Deluca

Quattro

Marco Rossi sat in the vacant empty office of his Deputy Chief officer Romano Ricci. Ricci was a native of the town and believed in getting corruption out of the town, he had built his entire campaign on this and somehow, he hadn't been killed for it like the others. It had taken him Marco and Romano two years to get their previous deputy chief out of the office, and it was a fight that nearly gotten them both killed.

It isn't easy moving again the DeLuca family, they knew of everything and manage to insert themselves into every single line of government in Italy. They had a person everywhere which had Romano on high end every day. He even went as far as moving his wife and newborn son out of the country until the task could be finished.

Getting Romano into office wasn't the easiest, and it was only the beginning of their plan into taking them down. But that would all fall in vain due to Marcos idiotic power trip that he threw today, confronting the man with his name face to face.

Somehow, he would have to find a way to tell Romano that he had already f****d up and it was only day one, he hadn't even addressed the public of his placement yet.

When Romano walked through the doors, he looked visibly irritated, "You did what?" He asked.

Marco had given him the brief rundown of what was happening through text, wanting him to have some sort of a heads up., but that plan may have backfired.

"I couldn't wait all day for you to get your ass kissing in check. We are wasting time while this guy thinks he's getting away with it." Marco complains.

"That's what we needed him to think you idiot." Romano snaps, "You made him a thousand times more aware, and you made him clean up his act. It'll be damn near impossible to pin this guy."

"Nothing is impossible."

"With the DeLuca's impossible does exist." Romano said, "I just moved Maria back from New York, my son is here now. You may not have anything to lose but some people do. Get out of my office."

Marco sighed and sat the paperwork of his work today, "I shut down a leak that brought him seven hundred thousand dollars down, at least I'm doing something." He began walking towards the door but stopped before making his last point, "You know I do have things to lose. My nephew who was nine years old died by the guns DeLucas bring into our country. My wife became addicted to drugs based on the drugs that he brings in here. The only difference between you and I is that I have already lost everything, and I'm fighting like hell to make sure no one else feels that way."

With that, Marco exited the room.

~*~

Francesco stood in from of the doorway, his heart pounded harder than it ever had before. For some reason it terrified him to think that she would open the door and be subjected to the horrors of his other life on the other side. Eleanor jumped in response to his voice before turning around and smiling sheepishly, "I was just looking around your house. It is very beautiful." 

Francesco instinctively grabbed the girl's arm and moved her away from the door, his fear replaced with anger. "You do not go in there." The girl bit her lip in reaction to him scolding her. The look of slight fear horror on her face caused him to soften momentarily as he pulled her away to the kitchen.

"Fine." The girl said, her confidence waivered and Francesco could tell the damage he had done by startling her so much. How much had she seen? She walked the house with bravery when he wasn't here. No one was here to babysit her, so she wandered. 

Francesco grabbed two glasses from his cabinet as the girl took a seat at the bar of the island, "What do you prefer to drink?" 

The girl shrugs, "I don't drink, plus it's way too early to be drinking." 

Francesco chuckled, if only she had known what he knew, she would want to drink as well. Francesco knew he wouldn't let that happen, no matter how hectic work was he wouldn't bring it back to the girl.

"Never." Francesco waved a bottle of vodka and scotch around waiting for her to pick her poison, she rolled her eyes, "Fine. Orange juice, please." 

Francesco turned to do exactly what she asked, the way she said please would make him do anything she asked. The innocence that he felt around her was constantly disturbed by his dark thoughts, he hadn't been laid in a very long time. "Well, since we are to be married, we might as well celebrate our engagement with drinks. You chose a child's drink, but it's a drink nonetheless."

Francesco handed Eleanor her juice and he took a sip of his scotch, a smile lit up her face in response to his joke, "I'm a child but I still make better decisions than you." 

"Do you?" Francesco countered, "You are here with me in a country you don't know, and we are getting married."

"None of that was my decision. Things were decided for me, if I was still deciding things, I would be studying for my mid-terms right now." I said.

Francesco felt guilty, it was him that was stunting her growth. Francesco didn't choose this either. This was all another chess piece in a game he called life. Having a wife would cause the feds to back off of him, especially now. If he played his roll of the newly wed most of their information would be circumstantial at best. 

The worst feeling was bringing her in on this, altering another person's life. "My brother didn't give you any warning of this?" Francesco questioned.

"No, he showed up at my school and drove me home. At dinner he let my father know that he was taking me. No one objected at all, so I can only assume that I wasn't wanted in the first place." 

"You can't choose your family, but if it comforts you, you'll have family here." Francesco reassured, it was an empty promise, he spent most of his days alone, he didn't have anyone for her. 

"Do you just do everything your brother says? I assume you two are pretty bad guys if my father was going to s**t his pants just at him sitting at our dinner table." Eleanor assumed. 

She wasn't wrong, her assumptions were well made, but that was not the persona he wanted to put on in front of her. He knew how to keep back while feigning genuine care. "My family runs as a unit; we don't disobey each other because one minor thing is for the greater good of us all as a whole." 

"What about my greater good? Marrying you isn't something minor to me. I didn't have a choice. I was in school two days ago and now I am here in Italy marrying a guy I don't even know." Eleanor argued. 

"This will be a difficult marriage if you and I argue about how we got into the marriage." Francesco said, a slight tone in his voice. He wasn't used to having to argue with anyone and it was already getting old. 

"I think it's going to be difficult regardless. I hope you're not expecting me to be this perfect docile wife." Eleanor said, waving her hands around theatrically. "I don't cook, I don't clean, and we are not having sex." 

Francesco was annoyed at her words, as if he would expect the bare minimum from her. While he was normally a traditional man Francesco was always surrounded by strong powerful women who never just stayed home and sat around on their ass. 

"I did not ask any of that from you. You may not know me Eleanor, but I am a man who demands respect and you will give me that. In return you have anything you need. If you want to continue your courses here in Italy, I can have it arranged. If you want to lock yourself in the room all day, I will provide you the key. And if you don't want to cook and clean, I can hire a maid, but I'll have you know I've fared pretty well by myself." Francesco said, by the time he was finished he was faced to face with the girl, whose mouth was still agape in shock.

"And if you want a proper tour of the house, you can ask." Francesco was so close to the girl he could feel her citrusy breath blowing on his face. He wanted to kiss her, but he knew it would be improper. 

"Can I?" Eleanor asked softly, not looking him in the eye but at his mouth.

"Can you what?" Francesco asked, hoping she would ask for him to feel the mere inches of space in between them.

"Have a proper tour..." Eleanor's words sounded unsure as Francesco pulled away from her, extending his hand to help her off the bar stool. 

Francesco led her to the foyer of the house which was tall and grand, "You're familiar with the entry way, but what you wouldn't be too familiar with is the people on the wall." 

Eleanor looked up at the large portraits that had been hanging on the wall since the house had been built well over one hundred years ago. "You have your relatives hanging in the foyer?"

Francesco was slightly insulted at her tone, "Yes." 

"It's nice, I just would think you would make some upgrades on the home since you've taken over, it looks just as it probably did when it was built." Eleanor says.

"Well, you're the lady of the house. Decorate it to your likings." Francesco said l, "I'll hire you a contractor but planning a wedding and home remodel will be a lot." 

Eleanor shrugged, "I'm not doing anything else." 

Francesco didn't respond, instead leading her upstairs, "All of the rooms are pretty basic. I have changed their layout, but maybe you want to upgrade." 

Eleanor nodded; Francesco knew she had already stuck her way around every inch of the house by her feigned interest, but she asked for this tour. Perhaps she just wants to see what was behind the doors. 

"I can redecorate any room in the entire house?" Eleanor asked. 

"Yes, within reason." Francesco responded. 

Eleanor was silent for a moment, "I assume some of these will become a nursery one day." 

Francesco tried not to give a reaction, but he wanted children. He wanted a lot, but Eleanor didn't seem like the right one to ask that of. She was forced here; he wouldn't force himself onto her. Francesco had already settled with the fact that children may be out of the question until she made that statement. 

"One day." Was his only response.

~*~

Eleanor sat in the center of the large bed of the room she had been sleeping in for the past four days. It had only been four days since her arrival, and she felt oddly out of place. It was taking time adapting to the schedule of doing nothing. Francesco was away a lot of the time she had been here; he had given her exactly what she wanted. 

Eleanor felt bad for telling him off the way she did, but she needed some sort of control of her life. She needed to feel strong when in reality she felt far away and isolated. The house was incredibly large and hollow, it felt more like she lived in a museum rather than a home. 

Eleanor tried to imagine a young Francesco in the house living a childhood similar to her own. Playing make believe and birthday parties. It seemed like a foreign idea to see that in this house. Eleanor began to busy herself with coming up new markups for the home. Replacing marble flooring with wood and removing the centuries old wallpaper and painting the walls. 

The busy work was better than the option of planning her wedding. Eleanor wasn't the type of girl who dreamt of perfect weddings, she always focused her time to her studies. At least she had always tried. 

When Eleanor turned thirteen, she turned into a rebellious teen just like most girls. She began drinking and smoking, all to keep up with the girls that were around her. She lived life recklessly until she turned sixteen when she saved her GPA and got herself into a good college. 

Eleanor began pursuing medicine and it was her only passion until she was forced to move here. She hopes Francesco remained true to his promise and helped her reenroll into school locally. She would probably need to retake a lot of classes, but she was willing to do it if it means she could remain some sense of normalcy. 

Eleanor has a wedding that was a mere two weeks away, meaning that she would be someone's wife in simply two weeks. Eleanor was most nervous about meeting his family and being around them and only them for hours at a time. 

She didn't think that they would like her. If she listened to any stereotypes, then there was a list of reasons they wouldn't like her. She wasn't catholic, she wasn't Italian, and she didn't live in the same world they let the rest of them. 

Francesco had made it aware that two days from today his mother and sister would be flying in to help Eleanor plan the wedding. Eleanor wanted to have some sort of ideas of what she wanted.

After just walking around the garden for an hour Eleanor decided that she wanted to wed on the mountainside. It was a perfect location and they haven't had a single day of bad weather. 

The grass in the lawn was perfectly manicured and they could set up a beautiful arrangement to wed in front of with an outdoor bar. That was all Eleanor had figured out so far, she had tried scrolling through Pinterest for other ideas, but she came out unsuccessful each time. 

While Eleanor sat on the bed, she heard the ringing of the doorbell from downstairs and her heart dropped. Anytime anything would happen at the house that was unexpected Eleanor got nervous, she never knew what to expect. 

Eleanor listened closely for the sound of Francesco opening the door and addressing whoever rang but she hadn't heard a thing. Eleanor climbed off of the bed and made her way to the door of the bedroom, peaking out to see if anyone had answered the door. 

Not a soul was in the house with her she assumed. She made her way downstairs, cringing at the bite of the cold marble floors under her feet. She couldn't wait to fix that. Eleanor unlocked the many locks on the front door of the house and was shocked to see no one standing there. 

Had she been hearing things?

Eleanor looked down and saw one single note sitting on the ground, she picked it up before quickly closing and locking the door. Eleanor opened the letter and read its contents:

"Congratulations on the wedding, Eleanor

— M"

Eleanor hadn't recalled in her brief moments with Francesco him telling others about the wedding yet, let alone her name. Eleanor felt an uneasy feeling and she was dying to have Francesco in the house again. At least then she felt safe. 

~*~

Rossi had been making point outside of Francesco DeLuca's house for the past eighteen hours and he hadn't gotten a single glimpse of anything work seeing. He had only seen Francesco enter the home once and he had yet to come out, granted Rossi had fell asleep for an hour, but it was late at an hour he would leave. 

Rossi was shocked to see the front door open and in the entry way he saw the figure of a small woman. He was shocked, Francesco was never attached to a woman, but here she was at the front door picking up something from the ground. Rossi was shocked on how behind he felt at this. 

No matter how close he had gotten to Francesco he still managed to be behind and he had had enough. He wanted to end the constant cycle of being ten steps behind. Francesco had taken everything from him, and for that he would pay. 

Rossi didn't care what the cost was, and if that woman placed inside the home was one of the ways to get to Francesco, he would. He wouldn't stop until Francesco begged him for forgiveness, only then would he make him rot in a cell for the rest of his life. 

Only then.