CHAPTER 2
1436 Words
Carmela walked Alesia to her room and handed her a white dress.
The moment Alesia saw it, she remembered.
In her past life, this was where it all began.
Giana had put itching powder inside that exact dress. She wore it and embarrassed herself in front of everyone.
But this time, she wasn’t going to let that happen.
“I’m not wearing that,” Alesia said.
Carmela frowned.
“This dress was personally chosen by Don De Luca. He’ll be very—”
“I said I’m not wearing it.”
Alesia stood up.
“I’m not a dress-up doll like my sister.”
She opened the wardrobe and pulled out a short red dress and a pair of black boots.
Carmela stared at her before turning and leaving the room.
⸻
When Alesia entered the living room, everyone looked at her.
Giana swallowed hard.
“What the hell is that?” Rachel spoke first.
“You were supposed to wear white, you stupid girl!”
Alesia remained silent.
Grandpa pointed at her.
“Why are you not wearing the dress I selected?”
Before Alesia could answer, Carmela walked in carrying the white dress.
“Don, I tried,” she said quickly.
“I told her it was your order, but she didn’t listen. She clearly has no respect for tradition.”
Alesia took the dress from Carmela’s hands.
Then she threw it back at her.
A cloud of powder spread into the air.
Carmela immediately started coughing.
Her skin turned red.
She scratched her arms and neck desperately.
The room fell silent.
Alesia folded her arms.
“I don’t remember itching powder being part of De Luca tradition.”
Everyone froze.
Giana looked so uneasy.
“Take her away,” Grandpa ordered.
Two guards immediately stepped forward.
Carmela fell to her knees.
“Don, please!”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I swear I have no idea how that got there!”
The guards grabbed her arms.
“Please! Please!”
Then she looked at Giana.
“Miss Giana, please tell him! I was only following orders!”
“I don’t know what she’s talking about,” Giana said quickly and forced a fake smile.
Alesia took a step closer.
“Really, Giana?”
Giana looked at her.
“Or is Carmela trying to say she did this on your orders?”
“Giana.”
Grandpa’s voice made everyone turn.
Giana immediately looked at him.
Her heart was beating fast.
“Is this true?” he asked.
“Of course not, Grandfather,” Giana replied.
Then she glared at Alesia.
“Why would she think something like that? We’re family!”
Family?
Alesia almost laughed.
Were we family when you killed me?.
She thought to herself.
“Outrageous!” Rachel cut in.
She pulled Giana close to her.
“That girl has barely been here and she’s already trying to frame my daughter for something a crazy maid did?.”
“If Giana says she didn’t do it, then she didn’t.”
“I believe her,” Grandpa suddenly said.
Giana secretly sighed in relief.
She had always been everyone’s little princess.
Alesia thought
But it’s fine.
I still have plenty of time to deal with her.
And every snake in this family.
“Get that traitor out of here,” Rachel ordered.
The guards dragged Carmela away.
“No! No! No!”
She cried as they pulled her out.
“I didn’t do it!”
Nobody listened.
Grandpa stood up and walked toward Alesia.
“Now we begin the ceremony,” he said firmly.
Everyone immediately stood up.
Two maids brought forward a small round table.
Meanwhile, Enzo sat in the corner sleeping with a bottle of alcohol beside him.
He snored loudly.
Nobody paid attention to him.
They were all used to seeing him like that.
To the De Luca family, Enzo was a disgrace.
An outcast.
A man who carried nothing but the family name.
Don De Luca brought out a knife and showed it to her.
Then he placed it on the table.
He also brought out a gun, showed it to her, and placed it on the table.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
Alesia gave a brave nod.
He brought out a small picture of a saint and a lighter.
Then he set the picture on fire.
“You must leave your old life behind and kill the person you once were,” he said as the picture burned.
“And begin anew.”
Alesia took the knife from the table and cut her palm.
“Now recite the oath,” the old man said, nodding his head.
Alesia took the burning picture from him with one hand while the other bled.
She stared at the fire as she recited the oath.
“I, Alesia De Luca, swear my life and loyalty to this house.”
“I enter alive and may only leave in death.”
“I will live by the gun and the knife, and I will die by the gun and the knife.”
“And should I ever betray the House of De Luca, as this saint is consumed by fire, so shall the flames consume my soul.”
Don De Luca nodded gently as soon as she finished.
Alesia threw the ashes of the burnt picture into the ashtray on the table.
“This blood you shed means that we are one family,” Don said.
He used a cloth to wrap her palm.
Then he placed one hand on her shoulder.
Alesia looked at him and smiled.
“Welcome home, my granddaughter,” he said with a nod.
Alesia turned and looked at each of them as they returned to their seats.
Marco.
Rachel.
Giana.
Sal.
Her family.
Her own flesh and blood.
And they all wanted her dead.
But they didn’t know that she had already died once before.
And this time…
She was going to make sure it never happened again.
“As a token of my good graces, you will be gifted a portion of our business to secure your future,” Don De Luca told her.
“What kind of business is a teenager going to run?” Uncle Sal asked mockingly.
Don ignored him and continued.
“Tonight, ten percent of our family holdings in Atlantic City is now in Alesia’s name.”
He placed a document on the table.
“Ten percent?” Marco asked as if he hadn’t heard correctly. “That’s—”
“An investment,” Don interrupted him.
“A massive amount of revenue for a fourteen-year-old girl?” Marco asked.
“She stopped us from aligning with dirty drug pushers,” Don reminded him. “That’s worth more than ten percent.”
He looked around the room.
“The one who becomes her guardian will manage those holdings until she comes of age.”
Alesia simply stood there without a reaction.
“It’s your decision. Which of my sons will become your guardian?” Don asked.
Marco quickly stood up and adjusted his suit.
“Well, I could probably be—”
“You already have an heir,” Rachel interrupted him.
“Giana was born and raised a true De Luca and is the future of this family. Right, Marco?”
Giana flipped her hair and smiled as her mother praised her.
Marco glanced at Rachel and slowly sat back down.
Uncle Sal grinned.
“Come live with me, kiddo. I’ll buy you new clothes, designer bags, anything you want. Trust me, Uncle Sal knows how to have fun.”
Alesia remembered how Uncle Sal had wasted his inheritance on gambling and women in her previous life.
She simply shook her head.
Then she looked at Marco.
Her birth father.
The man who had left her to rot and die alone.
But there was one more De Luca son.
The eldest one.
The forgotten one.
Her eyes landed on Enzo.
He was still asleep in his chair.
Alesia walked over to him.
“Wake up.”
Enzo continued snoring.
“I said wake up.”
She grabbed his shoulder and shook him.
His eyes slowly opened.
“Who the f**k are you?” he asked sleepily.
Alesia folded her arms.
“Hello, Enzo De Luca.”
“I’m Alesia.”
Don’s voice interrupted them.
“It’s time to make your choice, child.”
“Who will be your new father?”
Alesia didn’t hesitate.
She turned to face everyone.
“I choose Enzo De Luca.”
“He will be my new father.”
The room fell silent.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD