The FBI would classify my family's business as an organized crime syndicate. Given that I've seen the filing system my uncle prefers to use, I'd hesitate to call us organized.

Still, our business is on the shady end. We launder money. We organize online sports betting and gambling. We have escort services that provide services that aren't exactly legal in this state. We have interesting goods come through our warehouses that may or may not be legal.

We run it all through our mattress company. It's the perfect cover. Mattress are big and expensive. The profit margin is huge on a mattress and it allows us to have access to the docks and warehouses. It's the perfect money laundering company. No one asks questions about mattresses.

As far as most people are concerned, we're mattress moguls. As long as you don't look at the books, that's where my family's money comes from. If you look at the books, mattresses don't make much money.

My aunt however is a mobster with morals. We don't deal with drugs. We don't deal in people. No children, no murder for hire, no slavery. My aunt won't work with those that do. She makes sure the escorts are all well taken care of. In her eyes, they are just doing a job and deserve to be paid and treated as such. She makes sure that a portion of our profits are always donated back into the community and to gambling addiction help centers. There are legal companies with less moral standing than my family.

We're not legal, but we're not evil, either.

The Savio family has been in the “mattress” business for generations. It wasn't always mattresses, but always something just a little less than legal with a legal cover. We aren't the biggest or most famous crime family, but we are one of the richest. We were one of the first into online gambling and it has paid off in spades.

My cousin Vinnie is a computer genius. He created one of the best programs for online sports betting as well as online poker games. He did it right as the internet opened up the options. With the mattress stores, we're able to safely launder all of that money.

My uncle and aunt are the head of the Savio family. They adopted me and I'm their only child. I've been trained since I was twelve how to run this business. It's in my blood. It's who I am.

I am a mob princess.

Ethan walks into my aunt's office before I do. I'm glad it's warmer in here. My coat isn't heavy enough for the cold of the day. I can hear my aunt talking on the phone, obviously wooing a customer. I stand outside, waiting and trying to ignore the glances from the people working in the cubicles surrounding her office. It's all part of the business. The cubicles add legitimacy to our finances. They think they're working for a mattress supply chain.

Aunt Sophia finally hangs up the phone when she realizes Ethan is in her office.

“Is she here? Send her in.”

Ethan motions to me and I walk in. Aunt Sophia is fishing through a mess of papers on her desk. She's wearing a tailored dark blue skirt and business jacket. Her dark hair is streaked with silver. She sometimes jokes that it's from having to raise a headstrong girl like me.

“I hear you were at the warehouse.” She frowns and my chest tightens a little bit. I don't know how she already knows I was at the warehouse. Somehow, she still makes me feel like I'm twelve years old and need to prove myself.

“The alarm went off. It's that faulty sensor. I know the warehouse is half empty, but if we're going to have a security system, it should at least work most of the time,” I tell her.

“Your cousin Danny put it in,” she says, sitting down in her office chair. “He's family.”

“Yeah, so he should fix it,” I reply. She gives me a stern look. Aunt Sophia doesn't like being talked back to like this, but she knows I'm right. Still, I'm not to speak ill of family. I soften my tone. “I'll ask him again.”

“He's a little absent minded,” Aunt Sophia agrees. She waves her hand through the air as if brushing the topic away. “But that's not why I called you here. Have a seat.”

I was hoping that that this meeting was for leftover turkey. Aunt Sophia made really good turkey. Sitting down made my dream of turkey a little less likely.

“Do you love your family?” She folds her hands on the top of her desk.

“Of course I do, Aunt Sophia,” I quickly reply. “You know I do.”

She nods. “Then I'm going to ask you to prove it. You have the option to say no. You always have the option to say no, you know that.”

Butterflies flutter in my stomach. She's never asked me anything like this before.

“What do you need me to do?” I ask, tugging on the edges of my jacket.

My aunt slides a photo across the desk. The man looking out at me from the picture is handsome. His dark hair hangs loosely over his eyes and he has an almost sarcastic smile on his face. There's a darkness in his eyes that makes me a little nervous. He looks familiar to me.

“That's Dante Russo, heir to the Russo Family.”

I do a double take. The Russo family is an old world mafia family. They have power and influence that my family could only dream of. They are rivals, only in the sense that we work in similar legally gray areas. They are much more in the import/export business than we are. Still, we run into problems with them every once in a while. Our two families aren't really friendly. More like wolves that share a border.

I don't know what I could have to do with him. Especially with her asking me to prove my love to my family.

My family doesn't put out assassination hits. At least, not regularly and never on someone like Dante Russo.

“What do you want me to do?” The photo shakes a little in my fingers. I don't want to take out a rival. However, I can't think of another reason why my aunt would be handing me a Russo Family photograph.

“I want you to marry him.”

That is not what I was expecting. I nearly drop the photo. “What?”

“The Russos want to join our family to theirs.” My aunt stands from her desk and starts walking around her office. “We have the money. They have the prestige. Imagine what doors this will open.”

“But you want me to marry him,” I repeat. I look down at the photo and can't decide how I feel about this. It's definitely better than having to kill him.

“You of course have a choice,” my aunt assures me. “You can always say no.”

I don't even bother to roll my eyes. Of course I have the choice to hurt the family and go against their wishes. I have the choice to let down the only people I have ever trusted. I also have the choice to walk around naked in Times Square in the middle of winter.

None of those are really choices.

“Marrying him helps the family?” I ask, picking up the picture and trying to imagine a life with this person. There are arranged marriages all the time. It would certainly make my dating life easier.

Aunt Sophia nods. “Combining the Savio and Russo Families will make us the dominate force on the East Coast. We have the money. They have the connections. Together, we'll be unstoppable. No more dock skirmishes. No more fights. Just more business.”

I like the idea. It certainly would be good for the family. With the Russo name backing us, a lot of new money making opportunities open up.

I look at the photo. I could do worse than this man with serious dark eyes. As long as he's kind to me and mine, I can make it work. There are worse marriages out there. I've had my taste of love and it has left me bitter.

I throw caution to the winds. This is my chance to shine for my family.

“Okay. I'll do it.”

Aunt Sophia's eyebrows raise. “Really?” She didn't expect me to agree so easily.

“It helps the family,” I say, setting down the photo. “I know that you've made sure he's a decent match.”

Aunt Sophia nods. “He is. He's mafia, but everyone says he'll treat you right.”

That meant that he was dangerous, but not to me. He was my kind of dangerous. Mob dangerous.

“I'll take care of everything.” Aunt Sophia takes the photo and places it back in her desk. “You'll meet him in a couple of days. He still has to agree to you.”

I grin at her. “Come on, everybody wants me.”

My aunt cracks a smile. “There's turkey in the fridge for you.” She motions with her head to the small refrigerator in the corner of her office and my smile widens.

“Thanks, Aunt Sophia,” I say, standing up.

She offers me her cheek and I give her a kiss. For a moment, the stern boss look fades and for a moment she is my aunt. Those moments are rare these days.

“Go get out of here before your uncle hears you were at the warehouse again,” she scolds me, but her voice is kind.

I flash her a grin and grab a Tupperware container full of her delicious turkey before heading out of her office. Ethan is waiting for me.

“See, she did want to give me turkey,” I tell him, holding up the container.

He rolls his eyes and walks ahead of me toward the car. I smile at his back and try not to think of what I just agreed to do.