Chapter 1 - Little Dove

What would you do if someone were to be betrayed by someone really close to you? Nothing. Nope, that's not me.

"What do you want me to do boss."

"Light him up," Dominic left the room and went to go finish the job.

Being in the mafia can become really frustrating. Rick was my quote on quote friend but betrayed me. He ruined a whole mission but lucky for me I always had a backup plan. After I cleaned up his mess I made sure to clean him up. I was too disappointed to even look at him.

"Your request has been executed, Leo," said Dominic. I dismissed him and I then got a mysterious phone call.

"Speak," I say in a dark tone.

"Hello Leo, it's hard to contact you."

Dad.

"Well, maybe it's because I don't want to be reached."

"The marriage is happening whether you like it or not."

THE MARRIAGE, something I don't want. I don't want to settle down, let alone marry someone I don't know. I keep saying she might not be bad but doesn't seem likely. Girls that are part of the mafia are usually trained to be wifey material but they are not useful.

"You'll meet her in a few minutes at a restaurant, Her parents will drop her off." He continued to talk but as far as I was concerned nothing about this mattered.

"Sure" I hung up before he could get another word out. I placed on one of my suits and went into my car. I got to the restaurant and entered. It looked absolutely beautiful, expensive, and luxurious.

I sat down and a waitress attended me.

God, she was pretty

"Are you waiting for someone or can I get you something to start off with,"

I'm waiting for you. Oh god, I just met her and I'm already getting a creative mind.

"Sir?" She caught me staring off into space. She looked at me with a face full of concern.

"Please call me Leo, you're going to make me feel old." A small giggle left her beautiful lips.

"Then how old are you?" She said after collecting herself.

"I'm 18 and you?"

"You look too mature to be 18. I'm 17"

"I get that a lot. What's your name little dove?"

"Uh-"

Before she could say her name there was the girl I had to marry. Keyword HAD. I got so mad but I had to keep my temper in check. My little dove then left as soon as she saw them approach my table.

Just great.

"He- Hello Mr. Luciano, this is my daughter Lilia." He stuttered trying to talk to me. Who wouldn't, I was the king of the mafia. The devil in disguise. He looks at me searching for my approval. I had no choice in this decision.

"I don't know what my father told you but I don't like your daughter in that certain way. I had no choice in this decision."

He simply nodded and he and his wife walked out of the restaurant leaving me with the girl. She tried getting her hands on me but I just rejected her. She was smirking and sitting in a certain position to try to show cleavage.

What did her parents teach her? Help me.

The waitress came back and I knew I began to smile.

"I never caught your name,"

She didn't respond.

"What can I get you guys started with." She said while looking at Lilia. I took a deep breath and looked at the menu.

"Red wine please," said Lilia in a petty voice. My little dove then looked at me waiting to write down my order.

"Just water-"

"I'll get it right away." She walked away before I could get another word out. Lilia then looked at me.

"So you're known as the devil right?" She said in a seducing voice. I just nodded not wanting to talk. I played with my ring and waited for my little dove to come back. A man approached us and gave us our drinks.

"Where is the other waitress? She was the one serving my table."

"Uh- she- she's on her break," said the waiter. I could tell he was lying. I searched behind him to see her serving another table.

I couldn't help but be mad the whole time. I watched as my little dove served other tables. Her smile could literally light up the whole place. I could tell Lilia was annoyed. I kept ignoring her the whole time we were eating.

The check finally came in and I wrote my number on a napkin and told him to give it to the waitress that attended me in the beginning. I didn't trust him so I watched him give it to her. She put it in her pocket and kept working.

Soon she won't need to work. She will be my queen. Jeez, I'm a creep, I just met her.

I drove Lilia to my house since my dad told me she will be living with me from now on. I could see her eyes light up when she saw the house.

Watch her find out it wasn't for her.

I parked my car and guided her to the guest room. There is no way in hell I would let her sleep in my room.

"This is the room you will be sleeping in."

She looked at me with a disgusted look on her face.

I always say each girl is beautiful in their own way but for her, I just couldn't see it.

"It said guest room on the door."

"I know," I say in an annoyed tone.

"Couldn't I sleep with you?" She placed her hands on my chest and began to purr. This is the most disgusting shit I ever encountered.

"You will not leave this room unless I tell you to, your dad will drop off your bags tomorrow."

I left the room and let her settle in. I then felt my phone buzz. I really hoped it was who I thought it was.

"Katherine" the message read. That was her name. It was beautiful like her. I went into my room before I responded her message.

"It's beautiful, although I have a question."

"Shoot"

"Why were you replaced by the other waiter? Were you avoiding me?" I hesitated to send the message but I did.

"One, I can't be replaced and 2 no it just seemed like your girlfriend didn't want me to be near you. She mouthed to get out of there. I didn't feel like arguing."

I laughed at her statement saying she couldn't be replaced but I frowned knowing that the girl in my house told my dove to leave.

"I'm sorry about her, she's not my girlfriend. It's complicated."

She didn't respond. I figured it was late so I just let her get some rest.

— — —

Katherine's POV

"We got a problem, boss," said Lucas in a scared tone.

"Then fix it," I growled at him. I would say I have anger issues but it is what it is. How would I not have anger issues, my parents were killed in front of me. I shed my tears but you can say I have gone cold.

I meet this guy at my restaurant and I knew he was a part of the mafia. So was I. He seemed nice but I knew he thought I was innocent, nice, and caring. Sure, I'll be what he imagines me to be.

"I'm sorry about her, she's not my girlfriend. It's complicated." Read the message. Please, I could care less. I then turned off my phone and turned my attention towards Lucas.

"A business deal has gone wrong, they didn't hold up their end of the bargain."

"mmm, get some sleep, I'll take care of it. Thanks, Lucas."

I took out my gun that was covered in jewels. It was custom-made for me. I stood up and like I told Lucas, I would take care of it.

I arrived at the man's house, the one I made the deal with. I got out of my car and went into his house.

"Honey I'm home!" Okay yes, I get it, that sounded a bit psychotic. He ran out of his room and looked at me. I could see right through him. He was scared for his life. He should be.

"So I heard you tried playing me. Well, Mr.Garcia what a shame because now I have played you." I pulled out my gun and pointed it at his head. "Now I have all of your money plus mine. It's never good to gamble,"

"I- I'm sorry." His voice trembled and I looked at him with a smile on my face.

"Your head or your heart?" I then threw my head back and laughed.

"Your head clearly doesn't function so let's do your heart. See you in hell"

POW! POW! His lifeless body laid on the floor spilling blood everywhere. I took out my phone and called Josh.

"Another body dropped, clean up is needed."

"Will do."

"Thanks"

I got out of his house and drove away. Another day of pretending tomorrow, just great.

6:00 am

I grabbed my towel and went to my gym room. I always exercised in the morning. I had to keep my shape. In the mafia you can never be just smart, you had to also know how to defend yourself just in case things become physical. Trust me it always gets physical.

"21-21-23-24-25-26," I say in between grunts. I fall onto the ground. 26 push-ups were not bad for right now. I take a sip of my water and move onto pull-ups then I hear my phone buzz. I ignore it.

My phone rings around 23 more times but I just keep doing what I'm doing. I'm more important than whoever is blowing up my phone.

Clearly, they have nothing to do with their life. Too bad I ain't them.

After my exercise routine, I punched my punching bag a few times and I began to shadow box. My phone continued to ring to the point where I felt like breaking my phone.

"Someone seems to miss you." I turned over to face the speaker, it was Josh. Josh was my clean-up guy. I could always count on him and he was a very close friend of mine.

"Yea I don't care,"

Josh picked up my phone and began to read my messages out loud.

"Good morning. I hope you're up. I missed you yesterday. You never texted back. What are you up to? If you're working today I can go visit you later today. Dove? You there?"

Josh threw his head back and began to laugh. I couldn't lie, his messages were funny. I still remained focus and Josh began to ramble on.

"The cold-hearted devil has finally met her match. Someone alert the media." He laughed again and began to scroll through my messages. He was the one out of my 3 closest friends that knew my passcode so he could go through everything.

"And the messages go on. Diabla you sure you don't like him. You should at least try to make friends with him. I don't want you to be in your 30s and still be with your 4 childhood friends, and who knows, he might not be that bad."

Diabla meant she-devil in Spanish. Everyone in the mafia knew my name as Diabla but they didn't know me, they didn't know my real name. He dropped my phone in the boxing ring and left me with something to think about. Actually, why would I think about it? I have no time for him. 

8:30 am

I passed by a coffee shop to get some tea and I went straight to my restaurant.

Yep, my restaurant. I started my business off at a young age but then I got involved into mafia activity and it gave me connections. Everything I do business-wise is legal. My personal business is something else.

I arrived to the restaurant to see Leo leaning on his car in front of my restaurant building.

I should have responded his messages, fuck.

I got into character and proceeded to walk inside and he followed. Before we went through the door I stopped him.

"I'm pretty sure if I were that girl that you were with yesterday I wouldn't like my boyfriend or husband to be taking the time to look for someone else. The restaurant doesn't open till 10." I gave him a heartwarming smile and closed the door. I definitely did not act like I did yesterday. I mentally slapped myself and got everything ready to open up.

The time has finally come to open and Leo was gone.

Thank god.

Everything went smoothly and the place filled up pretty quickly. We even had a line in the lobby. My restaurant has 4 floors. The basement is our storage room and kitchen. The very first floor is where the entrance is and it's a lobby. The 2nd floor is where are tables are located and the 3rd floor has our VIP or clients. Both floors were full. The lobby was filled with waiting customers. I went to the lobby and looked around to see who I could take up next and Leo was here with his girlfriend.

Today off all days he had to come. I walked towards Leo hoping he wouldn't cause a scene.

"Hi I was wondering if you wanted a VIP section or just a regular table-" before I could finish my sentence Lilia had to put up a fuss.

"where is the other waiter, he attended us the other day just fine and of course we will take VIP, what are we peasants?"

"So here we don't take such disrespect and if you have a problem with this restaurant I suggest you take you take your problems elsewhere."

Leo smirked and I just rolled my eyes. I started to walk away but Leo tried pulling me back. I didn't mean to put such force into my stance but he could make me budge.

"Aren't you going to attend us?"

"Get your cat into the bag." I pulled my arm back and walked towards other customers who not only complemented my service but gave such a big tip. I wasn't going to let anyone ruin the night.

After a few hours things cooled down and I could see Leo whispering something into Lilia's ear. The horror on Lilia's face was fun to watch but it also made me curious.

I touched my earpiece that connected to Watchman. Watchman was the gangs hacker or tech person.

"Yo Watchman, get me some information on Lilia. I'll contact you when you can do a face scan on the feed."

"You got it."

I looked over at Lilia and I took out my control and tried to move the cameras directly towards Lilia. Once I got the cameras on a good angle I contacted Watchman.

"NOW!" I didn't mean to yell at him but he had to scan her before she moved. I could hear Watchman typing and he shouted in victory.

"Another win Diabla. Her full name is Lilia Crown-"

"THE CROWNS?!? She is a part of the mafia. Her parents did a good job in hiding her." I then got curious if Leo knew who she was. Was he a part of the mafia.

I left the lobby and I changed into my regular clothes. I couldn't do my job with a mindset like this.

I went through the lobby and Leo pulled me aside.

"Leaving a bit early, don't you think?" I smiled at him. He seemed caught off guard by my attitude today.

"I'll make sure you get your favorite waiter. The waiter that attended them the last time was in the lobby and I yelled out his name.

"DAVE!" He walked over and smiled. He was also a part of the gang. He was cocky but he was also a good actor. He always acts scared around people so the wouldn't suspect him. "Attend this lovely couple." I winked at Dave and he winked back. Leo saw me and Dave and instantly got made. He grabbed Dave by the collar and pushed him to the wall.

"LEO LET HIM GO!" I yelled placing an arm on his shoulder.

God they were strong. Thank god the lobby had emptied a few minutes ago.

"WHAT ARE YOUR INTENTIONS???" Leo said gritting through his teeth.

"Leo if you don't let him go I will punch the shit out of you."

He let go of Dave and looked at me with a smirk.

"I would like to see you try Little Dove."

I rolled my eyes and pushed past him to assist Dave.

"I hate acting weak." I agreed with Dave. He was right. They treated us like we were worth nothing.

"We will have our time Dave. You already know how I work,"

"Slowly but surely." Said Dave trying to catch his breath. I nodded and he stood up.

"If you're here to eat Dave will attend you. If you came to bother then leave because I will have you kicked out."

I looked over at Lilia and she was looking at her fingers. Leo seemed upset and came close to me.

"Forgive me?" He said with such emotion in his voice.

"Forgiven but not forgotten." I put on my leather jacket and walked out. Leo tailed me and saw me enter my car. I saw the shocked look on his face to see my car. My car was a Bugatti La Voiture Noire. This car was 18.68 million dollars. I could also see Lilia's jaw drop.

"Your probably used daddy's money!" She yelled. I smiled and put on Ray-Ban sun glasses.

"You bit your tongue. Feel better!" I started my car and drove away. I made it to The Den. The Den was where all my gang members lived. I went inside and saw Watchman looking for more information about Lilia's parents.

"Hey, so I looked more into the Crowns and they had Lilia in Miami and when she turned 15 she moved to the US."

"cool cool cool, what else did you find?"

"Diabla, can I ask why your looking into her? Josh filled me in and i'm getting into the sense that you are jealous,"

"No I just want to make sure that if she starts something with me I will know how to handle it. As for my love life I don't have one so don't question me. Look to see the relation between Leo and Lilia."

He typed for what seemed like seconds and pulled up a lot of information about Leo. I skimmed through the whole thing and found something very jaw dropping.

"Diabla please tell me you read his last name!?" Watchman said in a tight voice.

"He is a Luciano"