His Corrupt Mafia Queen

Chapter 8: Broken promises from a Stranger

Christina Ace

Nervously, I was twiddling with my fingers. It was late in the night, the grand halls were dimly lit, there wasn’t any movement throughout the Asso Manor, except me, lingering outside Sebastiano's office. He often works late nights, and the bright lights coming from the creases around the door told me he was awake. I’ve been wanting to speak with Sebastiano, but for some reason I could never sit down with him and if I got the chance my nerves would take over me. He just wasn’t the same person. I couldn’t burst into the room like I used to. Standing outside of his doors were two fully armed guards, whom I knew all too well. They watched me make a complete fool of myself. What was I even going to say to him? You would think, since we shared a near death experience, that it would bring us closer, but I was wrong, it drove us further apart. 

Nevertheless, I swallowed my fear and reached for the door knob. To my surprise, before I could even lay my palm on the brass knob, the door flew open, shocking both me and the guards. A smile came across my lips thinking it was Sebastiano, but I was quickly met with disappointment and disgust. A woman stood in the doorframe, adjusting her dress properly on her body, messy ungroomed hair, and heels in her hands. She reeked of alcohol, s*x, and the lingering cologne of my cousin. My presence didn’t bother her at all, she felt no shame.

“Gentleman, can one of you show Adriane the way out..” Sebastiano’s voice emerged from inside the room, but I didn’t see him. I stared down this Adriane woman and she took notice of my degrading stare. All she did was roll her eyes with a playful smirk on her lips before one of the guards left his post to escort her out, but there was no doubt in my mind that she knew exactly where she was going. My head shook slightly but I knew better than to voice my concerns. With my chin held high, I glided into the room, shutting the door behind me.

Sebastiano was standing by the windows, gazing out at the neverending view of Sicily. Although his shameless mistress came out looking atrocious, he was still groomed perfectly. The sleeves on his white button-up were pushed up, exposing his forearms, he had one hand in his pocket and the other clasping a drink, which he took long sips from.

“Sebastiano?” I asked in a careful, weary voice. Sebastiano turned his head to the side but didn’t fully look over his shoulder to acknowledge my presence. I took the time to look around his office, it was kept clean, nothing was out of place, it made me wonder what he and his mistress even did. 

“It’s late Christina, I have other things to tend to” Sebastiano said sternly, pulling my attention back onto him, he turned around to face me. I hadn’t even said two words to him and he was already dismissing me.

“Oh? Trying to squeeze in as many mistresses as you can before the wedding?” I rebutted, trying to keep my composure. Sebastiano kept his eyes locked with mine as he took another sip of his drink. Sebastiano didn’t say anything, he maneuvered back to his desk and took his place in his chair.

“I just wanted to talk cugino..” I said in a softer tone, approaching the front of his desk. Sebastiano didn’t look up from his desk, instead he focused on a pile of papers on his desk and kept a pen in his hands. Could he not pick up on my desperation? All I wanted was for him to open up to me. After a few moments of silence, Sebastiano placed his pen on the stack of papers and looked up at me.

“There is something I've been wanting to talk to you about..” He finally responded, I breathed out a smile, maybe this was the start of finally clearing the air and talking about that night. I took a seat in one of the arm chairs that sat in front of his desk and nodded my head, eager to hear what he had to say.

“You know Luca?” He asked, combing his hand over his mouth, he leaned back in his chair and kept his eyes on me. This was an odd way to commence a conversation, but I went along with it.

“Luca Romano? I don’t know him personally, but I know of him..” I responded with slight confusion. Luca Romano was the head of the Romano family, a long-standing rival of the Asso family. There have always been small conflicts between the two families, shooting at clubs, disappearance of money, bodies turning up, etc. I’ve met Luca a few times at parties but I never really showed any interest in becoming his friend, the things I'd heard about him were monstrous. 

“Then you know that his older brother was killed in Australia while on business a few months back..” Sebastiano said. I nodded my head, agreeing with him. The news shook Italy. I didn’t think anyone was going to be bold enough to ever kill him.

“Yeah, since Luca is the last remaining son, he has control over the Romano family..” I said, leaning forward, intrigued about how this conversation was going. I always loved talking about the Asso family business with Sebastiano, but ever since the events in Italy with..her, he completely iced me out of the family business and forbade anyone talking to me about it. 

“This long-standing feud with the Romano family needs to end, it’s only becoming more puerile and taking away resources and energy we could be putting into other things. The only way this feud can end is..” Sebastiano proceeded. A sleek smile came to my lips, I knew exactly where this was going and it sounded like, for the first time in so long, Sebastiano was tasking me with a job.

“To kill them-” I said eagerly. Italy would be such a better place without the Romano family, they’ve become too powerful and I would be glad in being the one to eliminate that barbarous family-

“Marriage and, hopefully further down the line, children” Sebastiano spat, completely cutting me off and taking me out of my imagination. It was obvious we weren’t on the same page. My eyes raised with confusion and my head shook faintly.

“Sebastiano, what are you talking about?” I let out a chuckle, completely dumbfounded at how this conversation turned out. Sebastiano took in a deep sigh and leaned forward onto his desk, pushing the stack of papers ominously towards me.

“Luca has agreed to finally put an end to this feud. He has showed an interest in you, and after long and hard conversations between the two families-” I already knew where this was going, horror filled my eyes as any signs of joy left my body. Slowly, I stood up from my seat shaking my head.

“No..” I breathed. I already began to relieve the memories of the first man this family tried to arrange a marriage with. My bottom lip trembled and my head shook more, refusing to accept any of his words.

“Christina, this wasn’t easy, but we’ve decided that it would be best for everyone that you’d marry Luca..” Sebastiano said slowly, standing up from his seat. His face showed no remorse or regret for what he was doing to me.

“No, no, Sebastiano, you promised me!” I screamed, hot tears streamed down my face, and I squeezed my eyelids shut in the hope my tears would stop. This couldn’t be happening to me again. My heart was thundering in my chest with pure fear, my eyes opened. I shook my head, backing away from Sebastiano’s desk. 

“Christina, that was before, but you have to understand things have changed and that being in this family means you have to make sacrifices” Sebastiano kept a cool manner as he walked around his desk. It was killing me how nonchalant he was, as if I was the one overreacting.

“You guys have been meeting behind my back! Discussing my future!?” I hollered with disbelief, I angrily wiped my tears away, refusing that this was becoming a reality. Sebastiano held his hand up trying to silence me, but I refused to go down without a fight.

“I’m doing what’s best for the family, that includes you!” He spat in a tone that was elevated from before. He stepped closer to me trying to justify his choice, but I wasn’t going to stand for it.

“You don’t do this to your family! You don’t break your promises and lie to them!” I wasn’t going down without a fight and Sebastiano knew that. He looked at me with narrow eyes and a clenched jaw.

He became one of them, my father, my uncles, my older cousins, all the men who think they can control me. My whole life I’ve had to live under their commands and expectations, but I thought in the darkness I had a friend, someone who actually cared. In the end, all of it was a lie.