An Arranged Marriage To The Mafia...?

There was positively nothing more chilling then the desperate screams of a mother. The way the bells of her voice stretched and let it's shrill sound rain on ever inch of the earth, the way the pain cracked and cried in the middle of her throat. They way it sliced through midnight's silence.

Within a mili-second of the sound tolling through the over-sized house my body was convulsed in fear, I stood on shaky socked feet and stepped lightly from the over-sized bed. Nervously prying the handle and timidly pulling at the frame. Inwardly I expected to find the same five men tragically ransacking the Radev mansion, hunting on a thirst for blood and total destruction. But what I found made my heart skip twice as hard. Standing rigid in the centre of the white marble foyer were my "family"; Antonio, Marcus, Ethan, Maria and my father.

Though simply by the way they stood and the sounds of Maria I knew something wasn't wuite right, I knew something was most deffinately wrong. And as I travelled slowly down the staircase and timidly approached the small group my suspicions were only confirmed. Antonio's darkly circled eyes held emotion I had never seen before, the were sullen and sunken into his usually hardened face. Marcus Radev's shoulder hung loosely from his body, his head low and I could visably see the welling surge of his body shake slightly. My father's swollen expression was soft his eyes larger than life itself and entire figure weighted by an invisible pressure. My eyes danced along in the sheer silence of the group to Ethan; his vision blurred with ready-to-spill tears, his face red from the ones he'd already shed, his usually broad shoulders shrunk back and shook uneasily and Maria Radev's shrill cries echoed.

Never in my life had I seen the heavy weights of the underworld so desperately fragile, their powerful exteriors deminished to a tiny degree of what they used to be and it had me revelling in utter confusion.

"What.. what happend?" My voice cracked under the pressure of the silence only broken by the soft mumbled sobs from the mothe to my right.

"James." My father's voice broke through the air like a knife, his focus never moving from the floor below. "He was killed."

An onslaught of horrific cries fell from the lung of the humble woman next to me and I felt my body stagger under the weight of my answer. "wh-what! h-h-how!?"

I never intended for the question to be answered and I was thankful when no reply came through. Maria's largely round body struck the ground with her knees as she collapsed, her hands laid flat on the ground while her body hunched and swayed with incredible sobs. I felt the tears overwhelm my sight and knelt by her, my arm wrappd securely over her shoulders and leaning her warmly towards my body. Ethan's gaze fell on mine, the hollow expression almost heart breaking before he fled the scene, his long strides removing him from the picture until the front door closed with a heavy groan and slam. I sat for a moment in a state of shock and heart ache before I felt my legs unravell and saw my body guiding itself down the narrow hallways and facing the brisk chill of Nevada nights.

Ethan's hunched form fell instantly into line, his pressed white shirt almost glowing through the darkness. He turned instantly at the sound of crunching gravel under neath my steps and seemed to calm slightly when his gaze found me and not a drastic heavy weight. I let my legs fold and sat by him over the stone edgeway of the front gardens, silence enveloped every corner of our surroundings and it most definately wasn't the comfortable kind.

Instinctively I let my fingers lace with his, holding tightly to the warmth of his palm, from the corner of my eyes I could note his shoulders trembling slightly and it only made it harder to subdue my own hysterics. James Radev was my strength, my saviour, he was my gangland best friend, he was yet another victim of our tragically unforgiving world. Desperation racked through my lung as the surge of pain at losing him fell through my body, I sucked in a sharp breath and blinked back rapid tears. I couldn't imagine the heartache my betrothed was silently suffering from.

A faint sound errupted from the back of Ethan's throat and my blurred vision landed slowly over his features. His cheeks wet with straying tears, his eyes flooded and staring straight into thought, his features turning to a cold hard status. Adreneline and instincts suddenly took over and I pulled him quickly to a crushing embrace, for a moment his arms wrapped around my waist and he allowed his face to be burried in my dark hair, his shoulders shuffling under silent sobs. But it was short lived and in a split second he had ripped himself away and stood in the hard pebbled drive way, his back facing me and fingers lacing with the silver keys to his car.

"Ethan." I stood and laid a gentle hand upon his shoulder.

He shrugged my affection off.

"Ethan, you can't go after them.."

"Why?" is voice was fille din desperation.

"They'll be expecting it. You need to be here." I pulled slightly at his hand and motion toward the house.

"There's nothing for me here."

I winced at the shooting pain his words created and the small lapse in judegment the shock of his statement caused was just enough time for him to rip himself away and hit the gas pedal of his sleak car, burning tyres as he screetched his way from the cobble stone driveway and out into the black abyss of night.

Tears overwhelmed and sobs erradicated my body, my knees grew weak and I found myself alone in the centre of the drive way. I allowed the sobs of loss and heartache to take over. I cried; I cried for my best friend who's lifeless body turned forever cold at the hands of brutal murderers, for the loss of somebody who's existance I greatly depended on. I cried for the heartache of losing family and for the constant reminder that this world was where I now belonged and I cried with fear for the safety of Ethan Radev.