My Mafia Madness 3

Chapter 7 - Arriving at Madison Square Garden

Taking lead of the situation Roberto exited the vehicle first, braving his way through the sea of constant camera flashes and questions being thrown his way.

“Mr. Romano, Mr. Romano! Who are you wearing this evening sir?” one reporter called out over the others.

“Mr. Romano, over here!” another wanting his photo demanded.

“Please, this way!”

Completely ignoring the cries surrounding him, Roberto instead focused on his red-haired beauty as he held out his hand and assisted her to step out of the vehicle, one step at a time.

Strangely, Willow had surprised Roberto with her expression as she looked around them at the sea of media and paparazzi there for the billionaire Romano brothers and their mysterious dates for the evening.

Instead of looking terrified like he thought that she would, Willow appeared to shine in the spotlight, smiling professionally and waving towards the cameras happily.

It caused him to feel a moment of pride as he watched on with a smile of his own.

Pulling her in closer towards him with his large arm wrapped possessively around her waist, the couple waved together, smiling for the cameras.

Acknowledging the media was normally something that Roberto refused to do whenever they went to special events.

He was never one for the spotlight; that had always been Dante’s job.

But right here and now, with Willow by his side, Roberto felt as if he could brave the press and show a smile for their cameras.

With her casual and friendly nature, along with her exciting personality, this woman was quickly and yet unknowingly sweeping Roberto off his feet.

Willow appeared to bring a side of the middle Romano brother to life that he had long since believed gone.

A side he thought would never show, not after what had happened in his last serious relationship...

Pulled out of his thoughts, Roberto noticed as suddenly the atmosphere intensified and the shouts became louder, more demanding.

They were shouts for the sponsor of this evening’s event, his older brother Dante who had now exited the limousine.

The dashing CEO sported a dazzling smile, as if it were of a second nature to him as he then turned back towards the vehicle and held out his hand in the open doorway of the limo.

From it, a long arm extended and took his hand, followed soon after by Alexa’s entrance into the spotlight at long last.

As she stepped out of the limo, arm in arm with the CEO, the cameras went into a frenzy as people around them began calling out in desperation for the power couple’s attention.

“Mr. Romano, is this the lucky woman who stole your heart?”

“Are the rumours of you and Miss Myers dating correct?”

“How long have the two of you been seeing one another?”

“Miss Myers, a moment please!”

Feeling her begin to tense up with the surrounding anxiety of their current situation, Dante quickly took charge of the situation and signalled to Nicola.

Lifting his hand up, he pressed his finger against his earpiece and spoke his command amidst the shouts coming from all around them.

“We’re on the move. I repeat, we’re on the move.”

With the command having been given, the hired bodyguards and more trusted ones who would remain close to their Don, began clearing a path for the special guests for this evening; a path that led all the way into the massive building standing before them.

Dante, Alexa, Roberto and Willow were quickly ushered inside and away from the frenzy of flashing cameras and shouted comments.

-

As the two couples were led up to their VIP section, Alexa enjoyed the warmth of Dante’s arm wrapped possessively around her.

It showed just how much he cared, not that she needed any kind of proof.

She knew Dante would gladly die for her. And she in return felt she would do the same, should the choice ever have to come up.

They were in love, after all.

Finally reaching the massive section reserved for them this evening, both Alexa and Willow stood in awe as they attempted to take in their surroundings and make sense of it all.

Alexa still had no idea of what was going on here.

“Are we here to watch a basketball game or something?” she asked, looking down at what would normally have been the court area.

She immediately noticed the stage set up on it and frowned in confusion.

Willow came to stand beside Alexa, also looking down at the darkened stage and her eyes widened as she spoke with surprise and excitement.

“Holy s**t! Is this like a concert or something?” she asked, turning to face Dante for some sort of a reply.

“Did you bring us to a live f*****g concert?”

Alexa turned to face her man now, her expression seeming hopeful as she watched his expression for any signs of this being true.

She recalled telling him once that she had never been to a live concert performance before and that she really wanted to go to one, one day.

But there was no way he had arranged that… right?

“Dante?” she questioned him, her brows lifted in question as she waited for him to speak.

The Don was having such a difficult time hiding his smirk from these prying women and eventually let his mask slip away.

The smirk quickly turned into a large proud grin as he gave his reply.

“I might have pulled a few strings-”

“-EEEEKK!”

Dante didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence as suddenly a loud ear-piercing squeal filled the air and both women began screaming with excitement, jumping up and down on the spot before they then hugged one another.

“This is incredible! My first live concert, I can’t believe it!” Alexa cried out, her smile bursting with joy as she turned around and looked to Dante.

“Thank you so much! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

She cheered, clapping her hands together in front of her as she stepped up in front of him.

Dante’s smile was also wide as he swelled with both pride and happiness for her.

“I’m glad to see you approve, bella.” he spoke softly, his words for her and only her.

“Who’s performing?”

Willow’s question suddenly cut in, causing both Alexa and the Don to turn and face the red head as Dante gave his reply rather casually.

“Just some celebrities you might know…”

As he spoke rather casually, he handed Willow one of the flyers for the evening and on it were the special performers listed in order of their appearance.

Willow’s eyes quickly began scanning down the list and with each passing name that she recoignised, her pulse steadily increased bit by bit.

Soon enough it was hammering away within her chest.

And when she reached the bottom band, her eyes widened in disbelief.

Right next to it was a handwritten comment she guessed Dante had scrawled down for her. It read…

‘Surprise – DO NOT TELL ALEXA!’

Willow’s eyes remained wide with disbelief as she lifted her gaze up from the flyer and met with Dante’s eyes for a moment, as if trying to comprehend whether or not he was being serious about this.

His expression alone told her that he was indeed being quite serious, and that she should not dare mention this to Alexa… yet.

“Anyone we know, Will?” Alexa asked innocently as she looked over at her bestie.

Receiving Dante’s warning loud and clear, Willow tried opening her mouth to speak a response but for the first time ever, nothing would come out of it.

The shock of learning such exciting news had Willow frozen in disbelief and she honestly didn’t know what to say to Alexa.

Roberto stepped in towards Willow, placing his hand at the small of her back as he spoke to gain her attention.

“You alright, cutie?”

Dante, noticing Willow’s paralysed state in that moment and knowing that a change of subject might be the best course of action right now, came to her rescue and spoke on her behalf as he held Alexa in against his chest.

“Don’t worry, amore mio… you’ll see soon enough.” he mused.

“You don’t want to ruin your surprise now, do you?”

Alexa turned to him with a smile.

“Oooh… I love surprises.” she admitted.

“Cutie?”

Roberto repeated, his expression showing obvious concern for Willow as she finally lifted her gaze up to meet his with her eyes wide in shock.

“Huh? Oh yeah, I’m fine.” she fibbed, shaking off her shocked state for the time being.

“Hey uh, can I have a quick word with you?”

Roberto nodded, following along after her as she grabbed his hand and practically pulled him along as the two exited the room and disappeared out of sight.

Alexa, having noticed this, furrowed her brows in question.

“What on earth’s going on with those two?” she asked aloud.

But Dante was wise enough to focus her attention on him as he gently pulled her by the chin to face him instead of the open doorway.

And she quickly obliged with a smile.

“Don’t worry about them, bella…” he spoke lowly, seductively with his eyes locked onto hers in hunger.

“Tonight, is all about you.”

-

As soon as Willow was certain that they were out of earshot and that there was no way Alexa may somehow accidentally overhear their conversation, she spun around and stared directly at Roberto.

“Have you seen the list of performers for tonight babe? How the hell did he manage to get them all at such short notice? This is like totally insane!”

Willow began questioning him frantically as she paced back and forth on the spot.

“Willow, calm down… you’re freaking yourself out over nothing.”

Roberto meant to relax her by placing his large hand onto her upper arm, and as soon as he did she stopped pacing and met his eyes.

“You’ve seen the list, right?” she asked him outright.

“Yes. Of course I’ve seen it. So what?”

“So what?” she challenged, narrowing her eyes at him.

“You do know that Alexa’s gonna totally loose her s**t when the last band performs. They’re only her favourite band in the entire f*****g world!” she challenged.

“How did Dante even get them to come here and perform?”

His grin widened as he thought of his brother’s plans.

“Look, Willow…” he started, clearing his throat before he went on.

“It’s all part of Dante’s plan to surprise Alexa, ok? Trust me when I tell you, it will all work out in the end. He has something special planned for her tonight... something big! Ok?”

He tried dancing around the subject without divulging anything to her, but Willow wasn’t a complete and total fool. And of course, she wanted to know more.

“Tell me what’s going on, Roberto.” she insisted in a stern tone of voice.

“Alexa is my bestie… I promise to keep it to myself, please?”

Taking a moment to mull it over in silence, the tallest Romano brother finally pursed his lips together before he lowered his head in defeat and let out a long, hard sigh.

He was going to let her in on the big secret they were keeping from the birthday girl.

“Fine! I’ll tell you… but no one else. Understood?”

-

Hundreds of guests and people who had paid for their exclusive tickets online began piling into the massive building, either standing around the stage or instead choosing to take a seat of their own for the night.

Amongst them was Vincenzo, who arrived in his sleek town car and was promptly escorted inside by his own men, them too dressed nicely in tuxedos.

For this evening, Vincenzo had chosen his usual alias to disguise himself as, and his detailed alter ego had a name that went along with it.

Nicholas Valentino.

According to his fake licence and other forged documentation, he was a thirty-five-year-old businessman from Italy who was currently in New York on a business trip that would last at least a couple of months.

Or at least that was his cover story, should he need to bring it up throughout his detailed plan to gain Alexa’s trust and get close to her.

Ultimately, Alexa Myers was the singular key to Dante’s eventual undoing.

Vincenzo, aka; ‘Nicholas’ or ‘Mr. Valentino’ as he had his men call him, had also booked out one of the few VIP areas and quickly made his way up there surrounded by a small army of his men.

Not one of Dante’s henchmen seemed to notice Valentino’s arrival, or the fact that he was also hiring out a private VIP area in the building for the night’s concert.

And why should they?

Not one of them even knew what Vincenzo Moroni looked like, much less anything about the man whatsoever.

To those henchmen whom Vincenzo did happen to pass by on his way up towards his VIP area, he just looked like another rich businessman in attendance there that evening.

Nothing special at all and certainly not causing them any sort of alarm.

As for Vincenzo himself, the first step was over, and he smiled to himself as he strode in through the doorway that had been left open for him.

He had made it into the event, without any issues whatsoever.

And even better, Dante Romano had no clue of his attendance there that evening.

And soon enough, it would be time for him to make his move and accidentally introduce himself to the lovely Miss Myers officially.