and don’t f**k it up. Get your front-line team set up, they can go with you.” he refills his glass.

“Yes Sir. Is that all?” I ask as I am already putting a plan together in my head. He walks around his desk and slings his arm around my shoulders.

“If you need me. You call me, do you understand Bella Rose?” just like that he goes from Don to Dad.

I know SynCox Engineering and Transport inside and out. I know everything I could possibly know about the families. For the past three years, I have followed Dad to almost every meeting that I could while learning five different languages and finishing getting my degrees. This is the first time he is letting me out to do something like this. After the Costa meeting a few years ago, Dad wouldn’t let me sit in any of the other families’ meetings. He usually took Jones with him, and Jones would update me. Almost no one knows what I look like. They know Dad has a daughter who is taking over for him they just don’t know what I look like or who I am.

“I will listen to my gut, and I will call if anything at all happens. I’ll have all the guys with me plus a couple more. I will be fine Dad.” Over the years Dad has taught me how to rely on my instincts and senses, the perfect poker face, and how to take care of all the different families. I leave my dad’s office to get the guys together. Zander is in the Kitchen and Jones comes in right behind me.

“Just the guys I was looking for. Get the guys and a couple more. We leave in thirty.” I inform them as I begin backing out of the kitchen. I turn on my heels and jog up the steps to my room. I go straight to the shower. I throw my hair up and scrub my body down. I’m out before the water can heat up fully. I dry myself as I walk towards my closet. I grabbed the closest suit and slid it on.

“Bella time to go!” Jones says as he beats on my door.

“Yeah, yeah! I will be there in a minute.” I yell back as I slide my boots on. I take one last look at myself in the mirror on my way to meet the guys.

“Damn Hells Bells took you long enough. Why get all dolled up when you’re just going to get dirty later.” Zander smirks as he throws a wink over his shoulder. I roll my eyes as I walk out to the SUV.

“Ok guys, we have an inspection to look at. Let’s show the Don how good we are at the job shall we?” I climb into the backseat with Jones hot on my heels. That means Zander is riding up front. We pulled out of my father’s compound on our way to the job. I lean over so only Jones will hear me.

“Remember how Dad is always telling me to listen to my instincts?” I leaned a little closer. “Mine are screaming abandon ship. I can practically feel the trap we are being led into.”

“Bleib der nahe von uns. Du verlasst unsere Augen nicht. Wir werdon vorbereitet sein.” (Stay close to us. You don’t leave our sight. We will be prepared.) Jones says in German as he straightens up and says it loud enough for Zander to hear. They both took different language and college courses with me. They know how to run everything as well as I do. That is also one of the reasons they are my right-hand men.

The rest of the ride is spent in silence and my head on a swivel looking for anything that doesn’t belong. As soon as we arrive Jones takes control of the situation.

“Pass the word around. We are here to check the shipment. Stay on guard. Our number one priority is making sure we take the Don’s daughter home safely.” Jones climbs out and circles around to my side as Zander opens the door.

All my ranked members form a shield around me as we head inside. Samuel, one of my dad’s lieutenants is inside already, barking orders as I walk up to him. Giving him a slight bow of the head for respect to his position.

“Lieutenant Sam. Can you fill me in?” I ask as I come to a stop next to him.

“Already filled the boss in.” he informs me as he turns to walk away.

“Good. Now fill me in.” I insist as he continues to not acknowledge me.

“I don’t have time for this little girl. Just step aside until I tell you what to do.” He growls out as he turns from me again. I step in front of him and stop him in his tracks.

“Make time. I am no longer asking. I am telling you to tell me what the hell is going on. Because if you want I can and will pull rank over you and then ask the Don what he thinks after we deal with this mess.” I demand as I step into his space going nose to nose with him. Demanding his respect and loyalty.

“Fine,” he grumbles. “Word is the shipment has been compromised. It can’t stay here. It needs to be moved now.”

“Were where you planning on taking it?” I question as my steps begin to match his.

“Romano’s. Gallo can come to get it from there.” He snarls as he pushes past me.

“Jones, get Gallo on the phone! Zander, get Romano on the phone. See if they will agree to meet somewhere together. The new meet place and here is compromised.” I order as I go after Samuel.

“Romano’s isn’t compromised. Why are you here? Go home and I will tell the Don you did a good job.” He grumbles still trying to avoid me. I pulled out my pistol and shot it up in the air causing people to freeze and pull their guns. I climb on top of a crate.

“Listen up! I am the boss here right now. What I say goes! If you have a problem, leave, and go take it up with Don Cox. We have a new meet spot to take everything so you will follow my team. As far as I am concerned any plans made before I showed up are compromised. Now get this s**t loaded up so we can get the f**k out of here.” I jump down off the crate. “One last thing. Make sure everyone carries extra ammo.” I command as I make my way to one of my men.

“Listen here, Bella. I have been doing this longer than you have been alive. If-“ I spin around and cut off his rant.

“I already told you if you have a problem call the Don.” I turn away after that.

“I want us out of here in five! Get moving!” I yell as I make my way to Jones and Zander.

“Nous avons une place. Ils nous y rencontreront.” (We got a place. They will meet us there.) Jones tells me as I come to a stop next to him watching everyone get the last of everything loaded.

“Have Elijah, Lee, and Will ride with Grumpy back there. I want them on alert to everything.” I mutter as Zander joins us. Jones gives me a nod as Zander leads me to the car.

“J’ai appele’ en faveur. Nous nous recontrons dans un nouvel endroit pour tout le monde. Protection garantie.” (I called in a favor. We are meeting somewhere new for everyone. Guaranteed protection.) Zander tells me in French as we both climb into the backseat.

“Si nous allons aussi loin. Je vous le dis a’ vous et a’ Jones. Mon instinct me dit que quelque chose va se passer ce soir. Les rats vont essayer de se cacher apre’s ce soir.” (If we make it that far. I am telling you and Jones. My gut is telling me something is going to happen tonight. Rats are going to try to hide after tonight.) I mutter quietly even though we are the only ones in the SUV at the moment. He doesn’t say anything else as we wait for Jones. We don’t have to wait long before he climbs in on the other side of me.

Once everything is loaded, we make our way to Zanders set up. I keep my eyes open as I wait for the shoe to drop. Even though this is my first time out in the action. This won’t be my first time to inflict pain. I have heard the soldiers talk, I know how shoot-outs and s**t go. This will be my first story entrance though. We just made another turn when we see the roadblock.

“Back up!” I bark. When we do we see we are blocked in. I don’t even think as I speed-dial my dad, throw him on speaker, then check my guns before grabbing an AR from behind the seat and filling my pockets with extra ammo.

I don’t answer when my dad picks up. I just get out after Zander and start firing. I use the SUV as a shield as I start firing at the enemies in front of me. I take cover while they return fire and I reload. I pop around and shoot again. I shot one in the shoulder and one in the leg. Taking cover, I check in with the guys and I reload again.

“Talk to me! I want someone f*****g breathing after this.” I force out keeping my voice as steady as I can without letting on how hard my heart is pounding.

“Looks…we…bout nine…go…this end.” I barely make out what Jones is saying from the other side. I pop off a couple of rounds before Zander answers.

“Don, Romano, and Kirill are coming up behind them,” Zander says over his shoulder as he starts shooting again. Kirill is the Pakhan of the Bratva. I haven’t come across him or his rank, but I have heard good things about them.

I stand up and started firing again. I don’t stop until I am out of bullets. I took four out that time. Taking cover again I reload as fast as I can. My adrenaline is pumping so fast that I don’t even have time to think about all the people I am shooting. It doesn’t matter killing is killing. This is just different from torturing them. I peek around the SUV to see how many are left. I throw my arm out and start pulling the trigger. Another down with a shoulder hit.

“Come on B. I taught you better than that. Those should all be headshots.” Zander taunts me. fucker doesn’t even know how badly I want to shoot him in the ass right now.

“I want a couple alive to play with later not to mention this is my first gun fight. I am handling it pretty well.” Zander just laughs at me as he hands more ammo to one of the guys. I pop off a couple more shots, but the fight has just about died down.

‘What’s your name my guy?” I asked the soldier who was driving our SUV.

“Seth ma’am.” He finally gets out after babbling for a couple of minutes.

“Zander, give him our numbers. Seth, see if we have any survivors. Jones will go cover your back. Whoever is still alive load up and take them to the chambers. No one and I mean NO ONE is allowed to see the prisoners unless it is myself or the Don. Do you understand?” I asked the kid. Poor guy looks like he could s**t himself any minute. He must be new.

“Yes ma’am.” He mumbles out.

“Enough with the ma’am, it’s Bella. Jones, make sure he is taken care of. I want him training with the guys from now on.” I order before Jones drags the kid away. They make their way to the blockade in front of us as we cover their backs. They come back dragging one behind them. Looks like the guy I took out with a leg shot. Zander goes to help them get the guy in the back of the SUV. It all happens so fast that I wouldn’t have believed it if I wasn’t here. Jones gets a look of horror on his face. Seth looks surprised. Zander begins to turn around and when he does, he starts running and Seth screams.

“Don!” he points over my shoulder.

I automatically hit the ground, roll, and raise my gun only for gunshots to already be sounding out. These ones seem louder than gun fight I just had. I look up and see my father standing there with two men behind him. All three of them lower their guns as Zander reaches me. I almost get whiplash from how fast he pulls me up off the ground and turns me to face him.

“Are you okay? You didn’t get hit by a stray, did you? Are-“ I cut off his rant.

“Zander I am ok. Just a scare.” I put my hand on his arm trying to calm him. He still looks so scared and unsure.

“Are you sure? Because I can-“

“Zander.” I snapped his name. freezing him on the spot. Now I have his attention. “I am ok. I promise. I am okay.” He pulls me into a bone-crushing hug. Jones comes up from behind us and wraps us both in his arms.

“Don’t f*****g scare me like that. Thank God the Don was here,” he mutters from where his head is lying beside mine against Zander. I pull away to finish the job at hand.

“Seth, take him to the chamber for me! Remember no one sees him before me and the Don.” I demand as he shoves him into the backseat.

“I will stay there myself and make sure no knows sees him before you or the Don.” I nod at him and then turn to greet my father.

“Don’s, thank you for the save there. Really appreciate it.” Dad walks to me and pulls me into a hug.

“Get home to your mother. I will catch up when I get home.” Dad whispers as he pulls away.

“I was going to check with everyone else and see how they are doing,” I say trying to complete the job at hand.

“Don’t worry. Romano, Kirill, and I will take care of everything here.” He turns to walk away before I stop him again.

“Oh, Don. By the way, I wanted to tell you that you were right critters really do go into hiding during the day. I tried catching one earlier, but it didn’t work. I was going to get on my phone and look up some new ideas.” I told him. Hoping he catches what I mean. We were at our cabin one weekend and Dad told me that rats can’t help but hide when they get scared, or it doesn’t go as planned. He looks over his shoulder to the other men with him.

“I will catch that nightcap with you later.” Dad turns from me again. “Kirill, Lorenzo, let’s see what we can figure out.” He looks back at us for a minute. “ Jones, Zander, get her home. We will look at the phone later when we go to the meeting at the cabin.”

Dad regroups with all the other men while Jones gets a ride for us to take since I gave mine to Seth. Romano stares at me a bit longer than everyone else. Almost like he is seeing something for the first time.

“Why don’t we swing by the chambers first?” I suggest as I turn to Zander. He is already shaking his head no.

“We can go in the morning after you have updated the Don, eaten, and cleaned up. I will send one of the guys to keep the kid company until we meet in the morning.” He suggests softly like he trying to keep me from throwing a fit if I don’t get my way.

“Who is the boss? Me or you?” I ask. Before he can answer, Jones pulls up.

“Get in the car B. I am ready for a shower.” Jones mutters, with his eyes narrowed. Daring me to deny him right now.

“Did you both forget about the company we have toni-“

“Bella Rose Sorion-Cox get your ass into this f*****g car so we can go home, or I swear on everything holy to your mother that I will hog-tie you if I have to. Not tonight, B.” Jones says sternly and firm like. I can see how worn out he is and stressed he is from tonight’s events. Zander and Jones have been out of the action for a while because of me.

“Fine. But only because I am tired and need a shower as well.” I lift my chin and make my way to the backseat. We make our way home in silence.

“How about this plan? Bella goes to check on Mrs. Cox, I will go start dinner, and Jones can get a night set up for a relaxing night of Netflix and Chill. We can watch something until Don gets home and then after we talk to him, we can go back to watching a movie or something.” Zander throws out there for us to think about as we pull into the driveway.

“Sounds good to me. I really got to go check on Mom though.” I take off into the house in search of my mom. Knowing her though she is more likely out in the sunroom. I find her in there sitting in her chair with her praying beads and whispering a prayer.

“Mamma, sono a casa e sto bene.” (Momma I’m home and I’m ok.) I whisper in my mother’s tongue as I approach her. I stand quietly as she finishes praying.

“Per favore signore, portal tutti a casa sani e salvi Amen.” (Please lord bring them all home safe.) she says in Italian.

“Amen,” I mumble. Mom is from Italy, and she is very catholic. Crazy right? This god-fearing woman is married to a man who sins multiple times daily.

“Well, let me look at you. Are you hurt anywhere? Did you get hit at all? What about everyone else?” she fires question after question. Not giving me a chance to answer.

“Momma, Momma, I am fine. I don’t know about everyone else. Dad sent Zander, Jones, and me home as soon as it was over. But we are ok.” I soothe her as I sit her down on the couch. “Mom, how did you end up married to a Don?” I question out of curiosity. I have always wondered how they ended up together.

“Derrek’s father sent him to study in Russia and then Italy before he could take over the family. You will go as well with the boys. Anywho, we met while he was in Italy. He brought me home with him. Six months later we are married. Then he takes me across the world traveling for a year as our honeymoon. That is how we can say you are ours and no one questions it. We were gone for a long time before Derrek took over as Don. Everyone chooses whom they will kiss, whose eyes they look into, whose heart they will cherish, and whom they will make happy. I chose Derrek. Even though I know now, just like I knew then I should run in the other direction. I can’t. My Nonna used to tell me never to let anything turn me bitter. Don’t let the pain turn you cold. Love and stay soft as hard as it may seem. Try with all your might to always love with your whole heart and stay tender. There will be a lot that hurts, that will bring us to our knees, but we have to let it go. We can’t change it, but we can choose if we let it change who we are. Don’t let it define you. We are better than that. We are never how people make us feel. Move on, heal from it. Rise from it. So, I don’t let what Derrek does affect me. I chose to love him, and I will choose it every time.” I give Mom a small kiss then turn to make my way to get cleaned up. I walk into my room, get some pajamas, and go to take a bath. Someone beat me to it though. Someone ran a bath for me. Probably Jones, he is the sweet one.

I relax in my bath for a bit before I get out, get dressed, and slip my robe over my pajamas. I headed out into my room. I see Jones setting everything up for our movie night. Both guys have access to my room, and they also have a room on each side of my room. We are looking into buying a building and doing a little bit of remodeling. To suit our needs and give the other guys a place of their own as well.

“Have we heard back about that condo building yet?” I ask Jones as I make my way to my bedroom door. I want to see if I can figure out what Zander is making. I don’t know when he learned how to cook, but he makes most of my meals.

“Not yet. Zander was going to go check on it tomorrow. Where are you going?” Jones asks me as he finishes turning my sitting area into a huge, pillows and blanket bed.

“I want to see what Zander is making to eat.” I tell him over my shoulder trying to escape my room.

“Bella, leave him alone. Get over here with me, you know he won’t tell you.” He sits down on the makeshift bed he made and turns his attention to me. I make my way over to him and sit down as well looking down at my pajama top, I ask but mumble, hoping he don’t catch it.

“Jones, why don’t you guys ever take the night off when I am home at night?” I move around trying to get comfortable and to keep myself from looking up at him.

“You have been our whole world for five years. We wouldn’t know what to do without you.” He says it so casually like it isn’t even an afterthought it is just a fact.

“What about when you decide to start a family or a relationship? Even after we take over the family, you can’t just expect to stay with me all the time and not do anything for yourself. You need to live your lives as well.” I fiddle with the blanket. Jones and Zander are literally my best friends. They know literally everything about me. You usually don’t see any of us without the rest.

“You are all we need to worry about. Nothing else matters. If that ever changes you will be the first to know.” He whispers as he slides closer to me and pulls me into his arms resting my cheek on his chest. Not long after Zander comes in with dinner.

“What is up with you two?” Zander wonders once he notices Jones holding me.

“Our Queen needed to be reminded how loyal her servants are to her.” Jones jokes. I pick a pillow up and hit him with it.

“I was asking Jones why you guys never take the night off and live your lives.”

I mutter as I try to distract myself with my plate as Zander hands them out.

“Bells if we wanted to take a night off then we would.” He tells me like it is a known fact.

“Ok, well what about when you want to be with someone or start a family? You can’t keep putting your lives on hold just to watch me 24/7. I just don’t think all your time needs to be about me; you matter too.” I scoot over as Zander joins us on the blanket bed. Giving him room to get comfortable.

“If I wanted any of that I would have it. I don’t want that, not right now anyway. My time is better spent with the woman and man who takes up all of my days. If I decide to change the people, I spend my days with I will let you know. That is a promise.” Zander says in a quiet and stern voice. Trying to get his point across to me.

“I want the record to show that I said that exact same thing,” Jones grumbles as we all settle back to watch the movie and eat our dinner.

After a couple of hours, Dad finally makes it home. He sent a maid to fetch all three of us. We trudged down to his office. Zander knocks and waits before opening the door and leading us in.

“Sit all of you.” Dad commands as he pours a drink for everyone. We sit on the couch while Dad takes a chair. He takes a sip of bourbon as he stares straight ahead. “Tell me everything.”

“My instincts told me from the very beginning. We were expecting something.” I say before the guys can speak. “As soon as we loaded up, I told them something wasn’t right. When we got there Samuel was barking orders, I asked him to fill me in. He informed me that he had to change where the stock was going. I had the guys make a couple of calls” I take a sip of my whiskey as Zander takes over.

“Boss felt like both places were compromised. We made new arrangements as she asked. Lieutenant Samuel threw a fit but got over it. We started heading out. We didn’t even make it halfway before we were blocked in. We started getting shot at, so we shot back. Then you showed up sir.” I watched my father as he took everything in, sipping his bourbon as he does.

“They were mercenaries. We don’t know who sent them.” He tells us as he swirls his glass.

“I have one at the chambers.

“He didn’t make it. Stay on your toes. We will figure it out. Don’t speak about this to anyone but me.”

Dad stands up and walks out of his office. We make our way upstairs and climb into bed and continue watching tv until we fall asleep.