*****Leo POV*****
“Wake up, you slugabed,” I hear Owen but keep my eyes closed pretending not to hear him. I need just one more hour of sleep but I know the annoying cousin of mine will never just let me be. Maybe I should indeed lock my bedroom door to keep him out.After leaving the Davi estate yesterday, I summoned all my men leaders to find out if none of them were stupid enough to kill Jake. Eighty-five groups of tough, experienced killers with a good sense of self preservation. They would not just freely confess to disobeying my command to stay clear of the Davi’s until we were ready. My advantage is they are all terrified of me even though they should fear Owen more. I can be forgiving if you give me a valid reason for your actions.Owen on the other side does not deal well with stupidity. He is the shoot first ask questions later kind of a guy. That’s why I leave him to keep all of them in check, but this was a matter of life and death. Someone killed the devil’s heir and his first stop to his revenge will be me. After the Davi’s, my group is next most powerful, making me the first culprit, followed by the Siko’s. The smaller mafia groups in Asherway are not daring enough to make an enemy of the Davi’s and Nick knows it too. It took a lot of direct interrogation, roughing up and instilling the fear of god in each one to get my confirmation that none of them or the men under their command had gone rogue.I left the group more frustrated because I had this gut feeling that Daniel and his men would not be that stupid either. I have been keeping tabs on him and know that his manpower is much less than mine after Nick took out over two thousand of his men. This was after one of them went rogue and orchestrated a robbery on one of the Davi banks five years ago.It was just after midnight when I got back home, just in time to see my gorgeous enemy get into bed. She had shown everyone her tough front earlier and I was secretly impressed, but I got to watch her break down in private. She will hate to have it pointed out, but that’s another proof of her mafia gene. We never ever breakdown in front of our enemies no matter how much it hurts. I hate to admit it too but it really broke my heart to watch her in so much pain. The worst kind of pain that pierces through your heart, yet you can’t show it to the rest of the world because it can only be nursed in private. I know it too well. Every DBS member has been through it, and currently at different stages of it. The pain dulls down after some time, but never quite leaves you.Niki looked so vulnerable and exhausted, not the usual defiant, intimidating, self-sufficient pillar.If only I could reach out and touch her, hold her in my arms and assure her that I was not responsible for her pain. That’s just wishful thinking on my part though. The likelihood would be a verbal match between us if I were to actually be with her at that moment and she would not believe a word I say. I watched her until 2 o’clock in the morning when her shoulders stopped shaking and breathing became more regular, an indication that she had fallen of to sleep. That’s when Owen walked in, dragging me out because the Siko’s had arrived and wanted to have a word. I knew before Daniel spoke that my fears were true. We are meant to be rivals his family and ours, but we have always been civil to each other and never once had any confrontations. Maybe it’s because we were made orphans by the same man and hated the Davi’s more. Whatever the case is, he did not kill Jake and neither did his men. That left me with only two possibilities. It was either my uncle did it or we have a new daring player in the mafia world and I hope it is the latter.Although not really answering to me, uncle Wesley is still under the Booi empire and hates the Davi’s with passion. He is the second born after my father and the only one of the three siblings still alive. He should have raised Owen and I when Nick killed both his brothers on the same day and we became orphans, but we hardly ever saw him except when he wanted us to sign some documents that always bleed money out of our accounts. Luckily, our parents thought us survival skills at a very young age and we had Mariah and each other’s backs.Daniel was in the middle of a sentence when his face turned pale at the image on his phone. “Drones have just hit three of our warehouses. That’s hundred men and millions of equipment. We really are doomed!” he announced and I could feel his distress. My eyes met Owen’s, who had stepped outside to take a call. Over the years we have learned to read each other very well and I can tell that it’s not good news.“Chero and Lorg has been hit by synchronised drones. There are no survivors and nothing is left standing. Nick does not even have to come out or send his men to kill us,” Owen’s soft, strained voice is an indication that we are indeed doomed. I have only heard that voice twice. The first time was sixteen years ago when our mothers were hit and three years later when our dads followed.We have worked really hard to get rid of all the illegal businesses we inherited and grew our supermarket chains instead. We only kept two places for the unpredictable times like these. Chero was our biggest warehouse with most of our sophisticated weapons and private jets. Lorg was the back up I never thought we would need but set it up for the piece of mind. All the men we could not incorporate into the supermarket business worked on those two sites. If my calculations were right, we have lost over five thousand men and over seventy billion. Despite all our planning, the DBS war has started again and it’s completely one sided. Daniel is now left with less than a hundred men and we have just over a thousand against a man who defeated our parents, with probable triple the number of men, technically advanced drones, surveillance and impenetrable walls.“We can’t go to war. We have no choice but to bargain with the devil,” Daniel suggests and we all agree that it’s the only way if we want to live. That’s when the realisation hit me.“Someone killed his son, he and everyone think it’s us. It’s also common knowledge that we can’t go against the Davi’s right now. I think Jake’s assassination is intentionally meant to eliminate us. We have to find the son-of-a-bitch.” I am more pissed off than worried about Nick now. The list of possible culprits has just increased. I still can’t clear my uncle off this. He stands to inherit everything if Owen and I are to die. I can even see him do a celebratory dance.The north and the east we currently rule will be clear for an ambitious new player to grab if we and the Siko’s are eliminated, but there’s now a third possibility. Getting rid of the mafia at any cost is the current government’s strategy. The justice and military departments now have collaboration and have taken down multiple syndicate groups. Unlike the other groups, it’s hard for them to infiltrate the mafia. They can’t have undercover agents like they did with the syndicate. Getting us to kill each other instead, is a perfect strategy.It was after 4 o’clock in the morning by the time Daniel and his men left and two hours later, Owen is here waking me up.“Your blood-sucking vampire of any uncle is downstairs,” Owen says with a resentful tone reserved for our useless, selfish parent figure. I sent men to hunt him down and drag him here.“Let him wait and he is your uncle too.” Uncle Wesley is the last person I would rush myself for.“You have to wake up now if you want to talk to your uncle and attend Jake’s funeral,” he says.I know that Owen is on urge when he does not bother disagreeing with me for calling Wesley our uncle. He disowned Wesley a long time ago when he faked Owen’s signature to assess half of his wealth.“We can talk to Wesley after the funeral. Keep him in the basement or something,” I suggest, but Owen does not like that. He does not like Wesley lingering around our home, because he is a sneaky snake. I don’t too, but I am really tired.“Drop dead gorgeous has just walked out of the shower. Hot!” Owen whistles with his eyes on the spyglass.I really hate it when other men call her that. It always takes me back to our school days when she defiantly walked out of the bathrooms with only her undies. It was, of course, my fault, but every Tom, Dick and Harry at school called her that and wanted her after that.I spring out of bed, pushing Owen away from the screen. “Fuck off! I will be down in twenty minutes.”“I thought so,” Owen laughs while approaching the door. He has just tricked me into getting out of bed and it worked. “See you in an hour lewder,” he says with a smug.At least he can still smile and joke. I like that about him. He really kept me afloat during the dark times.“I said twenty minutes, dummy.” I really hate how predictable I am becoming.“It will be an hour by the time you have your wank and shower,” Owen says with a grin. I really should lock my door.“She’s grieving you freak!” I can’t imagine getting aroused by her today. Not that I have control over that these days. Maybe her father planning to kill me will talk some sense into my treacherous hormones.“You are the one spying on her and I am the freak? Maybe I should tell Wesley about your spyglass, you two can synchronise your jerk off’s.”I know that Owen is joking, but the idea of our predatory, lustrous uncle watching her gets my blood boiling. “I swear I would squeeze the life out of you if you ever mention it to Wesley.”Owen laughs, closing the door behind him. He is the only one who is never terrified of my threats. I turn my eyes on the screen and argh, there goes my sleep. The Davi princess is not coming out of the shower but is already dressed. Gorgeous as always in all black. The black hat with a veil looks really good on her. She looks like she is going for an all black fashion show than a funeral. Owen was right, it does take me an hour to be ready. Definitely not good.*****Leo POV*****I finally drag myself downstairs to face our despicable uncle. “My favourite nephew,” Wesley beams with stuffed mouth the moment I walk into the sitting room while Owen gives me the ‘I told you so’ look and rolls his eyes at our uncle’s obvious way of sucking up to me. He really can’t stand our Wesley. If it was not for me stopping him every time, we would have buried him a long time ago. I ignore my uncle and kiss Mariah’s cheeks. The grey haired old woman has been in our family for as long as I can remember. She started off as a our family maid but she dotted over Owen and I even before we became orphans. After that she made it her life mission to keep us alive. Her job extended to keeping us out of trouble and from being manipulated by our opportunistic uncle. The fifty-year old basically runs our home and still cares for us like we are still five-year olds. “Blood over matter, that’s the mafia law. Such traitors you two are,” Wesley grumbles while stuffing him
*****Nikita POV*****I wake up the following morning feeling numb and my body heavy like lead. It takes me forever to get dressed. I really hate the colour black. It’s too resembling of my heart and future right now. I am just starring at the mirror when I hear a knock and Father walks in. “It’s time, Angel,” he says with a voice that breaks my heart. To many, he is cold- blooded vengeful monster, but to me, he is family, the only one I have left now.I nod my head and quietly follow him outside where Jake’s coffin is already mounted on a trailer. Over one hundred of our man stood on each side of the trailer, all in black. They all slightly bow their heads to acknowledge us before Hunter, father’s most trusted man an friend, opens the door to the car behind the trailer for us to get in. Knowing him, he has probably scanned the bullet proof vehicle several times to make sure that no bombs are on it. It’s ridiculous I know, but paranoia is part of the mafia’s way of life. I blankly s
*****Nikita POV*****At the mafia cemetery We are heading to our cars when Leo and Daniel approach us. Some people really have a death wish. “Mr and Miss Davi. Condolences for your loss. Jake was a tough and worthy opponent,” Leo says.I glare at him, he really has the nerve!He ignores me and focuses his attention on my father, who is starring at him, not showing any expression. “We are aware of the long enormity between us, but we, the Booi’s and the Siko’s want to categorically distance our involvement in Jake’s assassination. We did not give the order and none of our men have gone rogue,”Leo continues. “We want to pledge our support into investigating and bringing the culprits to account for their actions,” Daniel adds. Father continues looking at them with his creepy poker face while I look at them in disbelief. They have obviously met and discussed this between their two empires. One of them did it, I am certain, but maybe I can use this to avoid mass killings. “Do that
*****Nikita POV*****I break the eye contact with Leo and get into the car next to my father. “Shag that Booi boy and get over it, Nikita. After that get out of my fuckin’ way,” Father says sharply the moment I close the car door. “Father!” I expected his anger but I can’t believe he just said that. This is such a Jake thing to say and it sounds so wrong coming from him. “This is not the first time you have saved him, but it’s the last. Do you hear me?” he yells at me while Hunter hits the accelerator and keeps his head and eyes on the road as if he did not hear a thing. His strategy is obvious to me, that is to get us home fast and disappear until Father cools down. When Nick Davi is mad, no one dares to look at him in the eyes or responds, except me. I am his blood and his princess, I get away with a lot. I am not sure about today though. “I was twelve years old and he was only fourteen. Children are off limit, Father. That is the mafia law!” I yell back while glaring at him. I
*****Nikita POV*****Evening after Jake’s funeral Three hours later, I’m on my bed, turning and tossing, unable to fall asleep. Alcohol, drugs, excessive shopping, junk food and sex. Thats just the top five on the list of many, people have used to either drown their sorrows, dull the pain or try to mend a broken heart. I need something like that tonight. Just a few minutes of letting go. Just to forget that my brother is gone and I am now the heiress of the Davi bloody empire. I hate everything on that list but the last one. I have never really tried it to make any conclusion on it. My reasons are not really deep and definitely not religious. No one has ever been worthy of that, but nothing is stopping me from trying it on my own. With that in mind, I start touching my breasts like I have seen in the movies. Besides my nipples getting hard, I really don’t feel anything exciting. I am starting to wonder what the whole fuss is about sex. I remove my panties and start stroking my clit.
*****Nikita POV*****I wake up the following morning feeling revived and push away last night’s explosive insanity. Sports bra, shorts and my hair tied into a ponytail, I am ready for my morning run. I leave my bedroom and hear excited giggles from the lounge. It seems our maids are busy chitchatting very early this morning. I hide at the corner and listen in, I’m curious to know what is all the excitement about. Maids tend to know all the gossip in the mafia world before we do because they interact with other maids when they leave. It’s always wise to keep tabs on them now and then. With Father on the urge and bloodthirsty, I can do with all the information to keep up with anything he may be planning. As I get closer to the lounge, I can make out three elated voices going back and forth in-between giggles. “Yummy!” “Oh Dear! he’s so hot! Look ,Andy, it’s the majestic, sizzling Lion of the Booi kingdom.”My heart race at the mention of his name. I really need to set my head straigh
*****Nikita POV*****“Good morning, Ma’am” the men outside greet in unison while bowing their heads. I greet back and start sprinting. I notice that all ten of them are also sprinting behind me. I’m in my running gear while they are in all black, mafia-style attire with long coats and dark shades. Add big machine guns to that and them trying to keep up with my speed, the scene looks really ridiculous. I stop abruptly, forcing them to do the same and bump into each other. “What’s this?” I ask sharply. I have been running around our home estate for years, this is the first time they have decide to follow me. “It’s Hunter’s orders, Ma’am,”one answers. “Orders to do what?”“We are to follow you everywhere from now on.” I frown, giving each one of them my cold ‘don’t mess with me stare’. They shift uncomfortable, that was my intention. These big, capable, ruthless men have been around me all my life. I have learned to stand my ground and discovered that I can be pretty intimidating.“
*****Leo POV*****“Why can’t you freakin’ knock? There’s nothing hard about it!” I snap at Owen, who, as usual, is here to disturb my peaceful sleep. I wonder if all early morning people are like my cousin. Once he is awake, which is always too damn early, he feels the need to wake me up too. “Why can’t you freakin’ lock? There’s nothing hard there and why are you so mad? Didn’t get some last night?” Owen hits back with a huge grin. He really enjoys torturing me. “It’s eight o’clock in the the damn morning! What do you want, Owen?” I seriously doubt that a younger brother would have been more irritating than this cousin of mine. “It’s a great day. Look, your Juliet is even returning from her morning run,” he says while peeping at the spyglass. “Get the fuck off that screen, Owen,” I say sharply. I usually don’t mind Owen’s comments on any girl, even those I have banged, but not with her. There is this possessive feeling I can’t control when Niki is involved and Owen can sense it.