Chapter 9 (Aliyana)


    The Bratva agreed to peace with my parent’s marriage on one condition - the first child, which the


    Famiglia hoped would be a boy, would be given to my mother''s family at age 5 to raise as Bratva so


    they could continue the Vasiliev bloodline.


    See, the thing about my mother’s family and the Bratva, was their women, unlike the Famiglia, were


    very important. Without a Vasiliev heir born from the womb of a Vasiliev female, my mother’s family


    would have a hole in their armor.


    It was theirw that the eldest child, male or female, be raised to take over. A female would not only


    produce and heir but rule the Vasiliev family one day.


    Thews are sacred in the 5th State. We are bound by those traditions. Some of them fall on all of us.


    One of those traditions shared amongst the leaders of the 5th State wasmon. Sending your sons


    into allies territory to finish out their schooling years. It proved the strength of the alliance. It meant that


    your allies were in charge of the safety of your future. If they fucked up, it would be war. So, they took it


    very fucking seriously.


    The Russo’s took seriously to a whole new level.


    Then again, we broke tradition when they sent me to Chicago and Elisa here. The first girls to make the


    exchange.


    ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    But even with us, the tradition proved sessful, and for so long has been honored.


    Our scars would not be of the visible kind unless you knew the horrors that hid in the depth of our eyes.


    Only then you would see and understand the meaning of the term ''deep-rooted wounds.'' They are still


    that, wounds, not fully healed, but bearable.


    All for what? The symbol of unbreakable connections.


    The thought of it all makes me want to shake my head andugh at how absurd it all seems in the


    brighter mornings now that we are home.


    My mother, for all her fortune, ran out of luck when she bore a girl and when the time came, my parents


    couldn''t do it. They agreed to allow her to attend school with the Bratva''s kids, but the Bratva retaliated


    by killing my Papa’s sister. Still, Papa refused and dered war.


    I sometimes question myself, if my sister crossed his mind when he did to me the same thing he


    wanted to do to her.


    Only difference is, in my case, sending me away was for my own safety, and in hers - to prevent a war.


    After my aunts death and Papa’s deration of war, the Famiglia stood together as is the way of our


    world and protected her as they knew how.


    A lot of people died, and more enemies were forged in the time as a lot of allies chose to not stand with


    my parents. Things were terrible during that time. Dark times in the 5th State.


    Until the Capo of the Famiglia dered an end to his reign, and the new Capo rose.


    The decision was not made by the Capo Dei Capi as my sister''s life wasn''t that important that they take


    it to the true-head of the 5th State. And my father wasn''t the Consigliere then, so his war was only


    extended as far as the Mafia men he called his people.


    Our new Capo, Marcello Catelli seemed to have frozen his heart and gave my sister away. ''A deal is a


    deal,'' he said.


    She, a sister I never had a chance to meet, who remained nameless was the unfortunate of my family.


    Her departure damaged my mother and father in ways that made them crazy.


    Filippo once let spill that my parents started their own war and looked for her until my mother was


    gunned down. He never told me the entire story, but he did say my mother was the message that Papa


    received and his push he needed to take his rightful ce.


    I, however, am the only fortunate sibling.


    I was too young to remember any of this. I’ve never met my sister. I was thest of my mother''s


    children to be born. The story of their horror, just a scary bedtime story growing up, told to me by my


    siblings and my stepmother.


    My mother died when I wasn’t even three, murdered, so I don''t remember the bloodshed that came


    after my sister was traded like cattle.


    My father remarried after a year, as is custom in our world. And finally managed to produce another


    male, Elia. His marriage was arranged, and ria though beautiful and eager to please, never lived up


    to my mother in Papa’s eyes.


    Of that, I know.


    ria hates me for it. From that moment, she stepped foot in our home, she saw me as the girl who


    wore the very face of the woman responsible for her husband’sck of affection.


    That hate grew as the years piled up. Because, unlike my siblings, my birth granted me the freedom of


    choice to whom I would marry, as long as he is in the Famiglia.


    Something ria never had and Serena will never have.


    I always wished to be with Leonardo. Staring at my ceiling, I have to admit that when I saw him today,


    my attention was not the one he sought.


    And it isn’t the first time when that ache in my heart bes a bit too unbarring that I think of ria and


    her unrequited love for Papa. I understand her pain.


    I know how painful it could feel if the one whom he wanted was someone I had to look at knowing that I


    would neverpare.


    I understand it too well, I have been doing it for years.