Ethan Knight kept staring at amber liquid in crystal glass. He was tired of hearing the same thing repeatedly but he knew what his father-in-law was saying couldn't be ignored anymore.

"Flavio is marrying Cara tomorrow and you know the purpose behind this wedding. This is not an issue to be overlooked anymore, Ethan."

Ethan Swirled the whiskey and sniffed it before taking a gulp of it. The burning sensation in his throat was what he craved. It matches his emotions nowadays. "I understand the matter is serious Giovanni and that's why I have a name in mind."

Giovanni arched a white brow in question. "Who?"

"Rosalina De Luca. Amadio's daughter. He contacted and hinted towards a future alliance. I see no reason to deny that."

Giovanni's brows cleared. "Ah! You are going for the biggest fish in the tank, Ethan. But What about Him? Do you think He would agree to this?"

Ethan opened his mouth to speak but the ring of his cellphone interrupted him. He glanced at the Caller ID and frowned. It was Alberto who was calling and Ethan knew not to ignore his calls.

"Speak."

"Senator Kennedy is shot dead."

Ethan turned still in his chair. He clenched his jaws tightly after digesting the news.

"Who killed him?" Ethan demanded but deep down he knew the answer to it. He could feel it in every nerve of his body that it was his son who ordered Kennedy's death and today it was served to him on the golden platter.

"Velenoso."

Ethan squeezed his eyes shut in anger, throwing the cellphone on the Rosemary table. "Fuck!"

Senator Kennedy was the man Aaron met this weekend to negotiate peace terms. He wanted Kennedy to forbid some things in the city and for that Aaron would have paid him handsomely but Kennedy was a tough nut who refused to accept the generous offer which ticked Aaron badly.

Giovanni frowned. "What happened?"

"Your grandson sent an executioner to kill Senator Kennedy who just did his job."

Giovanni looked proud, making Ethan shake his head in disdain. "As delighted as you look at this moment, do you even know the consequences of this? He killed a top-notch politician. Things can get dirty, Gio. We are already fighting the Bratva and Irish Cartels and not to mention the rumours of mutiny in 'Cosa Nostra' against me. I don't want the FBI on my throat too."

Giovanni agreed but he didn't have any words to say at this moment.

He sighed, "It's time for lunch. My daughter has butchered a lamb for us. Let's not waste her efforts, Si?"

Ethan rubbed his temples tiredly and walked with his father-in-law to the lunch table. Olivia smiled at her father.

"Papa, it's nice to see you again."

Giovanni kissed his daughter. "Cara Mia, you look beautiful. New dress?"

Olivia smiled. "Yes, I won't leave a chance to ruin your money, after all it's what you find me fit for by handing my birthright to my husband and not me. Because I was only a woman, weak and pathetic in your eyes. A woman who couldn't take over as the new Don right?" She announced in a sweet voice but her words were latched with resentment over her father.

Giovanni didn't mind, he was habitual to this. He had been hearing these comments for the past thirty years. "One day you will understand why I did that, Cara Mia."

Olivia gave her father and husband an unpleasant look and gestured for them to sit. "Grace the lunch table, Papa," then turned to her husband. "And you too, husband."

"Thank you, my Love," Ethan said with a tight smile and took the seat at the head of the table.

Olivia took the seat beside her husband. Ethan eyed the empty chairs, both his sons were not there.
"Where are my grandsons, Olivia."

"How would I know? They are not babies anymore, Papa and I am not guarding them," She answered with a sweet smile but sharp tongue.

Ethan gripped the knife tightly in his hand but calmed himself. He thought his wife's animosity would waver with time but it only increased tenfold.

"You should be aware..." Ethan snapped, Olivia gave him a sharp look but couldn't hold it for longer than a few seconds and turned her head away, disgusted with herself for submitting to her husband's authority.

"Ah, here you are, il mio bambino, (my child)" Giovanni said merrily when he saw his younger grandson entering with a smirk on his face. "Hey, Nonno. You look sexy, Man."

"Greet him respectfully, Asher." Ethan commanded and Asher nod respectfully at his father. "Yes, father."

Asher kissed Nonno's hand and apologised for his behaviour. "Where is your brother?" Giovanni asked.

"Eldy is talking to someone over the phone." Asher said before taking the seat beside his Nonno.

Meanwhile a man walked inside, surpassing the entrance of the mansion with a phone attached to his ear. He was merely talking to the other party but only listening. A satisfied smirk appeared on his lips but it vanished as soon as it came. He raised his dark intense eyes and scrutinized the atmosphere around him. His gray stormy eyes held the dominance and power which is elusive to the outside world.

He twitched his upper lip as the familiar voices hit his ear. He cut the call and walked directly to the dining table to attend the so-called family lunch. Ethan raised his head hearing the sound of his footsteps and looked toward his elder son.

His sharp glare was not even acknowledged by Aaron as He directly approached his grandfather and kissed his hand, greeting him with a nod.

"I hope you are still doing great at this age, Grandpa." Aaron's thick yet gracious voice made Giovanni smile in pride. After all, He was his favorite grandson.

"I am doing more than great when you keep making me proud, Aaron." He replied with a smile. Aaron nodded and took his seat beside him.

They started serving themselves the dishes made by Olivia. The lamb was perfectly cooked just like every other dish on the lunch table. But Aaron's hunger died the instant his father started speaking.

"You killed the Senator?" Ethan asked him in a formal tone though he knew everything but he wanted to hear the truth from his Son's mouth.

Aaron blinked leisurely and raised his eyelids, his gaze turned straight ahead. He took one bite of food from his plate and chewed it slowly. He took his time to answer his father.

"I thought you were already informed?" He answered indifferently, taking another piece of meat in his mouth.

Ethan gritted his teeth listening to his mockery. He left the spoon on the table and glared at Aaron.

"Do You have any idea this news will spread like a wildfire and I will be burdened with another fucking trouble created by you. Why are you hell-bent on getting the tag of the notorious future boss of 'Cosa Nostra'. They are already debating on your position of taking after me but you always have to show your performance on your own. Now who will take the responsibility of this murder? You are going to lose your prominence." Ethan sneered at his son who wiped his face with the silk napkin and looked at his father finally.

"Who is Debating my position, father? Who has the right to do so except for you and Grandfather?" Aaron's sharp gaze settled on his father with blaze in his gray orbs.

"No one. Then who dared to question it?" He again demanded in a frigid voice. Giovanni shared look with Ethan, obviously, they couldn't pinpoint any particular name.

"And as far as the Senator's case is concerned, who says I killed him?" His question threw them out of the line. Asher smirked secretly knowing his brother's tactics. Ethan was on the verge of bursting at his son but He knew he can't when they were having weekly family lunch.

"What do you mean, Aaron?" Giovanni asked him, withering his brows. Aaron looked at him.

"Kennedy was already getting targeted and warned by his enemies. Being a politician you are not pampered by people just like that but you definitely get jabbed by them. The Irish Mafia openly threatened to kill him so I reckon that He would become famous next. People may point at me but nobody would sputter anything. I learned the technique of killing two birds with one stone from you, Grandpa." Aaron smirked when Grandpa looked at him surprisingly. Aaron just got the advantage of the situation when He had the chance to remove the barrier in his mission.

"You think that you will escape every time by doing these reckless things?" Ethan again snapped at him. Aaron twisted his head, closing his eyes.

"I am the next boss of 'Cosa Nostra' so I don't think so...." He raised his gray orbs to his father with a challenge, "...but I know that." And finished, looking at Giovanni. Aaron knew his father very well so He preferred not to waste his energy clarifying further.

"To become the next boss, you have to follow the rule, Aaron." Ethan said and Aaron only chuckled at that.

Giovanni and Ethan shared a look. Giovanni sighed and spoke. "Thirty years ago my decision created havoc in Cosa Nostra. People still disapproved of my decision but knew better to speak and show their hatred openly. But surely they gave us a hard time in the past, Aaron. The soldiers want their traditions to be followed and you being unmarried is unsettling. Marriage to an Italian girl with a good status is what is required of you at this point when Flavio is marrying to De Luca."

Now that was the talk. Aaron gripped the spoon in his hand and took another bite. Every Sunday lunch started with this conversation and ended with this argument.

"Aaron, what do you think of Amadio's daughter? Your consent also matters." Giovanni started the conversation by dropping the killing theme.

"Amadio hinted towards a possible future alliance today between his daughter Rosalina and you."

"I don't think anything about her, why would I? Does my consent count, Grandpa? If yes, then my answer is No." Again Aaron answered indifferently. He wondered why they are not fed up already with this topic when He already states his desire. Asher suppressed his chuckle with a cough while Olivia was eating her lunch without caring about the talk.

"I don't understand what it is to not like Rosalina. She is a respectable Italian woman who belongs to our world. This will bring peace among two of our families and this is good for business." Ethan stated further to persuade Aaron.

Asher Salvatore Knight who groaned hearing his father. "Apart from the fact that she thinks of herself as some kind of goddess, nothing at all, Dad. I met her once. She is a real bitch."

Ethan glanced at his younger son. "I am not talking to you. Keep your suggestions to yourself and eat your lunch," He snapped and waited for Aaron to speak.

Aaron tried to keep calm but with every passing minute, He was getting enraged. "Because I don't want to marry anyone, father, not now at least." He finally declared in an uninterested tone.

"You know the traditions. You have to get married before taking over 'Cosa Nostra'. People will take you more seriously after your marriage moreover you will need an heir, Aaron. You know how unpredictable this life is." This time, Olivia entered the conversation. However, she was not interested in this tradition but she knew it was inevitable. They are bound to this world and its rules.

Once again Asher groaned but this time kept his words to himself. Aaron tilted his head in his mother's direction. He smirked elusively at her statement.

"People still take me seriously, mother, they know what's good for them. I don't need a trophy wife for anyone to take me seriously."

Asher smirked. "He killed the high-ranking Bratva members single-handedly a week ago. The Bratva had kept their distance since then, mother." He added his brother's colourful deeds to this matter further.

"Amadio is..." Before Ethan could speak Aaron stood up from his chair abruptly. His patience broke. His ice-cold eyes glared at father.

"I don't give a fuck what Amadio is, Father. He is nothing but a rat who is trying to save himself from the Bratva by allying with us and he is bartering his daughter for that. I don't have to marry anyone to take over as the next Boss in the chain. The first thing I would be changing after becoming the boss is this fucking rule of marriage," His thick, husky but steady voice resonated around the foyer of the estate. His gaze shifted to his mother.

"And I do have an heir, mother. Asher is my heir," He clamped his jaws and walked out of his palace. The footsteps behind him explained that Asher was following him.

"Hey, Eldy..." Asher jogged to his brother's car and sighed when He finally reached the car and settled on the passenger seat.

"Easy bro."

Aaron didn't care and drove as fast as He could. "She is not bad looking, you know?" Asher said when he noticed his brother's face relaxing a little. Aaron spared him a boring glance.

"Who?"

"The De Luca girl, who else! She is beautiful to look at, I think you should give her a chance."

Aaron tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. Rosalina, daughter of Amadio de Luca, Italian breed and a virgin, that's what they say. But Aaron knew better. Asher was right, she was not bad to look at but Aaron didn't want to marry anyone.

Not after her!

"How is college going?" Aaron asked instead. He needed to change the topic of conversation or He would burst on someone. There was a possibility that the person would be his brother and that was the last thing He would want to do.

Asher was the only person apart from a few other people who mattered to him. "Same old, same old. But I am loving it. The girls keep me busy."

Aaron shook his head. "I want you to join me for a few meetings next week. You need to learn business, Ash."

He rolled his eyes. "Yup, I heard I am your heir," Asher muttered and started playing that annoying gunfight video game on his phone as if they didn't have enough violence in real life.

Aaron focused on driving with a curt face. He needed to divert his mind from the conversation in his parent's house. Sunday Lunches with his parents always leave a bitter taste in his mouth. He liked this silence. He welcomed it wholeheartedly after the talk with his father but eventually, the silence died when his brother got bored with the annoying video game.

"Are we going to Flavio's wedding?"

Aaron sighed. He had no desire to attend this wedding but He knew He couldn't avoid it. Not when He was going to be the next boss of Cosa Nostra and He believed in the wise saying, 'Keep your friends close and enemies closer.' Flavio Salvatore was certainly the enemy He wanted to castrate in future. Brutally!

"Yes, we are," He replied, curtly.

"Cool, I wanted to see that dog marry."

Aaron spared him a glance. Asher took everything as a game but he was unaware that the games in Mafia were paid in blood and death just like she did years ago.

She died saving him and now it was his turn to save the people who mattered to him.

"You know that Rosalina De Luca will be there too, right? Dad and Nonno want you to meet your future bride."

Aaron gritted his jaw when an image of her soft blue eyes flashed in his vision. Aaron clutched the steering wheel tightly. His knuckles turned white as a red hot fury ran through his body at the way his father and grandfather were trying to manipulate his life but they forgot that they were dealing with Aaron Salvatore Knight and he was the master manipulator.

Aaron would never marry the girl his father chose for him. Never. And Rosalina De Luca was nothing but a nagging bitch whom Aaron had no intention of tolerating.

"I can't even imagine what would happen if you ever liked some girl?" Asher laughed, almost pitying that unexisting soul.

"Exactly what kind of girl you want as your wife, Eldy?" Asher asked when Aaron didn't say anything.

Aaron's body turned stiff with the question. The sudden excitement ran through his nervous system imagining the woman He would want.

"The one who can stand my dark monstrous side. Who won't fear death while living with me. Who would dare to love not only Aaron Salvatore Knight but 'Velenoso' too."

But He was also intrigued by his dark side which screamed in his mind.
'Would He ever fall for someone?'