Eternal Love Book Three: Mafia Love

Chapter One: Mafia Princess

Family, blood is thicker than water. That's what her father did his best to instill in her, that no matter what family was everything. When it came to her family it was enough to be said that she was definitely not in short supply of family members. Annalisa Valease Gambino had been born into a huge family in the year of 1923. She had both parents, three older brothers and plenty of aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins.

But she was special, she had been the only girl born to anyone in her family for at least 100 years. Most of the women had married into the family. So, because of her being the first-born girl, she was treated like a princess and spoiled by everyone. But her life was often full of danger. More than one attempt had been made on her father's life because of who he was, and there had been quite a few attempts at kidnapping Annalisa to use her as a bartering tool against her father.

So, from the day she was born her older brothers were charged with watching her and keeping her safe. She was rarely if ever alone. The family business was, well, not exactly illegal, but it wasn't legal either. Her father had several businesses, one of his major ones was working with vineyards and making wine. He owned all the vineyards in three different cities in Italy. There was only one that rivaled his, but it didn't bother her father, he enjoyed some friendly competition.

On top of the vineyards, there was the gun running, her father supplied weapons to the Italian military to help protect his country. Her father even had a close relationship with the Queen of Italy. Her father was the Don, the Godfather and what he wanted he got. No one told him no. Annalisa learned very young that she had her father's same determination and fiery personality. And because of this she was his favorite.

Time passed and she had just turned ten, when her mother and her father both made an announcement. Her father Vincenzo had a special family dinner, bigger than the ones they had every Sunday. And it was there that Annalisa who everyone called Anna, learned that she was going to be a big sister. She had wanted a younger sibling for so long, someone she could play with and not just someone to watch her.

Anna's mother was having a very difficult pregnancy, after only five months in she was put on complete bedrest by the family doctor. Although Anna was only ten, she helped her mother as much as she could. Even with the nurse her father hired helping, Anna still did what she could. The next few months felt like forever and her mother was slowly feeling worse and worse.

Her father even as busy as he was tried to spend as much time with her as possible. Then the day finally came, Anna had just left the room to go and get lunch, when she hears a blood curdling scream, she ran back in and saw the blood on her mother's sheets. Her father ran in a few seconds later and then ran back out. Thankfully, the past week the family doctor had stuck around so he was close by.

Vincenzo had requested that he stay and because no one said no to the Don, the doctor was there ready to go. The nurse was already in the room by the time her father and the doctor went in. They ushered Anna and Vincenzo out of her mother's bedroom, then closed the door. Now all they could do was wait. So, wait they did.

Anna, Vincenzo and her three brothers, Antonio, Gustavo, and Andrew all sat around the hallway in chairs, anxiously waiting. Hours passed; they could hear an occasional outcry from their mother. And then things went very quiet. Eight hours later they finally heard it, a loud cry from a baby.

The doctor came out looking exhausted, and through his exhaustion there was another expression on his face, fear, and sorrow. He carried a small bundle with him, and after handing the small bundle to Vincenzo, he put his hand on his shoulder.

“I'm so sorry Vincenzo, I did all I could to save her but she was bleeding to much and I couldn’t stop it. It took everything I had just to save him. But your wife is gone and I'm sorry.” He tells Vincenzo.

You could feel the heartbreak fill the air, Anna started to cry and ran into her mother's room, she threw herself onto her mother’s body and buried her face in the sheet that covered her. Her father and brothers came in, and after her older brother Antonio pulled her off their mother's body, he just held her. The world seemed to fade away as Anna passed out from the grief...

What followed in the next few days was a blur to her. She ended up helping her father take care of her new little brother who still had no name. Her father was so busy getting her mother's funeral arranged that he had not given the child a name yet. So, the child had no name, that is until Anna gave him one. She got tired after two days of calling him baby brother.

So, she started to call him Giovanni, or Gio, depending on her mood. She tried not to do it in front of her father, but after a week, and the funeral was over, Anna slipped and said it in front of her father. Vincenzo was taken by surprise, after all no one had ever dared to take the right of naming his children from him, but he knew she meant no harm.

“Tell me princess what did you just call him?” Her father asked gently with a smile.

She looked at him a bit worried, “I called him Giovani, daddy. It was no fun calling him baby brother all the time.”

When she told Vincenzo what she had been calling his son Vincenzo made the connection, her mother's name was Genevieve. So, because Anna was so adamant about calling him Giovani, that became his name. Wherever Giovani was, there was Anna close by. She became like a mother to him; he was hers in her mind and it didn't matter what anyone else said.

As the year slowly came to an end, her father made a decision that would affect them all. He wanted to move and start a new life somewhere fresh...