Third Person's POV:
All of the Romano except Ariana were going to the headquarters today. They had a score to settle with Andrey. He has tormented them enough. This time it was their turn.
They had scheduled a meeting in which everyone had to be present there today, be it a rookie or a trained man. They will tell everyone that they have captured him so that they can feel at ease. The family who have lost their loved ones or the brothers in arms.
They arrived at the headquarters. It was half an hour's distance from their mansion. Antonio and Gabriel went to Gabriel's office. He is still the head of the mafia but he is thinking of transferring his position to Antonio soon.
Everyone was gathered in the main hall of the headquarters that is used to hold meetings. Just then Gabriel and Antonio also arrived there. All of the other brothers were already there.
"Hello everyone. I know that you are wondering why we have asked you all to come here today without any exception. Well we have captured the perpetrator who was responsible for the attack some time ago. In which we lost many of our brothers and my family also suffered at his hand. As you know, Rafael was shot in that fight and had to recuperate for some time. Now we have captured him. His name is Andrey, the boss of the Russian mafia. Leonardo, Asher and some of our men went to Russia and captured him from the mansion that he was hiding in like a coward. So I wanted all of you to know that we have him and we have avenged our lost men." Gabriel finished speaking with a cold expression.
Everyone cheered and felt that now they have received justice for their brothers.
"Ok all of you can go now. That's it for today." Antonio said and everyone dispersed. All of the Romano went to Gabriel's office.
(Gabriel's office)
"Dad, let's go to the dungeon. I want him to suffer." Benjamin said. He wanted to vent some of his anger on him because of him his brother had suffered so much.
"We will. Have some patience." Gabriel replied to him.
"I want to discuss other matters first." He said.
"What is it dad?" Matteo asked.
"I want to step down and hand over everything to Antonio." He had said this before and he wanted to implement it now.
"I have taught you everything that I know and trained you to be the best mafia capo that I can train. Now it's your turn to implement them and take your responsibility. Leonardo you will also have to step up as underboss. I have also taught you everything the best I could. Now it's the younger generation's turn." Gabriel said seriously.
Everyone fell into deep thought.
"I will not disappoint you dad." Antonio said.
"Me too." Leonardo also said seriously.
"But dad Ariana still doesn't know anything about the mafia." Rafael said.
"That brings me to another matter that I wanted to discuss. Now it's time that we tell her. She has been with us for a few months. She has integrated into our family and understands us now. I think we have given her enough time to adjust to everything. She has to know one day why not now. That way we can be guilt free that we are hiding something from her. So what do you think?"
All of them thought for some time.
"I think dad is right. We also wanted to tell her some time ago but couldn't. Now we should not delay telling her something this important." Alfonso said.
"I also think so." Antonio said. He also thought that it was time that they told her. All of the other brothers also nodded to show their agreement.
"Okay since you all think so then we should tell her today. The sooner the better." Gabriel said. Ariana was at school this time while Matteo had taken an absence.
"Okay then. We will tell her after she comes from school. Now let's go and settle some scores." Leonardo said, smirking.
All of the brothers and Gabriel went to the dungeon to see Andrey. They all arrived there and saw that Andrey was beat up pretty badly. He was in a bad shape but has been treated by the doctor so that he can live longer.
"Well, well, well, look how the situation has changed. Looks like our men have been treating you well." Gabriel taunted him. Andrey looked up at them and glared fiercely.
"If you have the courage then untie me and let's see who is the strongest here." He said provoking them.
"Sure. Untie him." Antonio said to his men. The men untied him.
"Go on. I will let you make the first move." Leonardo said. Andrey immediately lunged forward and attacked Leonardo. Leonardo also got into position and went on defense. He quickly dodged his attacks. They fought for some time as Andrey was, of course, a trained fighter. In the end, he was defeated by Leonardo.
"Are you now satisfied or do you want more?" Antonio asked.
Andrey glared at him but refused to say anything. He was already exhausted by fighting with Leonardo. He can't possibly have more fighting. At this moment Matteo rushed to him and punched him squarely on his face. He kept beating him up.
"This is for my brother and family. How did you think that you could hurt them and get away with it?" He kept punching him and also got punched a few times by Andrey. When they saw that it was enough Antonio stopped him.
"Enough Matteo. Come back." Matteo stopped and went back to their side.
"Enjoy your time here Andrey. You will not die an easy death." Gabriel said and they went away from there.
"Get him a doctor. Keep him alive." Antonio said to his men. They nodded and went to get the doctor. They all went to their work before deciding to meet at the home to tell Ariana everything.
At this moment she was in school. Today was the day of the result of their test. She was in her class and the teacher was distributing the test paper to the students. She received her test papers and realized that she has done well and got full scores in all of the subjects. She was happy.
After school she went home and realised that all of her family members were there at this time. She didn't think much of it and went to them.
"Papa, brothers, look, I got my results today for the tests." She excitedly handed them the papers. Gabriel took it and looked carefully at it. All of the Romano brothers were surrounding him and also looking carefully at the test papers. After looking at it they realised that Ariana had scored full marks in all of the subjects. They were very happy for her and also proud of her.
"Princess, well done. You did great." Gabriel said with a smile.
"Princess, I am proud of you. We all are." Antonio also said.
"Well done Ariana." Leonardo said. All of them praised her and were happy for her.
"Twinnie, I also got your test papers. Here." She gave him his papers. He looked at the test papers and realised that he also did well. He was just behind his sister. He knew that she was smart but he didn't know that she was so smart that she would surpass him. Before he was always the first in the class but he wasn't jealous of her. In fact, he was very happy and proud of her.
"Well done Matteo. Keep it up." Gabriel and all of the brothers praised him.
"Twinnie try to catch up next time." She said with a mischievous grin.
"Just you wait twinnie." Matteo also grinned at her. A healthy competition was not bad.
"Ok. I will be waiting then." Ariana said. At this time, Gabriel asked.
"What do you want, princess? This will be my gift."
"I don't want anything papa. I just did what I had to do. I like studying and want to become capable enough so that all of you can be proud of me." Ariana said. They all smiled at her. They knew that she would not ask anything from them. So they all thought of giving her something that she will like and will be useful for her.
"Matteo, what about you?" Gabriel asked him also.
"It's okay dad. I don't want anything either." He refused. Gabriel nodded. He has all the things that he wanted. No one has ever restricted them for anything as long as they knew their limit.
"Ok then let's celebrate. I will tell the kitchen to make your favourite dishes today and also some desserts." Rafael said.
Then he went to the kitchen and told the cook to make all of the dishes according to Ariana's preference. The cook got busy and after some time the dishes were ready. After all, the cook was a top grade cook who charges an astronomical figure. By that time Ariana also got down after getting fresh.
They all went to the dining room and had a sumptuous lunch and all of the dishes were to her liking. After lunch all of them were thinking about how to tell her about all of this without scaring her away. Gabriel signaled Antonio and all the others to say something. Ariana, who was sitting there and thinking about something, felt that something was wrong with them.
"What happened?" She asked them. All of them stiffened upon hearing that. They all were getting nervous about how to tell her. If anyone saw them this nervous in front of a little girl they would probably get the hell of a shock because the Romanos are known to make everyone nervous and fearful, not the other way around.
"Actually princess we have something we want to tell you about and it is very important but we don't know how you will react." Antonio said hesitant but he knew that they have to tell her sooner or later so why not now.
Ariana felt that it was a very important matter. So she slowly nodded.
"Ok. What is it? I will try to not overreact. It's not something bad right?" She asked, a little afraid that they might have to tell her something unpleasant.
"I hope it's not bad." Matteo muttered under his breath. Benjamin, who was sitting next to him, heard this and he glared at him to shut up completely. Matteo immediately shut up and looked silently at Ariana.
"Princess how would you feel if you knew that we are not at all what you know but are completely different people." Gabriel asked her that.
"What do you mean by that papa?" Ariana asked, not getting where this was going.
"I mean what if one day you saw us as completely different people like we become something like the criminals that we often listen about." He said slowly trying to understand her view.
"That's not possible." She said completely confident.
"Why do you think so? What if you saw us torturing someone or killing someone? Would you not feel scared of us?" Antonio asked.
"No."
"Why?" Matteo asked, completely stunned.
"Because I know you all. I know that you all will not do something wrong. I have this belief in you and I can't be wrong in this. If someday you do those things that you mentioned then I am sure it will because you have no other choice and you have to do it. I will not feel that you are wrong in that matter."
"But Aria. Isn't it wrong to do those things? Why do you think that we will be right in those matters?" Alfonso asked.
"Okay, think of it this way. If someone was trying to kill me or hurt me will you stand there and wait for someone to rescue me or will you save me yourself?"
"Of course I will save you." Alfonso said angrily just thinking about that.
"Then are you wrong to torture someone in that situation?"
"No." He said quietly.
"Then why do you think that I will think of you like that? You are my family and I trust in you so much that I know that you can never do any wrong things in your life. No one can shake this trust, not even you guys." She said confidently to her family members. They all felt happy hearing her say this when...
"Ariana, we are in the mafia business. Our dad is the mafia boss of the American mafia. Antonio is going to succeed him. I will be his second in command..." Leonardo dropped the bomb all of a sudden.
There was silence all around and then....
******
Here's another chapter guys.
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Happy reading.
Love, Stella.♥️