The Family Secret (Book #2 Becoming A Riccardi) — BWWM Mafia Romance Series
I have been updating this series and guess what? I never posted a free chapter of this book before, even if it has been out for years. YUP… This is 100% FREE and the first time I’m posting it. I think I’ll post the first chapter after the prologue here, so you can get a taste of the book. While the first book ends on a happily ever after, this story tells us what happens after the HEA in this particular mob family…
There is a creepy underworld of dangerous mobsters and an ultra-protective Italian mobster who you will instantly fall in love with. Nico has been a reader favorite for over five years and the follow up story to Book #1 has twists, turns, and a sex-filled adventure across the Italian countryside as Nico and Eve work against dark and foreign forces to put their family back together.
Scroll past the image to enjoy the first chapter FREE of charge and to get the link where you can download the romance novel FREE.
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Book #2 - Becoming A Riccardi
Chapter One
Happy Family
Nico opened the door to the home he shared with Eve. He could imagine her already, sitting upstairs and writing in her journal. He’d been encouraging her to write ever since she got to Italy, if for no other reason than it would keep her occupied.
Nico’s mother had always kept a journal and when she passed away, Nico had pored over the pages over and over again until his father had flung them into a fireplace a cold Christmas Eve morning.
Nico had news for Eve and he had a feeling that she might not like what she heard. He realized that Eve was smart; she’d noticed all the time he was spending out of the house and she’d noticed his renewed interest in business dealings. But in Italy, and especially considering his last name, business often came with a price.
And he could hardly be expected to conduct regular business. With the last name Riccardi, Nico had always attracted attention here. Certain sorts of people presented him with offers that he would be foolish to refuse.
He watched as Eve came down the stairs with Matteo wrapped in her arms. His son was half awake and bundled in a wool blanket.
“Hello, my beautiful.”
“Hey,” Eve said, tiptoeing to kiss Nico on the lips. Once she pulled away, he bent his lips to his son’s forehead.
“How is our little one?”
“He just woke up. I think he can sense when you come home.”
“Hey there little guy… Matteo…” Nico said.
He whispered in Italian and kissed his son on the forehead. Eve smiled watching him with the baby. Nico’s hardened external demeanor softened the instant he came into contact with his son. Just as motherhood had changed her, fatherhood had changed Nico. At least as far as Eve could see, that was the case.
“Hungry?” Eve asked.
Nico shook his head. He looked his fiancée up and down for a second. He knew that what they were going to talk about next would make her less than happy.
“Not really.”
“You look like you have something to say to me,” Eve said.
Nico shifted uncomfortably and ran his hands through his hair. She could always pick up on his subtle mood shifts, like some kind of mind reader. Women’s intuition.
“Perhaps we should head to the living room — open the windows and have a tea.”
“Sure. Will you hold Matteo while I put on the kettle?”
Nico took his son from Eve’s arms and watched as she walked towards the kitchen. She hadn’t lost all of her baby weight, but the extra weight looked sexy on her. Her hips and her thick buttocks added to her feminine sensuality.
Her dark skin had grown even darker in the Mediterranean. All the time in the sun had suited Eve well. Shopping and wandering the streets of Italy had added golden undertones and a deep glow to her skin. She now wore her hair in long two strand twists that hit down the center of her back. Everywhere she went, she smelled like a delectable mix of Shea butter and coconut oil.
Her sweet scent aroused Nico whenever he saw her. A long day of hanging out with men that smelled like cigars and German sausages made coming home a delightful reprieve. Eve was beautiful, soft, delicate — the sort of person that made Nico feel at home.
Nico turned his attention to his son. Matteo started to crack a smile as he looked into his father’s eyes. Nico kissed Matteo’s forehead and Matteo smiled even wider. As Nico looked at his son, he pondered everything he’d already done for him and how much more he wanted to do still.
As far as Eve was concerned, they already had plenty of money. And in a sense she was right. But life wasn’t just about money. It was about connections and opportunity. Nico had just received a big opportunity. If he got in on this deal, it could change things for him. He would have more connections and more of a chance to ensure his son’s comfort throughout his life. And this wasn’t just about comfort. Nico worried that his family’s safety in Italy might be short lived. He’d heard of no imminent dangers, but that didn’t mean the dangers weren’t coming.
While they had left the specter of Giuseppe behind for now, Nico was still concerned. Eve was naïve about his concerns — and Nico intended to keep her that way — but Giuseppe would never stop being a problem to him. What mattered now was maintaining that buffer and ensuring that Giuseppe stayed across the Atlantic while he built safety nets in his home country.
Nico rocked Matteo back and forth as he heard the kettle whistling in the kitchen.
“Green tea?” Eve called.
“Black!” Nico replied as he continued to rock his son.
Matteo’s smiling turned into giggling and Nico couldn’t help but crack a smile himself.
“Ti voglio bene,” He whispered to his son before kissing his forehead again.
Eve walked into the room and watched as Nico rocked their son. He made an excellent father — a far better father than she could have ever imagined. He’d settled into the role well. Eve thought about the first time she’d met Nico. Back then, she never would have guessed that the tall, foreboding man who had entered her Boston candy store would ever be the father of her child.
“I have our tea.”
She set the piping hot mugs on their coffee table and moved to the couch.
“I’ll set him in the crib. Think he’ll start crying?”
Eve shook her head. She’d been blessed with the rare instance of having a baby who wasn’t particularly fussy. Even as a tiny infant, Matteo seemed to possess his father’s cool demeanor. Funny how that worked. Even early on, Matteo seemed to possess bits and pieces of both of them. He had Eve’s hair texture, but Nico’s hair color. He had his mother’s face, but his father’s demeanor.
Nico set Matteo in his crib and then joined Eve on the couch. She settled in closer to him. Nico put his arm around Eve and allowed her to rest her head on his shoulder. Unwinding from the day was always a slow, ritual. A cool breeze wafted through the room and their breath synchronized with the soft breeze. Slowly, slowly, the day faded off of them.
The living room smelled like clean cotton and possessed an almost Scandinavian minimalism with teak woods and bleached whites. The room felt like how classical music sounds — sweet, peaceful and homey. Eve had never felt so relaxed in Boston. Back home, there was always noise, always some frenetic city buzz. Here, there was just quiet and maybe the sound of birds chirping as they sailed past the window.
Eve inhaled, taking in her husband’s scent. His cologne mixed in with his natural body odors from the day and that raw masculine scent wafted into her nostrils, causing her to feel more at home than before.
“It’s crazy isn’t it?”
“What’s crazy?” Nico said.
Since moving back here, his Italian accent had grown even stronger. His English was still good because that was what they spoke at home. But unlike while he was in the United States, Nico made no attempts to diminish his thick Italian accent.
“It’s crazy that we met in my candy store so long ago… It’s crazy that we have a son… It’s crazy how much life we have left to live together.”
“Crazy… but amazing.”
Nico kissed Eve’s forehead.
“Your hair smells delicious,” He whispered.
He took one of her two strand twists and twirled it around his finger. Eve presented her forehead to him and he planted another soothing kiss on her forehead. Being alone all day wasn’t so bad when she got to end the day with her loving fiancé. Husband. He’s going to be my husband. Eve thought to herself.
Eve could tell he was getting mischievous. There wasn’t as much time for lovemaking since they’d had a baby. However, their desires for each other hadn’t diminished. It was just that the available time to act on such desires had nearly vanished.
“Down boy,” Eve smirked.
She reached for her hot cup of tea and took a long sip. Nico followed suit.
“Tea is much better black,” He mused.
“I hope you’d say that about a few things…”
“Naughty girl,” Nico teased, kissing her neck.
Eve leaned away from him, “You still have something to tell me, don’t you?”
Nico nodded, “Yes. But you aren’t going to like it.”
Eve didn’t like the sound of what she was hearing. Nico never beat around the bush like this unless he was going to bring up something serious. She’d already suspected that Nico was growing more and more involved with some of his previous dealings.
“Well spit it out then.”
“I’ve been offered the chance to get in on a great deal with some business partners. Paolo believes that if this goes through, we will finally be able to make a connection to the Savellis.”
“The Savellis?”
“My mother’s family.”
“What kind of deal are you talking about?”
Now that he was facing her, Nico wasn’t sure he could really say it out loud. He knew that Eve perceived all these underhanded deals as unethical. And business matters that skated the tax laws were incomprehensible to her. She’d argue with him about doing things the “legal” way, forgetting that there were no real laws when it came to business. There were loopholes and ways to get around pretty much anything you didn’t like.
“Nico you can’t be serious. If you get back into that world…”
“It’s not about getting back into that world. It’s about my mother’s family.”
“Well why haven’t I heard a damned thing about your mother’s family until now?”
“You know I lost my mother prematurely…”
“And they blame Giuseppe.”
“Exactly. But… The Savelli family is my only chance at having a real family.”
“Well, what about your family right here?” Eve snapped, “What if you do this and then you’re back on the map. We’ll be on the run all over again!”
Eve could sense her blood pressure rising as Nico continued to pursue the subject. She was uninterested in green lighting one of his insane ideas just because he felt there was good reason for it. No matter the reason, the risk Nico would have to take to engage in his previous dealings would endanger their whole family.
Eve couldn’t believe he’d put their son at risk like that voluntarily.
“I would never let that happen,” Nico said, taking Eve’s palm in his own hand.
She snatched her hand away, looking at Nico with fury.
“I can’t believe you’re actually considering this Nico.”
“And I can’t believe you won’t even give this a chance!”
“You are addicted to this crazy life Nico! Can’t you see that!” Eve huffed.
She could sense that she was getting shrill. But Eve couldn’t help it. After everything that had happened to her and to Nico while back in Boston, she couldn’t figure out why he was willing to risk it all again just to have the chance to see family members he’d been estranged from for years already.
Eve knew nothing about the Savellis but if they could agree to have their daughter marry a man like Giuseppe Riccardi, she didn’t have much faith already. Eve didn’t want to burst Nico’s bubble or deny him the chance to connect with those who shared his blood but she was worried.
These weren’t regular families he was talking about — they were mafia. And in the mafia, nothing was as it appeared. Loyalty was fickle and what might be a good business deal one day might be signing your death warrant the next. Eve knew enough to know that she wasn’t willing to send her fiancé into the fire. He couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t get burned.
“I’m not addicted Eve. This is family. In Italy, family is everything.”
“Well, can’t you just call them up? Talk to them? That’s what normal people do.”
Nico shook his head, “The language of families like ours is business. If I prove I’m trustworthy in business, the Savellis might see me. They might give me a real chance.”
“And what if this is all a set up. What if this is a part of some effed up plan.”
“It isn’t.”
There was no way he could know that. As far as Eve was concerned, he hadn’t spoken to his mother’s family in decades. They could be anything. They could even be worse than the Riccardis in Boston.
“Jesus Christ Nico! No! Okay? Just NO!”
“You’re going to wake Matteo.”
“Do not tell me to be quiet!” Eve yelled, “After all I’ve been through with you Nico, I thought you understood that I can’t do this! I can’t live the life that you live!”
“Well, you certainly don’t complain when I bring home the money!” Nico roared.
Eve lost her patience right then.
“Oh so you think this is about money?” Eve continued, “This is about our son. He’s a baby Nico. I can’t do any of this alone! If something happens to you I’ll be alone! I can’t do that. I can’t be that much of a bloody hero!”
“No one is asking you to do it alone. Just let me do this one deal and I will sort things out with the Savelli family. We need them on our side.”
“Why?! Why do we need anyone on our side? Why can’t we just stay out of trouble and stay here?”
“It’s not that simple Eve.”
“Right. You always say that. And I’m just supposed to be okay with that. I’m just supposed to be okay with living in exile.”
“You are not living in exile.”
“I’m not? Then why can’t we go back to the U.S.?”
“We can… Just not Boston.”
“Right.”
Eve rolled her eyes.
“This is serious Eve. I’m discussing with you but…”
“But I have no choice?”
Nico lowered his eyes, “I’m sorry but… I’ve kept you safe so far, why can’t you trust me?”
“Because I think you’re doing something foolish Nico. And hell, maybe you’ve already done it.”
Matteo gurgled in the corner. Eve looked over at her son who was somewhere between awake and asleep. Why couldn’t Nico see how much pain it would cause both of them if something were to happen to him? Why couldn’t he see that nothing about the way he lived was safe? No matter how much he thought he was invincible, if he found himself on the wrong end of a handgun, they’d all be toast.
“Are we in danger right now?” Eve asked.
Nico shrugged.
“Oh my goodness…”
“Listen Eve. I can’t say whether we are in danger or not. But I do know that the Savelli family has got wind of my return to Italy. I need to demonstrate that I am not my father’s son.”
“And of course, conversation won’t work.”
“You know this is not a world where problems are solved through discussion.”
Eve sighed, “And if something happens to you?”
“Nothing will happen.”
“HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?” Eve yelled.
“Eve will you please stop yelling?!”
“No! I won’t stop yelling Nico! Because for things to get to this point, you must have lied to me. You promised me that you would keep us safe but you’ve been exposing us!”
Nico bit down on his lower lip. Eve was being difficult — as he knew she would be — but she did have a point. He’d only kept things from her because he knew she would have reacted like this. Plus, his role was to protect the family — not to involve Eve in every minor decision.
Some decisions were up to the man — the head of the household. That was the way Nico had grown up and that was how he expected things to work.
“I did this to protect you!” Nico shouted.
It was the first time he’d raised his voice at her and Eve was thoroughly taken aback.
She opened her mouth, preparing herself to yell something cutting back at Nico. Their son interrupted their fierce argument. Matteo began to cry; his loud piercing wails filled the room.
Eve glared at Nico.
“This is the person I’m worried about. Maybe you should try worrying about your son for a change.”
Eve stood up and walked to the crib, picking Matteo up. His cries grew louder and louder as she rocked him.
“I do care about my son Eve. The world just isn’t as simple as you think it is.”
“But it could be. It could be simple. All you need to do is give up this life Nico. Don’t do anything that you’ll regret.”
“Are you threatening me?”
Eve sighed as she continued to bounce Matteo up and down.
“No, I’m not threatening you. I just know that this is how relationships get ruined. It starts with small lies and then the lies get bigger. I want what’s best for Matteo and I need to know that’s what you want too.”
“Of course it’s what I want.”
“I need some space to think right now,” Eve muttered.
Matteo’s cries were growing louder and louder; Nico was eager to give Eve the space that she’d requested. He walked up towards their bedroom. Eve clung tightly to Matteo. He was starting to quiet down but he hated when they fought. Eve hated it too. Most of the time, she and Nico got along well.
But they always disagreed when it came to business. Nico had one way of doing things and Eve had another way of doing things. Eve craved the simplicity of doing business the way she’d always done it in the past. There was no subterfuge, no secret deals and certainly nothing illegal. All you had to do was work hard and stay out of trouble.
She couldn’t be sure Nico felt the same way. He seemed to think that business deals were made by getting into the largest possible amount of trouble.
Once Matteo had quieted down, Eve felt sadness gripping her chest. She had known who Nico was from the moment she’d met him. She’d wanted him to change so badly and for a while, she believed that he had changed. As Matteo approached 26 weeks old, Eve began to wonder if she’d just imagined Nico changing.
Perhaps men could never change — and certainly not men who had grown up like Nico. She’d learned most of his deepest and dirtiest secrets and she’d still decided to build a life with him. Perhaps anything that happened to her son would be her fault. She was his mother after all; she had a special biological urge to put her son before anyone, even her fiancé.
It would be her fault for expecting a man with mafia ties to really change. Eve knew she had to pray hard for nothing ill to befall them.
Matteo had quieted down and Eve felt calm about resting him in his cradle after a nice feeding. She knew Nico was upstairs and she considered heading up there to make peace with him. After a moment of consideration, Eve decided against it. Let him think about making a good decision first, then peace.
For now, she wanted to ensure Matteo was down for some more sleep. Eve sat on the couch and finished up her tea.
The tea had gone cold.
Matteo settled down and his gurgles turned into gentle snores. Eve recognized that perhaps she’d been too harsh with Nico. After some time to settle down, she understood where he was coming from. Nico had lost his mother and with her, he’d lost ties to a potentially loving and kind family.
Growing up with only Giuseppe as a parent had to be difficult. He wasn’t exactly a man known for his sentimentality. In fact, the opposite was true. The windows in the living room were wide open, allowing the cool breeze to float into the room. The evening air carried fresh scents into her home. As much as she missed her home country, there were some things about the Mediterranean that she wouldn’t have traded for the world.
The beautiful evening breeze was one of those things. The breeze carried with it the faint salty smell of the sea and all the calm that came with it. Eve wondered if soon she could at least convince Nico to take them all on a trip to Santorini…
The night yielded pure silence. There was the occasional chirping of night birds but other than that, the night maintained a sense of calm. Eve felt safe here. Even if she fought with Nico. Even if she had no clue how long they would be here or how long she even wanted to stay, at least she was safe.
That was her biggest worry about Nico’s deal. Eve had no desire for this safety to be compromised. She twirled one of her twists around her finger, lost in thought.
Upstairs, Nico had seated himself at his desk in their bedroom. He sent off the required communications. He heard his son’s crying cease but he didn’t hear Eve coming up the stairs. Nico knew she was pissed off but he didn’t think her anger justified. Eve had no clue what he had done for this family.
After a while, Nico grew exhausted. He despised fighting with Eve. In his childhood, fighting had always preceded intense theatrics. When he fought with Luca, his brother would respond with violence. That violence his late twin brother had learned well from Giuseppe.
At least here, Nico didn’t have to worry about Giuseppe. He understood Eve’s reluctance to be in Italy, but at least here he would be truly safe. The only threat… Well, Nico hoped to mitigate the only threat to their safety with this deal.
Perhaps Eve would come around to understanding. Maybe he’d just have to explain more of it to her.
In his exhaustion, Nico walked towards the bathroom. He washed his face, running his hands over his dark brown stubble. He noticed that his face was getting younger the more time he spent in Italy. His eyes had lost the dark circles that had seemed permanent while he was back in Boston. Like it or not, Eve had to admit that Italy was better for both of them.
She might miss Boston, but here she didn’t have to work. Here, she could be at peace and not have to struggle the way she’d struggled in Boston. Nico knew she was a hard worker at heart, but every hard working queen deserves some time off.
Here, they could be free. Nico examined his face a little more closely. Before he could head off to bed, he heard Eve call his name. The tone in her voice indicated that she wasn’t just asking him to help her find the remote.
“Nico!”
He walked towards the door, hoping to parse out what Eve wanted to say without heading downstairs.
“NICO! GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!”
Nico fled down the stairs as fast as he could go. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Once he was in the living room, he saw the cause of Eve’s screams.
Metal cylinders had been flung through the open window and the cylinders were leaking smoke. The peaceful Mediterranean evening had been transformed into chaos in a few short moments.
“Cover your mouth!” He yelled.
“Matteo!” Eve replied.
She tried to cover her mouth with her shirt and she walked towards the crib. Matteo was no longer quiet, but shrieking at the top of his lungs. The gas started to fill the room and Nico made his way to one of the cylinders, trying to pick one of them up off the ground. He grasped the can firmly and chucked it out the window.
Once the cylinder fell onto the pavement outside, Nico realized that there was nothing that he could do. They’d already inhaled too much gas and whoever wanted the family to pass out had done the job well. There must have been three or four cylinders on the ground. Each one leaking that thick smoke as fast as possible.
Nico worried that this was merely a scare tactic. Perhaps the gas was harmless and the real danger lay outside their living room. If they got smoked out, there could be men with guns just waiting for them. Nico knew he needed to think of a plan fast but thinking proved difficult. His lungs were heavy with the smoke from the air.
He watched as Eve moved towards Matteo quickly. His son must have already been knocked out from the gas. He was so tiny that it wouldn’t take much to send him into a deep sleep.
Eve took Matteo out of the crib and held him close to her.
“Don’t leave!” Nico yelled, “We don’t know if this is just a diversion!”
“We need to get out of here!”
“Eve, wait…”
He had wanted to scope out the other rooms before pulling Eve and his son into further possible danger. But now, Nico wondered if that was a mistake. His body was starting to defy his wishes. The effects of the sleeper gas were too strong. The sedative wasn’t just expensive — it was fast acting. Whoever had tossed those cans through the window knew exactly what they were doing.
This attack was far from random.
Nico moved towards one of the other cylinders, hoping he could toss it out the window and get one step closer to protecting his wife and child. But he could feel the effects of the gas already. Nico crumpled to the ground. Eve moved over to the couch. She was starting to lose her ability to stand and she rested Matteo on the couch.
“Nico!” Eve screamed, “Nico! I can’t…”
Nico tried to move towards one of the other cylinders but the gas filled the room and he could no longer see a thing. Eve disappeared. Matteo disappeared. Nico tried to scream their names but his voice was hoarse and the words couldn’t spill out. He tried to think but his eyelids forced themselves downwards, forcing him into a deep and near immediate sleep.
Eve…
Nico couldn’t fight the effects of the gas and the shirt over Eve’s face was the only thing that protected her from following suit faster.
Eve screamed. She had placed Matteo on the couch, fearful of what would happen if she passed out too. Her baby boy was resting on the couch; since he was so small the gas didn’t take long to knock him out. Nico had passed out too leaving Eve the only one awake. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to stay awake for long. She could barely make out Nico’s body any more in the smoke.
“NICO!” She shrieked.
She couldn’t see anything through the gas that had filled their room. In only a few minutes, their safety had been breached and with Nico passed out somewhere in the living room, Eve knew that there was very little chance of stopping the flow of gas.
Eve gasped, startled as she heard a loud thumping noise. Someone had entered the room through the window. Eve heard the loud raspy breathing through gas masks and saw two figures. Her eyes were starting to close. She tried to call Nico’s name again but no sound came out.
The two figures gestured towards her baby — Matteo was lying on the couch. Eve tried to scream and she tried to reach for her baby but her arms wouldn’t move. Her body refused to respond to her pleas. One of the figures picked up Matteo and they began wrapping him in a blanket.
Matteo! Leave my son! Leave my son alone!
The words wouldn’t come out. Eve could feel the tears streaming down her cheek but her body no longer belonged to her. She wondered why she was still awake. She wondered why the gas had acted so quickly on Nico and why she was the one left here, powerless as their home was invaded.
They gestured back towards the window, ignoring Eve as if they couldn’t see her eyes thrust open in dismay and terror. With her son, the two figures walked towards the window of her living room. Eve closed her eyes, falling into a deep sleep as two strangers walked away with her six month old son.
☽ ☾ The Savelli Family History (From the journals of Edoardo Al-Sayed, translated into English)
The history of the Savelli family is tainted with criminality. This entry serves as a part of my collection of evidence against the Savelli family. Their criminality extends far and wide throughout the fair country of Italy, but what they do to children is the crux of where my historical interest lies. As a bastard Savelli, I very nearly fell to the same fate when I was a boy. As an escaped ward of the Savelli family, I feel it is my duty to tell the stories of those who was unable to tell their own.
The Savelli family is old as dirt in Italy. And they maintain as much power as they did when Italy was run by a king. Italy is not safe for anyone who makes themselves an enemy of the Savellis. I am one of those people who has made many unfortunate mistakes.
The Savellis like most upper class Italians are staunch Catholics. They believe that men and women should only procreate after marriage and that blood purity is above all other things. Their obsession with blood purity has defied expectations of how far such an obsession should go. To them, purity is held above all things.
When their blood purity is compromised, they strike quickly with the intent to eliminate the history of such impurities from their bloodline. As a bastard, and as a man of my complexion, I am impure in two areas.
My life is not the only one that has been threatened by the Savelli family and their long term objectives.
When bastard children or orphans become wards of the Savelli family, they are sent to a separate manor — a sort of school — where Savelli servants are raised. They do this in conjunction with another Italian family whose identity shifts every hundred years or so depending on marriages, divorces and accumulated wealth. They choose their subjects well.
These children are taught a way of life that knows no love and a way of life that knows nothing other than loyalty to the Savelli family of Italy. The Savellis become their saviors and all these children know is service. Savelli family bodyguards — such as Leonardo Esposito — all passed through the Savelli training academy.
Despite the apparent kindness of rearing orphans, this academy possesses extreme and cruel tactics. The children are forbidden from attending school and instead learn from Savelli tutors — often times unmarried women — about the history of the family. They learn the basics of arithmetic and writing. They learn religion. The rest is cruelty.
The boys are trained using hunger, beatings and worse. While the Savellis usually leave this sort of treatment for those who do not share their blood, occasionally, service to the academy will be extended towards those with Savelli blood. The bastards, and the tainted.
Those with Savelli blood are not encouraged to marry back into the family after service to the academy, but to spread Savelli seed far and wide. Any child of a bastard Savelli is liable to be seized unless the child is well hidden in a whorehouse or some remote foreign village.
The bastard Savellis can be taken from their homes at any age and forced into this service and there is nothing that can be done without the use of extreme methods. Methods such as the one my mother used.
The Savellis have been exercising this power over small towns and villages across Italy since the 14th century. Their power has accumulated to the point where they control city politics in three of Italies largest cities.
If you can find the bastard Savellis — demarcated by brands on the right shoulder — which one may find by flipping through journals and history books, you can get an idea of how far back this has been practiced.
Bastard Savellis occasionally receive parcels of land from the family head ruling the family at the time of their eighteenth birthday. If the syndicate head does not feel particularly generous towards bastards — the practicing Catholics usually do not feel such generosity — then the bastards are simply allowed to live out their service.
Betrayal of the Savelli family is usually met with immediate execution. These executions are covered up and as such, records are profoundly difficult to come by.
☽ ☾
Nico gasped as he awoke in the dead of night. The living room windows were still open but the breeze gushing inwards was no longer peaceful. Nico struggled to remember how he had gotten here with his cheek pressed so hard against the carpet that it was reddened and hot to the touch. He stood up and looked at the crib. Empty.
That’s right. Eve… She had taken Matteo with her to the couch. Nico whipped around. The couch was empty and Eve was lying slumped over their couch. She had just started to move, rustling slowly. Nico felt a lump in his throat.
Where was Matteo?
Eve began to rouse slowly. Nico rushed to her.
“Eve. Eve, are you alright?”
Her eyes fluttered open in confusion. Nico’s mind was still foggy as he’d just woken up himself.
The first word out of Eve’s mouth was “Matteo.”
“I don’t know… I don’t know Eve, he isn’t here.”
Her eyes flashed open once she heard that her son was no longer in the room with them. In the darkness of the living room, Nico could still see every bit of her terror and rage. He could feel it pulsing through the shoulder he’d grabbed onto.
“They took Matteo. They took our son,” She said softly at first.
“Yes… Yes… He isn’t here.”
“Matteo… Matteo…” Eve whispered.
“Did you see anything? Did you see anything about who took him?”
Eve nodded, “Two people came in. With masks.”
“And anything else?”
“One of them… He was wearing gloves…”
“Red gloves?” Nico finished.
Eve sat up, “Yes… How did you know that?”
“It’s a Savelli family signature. Red. For the blood of their ancestors.”
Eve’s mind was foggy about everything except the sharp pain of loss from her son’s absence. She had remained powerless as these cretins approached and snatched her son away from her. She’d watched them take her son and she’d done nothing.
“So they took him… They took Matteo.”
Eve’s voice shook as she came to terms with what had happened. Her mind started to clear and she realized that her six month old son had been snatched out of her arms right out of her home.
“They took Matteo…”
Nico watched as Eve started to tremble and then as tears began to spill from her eyes.
“He’s gone. My baby… He’s gone…”
Eve let out a loud scream that shook the walls of their house. Her body trembled against her will and her mind went blank.
Nico got down next to her and held her closely. Eve continued to let out loud, sharp screams and Nico wrapped his arms even more tightly around her, letting her cry her eyes out. He felt tears welling in his own eyes. Their son was gone and there was nothing that they could do about it.
Going to the police would be ineffective if the Savellis were really responsible for this. Through his tears and through Eve’s, Nico knew he had to keep his head on straight. They’d kidnapped Matteo right out of their home which meant that nothing here was safe or sacred any longer. They’d have to move as soon as possible and once they moved — they’d have to find their son.
Matteo was far from safe in the hands of the Savellis, even if they were his own family. If they questioned Nico’s allegiance, there was no telling what they might do to their boy. Nico felt sick to his stomach. And angry. He wanted to resolve this but he was already thinking of revenge for whoever had done this and harmed his family.
Nico didn’t know much about his mother’s side of the family but he knew that they shared the ruthlessness of the Riccardis. With what had just happened, he worried that they may have even exceeded the Riccardis ruthlessness. The Savellis had been running Italy far longer than the Riccardis had even risen to power. Of course, that was why an allegiance between the two families had seemed so natural. Giuseppe and his mother had been a match forged for the purpose of bringing two difficult families together.
The red glove told Nico that the Savellis were responsible for this. No other family dared to appropriate their signature. The syndicate used the red glove to let those they harmed know that they were untouchable. Red represented everything ostentatious, visible, and powerful.
Nico recognized that his mother’s family and thusly, his family, were responsible for hurting his family and responsible for kidnapping his son. Matteo. Nico had a strong feeling that they wouldn’t hurt his son, but he couldn’t be sure. Perhaps this was all a ransom plot. Whatever notions Nico had regarding Savelli intentions didn’t make the situation any less difficult to deal with. They had to want something and whatever it was wouldn’t be easy to come by. Nico could already tell. The Savellis always wanted something. This time, might want money or they might want blood.
Nico hoped it was just money.
As Eve continued to weep, Nico’s mind spun over what to do next. He was supposed to have avoided all of this. If Eve blamed him for this, she would have had every right to do so. Nico wondered if he should have struck sooner and he wondered if there was anyone in Italy he could call to tackle this problem before it metastasized.
Eve pulled away from Nico. Her face was swollen and puffy from the crying. Guilt gripped Nico’s chest as everything that he’d put Eve through raced through his mind. His gut churned again. He had brought her to Italy. He had assured her that everything would be fine and that living here would be safe.
But she had been far from safe and now they were both paying the price. Nico lifted Eve off the floor of the living room. She cast a glance back at Matteo’s crib and crumbled to the floor again weeping loudly. Her sobs echoed through their home. Italy was no longer a haven for either of them.
Nico allowed Eve to cry and then he got her to her feet again.
“We have to do something… We have to call someone…”
Nico shook his head, “We can’t.”
“Why not?!”
“The Savelli family owns the police.”
“And so we just have to sit here and do nothing…” Eve blubbered.
She let out a piercing shriek again before Nico could answer. The pain of having her son snatched away from her had torn a hole in her heart. Her screams were the gushing excretions of a mother’s broken spirit.
Nico shook his head, “No. We have to get some sleep. I can assure you that in a short space of time, we will get a call. And then, I’ll figure out our next move.”
“Aren’t you scared Nico?”
“Yes… Of course I’m scared. But I don’t believe Matteo will be physically harmed.”
Nico knew that he couldn’t be certain of anything. He knew that plying Eve with more reassurance may just break her heart in the end. But he had to keep her lucid. He had to keep her thinking that they’d find Matteo and that finding their son would be easy.
“This… This hurts…” Eve broke out into sobs again.
Nico managed to bring her upstairs slowly. As she ascended the stairs, Eve’s legs wobbled. She collapsed into bed but it was clear that neither of them were going to get much sleep. All of a sudden, their life had changed and they had been thrust into a position that no parent would have ever wanted to be in.
Sleep overtook them reluctantly.
* * *
This chapter was such a difficult cliffhanger to leave readers with.
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