DONATELLA
When I came out of the bedroom the next morning, dressed in an ash-gray, off-the-shoulder, cocktail dress and butterfly Louboutin heels, there were many more people within the suite, all of whom were buzzing around Gabriel like bees. I was surprised at his appearance, his choice of clothes. Since he’d arrived in Chicago, I had only seen him in casual, laid-back clothes designed and worn for comfort. Never looking bad, but still not as stylish as he was now; dressed in a slim fit, perfectly tailored, beige suit with a light blue shirt and gray tie and brown spectators. His hair had been freshly trimmed and styled.
Hearing me walk in, he turned to face me fully, and when he did, everyone else automatically stepped back, giving us space.
“Good morning,” he greeted with a smile.
“Depends on who you are,” I replied, looking him over before reaching for his tie and pulling it down so I could take it off easier. Looking over to the rack of clothes, I walked over and picked out another one. He lifted his collar up for me as I put it over his shoulder.
“You aren’t going to tie it for me, too?” he asked, lifting his hands up to finish tying it.
“According to my brothers, I don’t know how to tie a tie well,” I admitted, crossing my arms. “And seeing as you’re all dressed up for some reason, I’m sure you didn’t want me to try and perfect it now.”
“Your Highness,” the same woman with tan skin, long brown hair, and the big hazel puppy-dog eyes came forward, handing him a box.
“Who is this woman and why is she always in my line of sight?” I asked him sweetly, which made him give me a look.
“This is Amelia du Bellay, who, for all intents and purposes, is your first assistant. She’ll help you get acclimated once we arrive in Monaco tomorrow,” he answered, taking the box from her hand.
“Good morning, Madame,” she directed at me.
“Madame? That makes me think of a brothel-keeper,” I made a face and laughed. “Call me Donatella; that is, until you call me Your Highness. And when we are together like this,” I pointed between myself and Gabriel, “please make sure to be three steps away.”
She stared at me like deer frozen in the middle of the road. I lifted my fingers up and said “Un. Deux. Trois.”
Blinking, she took three steps back, and I faced Gabriel again. He was holding a red carnation brooch, the stem of the flower made of white diamonds, and a red teardrop diamond on top of second row of white diamonds. Brushing my hair to the side, he leaned in and pinned it on my dress and whispered, “Try being tad less combative.”
Leaning forward, I whispered loudly, for them all to hear, “I’m giving her a chance to prove herself. If I get to Monaco tomorrow and find out there are rumors of me being mean or bitchy, I’ll blame her. And let my second assistant take her place.”
“Second assistant?” he asked, straightening up to putting on a tie bar with the same carnation design engraved on it and ignoring everything I’d just said. Then again, it wasn’t a message for him.
“You’ll meet her when we leave. I don’t trust your people. I barely trust you. Of course, I won’t go alone,” I told him, already walking to the door. And when I moved, a few of his guards moved with me. To them I said, “Gentlemen, where I come from, guards will gladly die for the person they are protecting. They live and breathe for that person. Their wives are jealous at the degree of their devotion. I tell you this because today you will be tested. Your prince,” I pointed to Gabriel, “is going to face my brothers and explain why I’m leaving them and the city we all grew up in for…” I paused as the words hit me again, “for the rest of my life. I’ve made up my mind and there is no going back unless they kill him, so…make sure he lives through the next twenty-four hours.”
“I’m sure I handle my own,” he said, walking up to me.
I laughed. “Do you have a sister?”
“One, half-sister.”
“Not the same and I’m guessing you don’t like her very much,” I shot back quickly. “So you have idea what you are about to face, my family doesn’t handle goodbyes well.”
He rolled his eyes at me. “I hardly believe your brothers are so attached that they’re going to lose their minds because you are getting married. Speaking of marriage… They’ll be at the wedding, so it isn’t a goodbye.”
I looked his guards. “You all do have wills prepared, correct?”
“Sebastian,” Gabriel said as if he was bored. “Let’s go before she claims they breathe fire, too.”
I shrugged, saying, “Foretold our fate but, by the gods’ decree, all heard, and none believed the prophecy.”
Gabriel looked over to me. “Homer's Iliad? You’re Cassandra of Troy now?”
“You’re one-eighth Greek. I was speaking in a language I thought you would understand.” I winked, stepping onto the elevator once it arrived and spinning back on my heels to face him.
He grinned, shaking his head and stepping in beside me. “Forgive me, Madame, I’ll heed your warning. Happy?”
I pointed the space over my head. “Not until there is something expensive and sparkly sitting right here.”
He sighed deeply. “What is the life expectancy in Monaco now?”
“Ninety-one point two-one years, Sir,” Sebastian replied. “It’s still the highest in the world.”
“Brilliant,” Gabriel muttered. “Only sixty-one point two-one years of life with a mad woman to go…”
“Not if I don’t kill you earlier,” I muttered back. I felt everyone around me, with the exception of Gabriel, tense. He didn’t say anything more.
“Donatella,” Amelia whispered right behind me in my ear.
“Drop it,” Gabriel ordered coldly. She didn’t say anything, just moved back as the doors opened.
I now regretted not getting further information on him last night. After reaching out to Jackal and having her confirm he was who he claimed to be, I told her to gather as much information on him as she could and to bring it to me later. She’d been unable find anything the first time around but now, after our little hostage situation, she was able to confirm who he was. I had feeling he’d done something, liked stopped doing whatever he’d been doing to block information about himself from getting out. Then I had more personal things to arrange. Without the information I needed, I was lost at the conversation and mood change. That needed to change quickly.
“Have a good day,” the valets said we walked outside.
There, three black range rovers were waiting. It was only when I was inside sitting next to Gabriel did I ask.
“What was that about?”
“Right now, according to you, I needed to survive your brothers before we get into anything else,” he responded, adjusting his watch. “Any idea how to do that?”
“I’m not picking sides—”
“Wrong,” He cut me off. We were back to that bullshit again. “You picked my side Donatella, or at least, I thought you did. I truly hope I’m not wrong and that you aren’t secretly hoping your brother’s wishes top yours.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked, glaring at him.
“You’ve been here at the edge of everything you’ve always wanted be,” he said, looking out the window as we drove through the city. “And recently, you held back. You convinced yourself it was to save your family or something of that sort…either way, you stepped away from power, not towards it. Which means you didn’t really want it, or were too scared to take it. Right now, you might be in that same position, pretending you want power and pretending you are strong, but hoping your brothers will give you an out. Hoping that they’ll fight hard enough to stop you, allowing you to keep pretending you’re sacrificing but in reality, you’re too scared to go—”
“Keep talking and I will personally skin you alive, you motherfucking asshole. Here’s a tip if you want to make it the next sixty-one point two-one years. Don’t speak about things you don’t know; you could lose your goddamn tongue!” I sneered at him, clenching my fist at the very familiar rage building up in me.
“What don’t I know?” he asked coldly, looking over to me, all traces of humor gone from his eyes. “What it must be like to contemplate killing your siblings? Love, there is no monarchy on Earth that did not commit fratricide. Killing our own is what we are good at. And for the record, the reason I came to you now, and not weeks earlier, was because of rumors that you were going to kill them. I had to wait for you to choose. While I’m grateful you didn’t kill them, because then leaving Chicago would have no longer been an option for you, I am left to wonder if you truly want what you say you want.”
Kill him. I should have fucking killed him. “I’m in the fuckin’ car, aren’t I?”
“Then you’ll fuckin’ help with your brothers, won’t you,” he questioned back.
I couldn’t reply; I was too angry. All I could think of was beating the shit of him, of taking off my heels and gouging out his eyes!
Prince, my fucking foot.
GABRIEL
I could feel the anger rolling off her.
I knew very well if I said one more thing she’d resort to violence and may very well kill me before we could reach her brothers.
However, I need to hold her feet to the fire.
I wasn’t sure where her mind was. This morning she’d asked to be alone for the most part and didn’t really speak. It was like she was playing chess with herself mentally. She didn’t at all act like she was shaken with the idea of leaving home. However, she wasn’t that cold or dead inside. In fact, she was the opposite. She didn’t care about everyone, not even most people or things. She had a list. A very small list of people and things she cared about. Those things she loved and defended passionately. Everything else was meaningless to her.
I needed to be at the top of the list…where her brothers were.
I was using her ambition for now but in time, after she was isolated from them, I could be there. It wasn’t a good thing. I knew that.
However, I didn’t come this far for nothing. I was already isolated. She’d understand soon. But in this war, I needed one strong ally. It needed to be just me and her against everyone else.
They may love her.
They may miss her.
They may even think they needed her.
But the truth was that I needed her more.
BOOM!
Jumping and turning back, I watched the black ranger behind us combust into a raging inferno before swerving into oncoming traffic, the cars around it swerving, trying to avoid it.
“He wouldn’t dare…” Donatella muttered under breath, almost in awe as a large black suburban, the windows tinted so dark it would be impossible to see who was inside if not for the man pointing a motherfucking rocket-propelled grenade launcher at the bloody fucking car!
“Sir, get down!” Sebastian yelled, putting together a semi-automatic machine gun as our driver swerved off the highway into a single-lane road. They spun out of control right past us, crashing into tree. The blast from explosion was so strong that the car spun around several times. I tried to reach for Dona, but she was already moving to the front of the car.
“Ma’am! GET DOWN!” Sebastian yelled at her between firing out the window.
She ignored him and focused on the man behind the wheel “Take a left—”
“There’s no road—”
“Do I look like an idiot? I know that! Make one and take a left!” she snapped at him, holding on to the headrest of the driver’s seat. “…left! Another one now!”
The driver jerked to the left violently and she would have fallen had I not grabbed on to her legs, holding her steady. She glanced back at me, surprised. “Glad you’re doing something—”
“DONA!” I hollered, pulling her as hard as I could towards me and wrapping my arms around her, pinning her under me. No sooner had I thrown myself over her than the whole car jerked forward violently, throwing us down. The glass shattered around us, flying in every direction. However, nothing compared to the heat steaming in from the front.
I glanced down at her and she stared up at me.
“Are you alright?” I could feel myself yelling but I couldn’t hear myself. The ringing in my ears just seemed to get louder and louder.
Reaching up, she touched the side of my face, and I didn’t know why until she showed me her fingers…my blood on them.
“I should be asking—” was all I could read of her lips before I felt hands on me then someone pulling me out.
Damn, it’s sunny. It was such random thought, but given the pain I was in, that was all I could think as I stared up at the sky through squinted eyes. Rolling on to my side and pushing myself up from the twigs and grass, I wobbled as I tried to stand up. Around me, it was like a scene out of a bad action movie. There was at least a dozen men…some of them were mine. Men who’d stood with me just moment ago. It was one of my cars that had purposely slammed into us.
Us. Glancing back towards my car, I saw her; dark brown hair covered in glass, her dressed ripped, and a few cuts, but otherwise alright. The leader, who had a large discolored birth mark under his left eye held her arm tightly with one hand and pointed a gun at me with the other. Dona, of course, wasn’t afraid, the look on her face a mixture of annoyance and astonishment as she shook her head, blowing a few strands from her face. Seeing her so calm seemed to calm me down. As if this was nothing but a dream.
BANG!
I glanced over at the man, the ringing in my ears dissipating enough for me to hear him as he yelled, “Get on your knees!”
I stared at him for a long time as if I didn’t hear him. Then simply said, “No.”
“On your knees!” he hollered and put the gun to her temple.
She raised her eyebrow as she looked at me and for some reason I felt like I could hear her asking me, “Well?”
And I so shrugged. “Thought this was your city.”
Her head crocked to the side and her jaw set.
Did she hear me? No, not possible but it was amusing to think.
“I’m not going to tell you again—”
She gave two short whistles, and just like that the man beside her went down. Before anyone could move, a storm of bullets rained down on top of them. A few of them still in their cars pulled out, those that tried to escape with them only ended up shot in the back.
“You were thinking something along the lines of ‘Don’t you run Chicago?’ earlier, weren’t you?” she asked, reaching down and taking off her one of a kind, brand new, now utterly useless, broken heels and stepping over the man who’d held her before coming to me. “Is my answer sufficient?”
I glanced back over at the scene of the worst action movie in history; bodies in the mud, blood on the grass, cars on fire…and realized it wasn’t an action movie, but a mafia one.
“Very much so, yes,” I snickered, bitterly.
“Ma’am!” I heard whom I could only assume were the men who’d fired on her command. “Are you alright?”
Ignoring them, ignoring the pain, I rushed back to the twin cars now glued at the burning engine. I pulled at the door and Sebastian’s body fell right towards me.
“You better not be dead after losing this fight,” I said to him, reaching up to feel his pulse. Thankfully, it was still there. Dragging his body further way from the cars, I lay him down and turned to go back for the driver but before I could, the whole car exploded, engulfing him and everything else inside. All I could do was watch it burn.
“Retaliation for the bank?” she asked from beside me.
“I wish.” I did wish it were that simple. “This is retaliation for living.”
“Ma’am, your car is here.”
“Thank you. Before you do anything else, take care of Mr. Sebastian here,” she said to them. I wanted to thank her but I didn’t have the energy for any words. “Gabriel, let’s go.”
She didn’t say anything more and didn’t wait for me to speak instead, taking my hand and leading me to the white Jeep. Once we were inside, she ripped the side of her dress and cleaned the drying blood from my ear. As her driver took us away, I confessed.
“I lied,” I said, unable to look from the window. “This is just as much about revenge as it is my birth right.”
“That’s hardly a lie,” she replied and pulling my eyes from the fire, I looked at her and she smiled genuinely for the first time since the first day I’d met her. “You never told me it wasn’t about revenge, so how could it be a lie?”
Shifting to face her better, I took in her whole expression. “I understand that being from a family like yours, this might be accepted as a normal experience. However, do you not think you are being much more…congenial than normal? You almost seem at peace with this current turn of events?”
“In a way I am,” she admitted, sitting back in her seat.
“Excuse me?”
“I’m sure you’re upset. And most likely annoyed you lost people, though from the looks of it, not that many were loyal to begin with.” She frowned and pulled her broken heel up again. “I’m very annoyed about my shoes and hair being ruined after the amount of time I took to get ready this morning. But other than that, I’m pleased with these events.”
“May I ask why?”
“No one wastes a grenade launcher on someone who isn’t worth it,” she said as if it were the most rational thing in the world. “They came for you in broad daylight, in middle of the highway, with a fucking grenade launcher, and even then, they weren’t sure so they flipped your guards… Your death was worth all that trouble. No one has even used a grenade launcher on Ethan.”
Reaching over I put my hand on her head, “I can’t tell if you hit your head too hard or if you’re just inherently mental?”
“You offered me power,” she replied, smacking my hand away and glaring at me. “But did you really have it? Yes, you do—”
“Some power this is,” I snapped angrily. Did she not get it? “Donatella, if it wasn’t for you, I would have died today. The only person who had power today was you. And I…I, other than hand, was weak—”
“Borrowed power,” she yelled back and glared at me. “It’s frustrating, isn’t it? Knowing you’re alive thanks to the rule of some else! It makes you wonder… If not for them what would happen, right? Welcome the last twenty-six years of my damn life. Today, I didn’t save you. My brother did. These are his men, it’s his city. Like you so proudly reminded me last night. Ethan got all of this through birth and from there only made his position stronger. You are the same, if not greater. The people who are trying to kill you are terrified of you, that’s why they did this. Even with you an ocean away, with barely anyone around you, they cannot sleep at night, feeling you breathe down their necks. I don’t see weakness. I would have left you out there and thrown this ring back at you if I saw weakness. I see what your enemies see, a sleeping dragon. I’m the only woman who can make sure everyone knows you’re awake.”
She didn’t know who I was fighting.
She didn’t know what was I was facing, yet she said exactly what I needed to hear…and still managed to make herself the most important part of the conversation. It was a gift, one-part vanity, one-part sapience.
“Aren’t you worried you’ll only be borrowing power from me then?” I asked.
“No,” she replied reaching into her hair to take out a few leaves, tiny pieces of glass coming out, “the moment you put this ring on my finger, you sold half of everything you have to me.”
“Just like you did when you accepted?”
She sighed, frowning at me. “Must I say it?”
“You must.” I nodded eagerly.
“You’re alive, in the car with me… Aren’t I already sharing?”
“You just can’t say the words, can you?”
“Aren’t you in a mood now?” she retorted, obviously trying to change the subject, but I was having too much fun to turn back now.
“Nope.” I shook my head. “My fiancée made me feel much better.”
“Men are so damn fragile, always needing some part of themselves stroked,” she muttered under her breath, snickering, I looked from her to the “men” driving, however they looked like they didn’t even have any hair on their chests yet! The one in the passenger seat was even pressing the buttons on his video game.
“I must have hit my head much hard than I thought because I’m seeing teenagers…” I thought back to the where we’d come from. At that moment, I’d blocked out everything around me but now I couldn’t remember seeing anyone who wasn’t young. “Did they…”
The one driving caught my eye in the rear view and reached into his eardrum to pull out a small wireless earbud, music coming from it. “Did you say something, Sir?”
I shook my head. And he nodded, putting the earbud back in.
“When we were little, my mother would take my brother Ethan with her on these camping trips. As you can see, nothing in my family is normal. Camp for us was the place the guards went as a sort of pseudo vacation and training session,” she said, but I didn’t understand the connection until she went on. “When Ethan took over, he took her concept and applied it to under-privileged and orphaned teens throughout the country. Our shelter and community center helps give people part-time jobs in their community and with us. From there he finds the most… broken ones.”
“How broken?” I asked looking between the two in front.
“On the edge losing their minds broken. They may look like teens, but they’ve seen the worst of the world and the people in it. Ethan offers them a chance to be guards or part of our darker business. They get a safe place, shelter, food, and on top of that they are surrounded by people just like them. That makes it easier for them to form bonds with people without worrying that they’re being pitied or that people think they’re insane for having a much darker view of the world. In return, he simply asks for their best, and of course loyalty.”
“He’s growing an army,” I whispered to myself, more impressed than I cared to admit.
“Not just for him,” she said, looking out the window. “But for the next Ceann na Conairte…his future son. I hope he only has girls,” she muttered the last part under her breath.
I laughed. Why did I find that cute? I didn’t know. Donatella was like a box of fine chocolates. I never knew what I was getting with her. One moment she was ordering the death of multiple men, the next she was pouting like a toddler out the window.
“Sir, we’re here,” the boy in the front said as the gates of the mansion opened and we drove inside.
I glanced over to her and outstretched my hand.
“We aren’t that close yet,” she said to me, opening the door herself before the car had even stopped and stepping out gracefully.
“This is going to be a long sixty-one point two-one years.” I smiled to myself as the door opened for me. O’Phelan stood at the top of the stairs staring down at both of us, and what a sight we must have been; bruised, blood, dirt, and smoke covered. A maid rushed down offering Dona a hot towel.
She didn’t say word, just walked up the stairs and inside without me. Ignoring the rest of the people around us, I followed.
“ETHAN! WYATT!” Donatella yelled from the center of the entrance way. A few seconds later, the elevator at the top of the double-grand staircase opened and both men stepped out, dressed in button-down shirts and dress pants. “Good, you’re down already.”
“Dona, I’m sure you’re aware the house is soundproofed, so you have no reason to yell,” Ethan said, looking over. “What happened out—”
“I am aware. I knew you’d be close by. I thought you’d all want to be the first to congratulate me on my engagement!” she cut him off before he could even open his mouth. “There is nothing you can say. There is no changing my mind. We leave tonight.”
They were both quiet. I just scratched the back of my head, not sure what the hell to do or say after this mess. However, Wyatt laughed, walking down the stairs. “Sis, you look kinda nuts, rushing in here covered dirt and yelling that…it’s too early for jokes—”
Even Ethan snickered, shaking his head, which was more than odd because out of the three of them, he was always the level one. The hardest to read and the coldest. Wyatt was like his sister in that he couldn’t keep his anger checked.
She turned and marched back to me. I wasn’t sure what she was planning until it was too late, and her lips were on mine. She kissed me like she didn’t care if we screwed right there, her tongue in my mouth and body pressed on mine. I was so shocked, I couldn’t react until it was too late and she pulled away, flipping them both off.
“Nice ring,” Wyatt said when we broke apart. His eyes narrowed as he replied, “You must be out of your goddamn mind if you think I’m going to let you get married to a motherfuckin’ prince who can’t even protect himself.”
“You must be the one whose gone mad if you think I need to ask your permission” Donatella said, not even bothering to look back at him. Staying in my line of my sight, she spoke directly to me. “I didn’t and I’m not going to back down, nor am I going to make an excuse. Now you finish your end while I get my things are packed and take a shower.”
Somewhat shaken, I looked back up to them both and all the amusement in their eyes was gone. They weren’t even looking at her… Both of them were glaring at me as if I’d committed the greatest sin in the history of mankind.
Just like that she turned, gracefully passing Wyatt who didn’t even bother to look at her.
“Little sister,” Ethan spoke up again and stopped, looking over to Wyatt as he came down the stairs to stand right beside her. “Don’t you think you’re being a little rash, especially considering the current turn of events? You’re usually much more level-headed, Donatella. I’m disappointed.”
She stood up straighter. “Your disappointment is your choice. I don’t live to match your standard of who think I ought to be. And I do not remember hearing you ask for my opinion before you married Ivy. What was it you said again?” She snapped her fingers as though a lightbulb came on. “I’m the one getting married; how does that involve you?”
“I knew everything about her. You are flying blind,” he replied.
“Blind or not, it still does not involve you, big brother.”
“Why are you two arguing?” Wyatt asked, his voice calmer than I would have thought as he looked to me. “Because of him? He’s not worth that. I don’t care if he’s the prince of the universe. He’s not us. We’ve been polite despite the shit he stirs. I’m done with politeness. Get the hell out of our house or I will personally saw you in half and mail you back to your country. They may even send me a thank-you note.”
He was different. More like Ethan now. The humor, the brashness he’d often displayed were gone. He honestly and whole-heartedly wanted to kill me.
The best thing about this family was knowing that by surviving them, nothing else would be as hard. “Why don’t we talk—”
“Or I hurt you,” Wyatt replied, reaching into his pocket and when he lifted his hands back up again he had on brass knuckles. “I like my option better.”
“Fine, let’s talk,” Ethan said now, coming towards us and placing his hand on Wyatt’s shoulder and squeezing.
“Ethan,” Wyatt sneered.
“He wants to talk. Let him talk,” Ethan said, looking at me directly. “My sister may be fine with being kept in the dark, but I am not. After the bank incident, your identity became much easier to find, Prince Gabriel. I’m also assuming that’s why you, and most importantly, my sister was attacked this morning. Let me ask these questions once, so don’t make repeat myself; who is after you and what do you need from my sister?”
“She’s the dragon-whisperer,” I smirked and glanced over to her. “Can your shower wait? I prefer telling this story once.”
She nodded walking back over to me.
“After you, Your Highness,” he said, stepping aside for me to walk. When he said Your Highness, it felt like an insult.
“Thank you,” I said, outstretching my hand to Dona. She said we weren’t that close, but when it came down to me or her brothers, she chose… herself. She walked forward without any of us.