Capo Dei Capi (Secrets of the Famiglia Part 1) novel Chapter 58

6 Months Later

"Do you think this one is going to get his attention?" Guilia asks me for the umpteenth time, facing the long narrow mirror and striking some really sexy poses.

"If Papa saw you in that you would get HIS attention.” She flinches, scrunching her nose. Yeah, I feel you sister.

“Why are you so obsessed with getting Marco to notice you? He is dangerous. Why can't you just go for Deno, he is a better option than his brother. Trust me on this."

Since Ren passed away, Marco avoids me like I carry a bad case of herpes. I see him but only when he is stopping by to see Papa. There’s quite a few of those ‘stopping by’ occurrences. In fact they are almost 4 times a week now. They used to be more infrequent and I also used to get a nod OF acknowledgement then.

Now, it’s like he is a completely different person and while I am no saint either, I wasn’t the one who led him on, promised him things only to announce the very next time I saw him that I would give those things to someone else. That was him.

Well, he didn’t really announce it, but the pictures of him kissing the cheek of that woman spoke in loud volumes.

I fume silently because even now, 6 months later I want to tell him that he has made promises, call him a liar. But I remain silent hoping there will come a day I’m courageous enough to stand in that foyer as he walks by me. When I do, my eyes will never waver from his, then he will know the meaning of hurt and pain. He will see how he has tempted me to indulge in the forbidden. I am now tainted, filled with the emotion of heartbreak yet again. A sinner.

Only this time I have touched him, tasted him and he has claimed me only to throw me out like the half-blood I am meant to feel like.

Deno makes an effort to keep in contact with me. Not that he has a choice, since Gabriel, Michel and Mero are set on vengeance and the only thing stopping them from causing ripples in a very shaky moment of silence is Deno and I. Plus there was still the possibility that one of them was in fact Ren's killer.

Salvatore Moretti had the job of keeping them on a leash but the guys didn’t like him and made that clear when they cornered him in a gentlemen’s bar.

Mero, Michel and Gabriel, were the same age group as I, but none of them had my calm rational mind when it came to avenging Ren and their anger didn’t help me determine which one of them killed Ren.

Deno and I agree on this one thing. Well, if I am honest, we agree on a lot of things. Including our growing friendship.

The last time I saw Deno was three days ago. I was leaving Campus grounds when my phone started buzzing with that irritant ringtone he put on my phone. Believe me, the feeling wasn’t just mutual. The people walking around me scowling, and laughing told me how not mutual the feeling was, as I dug for my cell in my leather satchel bag, as The Chipmunks yelled about big booties from my phone.

I smiled at the older lady, who was the Calculus professor, giving me the stink eye as my hand finally grabbed onto my cell.

‘KINGMAN’ Flashed on my screen. And I will never admit the smile it brought to my face after the shitty day I was having. The wind was chilly as it blew my long hair back as my gloved hand, with rubber fingertips swiped the screen to the right.

“Hey there, Kingman.”

He laughed, “Like your new ringtone?”

I groaned in mock horror, “Don’t start. I see 5 missed calls with your name on it, really smooth Kingman.” Deno and I had grown close these past 6 months and my relaxed charm came natural to me. There was no need to keep all my walls up around him. He knew I was not like the other women. I never got the chance to be, my Papa made sure of that.

I didn’t see the man as a Capo, and he didn’t see me as just a female. He saw me as Aliyana Capello, a friend that wouldn’t be his enemy. I still found him scary when he got pissed off with Gabriel and Mero, but I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.