Capo Dei Capi (Secrets of the Famiglia Part 1) novel Chapter 9

The Bratva agreed to peace with my parent’s marriage on one condition - the first child, which the Famiglia hoped would be a boy, would be given to my mother's family at age 5 to raise as Bratva so they could continue the Vasiliev bloodline.

See, the thing about my mother’s family and the Bratva, was their women, unlike the Famiglia, were very important. Without a Vasiliev heir born from the womb of a Vasiliev female, my mother’s family would have a hole in their armor.

It was their law that the eldest child, male or female, be raised to take over. A female would not only produce and heir but rule the Vasiliev family one day.

The laws are sacred in the 5th State. We are bound by those traditions. Some of them fall on all of us.

One of those traditions shared amongst the leaders of the 5th State was common. Sending your sons into allies territory to finish out their schooling years. It proved the strength of the alliance. It meant that your allies were in charge of the safety of your future. If they fucked up, it would be war. So, they took it very fucking seriously.

The Russo’s took seriously to a whole new level.

Then again, we broke tradition when they sent me to Chicago and Elisa here. The first girls to make the exchange.

But even with us, the tradition proved successful, and for so long has been honored.

Our scars would not be of the visible kind unless you knew the horrors that hid in the depth of our eyes. Only then you would see and understand the meaning of the term 'deep-rooted wounds.' They are still that, wounds, not fully healed, but bearable.

All for what? The symbol of unbreakable connections.

The thought of it all makes me want to shake my head and laugh at how absurd it all seems in the brighter mornings now that we are home.

My mother, for all her fortune, ran out of luck when she bore a girl and when the time came, my parents couldn't do it. They agreed to allow her to attend school with the Bratva's kids, but the Bratva retaliated by killing my Papa’s sister. Still, Papa refused and declared war.

I sometimes question myself, if my sister crossed his mind when he did to me the same thing he wanted to do to her.

Only difference is, in my case, sending me away was for my own safety, and in hers - to prevent a war.

After my aunts death and Papa’s declaration of war, the Famiglia stood together as is the way of our world and protected her as they knew how.

A lot of people died, and more enemies were forged in the time as a lot of allies chose to not stand with my parents. Things were terrible during that time. Dark times in the 5th State.

Until the Capo of the Famiglia declared an end to his reign, and the new Capo rose.