Chapter 12- Rules

Lucia's POV:

It was almost 7 o'clock after devouring a tasty home-cooked meal by Rosa when I was called into Santo's office. I had never gone the day before because of my obnoxiously long nap which was most definitely needed.

Once again I was being escorted, or should I say dragged, by Luca with Marco following us asking me random questions that I responded with mostly one-word answers. Not seeming to mind, he just kept talking and talking before we arrived at Santo's thick wooden door. Reaching the door he became completely silent and put a hand onto the top of my shoulder.

"Good luck" he hesitantly said squeezing my shoulder a little.

"Oh, don't be dramatic." Luca scolded him while rolling his eyes.

"I am not" he replied.

"Yes, yes you are" 

"No"

"Yes"

"No"

"Yes"

"No"

"Ye-" Before he could say anything more I interrupted them.

"If both of you don't shut up right now, I swear on my life I will cut off your tongues and feed you both the others" I glared at them as they amusingly both swallowed at the same time. When both their Adam's apples bobbed up and down at the same time I had to suppress a smirk from showing on my face. 'Scaring people is fun,' I thought.

Taking a noticeably large step away from me, Luca pushed my arm out of his hand and towards the door of doom. Or that's what they seemed to think it was. By then the door had slightly cracked open to halfway open, but as he was so engrossed in his work he didn't notice me and the two idiots standing right outside his door. 'Aren't Mafia leaders supposed to have senses or at least instincts? What if I was an enemy of his. He'd be dead by now.'  I thought to myself. Motioning towards the inside of his office with my head as a hint for one of them to get his attention.

"I thought that we weren't allowed to talk" Marco whispered sassily turning my words back onto myself. 

"Well, I guess I'll just have to make an exception this one time" I smiled sweetly at him.

"I don't want to" He replied.

"I will make you want to in a minute, and trust me, you do not want me to do that." I threatened but he stood his ground.

"No" he whined.

"Just do it" Luca sighed towards him.

"Why don't you do it since you're offering me up so quickly" Marco whispered.

"Yeah Luca, you do it," I told him siding with Marco.

"Why should I, he wanted you?" He told me resting his back against the wall.

"No" I replied.

"Yes." Both Luca and Marco replied scowling.

"Are you going to stand there bickering with the two of them like children or will you just stand there quietly so I can get some work done?" Santo asked towards me which interrupted our mini little debate.

I rolled my eyes and confidently walked into the office leaving the others behind, although I was anything but. He dismissed the other two but not before giving Marco the folder that he had followed along with Luca and I for.

As I sat in the brown leather armchair I noticed the cold, rustic look to his office that was noticeably different from the rest of the interior of the mansion. There were walls filled with many different genres of books, from history to romance and, surprisingly there were plants lined on the floor, giving the room an earthy look. There was one plant sitting right on the corner of his large mahogany wood desk. It looked like a cactus so naturally, I had to name it. The circular pot gave me masculine vibes and the weirdly shaped plant told me that it deserved a unique name. Gerald. Although it wasn't as unique as I thought, it suited it.

"Lucia," Santo asked looking at me weirdly. "Are you done staring at my plant?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, my bad," I said apologetically. "What did you want me here for?" I enquired, though I already had a gist of what he wanted to tell me.

"The rules," he told me straight. "Over 100 people live in this house and all abide by the same five rules. You will do no different." I sighed and nodded. "Great. Rule number 1, attend the meeting held every Sunday at 5 o'clock, you missed the one today but if that happens again there will be consequences. Rule number 2, do not invite people over unless given permission. Number 3, pick up after yourself, I have maids but I don't expect them to do everything. Number 4, 12 o'clock curfew, I don't care what you do after then, as long as it is in your room and you don't roam around the house. Finally, rule number 5, do not go into the basement unless told differently." He said to me curtly. 

"I don't appreciate being told what to do and when to do it. If those are the rules, I may as well leave right now." I over exaggerated myself, ultimately trying to get a better deal if I could.

"And I do not appreciate a nobody coming into my house and telling me what to do" He glared at me with an irritated expression as I leaned back cooly onto the sleek, black leather armchair.

" 2 o'clock" I bargained.

"12:30," he said back.

"Maybe 1:30"

"1 o'clock, final offer" he scoffed at me and my antics.

"Deal, but I want to know what's in the basement" I stopped.

"Why should I tell you anything? For all I know you could be spying on me, getting ready to sell information to the highest bidder" He asked leaning his forearms on the desk in front of him and slightly came forwards.

"Don't forget, you were the one who came to me asking for help, and anyways, I will just find out what's down there on my own terms. You may as well make it easier for yourself and tell me." I explained to him crossing my legs in the chair.

"We take those who have betrayed the Omertà and tie them up, I'm guessing you can figure out the rest on your own from there." Sneering he told me as a small, menacing smile became prominent on his face. Ooh sounds like fun.

Smiling I told him, "Great, well thanks for that. I'll be on my way."

"Yes, please leave" He watched me as I got up from the comfortable chair and headed towards the door.

Standing at the threshold of the door, I was hesitant to ask, but 'Eh, what's he gonna do, glare at me again?' I thought. "Can I take Gerald with me?" I asked.

"Who the fuck is Gerald?" He enquired angrily.

"What the fuck is Gerald." I corrected him.

"What?" He became confused.

" I corrected you, Gerald is a what," I said snarkily.

He took in a deep breath trying to compose himself. "Fine, what is Gerald?" He seemed unsettlingly calm.

I pointed towards the lime green cactus. 

"Oh, you want that? Sure," he said scarily nicely. 

I  made my way towards his desk again, his eyes never faltering away from me. Then I reached towards Gerald, but the pot was shoved off of the surface by a large hand and smashed in to tiny pieces on his hardwood floor. 

I glared as he smirked at me with satisfaction and amusement. "What is the hell is the matter with you? Are you always this childish?" I questioned in astonishment.

"I don't know, do you always name plants ridiculous names?" he replied.

Ignoring him, I mumbled, "Poor Gerald", but soon got angry at his immature behaviour.

"Fuck you," I said and stormed out of his room. 

"Daydreaming again, Tesoro? (sweetheart)" I heard him shout.

"Dillo di nuovo e guarda cosa succede. (say that again and see what happens)" I bellowed from halfway down the hall, then heard a throaty chuckle come from the direction I had been walking away from.

"Forse lo voglio (maybe I want to)" he responded still chuckling from far away as I huffed and began to walk faster.

Rounding a corner, I instantly became still as hushed whispers were heard from behind the wall by not two but three voices, two of them belonging to Luca and Marco.

"Cosa dovremmo fare con lui? (what should we do with him?)" Luca asked Marco.

"Lo porteremo dal nostro capo (we'll bring him to our boss)" He replied in a much more serious tone than I was used to.

"Hey I have an idea, why don't you let me go?" I recognised that voice.

"Shut the fuck up. Or do you want me to shove a few socks down your throat?" Marco asked sarcastically. 'Ah, there he is' I thought to myself.

"Okay, okay fine, d-" the mysterious voice said, but before he could finish his words, Luca ended up kneeing him in his stomach sending him to the ground.

I snuck towards the wall and tried to get a better look at what was happening, but as I turned to peek my head from the side of the wall I locked eyes with Luca. He became much angrier, scrunching his eyebrows together and clicking his jaw he came to me and grabbed my arm harshly. 

Pulling me out from behind the wall I ended up getting a better look at the mystery guy.

"Jay?" I asked in shock.

"Lu Lu?" He looked up at me confused then ran towards me but was held back by the shackles that were secured around his ankles. I managed to get free and walked up to him as he held a high smile on his face.

When I was directly in front of him, I slapped him hard enough that his head flung to the side.

"I deserved that," he agreed nodding his head while wincing from rubbing his cheek with the palm of his hand. So suddenly that he stumbled backwards, I jumped onto him and wrapped my legs around his waist, hugging him. 

"I miss him Lu," he said as his voice cracked in my ear.

"Me too Jay, me too," I told him back.

He hugged me even tighter.

"You can't leave me again," I told him as he held me up by the waist.

"I won't leave you Lucy" he uttered while nuzzling his head in my loose hair.

"Promise me?" I asked but he hesitated. "Promise me Jayden" I urged.

"I promise" he swore, knowing that he couldn't break it. The three of us had made pacts when we were younger saying we could never break a promise. We all lived by it religiously. But the two of them both broke the most important one. 

Out of the corner of my eye, Luca and Marco were looking at us both with furrowed eyebrows and confused expressions plastered onto their faces. I jumped down from him and stood by his side, the three of them were towering over me.

"How do you know him Lucy?" Marco asked.

"I grew up with him. Luca, Marco this is Jayden. Jayden, this is Luca and Marco" I pointed at each of them when I introduced them.

"Okay, nice reunion and all, but he was found trespassing so we are going to have to hand him over to Santo," Luca bluntly said as I sighed.

"Fine, behave yourself," I told Jay. "And you both, if he gets even a scratch on his head, I swear I will skin you both alive, do you understand?" I asked turning towards them.

"Yes." They both said quickly in sync as I smirked at them and Jay squeezed my shoulder slightly with pride.

When they turned the corner with Jayden wandering behind them, I ended up on the shared sofa and turned on Iron Man as I didn't end up finishing it the day before.