Hi everyone! I just wanted to thank everyone for all of the love and support on the first chapter. I know it's a little bit of a different start but I hope everyone will give it a chance. Things will be explained as the story continues. But here is Chapter 2!
I pull into the garage after passing through security. I quickly park my bike and throw off my helmet. I shake out my hair and look up to see Charlie leaning against a metal toolbox, scowling at me.
"My office. Now." He states firmly, leaving no room for argument. "And take off the fucking wig." I sigh and do as he says. I remove it and the wig cap as quickly as I can as I follow him into the house. We walk up the back staircase that leads to the second floor. He stomps into this office and throws open the door. I close it behind us and take a seat on the opposite side of his desk.
While my father has more money than he knows what to do with, he is a simple man. His office is large, yes, but the wall of shelves behind his desk mostly contained with books that I have collected over the years. The rest of the space contained a small sitting area and his giant wooden desk.
"Isabella what the fuck did you do?! I told you to leave Morgan alone. I would handle it. But noooo, you had to jump the gun and fucking murder him at the club no less! You know I fucking hate you being there! You aren't some fucking whore!" my father yells, pacing the room still. "He was our number one recruiter and worked with many different families. What are they going to say? Sorry, my daughter is trigger happy!"
"I did what I had to do. He stole from our family. He got the same punishment any other man, women, or child would for that. You also know that I'm not a fucking whore and don't you ever insinuate that again old man!" I yell back just as loudly. I may be his daughter but I will not be treated as his subordinate and cower down to him.
"I told you that in time he would meet his end. I wanted to milk him for all he was worth. You jumped the gun, Isabella."
"What did she do this time?" I turn my head as I head Seth walks in my father's office.
"Seth go back to sleep. You don't need to listen to this." I say softly, wanting to shield him from our discussion. Seth is my younger cousin. He is only a few years younger than me but we all know he is not made for this life and try to shield him from it as much as possible.
He completely ignores me and has a seat in the chair next to mine.
"What did you do Bella? You guys screaming at each other woke me up so obviously it was something." He says rolling his eyes.
"Isabella killed Morgan at the club when I explicitly told her not to." My dad said, glaring at me and leaning against his desk.
"I did it to protect the family name. If someone was to hear that we let a thief live we would just cause more of them. Besides, we don't need him anymore. We got everything we needed from him. You know all of his men follow our orders, not his. I will meet with them tomorrow and discuss them becoming our runners." Seth being there instantly calms both of us. While my father and I tend to disagree on how we handle situations, but we both agree not to yell and argue in front of Seth.
Seth and I have both been through a lot these past couple of years. Five years ago, my mother and uncle were in a car accident. They collided head-on with a semi and the car eventually went up in flames. The coroner reported that both died instantly and most likely felt no pain. That didn't mean the rest of us didn't feel pain. My aunt completely left the family, to guilt-ridden to even see us. My other cousin Leah followed her mother's footsteps, basically faded from our family as well. While both Charlie and myself were distraught with the loss of our loved ones, we accepted Seth into our fucked up family of three. Seth has always been more open to the family business than the other. However, he would never fit in. He's too loving and caring to do what we do. That is why he is going into the medical field. We wanted to save lives, not take them.
"Very well." My father nods. He knows how much I care about our image and understands my reasoning. He knows I'm right, but he will never recognize his fault, at least out loud. He walks back around his desk and sits behind it, sighing and rubbing his face. "How did it go?"
"He squealed like a pig. I barely got started before he begged to right his wrongs." I chuckle and Seth cringes at my words. "I ended it quickly though. I wasn't feeling murderous." I say looking at him and winking.
Seth shakes his head at me and stands up "Well I'm done here. I have a final in the morning. Goodnight." He waves at us and walks out of the office. We sit in silence for a moment and my father looks at me.
"Isabella...you know how I feel about you dancing at the club. It's extremely dangerous and you deserve better than that."
"I know. You have told me this multiple times. That's why Jake is always there. Besides, no one would recognize me nor expect me to be there. I rarely go there and our name isn't attached to the club. Even the Feds don't know it's ours." I say rolling my eyes. I appreciate his fatherly concern, but I have never had a problem there. Even in their lust filled haze, the men there are scared of me.
My father pauses for a while, listening to the excuse I give every time we have this discussion.
"I know why you really did all this though. It's the same reason you have been so strict with everyone lately. You're scared people won't respect you as Dom." He says looking at me knowingly.
"I'm not scared." I pause, looking away from him." I may be worried, but not scared."
"You know all of our men respect you mia figlia (my daughter). They have seen you fight. They know you're a strong leader." He continues confidently
"It's not them I am worried about," I state, whipping my head around to look him the eyes. "You know the other families will be a threat and I will not allow them to run over me." I stand up as I speak and move to the door. "I will keep our family strong as long as I live," I state with my back towards him and walk out.
I walk down the hall to my room. I open my door and see a large figure sitting on my bed, the room pitch black. I quickly draw my weapon and point, finger on the trigger.
"It would be my honor to die by your bullet principessa (Princess)."
I roll my eyes and flick on the light. There is Jacob sitting on my bed.
"One day I'm actually going to shoot you," I mutter and put my gun back in its holster. He rolls his eyes and lies back on my bed. His long 6'5 frame takes up most of my queen bed. He is attractive, with his tan deep skin, short ink black hair and deep brown eyes, but he would never be more than a friend. A brother really.
We started training with my father right around the time I started. We have been by each other's side ever since. He was officially bodyguard but he was more of a right-hand man. I didn't need protection. Yes, I was the only child of a mob boss, but no one really knew I would be taking over when my father stepped down.
"I look forward to it Isabella." He chuckles and looks over at me "How did it go?"
"You really should go see a therapist. You enjoy the thought of me killing you way too much." I ignore his question and step into my walk-in closet. While I'm not a very girly-girl, I do enjoy the finer things in life, especially clothes, shoes, and handbags. I change out of my clothes and throw them in my dirty hamper, placing my gun in my set of drawers.
"I'm not here to talk about my eventual demise. I'm here to ask you how your talk with your father went." He sits back up on the bed and looks towards the closet. I slip on a large tee shirt and yoga pants. I move to stand at the doorway and look at him.
"It went fine. He yelled. I yelled. Seth interrupted and calmed us down. He lectured me on going to the club as he always done. That was pretty much the end of it.
"That was it?" He asks, confusion written all over his face.
"Was there something else he should have told me?" I ask, tilting my head and starting him down. "You know I don't like secrets, Jacob. What it is?"
He turns his head and looks down. "It's not my place Bella. Charlie will talk to you when he's ready." I glared and moved to stand in front of him. He sat up completely and looked up at me from his spot on my bed. "I'm serious Bells. It's not my place."
"Fine" I sighed, knowing whatever he was hiding was not life threatening. "But get out of my bed you asshole. It's been a long day and I need to get some sleep."
"Fine. Fine" He laughs and hops up, hands up in defense. "I'll see you in the morning. Get ready to get your ass kicked Swan. "He sneaks out of the room and the pillow hits where his head was just a moment before.
I roll my eyes at his antics and head to shower. I walk into my adjoining bathroom. All I wanted at this point was to shower. I slipped off the clothes I just put on and turned on the water. I stepped in and allowed the hot spray to relax my muscles. I stood there for a moment, finally at peace.
It was a time like this I was able to truly relax. I don't have many of these moments with my kind of work, so I treasure them as much as possible. I grab my favorite shampoo and start to lather it in my hair. My hair is getting too long. It's almost at my waist. I haven't really cut it since my mother past. She always loved how long and shiny it was.
I finished my shower and wrapped a fluffy towel around me. I walked to the sink and wiped the steam from the mirror, look into it. Staring back at me is a young woman with slightly tanned skin, the perfect mixture of her Italian father's and American mother's genes. My deep brown eyes look tired and stressed and my long hair isn't as shiny as it was when I was longer.
I sigh and shake my head. Even I can see the sadness in my eyes. I change back into my pajamas and dry my hair with the towel. I walk into my room and check my phone. 2:37 am. Great. I set my alarm for 8 am and get into bed, slipping under the covers. I fall into a dreamless sleep the moment my head hits the pillow.
Soooo. What do you think? I like this chapter a lot and I feel like this is the first glance of who Bella really is.
I do have a question though. Would you all prefer chapters similar in length to the ones I have posted, or significantly longer chapters? The longer the chapter, the less I will be able to upload so keep that in mind.
With that being said, let me know what you think. I love any and all feedback. Reviews make me incredibly happy! See you on the next one!