Capo Dei Capi (Secrets of the Famiglia Part 1) novel Chapter 22

“Have a bath Yana, we going on a little trip. You might want to carry a jacket with you, it's going to be a long night.” Ren rushes in, dictating without looking away from his phone and his moving fingers.

“Also, have you spoken to that Christy girl? Mero won't stop nagging.”

I clear my throat. My face, hands, clothes, and shoes are colored in paint. My hair is on top of my head with a paintbrush stuck in the center, holding the thick mass up.

I look like a mess. Also, I am not in the mood to clean up and go out. Nor am I in the mood to talk to the female version of Hitler, Christy Perkins.

I ignore the last part as I have already explained to Mero that I will not be hooking him up with our school's most irritant girl.

Not only was she a staunch Catholic, but Mero is also an Atheist and a Made-Man. He already got made, and like the rest of us stuck in this City that kept us as a Prisoner, his hands were filled with blood. He was a sinner, and the ring on his finger proved it.

“Why don't you go without me? I need to finish my painting, and I still have an assignment to get done. It's Math.”

Now he chooses to look up, his face is still red from the skin peel he had yesterday. I spent three hours with him while he was getting it done. My Papa’s orders.

His grey, brownish eyes are heavy from lack of sleep. His thin body drowning in the jeans he insists needs to be a size bigger than his waistline and the XL white Levi tee that hangs just above his knees. Ren has no fashion sense.

Elisa giggles when she glances at him, probably thinking the same thing I am.

“Hello, Russo.” That is all the time he will give her because she is a Russo. If she believes I am mean, she is yet to find out the meaning of it when she meets Michel.

“Hi, Lorenzo. I am going to ah, leave you two alone. Thanks for letting me sit with you, Aliyana.”

She gets up and walks herself out the door. Her bright floral dress and the pink belt around her waist is a girly piece of clothing. Something Guilia would wear. Something I would never even think about putting close to my body. See, the opposite.

“Fraternizing with the enemy now, Yana? I leave you alone for three hours, and you decide to bring a Russo to your secret place?” His voice is cracking; therefore, his snipe doesn't sound as threatening as it once did.

I roll my eyes as I grab a small brush from the plastic cup of water. My attention goes back to my canvas as I dip the brush into the blue palette.

“Not that it is any of your business, but she found it on her own. She's a nuisance but harmless,” I inform him as he shuts the door and shuffles closer.

“None of them are harmless, Yana. Elisa might be living with one of us but doesn't make her family.”

My smile is huge, as I put my brush into the water. Ren shakes his head and rolls his eyes to the ceiling.

“30 minutes Yana.” He leaves me in the room as I stare at my impression of a midsummer dream. The painting needs a lot more work if I am going to graduate from my first year of art class, but I know I can get it done.

Seeing my sister, finding her, and just spending time with her is something I won't get another chance to do this year. I am thirteen, I know the laws we are breaking by doing this. My sister is a member of the Bratva, an enemy.

Papa said that an enemy is an enemy. The Famiglia and the Bratva are just that, sworn enemies.

A few months ago, Michel, Gabriel, Ren, Mero, and I were at the park not too far from here. Gabriel asked me what I wanted to do once I got older, seeing as he was writing an essay about ambition, I felt obliged to answer.

I could have said a lot of things. A painter was one of the many but really, I just wanted to find my sister. I wanted to know if she's alive. She is the other one like me. A half-blood.

It was silly at the time to confess it, and I left it at that, but Gabriel obviously didn't.

He is the eldest by 7 months and the broodiest amongst the 5 of us. He is also the rightful leader amongst the lot of us. But telling Ren as such won't be the smartest thing to do.