Arranged Mafia Marriage

Axel

“Nikolai Solonik,” the man holds out his hand.Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.

I ignore him and drop into my seat next to Michael. We are in a dingy space behind an Italian restaurant in Palermo.

Nikolai’s jaw tightens, but he doesn’t say anything as he takes his own seat. He’s dressed in a custom-fitted suit, his hair cropped close at his temples. Asshole resembles an investment banker, except for the tattoos which peek out from under his collar. For that matter, so do the two men standing behind him, who he doesn’t bother to introduce. He doesn’t need to, though. The facial resemblance declares that they are brothers.

“Sorry I am late.” An older man walks into the room. He must be in his mid-forties, with grey threading the wings at his temples. Like the other men in the room he, too, is dressed in a dark suit. Me? I’d opted to dress in jeans and a hoodie.

“JJ Kane,” the man jerks his chin at me as he folds his height into the seat next to Nikolai.

“And here I thought, meeting in the room behind an Italian restaurant was something they did only in the Mafia movies,” I drawl.

“It’s the best Italian restaurant in Palermo.” Michael shrugs, “Makes it convenient for us to adjourn for lunch.”

“Food is important for you Italians, eh?” I shoot him a sideways glance.

“Hold on, you don’t consider yourself Italian?” Nikolai leans back in his seat.

“I grew up in London; I consider myself English.”

“You sound English,” JJ offers.

“But you are of Italian origin?” Nikolai pushes.

I glare back at him. “My mother was a Mafia princess, if that’s what you are asking,” I say in a hard voice, “but I am not Italian.” I hold his gaze and he nods.

“Yet, here you sit, by the side of the Don of the Cosa Nostra?”

A nerve throbs at my temple, “Your point being?”

He raises his hand. “Just making conversation,” he says in a mild voice.

“I have a suggestion for you. Don’t,” I shoot back.

The silence stretches in the room. The men behind us shuffle their feet. Behind Nikolai, his brothers don’t move a muscle. I swear, I haven’t even seen them blink since I walked in here. Do the Bratva have a special school to which they send their men to be trained?

“Xander’s loss has been hard on all of us,” Michael finally murmurs, “but we have been fortunate to be reunited with his triplet, Axel.” Michael surveys the two men seated opposite us. “I called this meeting, in good faith, to introduce both of you to the newest member of our family. Axel is also going to be a board member in our three-way partnership that encompasses the online businesses that we are running.”

“You are going to make him a board member in Trinity enterprises?” Nikolai straightens.

“You have a problem with that?” I smirk.

He scowls at Michael. “Take a number, triple it, and I guarantee, the three of us will come into enough money to increase our sphere of influence on a global scale,” he snaps.

“I believe those were my words and I stick by them,” Michael replies.

JJ strokes his chin. “So you are bringing in your brother, but you continue to split the profits three ways?”

Michael nods.

“Still, your family would effectively double its representation, which doesn’t seem fair.”

“I am not part of the family,” I say in a hard voice.

Both Nikolai and JJ turn to me.

“Are you not a Sovrano?” Nikolai scowls at me.

I open my mouth to protest, and he raises his hand, “Like it or not, you are Xander’s triplet. The Sovrano blood runs in your veins. You may have disputes with the rest of the family, but for the purposes of this discussion, you are one of them.”

I squeeze my fingers into fists. He’s right. It’s something I have known since my mother revealed my background to me, and yet, it’s also something I have refused to accept. Not when I have made it my life’s ambition to destroy this family.

I glare at Nikolai, who glowers back at me.

Behind me, I sense Luca shift his stance. Seb takes a step forward, when one of Nikolai’s brother’s jerks his chin in his direction. Seb pauses. The tension in the room ratchets up. One of Nikolai’s brothers locks his gaze on me; the other continues to watch my brothers carefully.

JJ stiffens.

Nikolai’s jaw tics.

Next to me, Michael stays relaxed. “Down boys,” he says in a casual voice, “we can’t afford to fight amongst ourselves.”

JJ watches us warily.

Nikolai continues to glare at me.

Then JJ shakes his head, “You’re right, we need to find an amenable solution.”

“Nikolai?” Michael asks, and there’s a tone of warning in his voice.

Nikolai holds my gaze for a few seconds more, then he turns to Michael, “I agree, we need to find a peaceful solution. When you agreed to splitting the profits three ways, the tacit agreement was that all three partners would have equal representation on the board, one from each of us.”

Michael stays quiet for a few seconds, “That’s true.”

“What are you trying to say?” Nikolai asks.

“I am saying that I’ll take a step back from the enterprise.”

“What?” Luca exclaims. “You’d give your place on the board over to him?”

Michael blows out a breath, “That’s exactly what I am saying.”

Nikolai glances between us before he leans back in his chair.

JJ whistles under his breath, “You are giving up your seat on the board to him, ol’ chap?”

Behind me, Seb moves restlessly, but unlike Luca, he doesn’t express his opinion. Likely, it will be at a meeting with the brothers only, where he lets rip. If I had a brother, I’d want him to be like Seb. Or perhaps, like Adrian, who seems the calmest of all of them. Michael’s the Don, Massimo takes too long to make decisions, Luca is the opposite, being too hot-headed, and Christian… Well, Christian hates me, and rightly so, after what I did to him and his family and…

What the fuck am I doing, thinking about my brothers instead of celebrating my victory? I should feel happy, right? The first step in my plan to destabilize the Sovranos is underway. I should move in quickly, take over the meeting, and set plans in motion to reap the benefits of the work done by the company so far.

Instead, I sit here quietly as Michael turns to me. “Fact is, I only took on a leadership role at Trinity enterprises, because I’d promised my wife I’d focus more on legitimate businesses and phase out the illegal ones. A goal we all share,” he glances about the faces at the table. “Now that this business is up and running, I want to focus on the other parts of the organization and accelerate their transition to being above-board. Taking this on, along with everything else that I have to do to steer the Cosa Nostra forward, has been a lot for me.”

“It has?” I frown. Why is it that Michael doesn’t view declaring this in front of his one-time enemies a show of weakness? Why does it not come across as a sign of vulnerability? If anything, his being honest about his inability to manage it all makes him seem more in control.

“I’d rather spend more time with my wife,” he offers.

“What are you saying?” I scowl.

“Yeah, what exactly are you getting at, Michael?” Luca says in a hard voice.

Michael rises to his feet and walks over to the head of the table. He folds his arms across his chest and glances at his brothers (and no, I don’t include myself in that category) “I know you guys trust me to make the right decision,” he says in a matter-of-fact voice.

None of my brothers say anything to the contrary.

He turns to JJ and Nikolai, glancing at each of them in turn, “And I am a man of my word.”

“I have no reason to doubt that,” JJ confirms.

Nikolai merely raises an eyebrow.

Michael glances at me, “It’s why I am resigning from Trinity’s board, effective immediately-”

“What the-?” JJ looks taken aback.

“Cazzo,” Luca exclaims, “you’re really going to do this, aren’t you?”

I sense Seb wanting to say something, but he stays quiet.

“What the hell are you trying to do here?” I force out the words, “If this is some kind of delaying tactic-”

“It’s not,” Michael’s lips kick up, “I am giving you my position in Trinity.”

“Don, what are you-” Luca begins to protest, but Michael holds up his hand.

“Can you give me a few minutes with my brothers?”

He addresses the question to JJ and Nikolai, who glance at each other, then rise and leave the room, along with Nikolai’s brothers.

Then he turns to us, “Axel will represent the Cosa Nostra on the board of Trinity. I will step down. It will remain a three-way partnership, the profits being split among three parties. That should satisfy the Kane Company and the Bratva. As for us,” he glances sideways at Luca, “with Xander gone, the proceeds will continue to be split among the seven of us within the Cosa Nostra, so the status quo is maintained. Does that answer your questions?”