Page 1 of Ruthless Mafia Boss 3: Vino and Claire

CHAPTER ONE

VINCENZO

Life as one of the two mafia bosses of the Romano Crime Family in Hackensack, New Jersey, was never boring. Our family, along with three other mafia families, was locked in an ongoing war. The Romanos were fighting their own separate battle.

My brother Vincent and I were dealing with the Santon mafia family, who were cunningly encroaching on our territory. As the eldest, I became the mafia boss of our family first. When Vincent turned twenty-five, he stepped up as the second boss of the Romano Crime Family.

One of the most important things a mafia boss should do was get married and have children. Heirs were all my father talked about lately. He said we had to keep the bloodline going like our ancestors did.

Our great-great-great-grandfather, Alfio Romano, left Sicily, Italy, and came to America in eighteen ninety-four at the age of twenty. Upon arriving in New York, he and his wife put their skills to use. My great-great-great-grandmother Anna was a talented seamstress, while Alfio often received praise for his Bolognese sauce at gatherings in their humble apartment.

Anna specialized in sewing dresses and men’s hats.

Federico, his younger brother, convinced him to start a side business. Their neighborhood became their first territory. They offered protection to shop owners for a fee. This marked the beginning of the Romano mafia Crime Family.

Years later, Grandfather Pierino negotiated with Salvatore Magarelli to expand their territory into New Jersey. Pierino’s four siblings Rinaldo, Big Vino, Aida, Kajetan remained in New York to manage the main territories, while Grandfather relocated to Hackensack, New Jersey, and became part of the five families: the Magarellis, Espositos, Pituccos, Romanos, and the Bertozzis.

My father and his three siblings Jacopo, Abriana, and Neri were born to Pierino and Concettina, and me and my brother were born to Vincent and Isabetta. My father wanted to name me Vincenzo. Dad allowed it. When my brother was born, mom named him Vincent Jr.

My brother Vincent and I were good friends with the current bosses: Dillon, Magarelli, Luca and Marco Esposito, Nick, and Nico Pitucco. We were also close to Dominic Magarelli, Dillon’s brother who was running for governor, and their cousin Tony Magarelli, the hitman. The Magarelli family’s roles were significant. The Bertozzis had become the outcasts among the five families.

Filippo Bertozzi's son, Tony, was the mafia boss. The Bertozzis had strayed from the fundamental values of the five families, which led to their downfall over the years.

When Dillon and Tony returned from the dead in two thousand seventeen, the Magarellis eliminated the Bertozzis, sparing only the women and children, as one of our core principles was not to harm them. If a woman needed to be dealt with, a female hit woman would handle it.

Now, we operated as the four families. Due to the ongoing war among the four families, I hadn’t yet informed Dillon, the primary mafia boss, that the Romanos were at war with the Santons. I planned to tell him when the time was right.

Currently, I was in New York to search for two of Santon’s family’s hitmen, Roscoe and Evren. The Santon mafia crime family had a strong presence on Long Island, Staten Island, and parts of lower Manhattan.

Michelangelo Santon was the mafia boss of the Santon mafia crime family. With his younger brother Luigi serving as his right-hand man and head of security. Their baby sister, Serenella, was not only beautiful and capable of seducing men with her looks, she could fight and had no problem leading an army. The Santons had a firm grip on their New York territories and were now aiming to expand into New Jersey, particularly targeting Hackensack.

In recent years, I had extended our family’s reach to Texas, where my cousins Dexter ‘Dex Deeds’ and Ramiro Romano operated. They were hitmen for our family and also managed territories in Austin and Houston.

Additionally, my cousins had a security side business. They currently worked as security for a billionaire named Kaleb Adkins, a pharmaceutical genius from Boston. As long as their work for him didn’t conflict with their responsibilities to the Romanos, it was all fine by us.

The city buzzed with its usual energy, but my mind was elsewhere on Claire Manning.

I decided to check on Claire. Last year in December, I met her older sister Hope, who was dating my cousin Noah Canyon of Canyon Brewery. From that moment on, I had no interest in settling down with any woman besides Claire. However, given the volatile nature of my business, it wasn’t safe for her to move from New York to New Jersey with me just yet. You may be wondering how I planned to convince her to move when she didn’t even know who I was? Well, let’s just say I had a way with words and could be quite persuasive when needed.

I vividly remembered standing outside a charming little diner with my bodyguard Xavier by my side, ready to carry out any orders. After tapping my earbud, Renato answered his phone on the first ring.

“Hello boss,” he said.

“Renato, I have a job for you and Amadeo. The job is in New York.”

“Ok.”

“You need to watch Claire Manning. She’s a fashion designer.” I provided them with all the details they needed about Claire and where they could find her warehouse. Renato asked how long they would need to watch her and I replied that I hadn’t decided yet. For now, they could stay in my condo closest to her warehouse and gather information about her - her favorite foods, colors, everything.

“No problem, boss,” Renato replied confidently.

“And one more thing,” I added. “If she has any hook ups or new men trying to get close to her, make their lives a living hell. She’s mine now, and no one touches what belongs to me.” “Understood, boss,” Renato acknowledged before I ended the call.

As I returned from my reverie, I stepped into the bustling warehouse turned design studio. People darted past me, pushing racks of clothes as they rushed to their designated tasks.

I was teetering on a tightrope choosing to pursue Claire while being at war with the Santons. Vincent and I had a large army of men under our reign. I’d use our men to keep this war under control while I perused my woman. Arguably, this was the wrong time to pursue her. But I had to have her now. In time, I’d bring my brother and the rest of my family up to speed on Claire.

“I need all my models! Quickly,” a woman snapped; her tone sharp with authority as she clapped her hands.

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