Betrothed To The Ruthless Mafia

Rosana was breathing heavily and exhausted from training so hard since morning. It had been that way since she started training three weeks ago. There were no breaks or any time to relax. She had to keep training until Enzo was impressed with her performance.

The training was intense and geared toward building physical strength, agility, reflexes, and mental toughness. She was taught different techniques that drew from various martial arts styles.

Enzo and a few men made demonstrations, showing how to strike, kick, punch, throw, the vital techniques that could disable or neutralize an opponent, and how to finish them off.

Rosana would watch with focused attention, observing their practicality and effectiveness. She was determined to learn how to fight and become strong, just as Carmencita and Enzo said. Those were the only ways to survive in the Mafia world.

“Good job, My Lady!” Enzo praised and proffered a bottle of water. She immediately stretched out her hand to grab the bottle but he moved it aside.

“Why?!?” She cried out. She was dying of thirst as she wasn’t allowed to have any drops of water during the training session.

“First lesson, you do not trust anyone. The second lesson, you do not receive gifts from anyone. Even after your victory, you do not let your guard down”

“Whatever that means, I do not understand!”

“There are a lot of people who are not happy with your success. They know you just won and you are tired and broken and hungry. They would try to feed and help you. Once you eat from their hands, you are dead”

“But I trust…”

“Remember your first lesson. Do not ever forget it”

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “So what then?”

“You only trust your family. We are your family now so your only trust lies with us” He replied and gave her the bottle of water. “Drink first”

After drinking to her satisfaction, she followed him out of the training facility. They were done for the day and she looked forward to a warm bath, massage, a delicious meal, and some sleep.

“I knew you were family, that is why I trusted the water would be safe to drink”

“I know, it is just a lesson you should learn” He answered and lit a stick of cigarette. “Aside from guns and bullets and knives, there are deadly weapons called poisons. Some are slow, some are fast but they all destroy you from the inside out.”

“You should learn not to take things from strangers no matter how hungry or thirsty you may be. You do not know who an enemy is, it is not written on their foreheads”

Rosana nodded and winced when she felt pains in her neck. Her legs were aching from kicking and joint locking while her hands were stinging from throwing punches. Her knuckles were badly bruised too but the pains were less, pertaining to when she started three months ago.

She would always fall off to the ground and hurt herself without engaging in a fight. Enzo never took it easy on her either. He saw her potential and knew she was a strong lady. All she needed was the right amount of pressure and practice.

Now, she could fight and disable her opponents with the right technique. But she still couldn’t stand the sight of blood and freaked out.

“So what next? I can fight. I am ready for the introduction”

Enzo chuckled and exhaled smoke through his nostrils. “No rush, My Lady”

“But Sergio… He said I needed to be ready as soon as possible”

Speaking of Sergio, she hadn’t seen him for the past two weeks and didn’t care to ask. She was too busy with her training and had forgotten about him.

“You are not ready. You cannot handle a gun and you have a lot more lessons to learn”

“What more lessons? Why do I even have to learn them?” She asked and sprawled her arms apart. They were hurting but she was used to the pain already.

“Because you are a Mafia Queen. If you want to rule alongside your husband, you have to learn”

A Mafia Queen?

Hell no, she didn’t want that. And what was he talking about ruling alongside Sergio, that monster? He was evil and she could never learn to be like him. She never even wanted to rule anybody.

“I do not want to be a Mafia Queen or whatever. Being your brother’s wife is enough for me”

Enzo chuckled lightly and looked at her. Even without her makeup and hair properly made, she still looked beautiful. And fierce. She had sharp blue eyes which were not only beautiful. They could melt souls with just one glance.

“That is not your choice to make, My Lady.”

“I do not want to be like him!” She blurted out and went to stand in front of him. “He is ruthless and heartless”

“He never used to be this way, My Lady”

She chuckled dryly, waving it aside. She turned around and started walking again. “A lie of the century, I will give you that. Bravo!”

“What do you believe?”

She stopped again. “What do I believe? I believe he was born that way. I believe he sold his soul to the devil. I believe he has a black heart and dark blood running through his veins”

She was also bold and a little bit fearless, he noted.

“You forgot to add he is the King of hell. A lot of people say that too”

Rosana scoffed and continued walking. Of course, everyone knew what he was, including his brother who was just like him. The only dissimilarity was that Enzo wasn’t cold and deadly.

“And what about you? You are not as evil as I thought you would be”

He chuckled darkly and drew in enough smoke from his cigarette. He looked up at the sky and shut his eyes, puffing out the smoke.

“I am much worse, My Lady. But my brother… He is evil himself”

“But you do not scare me. He scares the living hell out of me”

“That is why he asked me to train you. You would have broken into pieces a long time ago if you trained under him”

??????

After taking a warm bath, Viola gave her a body massage and she slept off. When she woke up, she dressed up and went to the library where she met Carmencita already reading a book.

The older woman looked up and smiled. Rosana looked as beautiful as always and elegant too. Her look had brightened over the past three weeks and the sadness in her eyes had disappeared.

“How was training today, My Lady?”

“Good. But he keeps saying I am not ready” she replied with a frown and took the seat opposite her. “I just want to see the outside world”

Carmencita smiled and looked down at the book she was reading. She read a few words and flipped to the next page before looking up at her.

“Some people are afraid of the outside world. They would rather stay away from it and remain hidden”

“Why?”

“It is more dangerous than you think, especially for someone like you. That is why you need to be fully ready first”

Rosana sighed and looked away. Why do they keep saying the same thing? It is not like she was going to live in the outside world. All she wanted was to be free and live a normal life like most married women. And as they had told her, it can only be possible after the introduction.

“You are still afraid, are you not?”

“I am not!”

“Not of the outside world,” Carmencita replied. “Of him”© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

When she didn’t get any response from Rosana, she smiled. She could see the answer written all over her. “Everyone else can be afraid of him, but not you”

“It does not matter. He makes me afraid, just as everyone else” She huffed and grabbed a book from the table to start reading.

“He does not make you afraid. It is you who chose to be afraid, My Lady!”

Rosana thought about the little conversation she had with Carmencita on her way to the dining room and finally concluded that she was right. He had even told her not to be afraid of him but there was something in her that always trembled at the sound of his voice.

She didn’t know what it was but it was just there. And no matter how hard she tried to fight it, it always returned whenever he was near her. What could it be? She wondered.

“Amore mio!”

The deep voice broke into her thoughts, causing her to shiver. She immediately stopped walking and looked around. She was now in the dining room.

Sergio sat at the head of the table, dressed in a black shirt that had its sleeves rolled up and the first three buttons left open, exposing his hard tattooed chest. His dark hair was tied up at the back of his head and he looked as dangerously handsome as ever.

Why was he always looking so hot and different whenever he returned from devil knows where? She wondered as she watched him take a sip from his wine, his eyes pinned on her.

She managed a smile and tore her eyes away from him. “Amore mio!” She repeated. That was the first time she was calling him that.

“Let’s eat”

He expected her to move but she remained rooted to the spot. Quietly, he dropped his glass of wine, his eyes not leaving her for a second.

Rosana looked at the chair she always sat on. It was beside him, a place she was always meant to be. Her beside him and him beside her, that was how it was supposed to be. But they were very much apart from each other.

Instead of taking her place by his side, she sat at the other end of the table, facing him. She turned to the maids and motioned for them to start dishing out the meal.

When they were done, she picked up her glass of wine and raised it in the air. “Let’s eat!”

“What is this?” Sergio asked and glowered at her.

“A dinner, Amore mio. You are over there and I am over here and we are having dinner!”