The Mafia's Good Girl
The Mafia’s Good Girl – Chapter 64

~ Violet ~

– – – – – One Week Later – – – – –

Damon Van Zandt is not the guy you want to mess with.

Violet always knew that he was dangerous and cunning, but she never knew how much until that fateful New Year’s Day. Apparently, Damon had thought of everything, every move he made was done out of strict calculation. He purposefully let Hugo shoot one of his closest men to gain Victor’s trust. So when Hugo invited Victor to a ‘private’ New Year’s party at his yacht, Victor came with only his wounded consigliere by his side. The rest of Victor’s men were directed to ambush the Van Zandt estate because Hugo gave him false information that Damon left for Italy for the New Year.

Right as the clock struck midnight that night, Victor’s men came to the estate only to find the maids around the house. Elena was also instructed to call the cops ten minutes before midnight, so the cops arrived seconds after Victor’s men did. All those men were caught off guard by the police’s appearance. Some tried to flee, but the estate was purposefully set up so that no one could get out that night. In total, the cops rounded up almost two hundred men and they were all indicted on charges of trespassing and possession of illegal firearms.

As for Victor Maranzano, he came to the yacht thinking it was going to be a chill night of partying. He was going to celebrate with Hugo his success in storming Damon’s estate. Little did he know, Hugo had his men and Damon’s men preparing his funeral that night. He was shot several times inside the VIP room, right at the same time as the fireworks, and then his body was thrown into the sea.

To sleep with the fishes, they say.

Needless to say, everything went according to Damon’s carefully crafted plan. Now, with Victor Maranzano and his family out of the way, Damon was in the position to seize control over the New York territory. He and Hugo worked fast before any of the smaller families try to get in on the game. Damon acquired Maranzano’s hold over the five boroughs of New York City while Hugo acquired all other areas in the state. This was a huge win for both of them, and all the underworld kings were taking notes. No other mafia family had been eradicated in such a way before and everyone looked to Damon and Hugo as the biggest names on the western hemisphere.

What that being said, now there’s only one thing to do: celebrate.

One week had passed since New Year’s Day and today was actually Damon’s birthday. Damon and Violet would much rather spend the day together in a small and intimate party at the estate, but Adrian and Hugo had other ideas. After acquiring such large territories, Damon was expected to make more public appearances and to get acquainted with the other smaller families from the new areas. Which was how his 27th birthday got turned into one of the biggest parties Violet had ever seen.

“I haven’t seen parties like this happening in the estate since five years ago,” Talia said as she walked down the marbled floor with Violet by her side.

It felt so surreal as Violet entered the grand ballroom in her formal cócktail attire and high heels. Usually, this gigantic room was left empty and quiet. But, tonight the jazz orchestra was in full swing and the room was filled with VIP guests from all over the nation. The huge crystal chandeliers hung proudly on the ceiling, waiters were walking past with glasses of champagne, and the band was singing Frank Sinatra’s ‘Come Fly With Me’ as people laughed and danced.

“Do you guys have a lot of huge parties like this before?” Violet asked Talia, who was happily sipping a glass of champagne.

“Oh, yeah. Almost every week,” she nodded.

“That’s crazy,” Violet gaped.

These kinds of parties must cost a fortune, and they’d do it every week?!

“It is crazy, but it’s also a lot of fun,” Talia laughed. “I remember I used to make Adrian jealous by dancing with all the guys at the party,”

Talia then turned her head in Adrian’s direction and gave her husband a smile. Standing on the other side of the room, Adrian, as Damon’s consigliere, was busy greeting the guests and doing a whole lot of networking. Talia didn’t want to get involved with all that work, so she opted to stand by the dance floor and sip champagne instead.

“Speaking of, who are all these guys?” Violet asked, referring to the hundreds of men dressed in sleek tuxes and suits. She had never seen so many impeccably dressed people all gathered under one roof.

“They’re from various families all around the east coast. Some of them come from other mafia families, while others are just plain businessmen,” Talia explained. “I suppose they’re all here to pay respect to the new king,”

Talia glanced in Damon’s direction and Violet followed her gaze. Damon was sitting at the end of the room, holding a glass of whiskey, and smoking a cigar with some powerful-looking men. Violet wanted to go over there and talk to him, maybe ask him for a dance, but because Hugo was always around, she didn’t feel like doing it.

“And who is that?” she asked, pointing to the young girl standing beside Damon. There was a girl with long dark hair, a petite figure, and bright blue eyes. Even with all that make up she was wearing, Violet noticed that this girl looked especially young, especially compared to all the other attendees at this party.

“That must be Celina, Hugo’s daughter,” Talia said.

“Hugo has a daughter?”

“Yep, just one daughter and no other heir,” she paused for a beat and studied Celina before saying, “Wow, the last time I saw her, she was just a teenager. Now she’s a whole lady,”

Violet found herself watching Celina and how she laughed and giggled at every word Damon was saying. There were plenty of other people in the room, maybe guys that were closer to her age, but Celina seemed to only have her eyes on Damon.

“How old is she?” Violet asked.

“Seventeen, I think,”

Violet narrowed her eyes at the girl, almost in a judgmental way. Celina DeSantis was wearing a sexy backless silk dress with a long cleavage. It felt like something inappropriate for a seventeen year old to wear.

“Hey, you’re not jealous of Celina are you, Vi?” Talia said when she caught Violet glaring at Celina. “She’s just a kid,”

Violet rolled her eyes and turned away. She couldn’t stomach looking at the girl giving Damon the googly eyes any longer.

Well hey, I’m just a kid too.

“No, I’m not jealous. It’s just that… it’s his birthday, but I barely got any time with him since this morning,” Violet said with a long sigh. “He’s always so busy talking business with all these people. I feel like I have to take a number just to say happy birthday to him,”

Damon made a promise that after he got rid of Victor Maranzano, things would be better for him and Violet. But so far, Damon had only gotten busier and he spent even less time with her than he did before.

“And look, I got all dressed up like this and he didn’t even take one look at me,” Violet whined as she stared down her gorgeous golden dress. It took her an entire hour to do her hair and make up. She wanted to look beautiful for Damon, but he couldn’t even see her past the entire crowd.

“It’s hard to share your man with the whole world, huh?” Talia smiled apologetically. “Well, you know what I’d do if I were you?”

“What?”

Talia’s smile turned mischievous as she glanced at the row of single guys checking Violet out. Violet was just eighteen so it was only natural that the younger guys in the party had their eyes on her.

Violet found herself looking at this handsome young man wearing a sleek navy suit. He had gorgeous blonde hair, hazel eyes, and a smile that could go for miles. The guy seemed to like the fact that Violet was looking at him, and he decided to walk over to her. Talia took the cue and she scurried away, leaving Violet and the cute guy alone.

“Hi, may I have this dance?” the guy said as he stretched his hand out and bowed politely.

Violet paused for a second before responding. She glanced over at Damon who was now being pulled by Celina over to the dance floor. Turning her eyes back on the cute guy, Violet nodded her head and gave her hand to him.

Alright, two can play at that game.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

~ Damon ~

Much like the years before this, Damon spent his birthday working. Sure, they had a whole party to celebrate him, but this was just another event for making allies and business deals. Standing with a glass of whiskey in his hand, Damon couldn’t wait until this party was over and he could actually spend his birthday the way he wanted to: alone with Violet in the bedroom.

All day long, that was all that he wanted, but he didn’t even get a chance to talk to her at the party. He was always surrounded by ten different people asking him about his future plans or if they could buy off some of the newly acquired areas. It took Damon several hours before he finally got a chance to sneak away from all these people, but when he did, he found Violet already dancing with another guy. Damon didn’t like that very much and he tried to steal her away, but to his absolute surprise, she said no.

“Your friends are waiting for you, you should go over there and talk to them,” she said, gesturing to Hugo and his other friends.

If they were alone in the room, Damon wouldn’t wait for a beat before tying her up and teaching her a lesson for saying no. But since they were surrounded by politicians, businessmen, and other family members, Damon couldn’t do anything but clench his jaw and drew back.

She’s trying to make me jealous on purpose, and guess what? It fúcking worked.

Damon’s mood turned sour ever since Violet rejected his offer for a dance. He spent the rest of the night standing by himself on the second floor balcony, avoiding other people, and nursing a lonely glass of whiskey.

“Not enjoying the party?” Adrian’s voice was heard and the consigliere stood next to Damon.

Damon didn’t say a word of response. He only sipped his drink quietly and waited for Adrian to go away. Adrian, however, wasn’t easily deterred. He followed Damon’s gaze and saw Violet dancing and laughing with one of the guests.

“She’s a pretty girl,” he commented. “Of course, all these guys would wanna dance with her,”

“Can’t we just tell them all to leave?” Damon g*****d a response, finally. “I’m pretty damn tired of this bullshit show already,”

Adrian let out a chuckle as he found the source of Damon’s anger. Damon was usually known to be cold, cunning, and calm, but when it comes to Violet, he was anything but cold and calm.

“Hey, if you like her that much, why don’t you just marry her?” Adrian suggested. “Makes it easier,”

“Yeah?” Damon let out a scoff.

“Absolutely,” he said. “If she becomes Mrs. Van Zandt, no guy is ever gonna look at her like that,”

Damon scanned the area and saw how all the young guys were basically drooling at her. It made his b***d boil and he wished he could shoot them all dead.

“Hey, you realize I was joking, right?” Adrian said after a while of awkward silence.

“I think you have a point,” Damon said instead. “I need to mark the territory,”

“Territory?” Adrian gaped disapprovingly. “Damon, she’s a girl, not a piece of land—”

“If I don’t marry her, I make it fair game for anyone else to come and sweep her off her feet,” he argued.

Adrian looked at Damon like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Damon was treating Violet the way he treated those unclaimed areas from the Maranzano victory.

“I’m the king of the east coast now, Adrian. You know the things that I value will be valuable to my friends and enemies too. I need to turn this liability into an asset and set my territory so people won’t cross it,” Damon made a compelling argument, but it still sounded unethical to the consigliere’s ears.

“So, you’re telling me you want to marry her so other people can’t?” Adrian scoffed. “Isn’t that a bit petty, even for you?”

“I don’t care. I just have to have her,” Damon shrugged coldly. “I need the world to know that she’s mine,”

Adrian fell silent and thought about his boss’s orders. He felt that Damon was acting irrationally, but even as his consigliere, he knew he couldn’t change Damon’s mind once it was made up.

“And what if it doesn’t work out?” Adrian asked.

Damon’s jaw clenched tighter as he shot a deadly glare at Adrian.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. I’m just speaking out the thoughts that you already have in your head,” Adrian retorted. “She’s only eighteen years old. She can change her mind anytime she likes. Or maybe you could,”

Damon knew full well that was a big possibility. Marrying into the mafia family was never an easy task for any girl, especially marrying the mafia king of the east coast. Violet might lose her freedom and she’d end up resenting him.

“It’s only a marriage, not the end of the world,” Damon said finally. “If it fails then it fails,”

Adrian stayed quiet and watched as Damon sipped the last of his drink.

“At the end of the day, everything is business, it’s nothing personal,”

Adrian couldn’t tell if Damon was only saying this to appear strong, or if he genuinely believed it. He hoped it wasn’t the latter.

“Sure, if you say so, boss,” Adrian said, gauging Damon’s reaction. When Damon didn’t say anything else, Adrian knew it was his cue to leave and execute the plan into motion.

“Alright, I guess I’ll go draw up the paperwork then,”

*