Ruthless Mafia 50

“You’re putting the cart before the horse,” she quipped as she set her wine glass back on the table.
“True but I’ve always been a proactive kind of guy,” he winked at her playfully.
“Let’s make decisions on children at a later date.”
“How about this,” he put a bite of the artichoke between his teeth, “the day you tell me you love me, you tell me how
many kids we’re going to have and when we can plan the first one.”
“Sure.” She made a face at him and stuck her fork into the same dish he was eating straight from. If he could, so could
she. “Tell me this bloodlust story thing.”
“Oh, you’re ready for my family history?”
“Yes.”
“Okay then.” He refilled their wine glasses and then rose from his seat to grab a throw blanket off a nearby and adjusted
it over her shoulders before he retook his seat. “Better?”
“I didn’t even notice I was getting chilly.”
“It’s my job to notice before you.”
His words made her smile. “If you say so.”
“I say so.” He tilted his wine glass in her direction. “You’re beautiful, Zorah.”
“Thank you.”
“To a lifetime of dinners together,” he toasted her.
She lifted her glass and touched it to his. “Alla nostra.” She took pleasure in the wide smile which erupted on his face as
she saluted him back.
“Keep eating while I tell you the story of the Lucchesi family.”
“Okay,” she didn’t need to be told twice as she took another mouthful of the spaghetti.
“Approximately two hundred and fifty years ago, the Lucchesi family were at the top of their game. Everyone wanted a
piece of us, and we were forced to defend our family frequently against other families and one in particular always
seemed to be in our business. We ran shipping, logistics routes, loan operations and much like today, our family was
known for murder-for-hire.”
“Why must you kill?”
The expression on her face made Icaro laugh. “Someone has to do it, and it turns out, I’m really gifted.”
“Do you only kill bad guys?”
“Babe, this is the mob. We kill for anyone who pays the right price.”
“It’s not right.”
“You aren’t ever going to be expected to pull a trigger. It’s not your soul at stake, Zorah. For the record, the people who
can usually afford our services aren’t typically good people and neither are their associates or enemies.”
“It sits wrong with me.”
“As it should. You’re a good person.”
“How did my grandparents afford you?”
“They didn’t.” He shrugged, “your grandparents knew my father’s family before they emigrated from Italy. My
grandfather, my father’s father, who you will meet when we get to Sicily, was particularly good friends with your greatgrandfather. My father called your great-grandfather uncle out of respect.”
“Really?”
“When your grandfather reached out, I was invited to the meeting. At the meeting you were there. I immediately
connected with you. A week later my mother, grandmother, grandfather met with your family and ironed out a contract.
Your grandfather knew of the Lucchesi bond. Your mother was on suicide watch. Your grandparents for all intents and
purposes were the people raising you. Your betrothal was the price of the elimination of the man who humiliated your mother and insulted you.”
“You said my grandfather knew of the Lucchesi bond.”
“Yes. He had a great-aunt who was a Lucchesi bride, and she was well-loved and respected. She was a special lady. She
passed away a few years back. My grandfather and father were extremely excited to have someone from her family line
and I,” he nodded to her, “was thrilled to have found you. Your grandfather knew you would be well taken care of.”
“You were a boy.”
“I was already a made man by the time I was thirteen.”
“What does made man mean?”
“Your father was my second hit.”
“Oh.” She blinked, “oh! You carried out his murder?”
“Yes. He disrespected my bride. Told the world your mother was a whore, and you were a bastard who should have been
aborted. He called you an ugly beast of a baby and denied being your father. It was my honor to end his miserable
existence.”
“I don’t want to talk about him anymore,” she was struggling to eat her food now.
“I apologize.” He reached across the table. “I deviated from the story you wanted to hear.”
“It’s okay. I asked.”
“Where was I?”
“Two hundred and fifty years ago the Lucchesi family were mobsters.” She offered cheekily earning a bark of laughter
from Icaro.
“Right. Well, as I said, our family and many other families, including the Spadaro family, were at odds. It got to the point
where men were being killed on a monthly basis. There was more blood in the streets than dirt. The men in our family were becoming bloodthirsty. They were angry, violent and there were even rumors of them collecting the blood of their
enemies and drinking it like vampires.”
“Vampires?”
“Not true vampires but the rumors and myths started, and my ancestors used the rumors to strike fear into enemies.
There were talks of lynch mobs and even the local churches were starting to talk about stakes through the heart of the
deceased. The countryside was talking demons, devils, and vamps.”
“Wow.”
“Worried for the fate of her sons and grandsons, wanting to quell the lust for blood and the rage the men were feeling,
and quite worried for our souls, my ancestral grandmother began praying for ways to calm the situation. During a period
of prayer, she felt God was telling her the best way to broker peace was for her son to marry the only daughter of the
Spadaro family. As you can imagine, it was not well-received from either family.”
“I bet.”
“So, she prayed. She prayed day and night. She fasted. She prayed more. She fasted some more. Day and night, night
and day, Binita Lucchesi prayed. Then in in a vision her prayers were answered. She swore the blessed Mother herself
heard the pleas of a mother fearing for the lives of her sons and grandsons and granted her a miracle. After weeks of
prayer and what her sons insisted were likely hallucinations, she said she saw a divine vision where the men who were
direct descendants of Binita Lucchesi would be gifted the blessing of true love at first sight and each man would be
helpless to resist. His bloodlust would be offset with love and adoration the moment they laid eyes on their one. Love would balance the hunger for blood.”
“It sounds farfetched.”
“Yet as the son of the woman came face to face with the daughter of his enemy he was immediately stricken with love. He fell to his knees, unable to stop himself from declaring his devotion to the woman. The Spadaro Don seized his
opportunity to stop the war and agreed to exchange his daughter in a peace treaty.”
“Hundreds of years of trading women off,” she muttered sarcastically. “Are all the women simply tokens to trade?”