2. DAMON

~ Damon's POV ~

“Good morning, Mr. Van Zandt,”

Damon looked up to see his consigliere greeting him at the door to his study. Consigliere is another word for advisor, most notably to a crime boss such as Damon himself. His consigliere’s name is Adrian Luciano. He was the nephew to the famed mob king Joe “Joseph” Luciano who was the head of the New Jersey underworld from the 1980s up to now when Damon took over. Adrian, being a Luciano himself, had more claim to the throne over Damon who was only an orphan when Joe Luciano took him in. But Adrian never wanted the throne. Adrian preferred a more peaceful lifestyle with his wife Talia. So when Damon was willing to take over the throne, Adrian was more than happy to help him. They grew up together and Adrian knew there was no one more fitting to be king than Damon Van Zandt.

Damon was not born into the Luciano family, in fact, he never even met his real family. When he was only a baby, his mother left him on the footsteps of a Catholic church with only a blanket and his name. He was raised as an orphan at the church before he was put in foster care as a young kid. He moved from home to home before finally, at the age of fourteen, Damon met Joseph Luciano who soon became a father figure to him.

Damon was first raised to be a trained assassin. He was agile, quick, and cunning. He killed his first man at the age of fifteen, and the man was twice his age and size. Damon soon became Joseph’s favorite killing machine. He would do everything Joseph told him to, no questions asked. But after some time had passed, killing became a boring chore for the quick-witted Damon. Joseph saw this too. Damon had the potential for leadership and politics, so Joseph started grooming him to become his successor. It worked out pretty well as Joseph never had a son of his own. He had one daughter though, a beautiful girl named Isabella.

Isabella was the first girl Damon ever really loved. She had long dark hair and purple-blue eyes. Damon loved everything about her, the way she speaks, the way she dances, and most of all, he loved her heart. In a world as cruel and dark as the mafia underground, Isabella was a ray of light and hope for him.

After pursuing Isabella for years, at the age of nineteen, Isabella finally said yes to marrying Damon. His wedding day was the happiest day of his life. Joseph even arranged the biggest wedding party New Jersey had ever known. But on the day of the wedding, when everyone was drunk and high on love, a rival gang, the Maranzano family, appeared out of nowhere and started opening fire. Joseph was killed on the spot, and so was Damon’s beautiful bride.

It was the most gruesome sight Damon had ever seen. The happiest day of his life had turned into the worst. They managed to kill almost all of the Maranzano guys that crashed the wedding, but that was nothing compared to their losses. They lost their king, Joseph, and the princess, Isabella. And as for Damon, he lost everything he ever held dear.

Ever since that day, Damon took over the post as the king and he vowed to avenge Joseph and Isabella’s death. He also made another vow, he would never fall in love again. Love was a weakness and there was no room for weakness when you live in a world like his.

“If you’re finished with that paperwork, your presence is required downstairs, your grace,” Adrian said again.

“You’re trying to be funny, aren’t you?” Damon scoffed and closed the stack of files on his desk.

“Calling you ‘boss’ is a cliche, don’t you think? I’m trying to be more creative here,” Adrian replied.

“Fúck off, Adrian,”

“I will, I’m just supposed to let you know that everything’s ready. They’re waiting for you,”

Damon knew exactly what that meant. He buttoned his suit and stood up from his chair. With a menacing grin playing on his face, Damon strode out of the study and headed to the basement. Adrian was following close behind him, but he didn’t go into the basement. Damon was going into battle and the advisor wasn’t needed on the battlefield. Adrian stayed outside and he was pacing nervously.

Damon pushed the metal doors behind the wooden door to the room in the basement. This was a special room built under the estate that resembled a war bunker. It was a room meant for protection, but ever since he took over, Damon turned the room into a torture chamber for his enemies. And today, the room was housing two Maranzano boys that Damon’s guys picked up last night.

“Boss,” Liam, Damon’s number one right hand man greeted him.

Damon nodded at Liam and Liam pulled the black fabric covering the two Maranzano guys’ heads. They were both tied to a chair, their faces bruised and swollen, and so were their kneecaps.

“...P-please, Damon, please…” the guy on the left said. “It was my cousin’s idea. We had nothing to do with it,”

“Damon, it was five years ago. A lot of things had changed since then. We even gave up a lot of our New York territories to you,” the guy on the right said.

“You didn’t give it up, I took them,” Damon said curtly. He started pacing around the two guys and the one on the left closed his eyes in fear. He even smelled like pee as he had probably pissed himself last night.

“And you’re right, five years is a long time. I should probably let it go,” Damon said to the guy on the right. He swallowed hard and waited for Damon to continue. “Unfortunately, five years is not a long enough time for a vendetta,”

The two guys shuddered in fear as Damon took out a gun from his holster. Damon clicked the safety off and pointed the mouth between the two guys.

“D--Damon, please,” the one on the left begged.

“You’re only gonna prolong this war,” the one on the right said. “There’s already enough innocent blood being shed,”

Damon ignored their pleas and turned to Liam instead.

“How many mouths do I need to send a message?” he asked.

“Just one,” Liam replied.

“That’s what I thought,”

• BANG! *

Without wasting another second, Damon had pulled the trigger. He didn’t even need to look and he shot his target straight in the head. The guy on the right went limp as there was a clear bullet hole on his forehead.

“You can send the message,” Damon said to the guy on the left who was shaking through and through. “Damon Van Zandt does not forget,”

---

Damon tried wiping the blood on his cuffs, but it was no use. There was too much splatter and now his suit was ruined. He climbed up the stairs in annoyance and found Adrian waiting for him at the door.

“It’s done,” Damon announced.

“That was fast,” Adrian followed as Damon kept walking.

“It’s not even afternoon yet and I’ve already ruined my suit,” Damon sighed.

“For someone who’s not Italian, you speak like a true Italian,” Adrian chuckled. “He just killed a man but he’s worried about his suit,”

“What can I say? Death is just a natural human process. Right, Adrian?” Damon shot Adrian a knowing look.

“Right,” Adrian’s smiled turned flat.

Damon stopped at the door to his study and Adrian stopped as well. Adrian opened his mouth and it looked like he was going to say something, but he wasn’t fast enough.

“I’m taking a quick break. Send my number one in,” Damon said quickly. He didn’t wait for Adrian to answer and he just left, disappearing back into his study.

As soon as he was inside, Damon let out a long sigh and took off his bloody suit and shirt. His toned body was all muscles and there were marks and cuts all over. These were battle scars that he’d accumulated all these years.

Damon made his way to the desk and stared at the stack of files before him. He was obsessed with eliminating the Maranzano family, which was the biggest mafia family in New York and a long-time enemy to the Luciano family. The files in front of him contained data of the Maranzano businesses as well as their key players. The two guys downstairs were only pieces of pawns to his chess set. Damon only needed them to send a message to their king, Victor Maranzano, that his family’s glory days are coming to an end.

• Knock * Knock *

The knocking sound pulled Damon from his thoughts and he looked up at the door. The door creaked open and a woman walked in. She was Sabrina, Damon’s number one female companion of the week. Ever since Isabella, Damon never gave his heart to anyone else and girls were only the means to an end.

Sabrina was young and eager to please. She was wearing her sexy latex uniform that revealed very little to the imagination. A playful smile stretched on her face as she strode over to Damon’s desk.

“I’ve been waiting for your call all day,” she whispered seductively.

“Got some business to take care of in the morning,” Damon said as he got up.

“I heard,” Sabrina stood right in front of him and put her hands on his broad chest. ”You’ve been working so hard, master. Let me take care of you for a change,”

Sabrina pushed Damon until he sat back down on the chair. The smile on her face was growing larger as she climbed on top of him. Her lips were aimed for his neck and Damon’s hand slowly reached up to her neck.

“You,” Damon hissed as his hand choked the girl’s neck. She gasped in shock as she couldn’t breathe. “You don’t tell me what to do,” he ordered and she nodded her head.

Damon released his hand and Sabrina staggered back. Her hands went to her neck which was now bruised and blue.

“Get on your fúcking knees,”

Damon stood up and undid his belt. Swallowing hard, Sabrina quickly obeyed her master. It was her first week being Damon’s number one as he got bored of his previous number one. Damon usually never spent more than a couple of weeks with the same girl, but Sabrina was determined to make a difference. She came from the rougher part of town and being the mafia king’s number one girl was the best thing she could aspire for.

• SMACK! *

The sound of Damon’s leather belt connecting with her skin sent shivers up and down her spine.

“Ah!” she screamed in pain, but that only made him rougher and he struck her harder.

• SMACK! *

• SMACK! *

• SMACK! *

---

When the afternoon was done and the sun had set over the city, Damon knew it was time for another night of work. Tonight, he and his boys were visiting a local bar in Jersey City called The Union to make deals with other families around the area. Damon had to make sure he was able to keep the peace inside his own territory if he were to make war with the nearby Maranzano family.

The night started out like any other night. After leaving a torn-up Sabrina on the floor of his study, Damon put on a fresh new suit and headed out the door. Outside the estate, three black SUVs were already parked and waiting for him. Liam and his boys were in the first car, the last car was filled with bodyguards, and the second one was for him and Adrian.

Adrian kissed his wife, Talia, goodbye before following Damon into the car. Talia waved her hand and smiled, both at Damon and at her husband. Damon replied with a curt wave as the cars drove out of the gates.

After about twenty minutes of driving, the cars pulled up in front of The Union. After making sure that the place was good, Damon got out of the car and walked into the building. Liam and his other bodyguards were already ahead of him. Liam whispered something in the bar manager’s ear and within the next five minutes, everyone who wasn’t necessary was leaving the premises, including the waitresses and bartenders.

Damon sat in the VIP section with his boys as they waited for the arrival of the other families. The bar was now almost empty except for the manager, and there was one female bartender still at the bar.

“What happened? Where’s everyone going?” the girl asked.

“We need everybody out. This is an official Van Zandt business. You too Vi, you gotta go,” the manager said.

“What? I thought I was gonna ride home with you,”

“Not tonight, here you can take my car, I’ll find a way home,” the manager gave her his car key and she took it reluctantly.

“Dylan?” she asked.

“Don’t worry, just go,” he ordered.

Damon leaned over and whispered something in Liam’s ear. Liam then stood up and walked closer to the bar.

“Dylan!” he yelled.

“Yeah?” the manager turned back.

“The boss wants your best scotch,” Liam said.

“Alright, I’ll go get it,”

“Nah, we need you in there. Have the girl bring it,”

Liam didn’t wait for Dylan to respond and he already turned back to the VIP section. The girl and the manager exchanged a worried look.

“Just get the drink, give it to him, and you go straight home. You understand?” the manager hissed.

The girl quickly nodded her head.

Dylan was now joining the Van Zandt army at the VIP section. Liam was telling him what to do and what to expect once all the families were gathered. Meanwhile, Damon’s eyes traveled back to the bar and he found himself watching the girl. She was grabbing a bottle of scotch and several glasses before bringing them over to their table. Damon watched as the girl came closer and closer to his view. She had long brown hair and eyes as blue as the ocean with just a hint of purple. Her skin was smooth like porcelain and her cheeks turned a slight hint of pink as soon as she saw him watching her.

And that was the first time Damon saw her in person, the angel in the flesh, Violet Rose Carvey.

• • • • • To Be Continued - - - - -