Brutal Royals

Chapter One

Sienna

Red and blue lights flashed across the window panes, lighting up the darkness. I sat on the couch, numb as I watched the cops comb through every room, every nook and cranny they could find for clues as to who had murdered my father. It didn’t seem real. It felt like a dream. 

I had already gone through the grief of losing my father once. But twice? I didn’t know how to deal with it. I felt sad, but at the same time, I still just expected this to be another twist in my father’s plans. He would walk through that door any minute, or I’d find another clue that would lead me to another safe house. I could almost picture him opening the door with a grin, just as he had a few days ago. 

But he wouldn’t, and I would never see my father smile at me ever again. My fingers tightened around the tissues one of the officers had handed me, though it was unnecessary. Not even a single tear had slipped past my lashes since we found his body. 

There had been bite marks on his ankle, and from the way his skin was discolored and bloated, I knew it was from a snake bite. Or, more specifically, the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake. It was concerning how the Snake had found my father so soon, when it had even taken me a few days. Whoever it was, they knew more than I thought they did. 

And that made them dangerous.

“Sienna?” Dante crouched down in front of me, his face lined with concern. “Do you want to go? The police are done questioning me.”

They’d questioned me right away, though neither of us had been able to give them the answers they needed. When the police finally realized that we hadn’t killed my father, they still wanted us to stick around to answer any questions that might pop up during the search. I guess they were finished.

I nodded slightly, unable to do much more than that. He took my hand in his, leading me towards the door. Outside, the shadows seemed to creep between the stilted houses, pressing in, suffocating me. Dante opened the door to his black Jaguar XJ, helping me in. I hated how he was handling me, like I was glass. Like I would break easily. My father had me trained to be stronger than that. 

As Dante slipped into the driver’s seat, I turned to him slightly. “We have to tell my mother.”

“Right now?” 

“She needs to know.” My voice held out just long enough to get the words out. 

Dante pulled out of the drive, heading back to the city. All I could do was sit there, watching the highway whip past, the lights of the buildings surrounding us blurring together. I wished he would drive slower. I didn’t want to be the one to tell my mother that her husband was actually gone—that it wasn’t another plan. I could barely take her crying on the phone from the first time. 

And now we had to do it all over again…for real this time.

The guilt hits me just as we reach the outskirts of downtown New York. I should have known that the Snake would stop at nothing to take my father down. I should have been there to save him. Or, better yet, I should have caught the Snake when we were supposed to and put an end to all of this. I couldn’t help but feel as if it were my fault. As if I had somehow failed him.

Now, more than ever, we needed to find the Snake before he managed to take out my entire family. I knew he wasn’t going to stop with just my father. Someone else would just take his place. Someone like me…

“The Commission.” 

Dante glanced over at me. “What?”

“The Commission meeting is coming up soon,” I said slowly, my brain taking longer to connect the dots than usual. “I’ll need to go.” 

He frowned, hesitating. “You’re going?” 

“How else would they vote for me as the new Don?” 

I watched as his mouth opened and shut in surprise, as if he couldn’t believe that I would try to get a position that hadn’t been held by a woman in mafia history. “Is that a problem?”

His mouth snapped shut. “Not at all. Whatever you decide, you know I’ll support you.”

“And your father?” 

That was a loaded question. I knew his father was hoping that Dante would take over my family and everything we owned. It had been his original plan when he first offered to have his son marry me. Not that my father and I ever would have let that happen. I still won’t. Dante would never be the head of the Rosania family. 

That title belonged to me and me alone. 

“He’ll…get over it.” 

I highly doubted it, but I didn’t have enough energy to argue about it now. I had to save everything I had to face my mother. 

“What about Mateo?” Dante asked. 

Mentioning my father’s underboss jolted me out of the numb stupor. “What about him?” 

“He won’t try to get that position for himself?” Dante glanced over at me.

“No. He’d support me just as he’d supported my father,” I replied firmly, looking straight ahead.

Dante turned down the street that led to my family’s apartment complex. My father had bought the whole building for our family and associates. The first few floors were for our staff; maids, chefs, and security. The middle floors were my father’s head offices, with his personal rooms on the floor above them. My rooms were in the penthouse, an entire floor to myself. No one was allowed up without an ID and a personal card. 

The building rose up above the others that surrounded it. It gleamed silver in the city lights, reflecting the skyline and darkness. A few lights lit up the bottom floors, while only a few were lit along the floors my mother lived on. She’d been staying home since my father’s disappearing act, staying out of the news and away from the reporters. They had planned to get back to their normal lives after the Snake had been caught, but now she would have to hold out just a little longer. If the news didn’t break her first.

Dante let me out at the front before pulling the car down into the parking garage. He’d meet me in the lobby. I couldn’t face my mother alone. I couldn’t tell her on my own that the love of her life was now gone. Forever. It made me feel like a coward, weak, that I had to depend on Dante’s strength to get me through this.

The lobby looked immaculate, as always. The white floors were perfectly swept and clean, reflecting the gold that gilded the edges of the glass walls—bulletproof, of course. The security guards greeted me with a slight nod, not even bothering to check my ID. Knowing that Dante was doing something similar just a floor below me, I went through the gates. He’d take the elevator to the lobby before we went up together.

A bell pinged as the elevator doors opened. Dante stood there, as handsome as ever, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans. His dark hair looked tousled from running his hands through it at the safe house, and his shirt was wrinkled, but it was a good look on him. He was the only person I could think of that could pull the tired look off so well. 

“You ready?” he asked, making room for me in the elevator. 

“No. But does it matter?” 

“Probably not.” 

The elevator softly lurched to a stop, the doors opening with a ping. I stepped out, automatically checking to see if anyone else was in the hall. It was an old habit and a hard one to break. The front door to my parents’ apartment was just in front of the elevator. My mother probably heard the bell from inside, though there was no indication that she would open the door to check. I couldn’t hear anything beyond the thick door. 

Knocking softly, we waited outside in the hall. The numbness was still there though distant. I rolled out my shoulders, trying to get rid of the knots between them. Dante’s hand slipped around mine, steadying me. It took a few minutes before we heard my mother moving around on the other side of the door. Finally, it opened.

Her face was red and splotchy, tears still trekking down her round cheeks. Her eyes were rimmed with red. I stood there, shocked. There was no way she could have heard about my father already. Yet, even with that logic firmly in my mind, I could tell she had. 

“Sienna…” Her voice cracked as she reached for me.

Maybe it was seeing her like that—and knowing it was all real—was what broke me.  As soon as she touched my face, tears flooded my own cheeks, mirroring hers. My mother pulled me to her tightly, her nails digging into my back, but I didn’t care. I hadn’t needed my mother’s comfort in so long. But I needed it now.

“How did you—” The words choked me. “How did you know?”

She pulled away slightly, smoothing back my hair. “Mateo got the call from one of our officers. He told me.” 

“I’m so sorry.” The words came out in a rush. I was sorry for a lot of things. That she had to find out like this. That she had been alone when she’d gotten the news. That I hadn’t been there for her. 

My mother seemed to understand as she always had. “I know, amore mio, I know.” 

I buried my face into her shoulder, trying to hold it all back. Trying to be strong. Her hand continued to brush back my hair, softly grazing my cheeks. It was something she hadn’t done since I was a child, bringing back the memories of our past. 

“What am I going to do without him?” I asked softly. It had slipped out before I could stop it. 

My mother tensed, her eyes darting towards Dante as she pulled away. Her mouth set firmly, eyes glinting like steel. “You keep moving forward. Like you’ve always done.” Her hands gripped my arms, holding me in place. “And you find the mother fucker who did this.”

“We’re trying.” I angrily wiped the tear that threatened to follow the rest.

My mother opened the door, allowing us to come in. The salon looked the same as it always had. Persian rugs covered the hardwood floor. Ornate velvet sofas gilded with gold sat before the electric fireplace. Halls branched off from the front room, leading towards the bedrooms, kitchen, and dining room. Oil paintings hung against the dark, emerald walls, and the city glimmered beyond the glass windows. Dante helped my mother to one of the chairs that sat on either side of the couch, taking her hand. 

I told her what happened to me at the charity gala and how Dante had come and rescued me. I told her that the Snake hadn’t even been there, probably because he was too busy murdering my father and making sure he didn’t pull another disappearing act. Dante filled in the details I didn’t know, like how he had followed my kidnappers to the warehouse. The entire time, my mother was silent, gripping the arms of the chair for support. When we were finished, she looked older than her fifty years. 

“I didn’t know….” Her voice sounded small. “I didn’t know that the last time I would ever see him again would be at your wedding.” 

The wedding. It seemed like a lifetime ago. I glanced over at Dante. He’d been so steady through this entire night. A rock against the waves. It had only been a few weeks since we first met at the club, both targeting the same mark. There had been no indication that our hatred for each other would slowly twist into something else. Into love. A partnership. 

“I’m so sorry, mama,” I said softly, laying a hand on her arm. “I promise you, we will find the Snake before he hurts anyone else in our family. He will not get away with this.” 

My mother didn’t even look at me. Instead, she turned to Dante. “You keep my daughter safe, do you understand me? Because not even the Saints will be able to protect you from me if you don’t.”

Dante could have laughed, but he didn’t. His eyes darkened, promising vengeance to anyone who dared cross him. “I swear nothing will happen to Sienna.” 

“For your sake, I hope not.”

I leaned forward. “We need new leads. The trap we laid for the Snake at the charity ball didn’t work.” 

“He—or she,” Dante quickly added, “was one step ahead of us.” 

“They’ve been one step ahead of us this whole time,” I mutter. “But how?”

“Maybe you have a few rats,” Dante suggested. “We know that the Snake has been poaching from both of our families. Who’s to say that a few didn’t stay in our employment just to give information.”

“But no one else knew about the plan,” I pointed out. “So that doesn’t really add up.”

We all fell silent for a moment, thinking. I couldn’t see how our plans to trap the Snake would have been leaked. We hadn’t even included any of our normal security detail to help us. I’d been the bait, and Dante was the only one who had my back. 

I glanced at him sharply. It couldn’t have been him. He’d been helping me this entire time, and we’d even been on the right track. Unless…unless he was purposefully leading me in what might have seemed like the right direction, except it wasn’t. 

There wasn’t any way I could prove these sinking suspicions, but I knew that I couldn’t let Dante in any more than I already had. Until this was over, until we caught the Snake and put an end to it all, I couldn’t let Dante get closer. I had to protect myself and my family. It was the only way to keep us alive. 

Standing, I laid a hand on the back of the chair for balance. After everything that had happened recently, I was still a bit shaky. 

“I’m going to dad’s office to check things over,” I gently told my mom. 

“Do you want me to come?” Dante asked, eyeing me warily. I guess he didn’t trust me to make it there on my own without passing out.

“No. Stay with my mom. Is that okay?” I glanced over at her. 

She nodded slightly. “It might be nice not to be alone right now.”

Dante took her hand, giving it a soft squeeze. “We can stay as long as you need us.” 

With that in order, I headed out the door. My father’s study was just a floor below their own apartments. When I left the elevator, the hall was dark. Switching on the light, I made my way towards his door. My hand paused just over the doorknob. It felt weird coming here while I knew he wouldn’t be behind that desk smoking a cigar or having a glass of whiskey. 

Steeling myself, I pushed it open, slipping inside. The study was dark, cast in shadows though the lights from the city fell across the floor. I stood there in the darkness, letting it press against me like an old friend. But it wasn’t. The room itself felt…empty. Devoid of life. As if it knew its owner had passed on already. 

Death wasn’t an enigma when it came to our family. My father always expected his death was right around the corner, because it very well could have been. Fights broke out between the various mafia families in the city—with the Russians, the Irish, and the Scaranos. I guess I just never thought it would actually happen so soon. 

I wasn’t ready. 

Stepping around the desk, I sat in his chair. The leather squeaked beneath me, protesting. Even the chair knew I didn’t belong here. Tentatively, I pulled out the drawer, leafing through the various files he’d left there. A few things had been moved around. I’m assuming that was Mateo. 

Dante’s words flit through my head, unbidden. I snapped the door shut. Mateo had been taking care of the businesses and the family while we were hunting down a killer, but once I’d caught the Snake and gotten revenge, this chair would be mine. This office would be mine. I’d known Mateo my entire life, and I knew he would never try to take the seat of a Rosania. Not unless each and every one of us was dead. 

Which wouldn’t be too hard to accomplish. With my mother’s brothers dead, and my father’s own siblings killed in Sicily when they’d moved back to our home country, my mother and I were the only Rosanias left.

It made sense why the Snake was going after me, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they went after my mother as well. We would need to put her in a safe place—somewhere the Snake would never find. And only Dante and I would know its location. I ignored the little voice in the back of my mind warning me not to trust Dante. That was a voice from the past. It wasn’t needed now.

But what if it was right? Sal Scarano had come to my father with this plan of marriage to try and either take us down or elevate his own heir to the position of Don over two families. Either way, he would have won something. But now, with my father gone, what was the point? We were weak right now. Without a leader. Sal could very well just toss out his first plan and simply attack us, taking over. 

But would Dante allow that to happen? The way he acted towards me…I knew the Scaranos. I knew what rats they could be. Dante had been trained his entire life to take over for his father someday. Sure, he’d been kept separate, but that was the point—his whole life was the mafia. There was nothing else. No one else. 

Including me. 

As I reached for another drawer, exhaustion swept over me. I hesitated. Whatever is in this desk could wait until tomorrow. I knew I didn’t even have the capacity to really understand what I was reading right now anyway. With too many thoughts in my head, I scooted the chair back, leaving the desk how it was before I’d come in. With my hand on the doorknob, I looked around the room one last time. 

It was easy enough to picture it filled with light, Mateo sitting in his usual chair across from my father. They’d be discussing business, maybe the local sports. But now it was dark. Empty. Cold. I shut the door behind me and didn’t look back.