I wake up in a mood sourer than grapes.

The space next to me is vacant, which meant that mother was up and about. I take a quick shower and put on my suit.

Blade greets me in the hallway.

'Morning,' he grates out. Blade's dressed in his signature black suit. He tugs at the ring in his pierced ear, drawing my attention to the snake tattoo that curls around his earlobe.

I tip my head, acknowledging him. Everybody knows that I'm not a morning person.

I walk into the dining room, where the entire Mafia sits. The head of the table is vacant and my mother sits to the first chair on the right. Jay is on the left, Sean next to him, both of them dressed formally for business.

Zach sits next to my mother and his head is hung down, probably from the hangover. The seat next to him is vacant, meant for Blade. The rest of my loyal brothers sit along the entire length of the table.

All conversations cease as I enter. I nod at my mother in greeting, whilst Blade addresses my mother.

'Morning, Madre.'

'Morning,' she replies, giving him a close- lipped smile.

I sit at the head of the table. I wait for my mother to begin her prayer, along with the rest of them, before we begin eating.

'Dio, non lasciati sfuggire dal nostro percorso di vendetta. Grazie.' My mother says, before picking up her fork and beginning to eat.

It surprises me every time whenever she speaks Italian. Mother is American by birth, and she knew not even a single word of Italian before she met my Dad. But now, she is the Madre of them all, and she speaks Italian better than Italians themselves.

I signal for my food to be taken away. Melissa, the maid, waits for my orders.

'I just need a cup of coffee,' I say, ignoring my mother's disapproving looks.

'You should eat,' she says. 'You need to keep your strength up.'

'I am busy, mother,' I say, not quite looking her in the eye. 'Jay and I have a lot to discuss.'

My mother and I haven't been the same since... since Daniele. We don't have the ordinary mother-daughter relationship we used to have. The only intimate bonding we have is whenever she feels the need to remind me of her bedtime story. I listen to every word of hers, watch every tear that falls out of her eye, and let her hold me close for one night. That's all.

Jay catches my eye, looks at his plate, and pushes it away.

'I was thinking about coffee too.'

I rise from the table. Everybody stops eating.

'Zach, I want you find Ambrose for me. Keep tabs on Ricardo. Dean, you should go around the clubs, check in on them. Take Finn and Jeremy with you. Blade and Sean, you are coming with me. Alan, you should give me the detailed report of all armaments tomorrow. Justin, make sure the shipment for the drugs comes in on time. Roman, you are in-charge of getting hold of Eduardo. I need that bastard in my basement.'

I check the time on my Rolex.

'Are you done?' I gesture to the men with one hand. 'We are leaving.'

Sean looks longingly at his plate, but says nothing as he gets up, along with Blade. I just look at my mother in a form of goodbye, without any words exchanged.

Blade brings the Maserati out from the garage. I hold my hand out for the keys and he throws them to me. I put on my glasses, obscuring my face from the sunlight.

'Where are we going?' Sean asks, as he opens the door to the back seat. He and Blade settles in, Jay drops into the seat next to me.

I rev the engine and pull out of the driveway. I glance at Sean through the rear-view mirror.

'How's your jaw, Sean?'

Blade guffaws. 'I knew that you had something to do with it.'

We pull into the traffic. I tap rhythms on the steering wheel for a while before deciding that I'm bored and I pull out my mobile. We are moving at a snail's pace and I want to kill time.

'Are we going according to plan?'

I turn and look at Jay, who is smirking at me.

'Why? I enquire. 'We go in, mingle with the guests, talk to Antonio, and get what we want.'

Sean chuckles.

'You missed the part where you'll be going as my girlfriend.' Jay pouts.

Okay.

'Is that what this is all about?' I glare at Jay. 'Is that the only thing you remember?'

Jay leans back into his seat, stretching himself like a Cheshire cat.

'Not the only thing, no. But things like this don't always come your way.'

'Yup,' Sean says, sticking his head through the gap between the two seats. 'This is going to be epic.'

It is at that moment the jerk behind us rams his car onto ours. Sean topples forward, his face banging the dashboard.

'Shit.' I say, anger simmering. No one messes with me or my car. Definitely not my car.

'That's epic,' I hear Blade say.

Sean groans, clutching his already bruised face. 'You didn't get that on camera.'

I turn in my seat to see a Mustang backing off a little, before accelerating forward and hitting my car. Again.

'That's it!' I exclaim, twisting to unfasten my seat belt. 'The bastard gets to talk to my fist now.'

Jay grabs my hand. 'Wait,' he says, before getting out of the car himself. Blade and Sean gets off too, Sean moaning about the calamity striking his face.

A man gets out of the Mustang. I can hear him shouting.

I hear Jay, talking to him, his voice patient, unlike anybody else in the mafia.

Jay had always been the practical one. He's like the calm before the effing storm. He's sensible and reserved, very much our opposite. It's in very rare cases that he gets angry, but when he does... well let's say, he's even worse than me.

My anger is well known throughout the Casa di Mafia. Anger is an emotion that simmers just below the surface for me, it's always there. Hot headedness is one thing I got from my father. Even smallest of things irk me and threatens to push me over the breaking point. Like the first time I broke Sean's nose. I get angry faster than anyone else.

Which is the reason why my nails are cutting into the palm of my hands right now.

'Dude, what part of what I said do you not understand? It was an accident!'

Jay's monotone voice begins again, reasoning with the guy.

If it were me, I'd have already whipped out my freaking pistol.

'Mahn, look. It's not a big deal, yes? You guys can afford that.'

Okay. Now he's not even sorry.

I whip off my seat belt, open the door and get out. I kick the door shut and walk over to the guys.

The guy is about my age; his hair is a mess, like he's just out of bed. He looks weary and frustrated, but I don't look much at him.

'It's a small hit.' I hear him say.

I look at the back of my Maserati. The bumper is smashed in the whole way.

Ouch.

I push Jay out of the way and I grab the guy by his collar. I push him forward and kick his legs such that his knees give out and he is eye level with my car's bumper.

'How's that small, amico?'

He pushes my hand off his collar roughly, and gets up, a fire raging in his crystal green eyes. Well, I have a hurricane going on in my mine, so I don't care. He locks his eyes with me and he stills. I hear his sharp intake of breath, and then the profanity, 'Fuck.'

He pushes his hands through his sandy hair, running them over his scruffy beard. He looks stumped, surprised. He pulls at his hair.

His demeanor changes and he is angry again.

'What the hell?' he yells. He yanks his collar straight.

'Look, if you can afford a Maserati, you can afford that hit. I'm terribly sorry, but it was an accident.'

I look back at his car. The Mustang's banged up too, but it is then I notice the woman in the driving seat. Sensing me looking at her, she puts her head out.

'Oopsy,' she smiles a full smile at me. 'I didn't see that! Yikes.' She hits her head on the roof of the car.

Of course. Drunk skunk driving.

The man turns and looks at her furiously. 'Shut up, Melanie.'

I feel an anger surge.

'Are you kidding me? You and your dead drunk girlfriend test driving onto my car's bumper and you expect me to spend my money to patch up your mess?'

He glares at me. 'You can afford it.'

Seriously? That's the best excuse he got?

I scoff. 'I can. And I know for a fact that you can't.'

He opens his mouth to protest. But he doesn't.

I glance around. The traffic jam was over; ours were the only cars stationary in the area.

'The thing is, hot shot, you can't pay me. And I want payment. And I like things going the way I want it to.'

I lean forward and whisper into his ear.

'I hope you have your wallet on you.'

His eyes narrow suspiciously.

'You don't want to walk your girlfriend back home.'

With that, I gesture to the guys, and walk to the Mustang. I pull open the door, grab the girl by her wrist and pull her out.

'Hey,' she exclaims, 'you are hurting me.'

I ignore her and get into the driving seat, and gun the engine. Jay and the guys file into the Maserati and they drive away. I see the guy looking at me in horror.

'Addio amico,' I grin, pretending to tip a hat. 'Grazie!'

I speed away, leaving the guy and his wacky girlfriend behind in a waft of dust.

Take that, mascalzone.

///

It's already past seven when we get back to the Casa di Mafia. I chuck the keys of the Mustang to Blade.

'What do you want me to do?'

I gaze at the Mustang. 'Patch it up,' I say finally. 'Get it in the garage.'

'What about the Maserati?'

I think for a moment. 'Ditch it. Let's get another.'

Blade frowns, but says nothing. Jay is looking at me skeptically.

I roll my eyes at him.

'You know,' he says, 'one of these days, your eye is going to get stuck that way.'

I roll my eyes again in response.

'Are we still on for eight?'

I nod. 'Yes.'

Jay's eyes storms over.

'You don't have to do this, you know.' His voice is rough, edgy. 'You have us. Me, Sean, Blade and Zach. We can do it just fine. Ti aiutiamo. Lasciateci'

I shake my head in the negative. 'No, Jay. I've got to do this. For Daniele.'

'If you think so, okay. But our offer still stands. Always.'

I nod at him.

'So, you have fifteen minutes to get ready. You can crack it?'

I grit my teeth.

'I get ready faster than any of you.'

Jay chuckles. 'That's when you are wearing what we wear. You are getting dressed up tonight. It's going to take time.'

'No, it won't.'

'It does for other women.'

'I am not other women.' I dish out irritated.

'No you are not.'

He leaves it at that. Smirking slightly, he retreats to get ready himself.

////

As always, it's me who is fully dressed first. I wait impatiently for the ladies to join me.

A couple of minutes, and I am barging into Sean's room, which the guys took on for party night makeup.

What a bunch of girls.

Sure enough, Sean's at the mirror, desperately trying to style his hair; Jay's pacing around, YouTube – ing how to tie a tie; Blade's trying to find a pair of matching socks and Zach's polishing his shoes.

I think high school girls are faster.

'What the hell?' I thunder. 'When will we even leave?'

Jay doesn't look away from his tutorial. 'It's 7: 45. We got fifteen more minutes.'

And this was the guy who had been taunting me.

'My hair is a mess!' Sean exclaims from the mirror. I can see that he's cleverly concealed the bruise on his jaw with make –up. 'Jay, get me the tutorial on how-to-style-your-hair-so-that-it-looks-like-I-just-got-out-of-bed-look like right now.

Jay snorts. 'Go get it yourself.'

'Blade?'

'Fat chance of that,' Blade says from somewhere inside Sean's closet. 'Where the hell is the other sock?'

Sean's voice is desperate. 'Zach, dude...'

Zach gives him a pointed look. 'If you agree to polish my shoes, then you got yourself a deal.'

'Go to Hell, Zachary. Alex, could you – '

I look up to see what has interrupted him, only to see him focused on me. Apparently everyone else was wondering the same too, and I see them follow Sean's line of vision and four pairs of wide eyes are directed my way.

I snap my fingers. 'What?' I snap.

They blink.

Sean is the first to speak.

'I don't believe this.'

Zach throws up his hands. 'This is insane.'

Blade glares at me. 'Where's Alex? Who are you? Alex's clone?'

Jay leaves his tutorial, walks up to me and pokes me on the cheek. 'It feels so real...' he says.

I roll my eyes.

'Oh my God,' Jay backs off. 'It's her. It's really Alex.'

I smirk.

'I look the part of the siren, don't I?'

I give a twirl. I don't wear dresses and make – up at all, preferring to stick to the men's suits every day and the tight body suits whenever I'm on a rampage. But tonight is different, and according to the plan, I am a siren tonight. Suits can't make me irresistible.

I went for a simple red frock that went to my knees, encased my feet in three inch stilettos, let my hair down and opted for dusty make – up complete with dark red lipstick.

I felt like a siren tonight, and I was going to make most of that advantage. Like Jay said, it's not every day that I get to be girlfriend material.

Sean sidles up to me.

'What do you say, gorgeous? Care to ditch your pathetic excuse of a boyfriend and run off with me?'

I bat my eyelashes at him, giving him the doe eyes. 'I would, but why should I ditch one loser for another?'

The others break out in laughter.

'You look beautiful,' Jay tells me as we walk to the cars. Blade, Sean and Zach nod.

I sigh. 'Whatever I am, I am not beautiful, Jay. I prefer to be something along the lines of badass in stilettos.'

'Badass suits you,' Sean agrees, touching his jaw carefully. 'It took me two bottles of concealer to hide that bruise.'

Jay fidgets with his tie. 'It's still crooked.'

Blade whispers, 'The socks aren't too noticeable are they? I mean, they looked somewhat similar from a distance...'

Zach glares wistfully at his shoes. 'Maybe we could stop at Woodland or something?'

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the queen bees of high school.

/////

KA-BOOM. Haha.

I'd say they're all savages.

Except Sean. Sean's my favorite.

Chapter dedicated to amazingly talented ninyatippett. Here's to wishing I'd even remotely write something as good as her character and my all time favorite, Charlotte Maxfield, at some point in my life.

Adios.