Lady Boss (2 page)

She talked me into letting
her go to her place for some clothes after breakfast; since I wasn't born
yesterday I went with her, we argued the whole way there. 

"Arianna just open the damn door so we can get this over
with. I pushed her inside when she opened the door. 

Two things registered as soon as we entered, one I could smell
men's cologne, and two there was someone here. 

I pushed her behind me just as I registered the older man with the
gun. The fuck. I could draw and shoot in a second if needed but what if he hit
her. 

What the fuck Shane, you're slipping. 

As I pulled my gun out and aimed Mouth came around beside
me. 

"Uncle Alphonso put that gun away, this one's
mine." 

"He's what?" 

"Mine, you know my one and only true love, all that bullshit
you and dad used to feed me when I was little." 

"Principessa." He smiled wide and opened his arms. 

"What the fuck did you just call her?"

"Ari Mia who is this
yahoo?" 

"She isn't your anything old man, watch what the fuck you
call my woman in front of me." 

Shane stepped towards him as if he was about to throw down. 

I placed myself between them, men were so pig headed, "Cool
it Michael Corleone, no one's taking out the five families today." 

"You still doing that shit Ari MIA?" Shane pointed his
gun at him again and I gave my uncle a glare, he was just provoking Shane on
purpose now. 

"Put that thing down, it's fine I promise." He lowered
his gun but kept his eyes on uncle Alphonso. 

"What shit?" He finally asked. 

"Quoting mobster flicks, how many files you got now by the
way Principessa?" 

"All of them." I smirked at him; I'd pulled off
something none of the others could in all the years they'd been trying. I had
the files of every sitting head in America. 

"Damn, you are selling?" 

"I ain't no stinking snitch." 

"Whatever, what are you doing in this dump?" 

"This is a dump?" Shane looked confused. 

"Compared to her home it is." 

"Uncle Al, ssshh." 

"Oh no you don't Mouth, start talking." 

Oh shit, I wrung my hands together going for my innocent look, how
to tell him, he's going to flip, I looked to uncle Alphonso. 

"You told me to sshh remember." 

I rolled my eyes at him, now he decides to listen to me, old
blabber mouth; I wondered what game he was playing now. 

"MyfatheristheheadoftheChicagofamilies." 

"Your what?" 

"Her father is Roberto Rossi, maybe you've heard of him in
this bumfuck town." 

"The fuck?" He looked dazed, yeah; my dad had been the
baddest of the bad. 

"Speaking of which Ari, I might have a surprise for
you." 

"Ooh,
I almost forgot, what did you bring me?" 

He inclined his head to the
gift bag on the table. I ran over squealing like a school girl. 

"Are you two bent, Arianna get over here." 

"Keep your shorts on there little Nicky." I took the
snow globe from its silk wrapping paper. "Ooh wait, I have this
one." 

"No you don't." 

"I think I do." 

"No you don't, your dad and I have a scrap book of all the
ones you have and that's not in it." 

"We'll see." 

"About that surprise....." 

"This wasn't it?" 

"If you two are finished with family hour there's a little
matter I would like to discuss, like how the fuck my wife ends up being the
daughter of one of the most notorious mob bosses to grace our great
nation?" 

"You got married without us?" Uncle Al looked
hurt. 

"No uncle, Shane here prides himself on being a forward
thinker; he thinks he only has to say something to make it so." 

"So you're not marrying him?" 

"Yes the fuck she is, or I don't care who her father used to
be, I will fuck everybody's shit up, now one of you start talking, preferably
you Mouth, did you play me?" 

"What, of course not, why the hell would I do
that?" 

"I don't know, why didn't you tell me who you
are?" 

"What's it to ya?" 

"Mouth, swear to God." 

"Look,
I don't have anything to do with that cops and robbers game you grown men like
to play, I came here to get away from all that; I found some notes in day's
office about this place and thought it was as good a place as any." I kept
my fingers crossed where they couldn't see; lying is such a shit fuck thing to
do. Damn I'm starting to sound like Shane.

"So how did you find me Uncle
Al?" 

"It wasn't easy let me tell you, I wasn't expecting to find
you hooked up with the local head, seeing as how you're so averse to the family
business and all." He had that gleam in his eye. He's been trying my
whole life to turn me into a boy.

"Don't even think about it, I'm not taking over that
mess....." 

"What the fuck Mouth, you're the heir to the Chicago
Cartel?" 

"Nope....." 

"Speaking of which Ari Mia, about that
surprise......" 

"Hello
baby girl." 

I spun around so fast I
almost gave myself whiplash. No it couldn't be. 

"Dad?" 

"In the flesh baby girl." He opened his arms for a hug,
big sappy grin on his face. 

"Shane give me your gun." 

"Now Arianna calm down, you don't want to shoot your old man
again do you?" 

"Again?" Poor Shane was trying to keep up. 

"When I was three he left his gun on the table, I mistakenly
shot him....... in the ass." 

The jerk started howling with laughter. 

"Whatever, dad, what the hell?" 

"Sorry." He gave me a sheepish look. 

"Sorry, sorry, you let me think you were dead all this
time...?" 

"It wasn't that long bambina, besides I couldn't tell you
what was going on, it had to look legit, if you knew I was alive then you
wouldn't have grieved the right way and our enemies would've known something
was up. By the way that was a nice turn out I had, you did me proud
......" 

"You were there?" I was back to trying to find a gun,
this was too much even for him. 

"That fuck Louis lump lump wasn't there though, friend my
ass." 

"Dad you called him Louis lump lump his whole life even when
you were kids, why would he come to your funeral?" 

"To show his respect fat fuck, I got something for him
though." 

"You leave Uncle Louis alone; he wasn't there because he was
doing something for me." 

"What, computer shit, cause that's all that fat fuck is any
good for." 

"Yes, he was gathering information so I could find out who
put the hit out on you." 

"Which led you here, which is only one more reason why I
should put a hole in his fat ass." 

"Boy you Rossis sure like shooting people in the
ass." 

I gave Shane the bitch brow to no avail; let him laugh now, in
about five minutes he was going to be back to being pissed. 

"Anyway, since no one killed you my work here is
done." 

"You know little girl, for someone who always swore she
didn't want anything to do with family business you sure do think like a boss." 

"Stow it dad, I was just going to do this one
job." 

"My girl was going to avenge her old man, see Alphonso, I
told you she was just like her dad." 

"As I recall you bitched at me for turning your daughter into
my nephew, now you wanna reap the benefits. I think she's got a little bit of
both if us. Pure gangster."

"You wish, now what the hell is going on?" 

"First, what the hell is going on with you and Flanagan, you
ride me your whole life about my doings only to end up with my
double?" 

Prince of the City

 I'm trying to take all this
shit in, I had a mafia princess in my jurisdiction for a while  and had no
idea, how the fuck did she slip by my guys, she wasn't even using an alias, not
that anyone knew too much about Rossi's only offspring, she was one of the
mob's best kept secrets. 

"Swear to me that you didn't play me Mouth." 

I could forgive anything but the thought that she might've played
me wasn't one of them, I'd let her into my circle, introduced her to ma; fuck,
ma. 

"I didn't even know who you were, my research was only
concentrated on the ones who took out dad, believe me I only found out about
you after I got here, and since you weren't on my hit list I had no real
interest in you." 

"Wait, your hit list, what the fuck, you're not hitting
anybody, what the hell would I tell our kids?" 

"Uhhh, what do you plan on telling them about
you?" 

"I'm a man; my boys will expect me to handle
shit." 

"First of all, our daughters aren't going to be anywhere near
this mess....." 

"When's the wedding?" 

That Alphonso prick piped in, I wasn't sure about him, he seems to
like egging her on, encouraging her in shit. Her father had been a little
tongue in cheek when he'd made that crack about her not wanting anything to do
with the business too.

"Wait, what wedding, nobody asked me about this." 

"Dad you're dead, and I'm eighteen nobody needs your
permission to do anything." 

"That's what you think, do you have any idea what the ciuccio
that marries you stand to inherit, he'll become my heir." 

"No he wouldn't, stop it dad..." 

"Of course he would, since you refuse the position, which is
a pain in my heart, but he would become heir in your stead; but bambina, this
medigan?" 

"Roberto, how many times must I tell you, come out of the
dark ages brother, besides you know la Principessa never does the expected?" 

"Yeah
Al but....." 

"Can we get back to the
matter at hand, and I'll ignore the insults Rossi, just don't make it a
habit." 

Badass or not, no one was going to disrespect me on my turf,
future father in law or not. 

"What matter would that be young blood?" 

"The matter of why my future wife was here in the first
place, someone in my territory put a hit out on you?" 

"Yeah, you could say that, but it goes deeper than that, it
was a takeover attempt that was supposed to cover the whole of the Western
faction." 

"What do you mean take over the whole of the west, that would
include me and that shit's not about to happen, what's going on?" 

"Well it's like this, you have a family here that's
associated with a family in my back yard, these two fucks got together and
cooked up a scheme of how to take over, they were going to hit me first and
then after a little time had gone by and the heat died down they were coming
for you and all the other heads, but since you and I are the strongest
opposition we were first." 

"Yeah but my dealings don't mesh with yours and your
territory ends a state over from here, so how did I get involved?" 

"Didn't I just say they want the whole of the West?"

"And how does Mouth play into this, if she is your
heir....." 

"She was supposed to be forced to marry Carlo
Stacco." 

"The fuck you say?" 

Prince of the City

    "You're
not fucking marrying Carlo Stacco. The fuck?" She rolled her eyes at me
before giving me the 'you're stupid' look. I walked to where she was standing
and dragged her into my side. 

The two murdering old fucks got a chuckle out of that. 

"I didn't say she was going to marry the prick, I said that's
what they were going to try. Get her to marry him so he could lead through her
or at least that's what the organization was supposed to believe. Like we're
fucking dopes, but our girl flew the coop before they could put that shit in
motion. 

Which brings me back to my question, what're you doing in this
dump?" 

"My place isn't a fucking dump, what I want to know is how
the fuck did you get in here?" 

"Son that's my specialty. Getting in and out of
places." 

I gave Mouth a squeeze; I guess that answered the question of how
she got out of my bedroom. 

When he grinned at her, I knew I'd been right, the fuck had taught
her all he knew most likely. If I caught her doing any more of that mob shit I
was gonna kick her ass. My wife was supposed to be a stay at home mom who baked
fucking cookies and shit, just like ma, not running around the place picking
locks. Fuck my life, why me? 

"My guards downstairs didn't see you two come in, I wanna
know how you got into my place without being noticed." 

"Can't share trade secrets son, not until you're part of the
family anyways." Her jerk of an uncle was really beginning to work my
fucking nerves.  

"Is
anyone going to tell me what the fuck's going on here, I don't like too many of
you on my turf, I get kinda twitchy when other bosses stay too long in my
backyard, especially without my invite." 

Boss of bosses or not, no one
was going to disrespect me, then again he was my new father in law so I could
be a little more lenient, somebody's head was gonna roll though cause there's
no way they breeched my security, I'm not that fucking green. 

"I'm here for my daughter; if her uncle was watching her like
he was supposed to we wouldn't be here. 

"Don't start Roberto, you taught the brat how to evade and
disappear, I had a hell of a time finding her, that fat fuck held out on me
even when I threatened to off his mother, and then we got lucky." He
smiled at me like he knew something I didn't. What the fuck? 

"Uncle Al you didn't." 

"Sure did brat, I would've offed the old bag too if I had to;
now what the hell are you doing in Flanagan’s bed, didn't we teach you any
better than that?" 

"Hey, watch your fucking mouth, the fuck's that supposed to
mean?" 

"Keep your shorts on young blood, all I meant was that if
she's trying to get out of the life then she shouldn't be shacking up with
you." 

"Yeah Ari, my feelings are hurt, you tormented your poor old
man for years about this life and now you're hooked up with mini
me." Her father gave her a sulky look, some mafia boss he was.

I know one thing, if these fuck didn't stop insulting me I was
gonna pop a cap in somebody's ass, preferably the uncle's. I still didn't like
him being all cozy with my girl, but that was for later. Right now I had more
important things to deal with. 

"What's
going on with you and the Staccos?" 

I faced the two of them, arms
folded, face stern so they knew I meant business, I may be younger than they
are, but this was still my territory and they had broken into my place, we all
knew the only reason they were still breathing was because of my woman. 

"I told you already, they put a hit out on me." 

"Yeah but where does things stand now, how're you handling
this shit and how the fuck do we get Mouth out of the middle of this
fuckery?" 

"Mouth, that's what you call her, that's perfect." 

"Dad zip it." 

"See, always was a mouthy little thing you sure you can
handle her Flanagan, of course I have yet to give my blessing, we're gonna have
to have a sit down when this is all over." 

"I hear what you're saying she's your daughter, but
understand when I took her to my bed I didn't know that, now it makes no
difference to me, she's mine." 

"Shane,....I
can't believe you just told my dad that we went to bed together, what are you
new?" She put her face in her palm and shook her head.

Before I could answer her
there was a crashing sound and Michael and Anthony bounded through the door,
guns drawn. 

Pretty soon there were six guns pointing in two directions. 

"Mouth, where the fuck did you get that gun? Put that thing
away." 

Okay, I knew about the shooting incident with my little brother
the fuck, but seeing how smoothly she drew her weapon, the familiar ease with
which she held it, didn't sit too well with me. My wife shouldn't be handling
guns. Fuck no. 

"The fuck Shane, we've been calling you for ten
minutes." 

Shit, I forgot all about them. 

"Put the guns away boys, we've got company." 

"Fuck.....you're Roberto Rossi...and you're Alphonso
Rossi......" Trust Tony to know who they were, he was almost as bad as
Mouth with the mob trivia. 

"Wait a minute, Arianna...you're Arianna fucking Rossi Mouth?
Oh shit, she's like royalty." Mikey was having an Oprah moment or some
shit. "Wait 'til I tell ma about this." 

Oh
fuck. 

"Nobody's telling ma
about anything, now if you two girls would like to come in and close the
door we've got some shit to deal with, it seems Stacco is after Arianna as
well." 

"What the fuck for?" Mikey bristled.

"Can I finish ...apparently the Staccos and some other faction
from Rossi’s territory has decided to combine their efforts to overthrow not
only Rossi's organization, but ours as well, they want to head the west coast
families together. 

 In order to do that they need to get rid of both of us. They
think they've already taken out the old man, so I'm the only thing standing in
their way, except to take over Rossi's side of things they need his only heir,
which would be Mouth. 

The plan is for Carlo Stacco to force her into marriage against
her will if necessary, take over, and run things in her name. So now things
have escalated, I want to know where that fuck is yesterday, it's just become
personal." 

"What the fuck was it before Shane?" 

"Business Mikey, now my woman's involved, I'm gonna cap that
bitch ass motherfucker right after I cut his fucking dick off." 

Mouth who had been unusually quiet throughout my tirade rolled her
eyes at me. I scowled at her in an obvious message of keep out of it, but did
crazy mob girl listen, of course not. 

"Take it easy there Joe Bonano, don't go off half
cocked...." 

"Mouth." 

"No hear me out, I've been working this for months, ever
since they hit my dad." She gave him a scathing look. 

"You're not involved, give me what you've got, but you're out
of it, from now on you don't do anything you hear me?" 

"Uh,
are you off your meds again ...bless your heart? You don't get to tell me what
to do capisce?"  

I was back to wanting to pop
her one, I should be able to get away with it for all the aggravation she's
caused me. 

"Mouth, I'll fucking lock you away somewhere, swear on my
mother." 

"Let me know how you make out with that
one........jackass." 

I
pulled her in and bit into her bottom lip just to shut her up, but I'd
overplayed my hand. I'd forgotten how the taste of her went straight to my
head, and how she always just stopped whenever I touched her. It was like
pulling a switch; she melted into me with a sigh. I took her mouth forgetting
our audience until I heard throat clearing and chuckles.   

    "Boy you're mighty
brave manhandling my kid in front of me like that; I guess any man who has the
coglioni to do that is good enough to be my son in law, my male heir." He
actually rubbed his hands together. 

"Even though you're medigan, I would've chosen a nice Italian
boy for you though Ari, but when have you ever listened to me?" 

I was ready to go apeshit when he mentioned choosing an Italian as
her mate but Mouth calmed the situation. 

"Dad you knew there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that
I'd ever marry one of your cronies or any of their deadbeat sons, knock it
off." 

"See Roberto that's gratitude for ya, I told you we shoulda
sent her to the nuns when she was little, she's got way too much fire in her,
that can't be good." 

"She gets it from her mother, God rest her soul." 

"You're
right about that, Dahlia was known to have a temper." He laughed in fond
remembrance. 

   "Are we through with
family hour, because I heard something about some asshole plotting to take me
out so he can take over my shit, not only that now I have to deal with the fact
that said asshole's son was planning to kidnap and force my wife into
marriage." 

"Uh..." Mouth raised her hand as if to interrupt, but
since I knew what she was about to say I cut her off at the pass. She's my wife
in my eyes and that's fucking final. 

"You're as good as; I don't need to hear it from you. Now
what the fuck are we going to do about these fucks?" I turned back to her
annoying family. 

"What
you got Ari?" Rossi looked at his daughter expectantly, it didn't escape
my notice that he still hadn't gotten too close to Mouth, he must really think
she would slug him for making her believe he was dead all this time. 

   She folded her arms and
tapped her foot, aw shit, here comes the fucking attitude. Fuck my life, will
she ever just do as she's told, I guess not, hard headed fuck. She's going to
make me batty. This is what I'd chosen for myself, this is what I took one look
at and decided I had to have it. Fuck me.  

"I want in, I did all the ground work it's only fair." I
opened my mouth to blast her, no fucking way, if she thought I was kidding she
could think again, I don't care what she'd gotten up to before she became mine,
but there was no way I was standing back and letting her put herself in harm's
way ever again though. Ma would have a coronary if she heard about this shit.
She liked to pretend that I was just a night club owner; I liked to keep it
that way.

"Be reasonable Arianna, you never wanted any part of the life
remember and this thing is big, this could mean all out war. Flanagan's right,
you need to stay out of this." 

"Dead man talking. No." She actually held her palm up to
him. 

Damn
she even gives Roberto Rossi shit, this did not bode well for me, she was gonna
run circles around my ass for sure. Shit, I am so fucked. 

   Right now I have to find a
diplomatic way to get her to pull out, she had that mutinous look on her face
which meant we would be here all night with the back and forth and I wanted to
get things rolling as soon as possible. Somehow knowing they were after her was
more significant than them wanting me dead, and that's just plain fucked up. I
think I might've borrowed Mikey's vagina. Pussy whipped motherfucker. 

"Okay Mouth, you got a point, you did the ground work, let’s
see what you've got and we'll go from there." 

"Uh uh, promise me first and then I'll share." 

I had to give my wording some thought, couldn't lie to my woman
now could I, that's no way to start a relationship, not to mention crazy woman
would have my nuts if I fucked with her. 

"Okay, I promise that we'll let you help with the
situation." 

"Thank you." She smiled and headed towards her bedroom
returning with a box full of folders and what looked like her school
shit. 

"Fuck Mouth, how long you been on these guys?" She
preened at me so I stole a smooch. 

"Alright you two knock it off, Flanagan I hope you know what
you're doing letting her get involved, she's obviously not listening to
anything I say, not that she ever did. I can make grown men shit themselves but
this little bit of a thing ignores me, now how fair is that I ask
you?" 

"Karma
dad, suck it up and stop whining." 

  She spread her notes and
shit all over the dinner table. She had dates, photos, transcribed
conversations from wiretapping; I don't even want to know how she got that
shit. 

She knew hiding places, hangouts, where the mistresses were kept.
The shit was like an organized sting by a one woman force. Who the fuck was
this girl? 

"Mouth when you have time to do all this, weren't you in
school?" 

The peanut gallery found that funny, I glowered at the two old fucks,
but they kept laughing. I get no fucking respect anymore. 

"Uhm, about that, I take one class in the mornings, but the
rest of the day I do recon." She bit her thumb nail, I got
suspicious.