We want to have some fun
It's a little love for everybody
Pass it on when you're done
That's the move, yes, that's it
All of us, all of us, are fine
Are the kids OK
we are all fine
Yes the kids are fine
All of us, all of us, are fine
Are the kids OK
we are all fine
Yes, children are -
The Kids Are Alright – Chloe x Halle
Diana
Spending the week in the cramped apartment wasn't difficult, I could really be in the grave, the late nights were more complicated with Bianca's nightmares. Whatever shit she went through with Salvatore Riina left marks as deep as mine. We tried to keep her distracted with cooking classes and explaining how she cleaned herself, it was fun, but the distraction didn't take my mind off how guys should be.
Frank proved to be an important addition to the group, bringing me up to speed on every family Bianca put on the bride list.
Reducing the list to five names was easy, but choosing the two winners required greater attention, first because they need to keep calm, their mind and toast need to be the storm in my brothers' lives.
Giacomo already knew that he would be the first to marry, having negotiated our marriages had given him the freedom of the last seven years, in addition to the fact that if he did not marry at the height of his 35 years, he would not have gained the trust of the council to enter the fight for the chair, he needs a wife who accepts all his faces which would probably be a challenge for the poor thing.
And my dear Jack, he would be the next one at 32 years old making me take on the great responsibility of choosing a bride who could put a little sense in his malina head. A wife who would give him the purpose of self-preservation, who would make him want to protect her, who would accept all her secrets.
In that my three brothers were alike, protecting yours, Giacomo's problem is being a kid, Jack's lack of ambition and Hunter's, oh my little brother had no flaws, and for being the youngest of men he would win his freedom to choose a wife.
There weren't many deals to be made for those with the smallest parts of the inheritance and even if Hunter had tripled his legal holdings in recent years that wasn't enough for the family, he would still be seen as the youngest of the Costellos.
I sighed over the names of the two chosen ones, Bianca was behind me trying to wash dishes by herself and the soldier in front of me with an eyebrow raised in my direction.
They had been terribly silent when I made my choices, but the whole plan wasn't up to us alone, they would have to fight preferably to make both of them love them so much as to forgive the transgressions they would make within the family to achieve power. , the pieces need to be moved with great care without mistakes, without slips and I would take advantage of every little information that I have even more of the intuition that I discovered to have.
They are two important additions to our circle, they would be two difficult deals to close due to the low notoriety of the Costellos in the succession line, at least one of them would win the approval battle with a little help from the Don.
Having Giacomo as one of Enrico's trusted men is a crucial point, with the Don's permission, the De Angelis family would have no way of denying a marriage proposal and we would still be rewarded with the brothers' indignation at having to deliver their sister to a wedding. Costello.
It's not like they've gotten over the fact that Stefano chose me over Giulia, a family girl who at 25 is single, was no longer well regarded, which would further reduce any opposition to the marriage, put the charming girl in my obsessive brother's hands was a risky move, maybe his platonic crush on the girl will help.
The sound of footsteps on the door made the silence deepen, most of the food was gone in the morning and Hunter was supposed to show up, anyway it was impossible not to sigh in relief as he walked through the door and a tall figure behind him entered quickly covering his face with fur. hoodie of a sweatshirt.
Giacomo had taken a risk because there must have been something unplanned.
Bianca ran hugging the two who were smiling at her, our eyes met and I just knew.
– What went wrong? - I let go without waiting.
“It's great to see you too,” Giacomo replied, moving closer.
Snorting, wondering how to resolve this, Hunter tossed a series of documents onto the counter, separating them into three equal piles.
"We need black, blue and pink paint," Bianca blurted out.
Hunter raised an eyebrow in silent question.
— Let's dye our hair — My sister, understanding what that meant, widened her eyes, trying to distract her from her realization, I continued — Bianca, the list of things we need.
She went out to the bedroom to pick up the crumpled pad, I picked up one of the three documents, reading the name and raising my left hand, breaking the silence again.
- Nice to meet you Theo Cross - The soldier laughed taking the document.
“At least they chose a good photo.
My older brother came around the counter, putting his arm over my shoulder and staring at the small paper under my right hand. I didn't make a point of hiding the name, I just indicated which of the two was his lucky one waiting for the explosion.
“No fuckin' Beatrice.” We motioned for her to keep her voice down.
“Give it all over, idiot,” Hunter accused,
“Look at this, look who she wants me to marry.
Hunter didn't pretend to be begged and when he read the name he opened a mischievous smile for the older one in a silent fucked up. Giacomo never managed to hide things from us, which by the way, it was more of our doing than his own, he tried with all his might to hide his thoughts, hide his feelings and yet we are his brothers created and made by the same mold .
“Fuck, we're conspiring against her family, Beatrice.” He stirred, running a hand through his hair.
I didn't believe she would really care, my bet was that getting rid of the brothers would be a boon for the girl.
- Then do what you do best, lie - I replied without any guilt - The closest friends and the closest enemies.
He knew he was right, having access to ports run by the De Angelis would double the revenue from our cocaine trade.
“Come on Giacomo, let's ride our steps.
“I really want to see this,” Hunter breathed.
My brother seemed to have gone into shock and I had to pray for his rational side to come back, when he appeared I saw in his eyes that he was going to have to convince not my older brother, but the Don's enforcer, the caporegime.
“The De Angelis control the family's ports, a deal with them will increase our profit from the traffic. Giulia is almost past the marriageable age, which doesn't allow them to deny a marriage proposal - I stopped, taking a breath - When Sartori receives Stefano's bones, he'll want to see blood and at the same time he'll bring the most faithful closer, it'll be the perfect time for you to ask for his blessing. He will want to have a loyal man on the side of the associates closest to the chair.
Giacomo seemed to weigh all the negatives and all of them I would overcome with good arguments. Still, nothing prepared me for his question.
- Her brothers don't like me, and it's going to be an affront? ?
He was right, hatred is something poisonous and it would be taking a risk that at some point Giulia would hand us over to the wolves, it would be the wedding of Troy.
With that my brother wrested a painful truth from me.
— When I married Stefano, I imagined that he would be a good husband — Bianca, who had returned from the room, was now looking at me — I wanted deeply to correct the defects he pointed out, so that his blue eyes would look at me with what she believed to be love. – Everyone was silent.
“What Beatrice is trying to say”—I lifted my head to Bianca, her eyes red with pent-up tears—“is that unlike the two of us, Giulia no longer believes she'll have a good husband. She is old enough to understand that men in our midst are no good.
“Hmff.” He huffed in disbelief. “How is this going to help me with her?
— Be a good husband and be true Giacomo, conquer her. Make her love the worst of you and make the best make up for all her faults, so when the time comes, and it will, you'll be as sneaky as you can be to keep your wife. - I declared.
— I bet that from now on you will have fallen in love with the bambina, it will be your choice to live among the secrets or try to recover her with the truth. - Bianca released seriously.
The weather hasn't improved much and the face of few of his friends hasn't broken down, it's the perfect opportunity for him to have the woman of his dreams even if he has to deal with some obstacles. Giulia would be a perfect Mama for the organization and her name would be respected.
- Sartori should receive the gift in a few days - Hunter with his serious green eyes declared - We need to put this into practice in a way that does not raise suspicions about our grief.
- That's easy, I'm just a man who realized that life is too short and doesn't want to die without having the honor of building a family - I smiled at Giacomo's answer, this was his way of accepting the inevitable.
"Send her flowers to thank her for coming to the funeral, wasn't she there?"
- Was. - I noticed the subtle movement of his eyes, indicating that he had seen the woman and probably acted like an obsessive madman for not having the object of her desire.
— Great — I huffed without prolonging the subject — Hunter, paints and scissors too, new names demand a new look — I tried to sound excited for Bianca's sake.
Which seemed to work as she perked up tossing the pad with the shopping list to Hunter, and ran to the Counter trying to guess which one was hers.
"By Dio, are we that much alike?" She held up the open IDs.
The men in the room answered with a resounding yes, drawing a smile from her.
“I like K, so I'm going to stick with this Katarina Alexander. - She looked at me and said - It's a pleasure to meet you Diana Alexander.
I laughed at his enthusiasm hoping that a new look and those fake documents would be able to hide us from the world we left, yet I was sure that at some point we would have to settle our accounts.
"What shall we do with my future brother-in-law?"
Giacomo's smile left no room for doubt, he would do it, and it would still do more or worse.
— For now we'll leave him to his assumptions, the gift from the Don will move Cosa Nostra in the next few weeks, we have to keep our attention redoubled. – I sighed with my head full with all the possible scenarios – Don't come back here Giácomo, if he has someone to follow you this area will be busy with soldiers.
“Your protection is low here,” he accused and Fran… Theo snorted.
“At least the protection is there.
- No dispute between the two - I said exasperated - The objective here is not protection, our objective is to move the chess pieces without anyone seeing.
“Checkmate.” Now Katarina looked really excited to be a part of the plays.
Giacomo stayed until Hunter came back with a good chunk of the orders, as they came, they went.
I grabbed black paints and started with the easiest, grabbing Theo's blond hair sitting on the stool.
- Ah per Dio, Bea - He stopped looking at my face and sighed - Diana, I'm thirty-three and at twenty I serve as a soldier of the Sartori, you can put any ink you want and they will recognize me.
- Anyway - I said, already applying the ink despite his protests - Let's try, after all, I'm going to need help to frame the De Angelis for Stefano's death. And it was you who offered to come.
The man grabbed my wrist with a suspicious look.
“Like the two of us.” He said it as if it were a curse word.
It didn't take away his credit, the task would be almost mission impossible, however, someone needs to do it. Sartori will never carry out his suspicions against such a powerful family without having a flea dancing in his ear, and if the flea doesn't appear, Giacomo's sudden desire to marry can get in his nose. Something I cannot allow to happen.
— Oh, Theo — I huffed, releasing my hand and finishing the ink through my short hair — I thought that with age comes wisdom — I mocked the desperate soldier — It's forty minutes with ink.
I took what I wanted from the bag on the counter and left under the eyes of both, going to the bedroom and arriving in the bathroom I put the paint in the sink, my hands dirty black, hair disheveled at the ends, that was the best part of the offspring no need to bleach your hair.
ahh it's going to be shit and I'll have to touch up every month.
I tied my hair in a pony hairstyle, counted three fingers down and started to pass the scissors, I saw the locks falling uneven and ended up getting lost in the memories of my husband winding his hair in his hand.
Stefano wouldn't leave my mind anytime soon and I didn't want to forget, I didn't want to forget anything, nor could I, the little cuts on my scalp wouldn't go away.
When I finished cutting, Katarina came up behind me and I noticed the door was open and Theo was in the armchair now facing the bathroom, black paint marring his forehead and a mild smile on his face.
Picking up the scissors my sister tried to repair the damage to the back of her hair, when she was satisfied she threw the scissors in the sink.
“Okay, how do you want to do it?
“Black underneath and strong blue streaks running down the ends.
She arched an eyebrow but didn't say anything. Then she took a pair of gloves from the box, smiling in a way of reprimanding my dirty hands. Applying the black paint and then switching to the gloves in the blue paint box, she put the paint on what was left of the blonde, between a few strands. Observing the process in the mirror, she couldn't differentiate much between the two colors and hoped that in the end the blue would be clearly visible.
- Because? - Theo cleared his throat, I didn't take his eyes off the mirror and my sister seemed to try to fight him for the look - Fuck, I got into this and your sister knows my loyalty, if you don't have the courage to ask, I have...
— I don't want to forget — I interrupted the discussion — I can't forget anything Stefano did.
Taking off her blue-stained gloves and leaning her head on the unpainted shoulder, Katarina spoke up.
— But not forgetting cannot stop you from living, you are much more than this revenge Diana.
His words gained space in a forgotten place inside me.
Stefano's struggling blue gaze filled my dreams and finally they weren't nightmares in which he attacked me, they were just memories of the only good moment I'd lived by his side, his death.
I switched positions with Katarina, taking the pink bottle and blending it between the long black strands of her silky strands, trying to do my best even though my mind was lost after her statement.
I was ignored like everyone else, forced to marry like everyone else, obedient like everyone else, faithful like everyone, but I was raped in terrible ways, beaten as if my flesh needed softening, marked like cattle on farms.
Used to close deals, every man who agreed to do business with my husband is on my list, not only because they are sons of bitches, but because they also present a danger, Sartori should have taught his son better, if only to hide his business from the public. wife.
And she didn't want to forget for wanting to have a part of him, no. It's so I'll never let anyone try to use me again, so I won't be a fool again, so I'll accept that my past with him has created something dark and dirty and twisted and corrupted inside of me.
Something that craves blood.
I wouldn't be able to breathe a sigh of relief until Don Sartori had fallen, when Anna was dead paying for the sin of giving birth to a monster and their names erased from the history of Cosa Nostra, of New York maybe even the fucking world. Anyone named Sartori got a target on his back, for every baby Stefano made me lose, every dinner rigged to try to take my sanity, every declaration of love filled with recrimination for crimes I never committed.
This will be my only mission and then when everything is at our feet I will try to breathe freedom.