THE DEAL

Five

"Stop annoying me"

"I'm not"

"Shut the f**k up, Andrea"

Ashanti looked up from her novel to see the twins, Camilla and Andrea arguing across her. She wasn't going to lie that she likes their relationship. It was a love-hate relationship.

She couldn't deny how much she envied Camilla. Just like her mother, Lena, she had black hair with gray eyes and a beautiful smile. She had a striking beauty. Andrea was a fine piece of art. He was tall, very talk with black hair and green eyes. He looks would make any woman drop her panties for him at any time.

"I hope you're not getting air sick," Andrea said to Ashanti as he noticed her change in expression. Ashanti looked at him and blushed a little at the fact that she nearly got caught staring at him.

"I'm fine, thank you," She said to him and he nodded. "If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?" Andrea asked her and Camilla hit his arm.

"Manichino," she hissed at him. "You don't bluntly as a woman for her age," she told him. It wasn't like Andrea didn't know, he just loved to go against it.

Ashanti chuckled, "It's fine. I'm twenty." "That's young. Marcel is twenty seven," Andrea said Ashanti's eyes slightly widened.

"He's way older than me," she thought to herself. Camilla rolled her eyes at her brother and turned to her. "He's not as bad as you think he is," she said and Andrea scoffed. "Shut up!" Camilla glared at him and Ashanti chuckled.

Even though they were twenty three, they acted like five year olds.

The jet arrived in Italy and they all got down. Ashanti shivered as the cold evening air if Venice hit her making her shiver and wrap her arms around herself. Andrea noticed and quickly pulled off his jacket before handing it to her.

"Thank you, " Ashanti said as she collected it. "I apologize for the cold. Venice is very cold at night," Lena apologized sheepishly as she approached her. "It's fine, "Ashanti told her. Lena gave her a warm smile and patted her shoulder before leading her to the cars that awaited them.

____

To say that the Bianchi estate was large would be an understatement. What was the appropriate word?

Humongous?

Enormous?

Huge?

Massive?

She couldn't describe how beautiful the exterior of each building was. There were six large houses with a very big mansion in the middle.

"This is your new home," Lena said as she turned to look at Ashanti who looked around nervously.

There were a lot of guards outside and they did not look friendly at all. Then two bulky men approached them.

Leonardo pointed at the one with green eyes. "He is Marco, he will be your bodyguard," he said. Ashanti looked at him and swallowed. He was handsome but he looked deadly. Same was the other guy.

"Alberto will be your second bodyguard," Leonardo gestured to the other guy. He had brown hair with a nose piercing. "Frightening," Ashanti thought to herself as she nodded.

Andrea had already gone into the house. Camilla turned to her, "You things should have been delivered to your room. Let me give you a tour." Ashanti smiled and nodded at her offer. "Okay."

At the end of the little tour, Ashanti got to know that the mansion they were in belonged to the Bianchi family alone. All other houses in the estate contained the other Mafia members.

There were four floors in the mansion. First floor belonged to Lena and Leonardo, the second was for Camilla, the third belonged to Andrea and the last floor was Marcello's.

"This is your room," Camilla said as she led her to a white door. "Why is it on Marcello's floor?" Ashanti asked her. Camilla chuckled, "You're his wife-to-be." Ashanti nodded in understanding.

"Is he at home?" she asked and Camilla shook her head. "He'll soon be back. I'll come and get you when it's time for dinner. You can take a shower and get settled in," Camilla told her. "Thank you," Ashanti said and walked in.

She let out a sigh and looked around the room with wide eyes. It was big, much bigger than her previous room. The walls were white with little specks of pink on them.

There was a queen sized bed in the middle of the room, a walk in closet was by the side and two nightstand beside the bed. Her eyes caught sight of the glass vanity table and mirror. All in all, the room made her feel like a princess.

"Time to get settled in my new home," she mumbled to herself as she went to take her luggage that was beside the closet. She wanted to call her sisters but she knew that they might be busy.

She quickly sent text messages to her family and Nina before she began her work.

She used nearly an hour to put everything in the right place. Now, she was very tired. "I need a warm bath, " she said to herself as she stood up from the ground where she sat.

She made her way to the bathroom and took a warm bath which effectively calmed her nerves.

Then she remembered that she was going to meet with Marcello this night. Her heart skipped a beat as nervousness flooded her veins as she stepped out of the bathroom.

The knock on her door nearly gave her a heart attack. "It's me Camilla," Camilla said and she let out a sigh of relief. "You can come in," Ashanti said as she adjusted the towel on her body.

Camilla walked in to see her standing in the middle of the room. "Sorry for interrupting," she smiled apologetically. Ashanti shook her head, "You didn't. It's fine." "I came to get you, dinner is ready," Camilla said.

"I'll come when I'm dressed," Ashanti said and Camilla nodded. "It's downstairs on the first floor in the dining room," she said and walked out.

Ashanti quickly got dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a brown woolen sweater. Even though the mansion was warm, she still felt cold. She had a very sensitive skin.

She pulled her braids in a ponytail and slipped on her shoes before walking out of the room and heading downstairs.

She got to her destination and managed to find the dining room. Everyone was seated already. Lena looked up to see her. "Darling, come sit", she pointed at the empty seat next to the head of the table with a warm smile. Ashanti smiled and obeyed.

Lena sat next to Leonardo who's seat was at the other head of the table. Andrea and Camilla were present. The only person missing was Marcello.

"We're having lasagna, I hope you like it," Lena told her. Ashanti nodded, "It's a tasty treat, so yes I like it."

"No offense, Ash, but American lasagna is no match for this," Andrea said as he chewed on his food and she chuckled.