Whispers of the Damned

I returned to San Francisco with Theo and Damien while Ariana's husband carried Ariana back to Sacramento. Theo was staying at Damien's house near the beach, and I joined them for a quick lunch before heading back to my flat. "There's no Abraham, my chef is on vacation so you do the cooking." Damien points at me quickly.

I snorted and shook my head, leaning in to rest my head on my second brother's shoulder, who was focused on the game on his tablet. "You can buy it from the restaurant. I want seafood." "Restaurant food isn't healthy, you idiot." Damien retorted.

"You cook, then." I shot back.

Theo chuckled in annoyance. "You're not that stupid to find an expensive restaurant with healthy food, Dummy." he told Damien. "Tell one of your men to buy it. Don't inconvenience yourself, and don't start a fight with Danny." He continued. I pulled a mocking smile at Damien, who gave me a sharp look. If it was in front of our two eldest brothers, he would relent and keep quiet to obey their orders, but since I was the daughter and the last child, he was often arbitrary with me. He used to tease me and make me cry when we were little. But, Abraham and Theo loved me more, so all I needed to do was complain to them and let Abraham and Theo scold him.

Damien passed us and stepped on my foot on purpose. I yelled, "You asshole. Walk with your eyes!" I cursed.

While Damien laughed and kept walking towards the exit, Theo clucked in a low warning tone. "Damien,"

I whined and leaned back into Theo's shoulder. He was still focused on playing the game.

"Theo... is what Abraham said true? That California is not Cosa Nostra territory?"

"That's right, none of them or anyone else will hurt you, Princess." He stopped his game and looked at me with a frown on his face. "Why? Is something wrong?"

I looked at him and hesitated about whether I should say this or not. "But why did I just find out that one of Bernardi's companies is here?" I asked.

Theo nodded in understanding, his expression calming down. He leaned back on the sofa. "It's legal, Princesa. Papa's legal company is also in New York, and it won't cause any problems at all." He replied. "It would be forbidden if they were doing illegal business here and we were doing it in New York. That's a serious offense. Including hurting one of the people dealing with this underground business in our territory."

"I thought the mafia had no rules."

"There are rules, but the punishments are more dire and provide unstoppable chaos. It would be fatal and rarely negotiable," he replied. "I can assure you, Bernardi or Garcia won't be able to hurt you or your best friend here." He continued. "What if Joanna or me accidentally meet one of them? Like what happened at my boyfriend's party?" I asked. "What if one day Bernardi or Garcia were desperate to kidnap us both here?"

Theo turned to me and looked at me seriously. "They won't be able to. There is a tight guard around you and Joanna, and they will react instantly when a threat comes in your way. You two are untouchable here."

But I had already been touched by Bernardi, the man who even became a Don of Cosa Nostra. Whatever it was, It seems like Zane Bernardi has something more than we do to the point that he can do as he pleases here.

I swallowed bitterly and nodded.

"Are you worried about them, Princesa? Well, how about this, you don't have to work, and you go back to Madelin with Joanna? That would be better. You won't have to worry about anything." He suggested.

I snorted. "I don't want that."

He snorted. "Don't worry about anything, then. Just enjoy your life here. You and Joanna will be fine. No one will harm either of you unless you do it yourself. If you commit an offense, Princess... you know that you will be immediately recalled back to Madelin and live there forever." He said with a mocking smile.

I snorted.

If I had returned to Madelin, Joanna and I would have died of boredom in that luxurious cage where I grew up.

Well, of course, my parents never hurt me. They spoiled me, protected me, and gave me everything I wanted. All my siblings never hurt me either. The point is that I'm full of affection and love in my family. My family broke the stereotype that growing up in a mafia family is a deadly prison with cold-blooded people. That doesn't exist.

But the protection around us was tight. My father always put a few people wherever I went, especially my three siblings and me. In my case, it was even stricter. I never had any friends because I never played around after I got home from school. I once had two friends, Bianca and Elena. They were very lovely initially but drifted away after we reached the end of school. They said that I was a boring person because I never had fun, and they said that I was too innocent to let my parents control me. They persuaded me several times to go to clubs and parties. But I refused them, and I immediately stopped my friendship with them. I chose to continue my schooling without being friends with anyone because I didn't want to violate anything my family had outlined.

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They didn't control me. They protected me. I realized where I was born and that danger was always lurking. I didn't want to worry everyone about my transgressions, but yeah, it was a boring life.

It made me never have a boyfriend because my three brothers would scare off any boy who came near me, and then there were some of the creepier ones who would approach any boy who tried to do so. But it was never a problem for me back then because I was never interested in any of the boys in my school, nor did I always focus myself on my studies to get good grades. So I did have no friends, but I wasn't lonely.

I always chose my family above anything else.

I've only committed one offense in my entire life, which was being in the enemy's grasp in Mexico and not doing the work my grandfather and father gave me well. And once I made a mistake, it became such a big one that it turned my life upside down.

I stared at the wooden roof of Damien's house and wondered about what my life would be like if I made a second mistake by letting Zane Bernardi ruin me again.

<<<

"Hola, babes." I hugged Joanna, who was sitting on the sofa, from behind after I quietly and silently put my suitcase on the floor. She was still wearing headphones and staring at the movie playing on her laptop.

She winced in surprise and swore. "You're fucking bitch!" she snorted in exasperation. I laughed amusedly as I took the seat next to her. "You didn't bring me anything?" she asked as he took off her headphones. "What? You didn't tell me you wanted something." I replied. "I only brought you this." I took the baked brownie I bought in Los Angeles from the goody bag. It was Joanna's favorite.

"This is what I meant. But I wanted the exclusive Gucco bag that just came out." She replied.

I snorted as I looked at her. "You have a lot of bags."

"I like collecting bags." She replied without turning her head because she was eager to open the brownie box.

"You like to spend money." I retorted.

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"That's my money. None of your business." She shot back unconcernedly. She got up to get a knife from our kitchen while I crossed my legs.

I bit my lip and felt hesitant about whether to say anything about the incident in Los Angeles or not.

"Oh yeah, why did you call me back then?" she asked when she was back and sitting next to me. She started cutting the brownies. "You say like it's a wrong number, but I know you're not. You were probably trying to fool Jason there." "Yeah, I did," I replied, swallowing. "I wanted to tell you everything that happened there because I couldn't possibly confide in my three annoying brothers."

"You know that I always listen to everything."

"I met Zane Bernardi."

Her mouth formed an O. "That's good. You've wanted to meet him for a long time, right? Is he handsome? Do you like him now? You want to betray Jason, huh?"

I swallowed, "No." I sighed softly. "Zane Bernardi is Danzel. He was Jason's brother." I paused, her eyes wide and shocked. "The man who led us to death. The man who indirectly killed Magnan."

Joanna gave me a puzzled look.

"That's why I called you. I made up an excuse for Jason that you were in an accident so I could go with Abraham and Theo. And then, I met him again after I did a seminar at a mining company. And it turns out that the company belongs to Zane Bernardi." I continued. "Then I came to the club with Ariana and I met him again."

"What?"

I nodded and got ready to say the next thing. "And then we..." I sighed. "He trapped me in his room, and we.. we.." I stammered. "We had sex." "WHAT?!!!"