Chapter Text
Two families. Two relentless and ruthless leaders. One bitter rivalry.
The Bishop and DeLuca families had been rivals for as long as the myths could say - bound by decades of conflict, violence, spying and conspiracy. They were two formidable forces that the underworld of society knew never to mess with.
The DeLuca family were of course were the occupiers of the Sicilian Mafia, known for their extensive networks across the world and their particular speciality in the drug trafficking business; racketeering and money laundering also a large part of their daily operations. Being led by none other than Carina DeLuca they were at their most powerful, finances seeing numbers the organisation had never witnessed before and taking on more and more deals that were putting them in the history books.
However she was not alone in her role of leadership, her younger brother Andrea DeLuca, or Andrew as his closest peers and friends called him, being her second-in-command. He was just as equally brutal as his sister, taking no mercy - a chilling and sinister duo that took pride in their seasoned family history in the business; their father previously occupying the mafia boss title, as well as their grandfather and great-grandfather. It was safe to say they had a legacy and were determined to make sure they upheld their name in honour.
Except they had one rather infuriating inconvenience in their quest, and she went by the name of Maya Bishop.
Boss of the American Mafia, she was equally as vicious as she heartless - taking over the family name after the death of her father she became the heir, and was subsequently made the youngest person ever to be in charge of one of the biggest mafia organisations in the world. Her start however was not taken too easily, some of the other chief operators within the business believing it was their right to have the position - but after Maya made a very public declaration that any objectification to her transition to power would not end in their favour, no one else made any point of making their concerns heard.
The members who had been in attendance of Maya's declaration had certainly got the message, even more so when they’d watched four men come in with hoses to spray away the blood that had pooled on the ground - it was safe to say those that had objectified wouldn’t be doing so anymore.
With her brother Mason as her own second in command the Bishop siblings played a perfect match against their rival DeLucas - it was almost too perfect. She had a trusted team around her, some of her most loyal advisors, which after the last incident knew never to cross the blonde. Her best friend Andy acted as her consigliere, with other members including Jack, Victoria and Travis as her capos. They ran the operations and helped manage the various levels of income that they acquired, Travis on the casinos, Jack on the weapons and Victoria on the corporate level extortion. They were a well oiled machine and they were unbreakable.
She had pushed the organisation into the gambling realm, not only using it as a source of capital but as a multitude of bases for buying and selling weapons, setting up shell companies as well as extortion and a host of other illegal activities. They would frequently crossover with the DeLuca family in trade deals and the extortion of various companies which only ever heightened the already heavy-set tensions between the two households.
Tonight however was an event like no other because once the sun had set the devils came out to play; in the form of a ball held at one of Italy’s oldest châteauxs, an annual tradition which brought together some of the most powerful people on the planet. Various mafia bosses would be attendance as well as some of the richest and most powerful men and women on the planet, an opportunity for networking and deals to be made, protection to be offered, policies lifted and jobs to be dealt out. It was an affair that no one wanted to miss.
The châteauxs driveways were lit up by flame torches, two individual paths - one leading from the east and one from the west, illuminating the way up to the building which behind the luminosity of the moon looked stunning. It’s yellow lights bright yet gentle and charming.
From the west a trail of four all black Aston Martins roared their way down the cobbled drive, an ocean view to the side of them and a mountains edge to the other. Maya was up front followed by Mason, then Andy and Vic and bookended by Travis and Jack, they looked like an army ready to march into battle.
At the exact same time on the east side path a similar scenario was playing out - four classic red Ferraris were driving through the twists and turns of the coast-side roads - Carina leading the pack, followed by Andrea, then Jackson and Gabriella and finally Giovanni and Isabella - the DeLuca siblings cousins.
As the two sets of cars neared their destination something seemed to shift in the atmosphere, it suddenly felt cold, despite the Italian warmth still lingering in the air. The four Aston martins finally reached the large circular driveway, the cobbled street design following through to meet the large set of stairs that led to the châteaux’s front entrance.
They parked to the side of the large circular stone fountain that stapled the entryway - water spouting out from the top as people walked around, some of the world’s most important diplomats, business leaders and investors all within each other’s company. Just as Maya turned the car off, the roaring engine purring to a stop a set of red Ferraris parked in the same fashion on the opposite side. She knew exactly who they belonged to and a devilish smile tugged at her lips.
As Carina and the rest of her entourage parked up, she noticed the four black vehicles across from her, she rolled her eyes before switching the car off and stepped out.
The two sets of people formed in their respected formations, Maya and Carina leading, their brothers followed behind with their consiglieres beside them, the next three all behind in a row. It was a position of power and dominance, of strength and unity.
Everyone handed their keys in perfect synchronisation to the two suited valets and continued their way up the stairs, barely giving a glance to anyone else as people moved out of their way, their conversations quieting and their eyes widening in fear.
The main hall of the château had been completely transformed, chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, its diamond jewels refracting light onto the rounded ceilings. Two staircases bended into the room, a large entryway below it where people came and went as they pleased. Round tables filled out the back of the hall, the lights more dimmed and intimate as various people gathered around - mostly to discuss business deals and political agreements, some even being escorted into private backrooms for negotiations.
Maya led her squad through the entrance and felt several heads turn in their direction and a hush of whispers sound, even over the music playing. Whether it was down to their reputation or disconcerting presence they instantly commanded the attention of any room they walked into - this was no different.
Instead of entering through into the ballroom as Maya had done Carina took her team down into the depths of the château - it being of an Italian heritage meant she was particularly well acquainted with the venue and had requested a meeting with an oil distributor before she would officially make her presence known. Business first. Appearances second.
She strode down the halls, her heels clicking with purpose and intention against the marble floors, until they ended up in the lower levels - long stretches being lit by intermittent light, a few moments later they came out to a larger corridor where they reformed into their formation until they all came to a slow stop.
“Mcallister,” Carina greeted, looking at the grey haired man infant of her, two men dressed in all black suits behind him.
“Miss DeLuca,” he returned.
“Shall we?” Carina said, not waiting for an answer before opening a door to the left and walking in, her team following before Mcallister and his two men joined.
Carina took a seat at the table, everyone else lurking back into the shadows with a singular white light hanging above, leaving only the two of them under the spotlight, the business owner’s own two men following suit with Andrew, Jackson, Gabriella, Giovanni and Isabella.
“So you want to make a deal?” He questioned.
“That’s what I said,” Carina replied. “We can make you a very favourable offer, or unfavourable depending on your answer.”
At her words his hands began to fidget, clearly a nervous habit. “I’ve already been approached.”
“What’s your point? Have you made a deal?”
“Not as of yet-“
“Then I don’t care. In my eyes you are fair game. So,” Carina breathed, standing up and bracing her arms on the table as she looked down on the man. “As I said I want to make a deal. Tonight. Ninety million euros for your oil to be in my control.”
“I need to think-“
“I wouldn’t take too much time if I were you,” Carina answered, a glint in her eye. “You have a family correct?”
“They have nothing to do with this-“
“Oh but they do, if you don’t accept of course. You accept and I’ll forget you even have a family. Times ticking,” She said with a devilish smirk.
“She will kill me-“ he panicked, his brow beginning to form beads of sweat.
“Who?” Carina asked.
“Maya Bishop - she was the one who already approached me for my oil, if she finds out I switched she’ll kill me, and my family,” he rushed out.
Carina pretended to be surprised, but she knew exactly who Mcallister had been approached by, in fact it was the sole reason she was here in the first place. Getting one over on Maya Bishop would bring her a level of satisfaction that nothing else could give her, and knowing she was here tonight was just an added bonus.
“I can handle Maya Bishop,” Carina countered confidently, her face unfazed as she spoke. “Tick tock,” She added, cocking her head as she stared at him in the eyes.
“I don’t- I don’t know,” his face fell between his hands as Carina circled the table and perched on the top next to him.
“Well let me make it a bit easier for you,” She offered, before slamming his head down on the table, a crack and a thud echoing around the room.
Seven guns were all immediately pulled out but Mcallister’s men were too out numbered to ever have a chance of winning, yet no one moved an inch.
Carina’s hand twisted the man’s hair, as he groaned in pain, before she bended down to get closer to him. “Any easier?” She questioned, pushing down with more force, noticing the small stain of blood that had already formed on the table.
“Please,” He begged.
“Last chance,” Carina warned, the silent battle around her not making her hesitate in the slightest. “I can have my people in your house in less than five minutes so if I were you I wouldn’t take any longer.“
“Transfer the money,” Carina said as the six of them strode out of the room, now in control of just over a forty million barrels of oil.
“On it,” Isabella replied, immediately pulling out her phone and tapping away.
“I’d say that went quite well,” Andrew complimented, as he walked a step behind his sister.
“You had doubts?” She smirked, her hair flicking over her shoulder as she turned towards him.
“In you? Never,” he said proudly.
“Now - let’s go upstairs. I’m sure tonight will be plenty eventful and I wouldn’t want to miss out on any of the fun.”
“It was a pleasure speaking to you Senator," Maya said, shaking the frenchmen’s hand as he bid her goodbye.
Maya was sat her her table in the ballroom, Mason and Andy by her side while the other three went abut socialising and doing whatever else they wanted to do.
“Another politician under our belt,” Mason grinned, taking a sip of champagne.
“An important one too - he’s on track to be the next President and if we want to control a higher percentage of Europe he will be our starting point,” Maya explained.
“I know Travis has already been looking into growing out the casinos into Monoco, a tax haven and he had a proposal to look into going online too,” Andy informed.
“He mentioned it,” Maya said, remembering the man speaking to her about the idea. “I’ll have a think about it.”
“Where are they?” Mason asked, taking a glance around the ball, having a pretty good vantage point of the entire space from where they were sat - a purposeful decision made by the blonde boss, she liked knowing she could see everything.
The other two exactly knew who the underboss meant by ‘they’ - the DeLuca family. They made a distinct point of using their name as little as physically possible, not finding them particular worthy of getting the satisfaction.
“Just walked in,” Maya said, finishing off her champagne. She’d noticed as soon as she’d entered, how could she not - with her dark red suit she was hard to miss.
Maya tightened her jaw as she watched the group make their way through the mass of people, a path forming as people let them through in a similar fashion to the way they had for Maya. An unspoken rule that anyone affiliated to the mafia in anyway shape or form had a ruling superiority in these kind of events, you could be in charge of the worlds most powerful countries but when two of the biggest mafia bosses were in the same room, no one even came close.
Maya’s gaze was shifted off the Italian when Vic joined the group.
“I see they’ve arrived,” She commented. “Wonder where they went - they got here the same time as us.”
Maya didn’t respond, just refilled her glass and took another sip as she settled back into her chair, her black suit slightly riding up in the sleeves as she did so.
“Where are the others?” Maya asked a moment later.
“Travis is talking to a few business affiliates and Jack is discussing trade deals with a few of our suppliers,” Vic supplied.
“Good,” Maya nodded, happy they were making use of the night.
A chime then sounded from Vic’s phone - “Shit,” She mumbled.
“What?” Maya asked, turning in her seat.
“We lost Mcallister,” she admitted.
“Fuck sake,” Maya said, banging her fist on the table - the glasses rattling with the force. “To who?” She asked demanding an answer.
Vic was silent for a moment, but when Maya stood from the table and glared at her she replied. “Carina DeLuca, boss.”
Maya breathed out through her nose, her fists balling so tight she could draw blood. She was furious - not only had a deal fallen through that been worth millions, but she’d lost it to the one person she hated most in this world, and she was standing less than 100 feet away from her.
“He was here - tonight?” Maya questioned to no one in particular, but expected an answer.
“He was on the guest list yes,” Andy confirmed.
“That’s where she was,” Maya concluded. “She was making a deal with him while we were sat here.”
“Apparently so,” Mason agreed.
Nearly an hour or so later Maya hadn’t returned to the table, she’d been mostly on the phone or pacing as she brooded with her plans. They had no clue who she was talking to but they didn’t dare ask either. They just sat as a group, looking united to any outsider who may look in their direction.
Suddenly Maya then walked right past their table and crossed the ballroom.
“Where is she going?” Mason asked.
“Not a clue,” Andy replied, all three of them craning their necks to see where their boss had gone.
As Maya crossed through hall she walked with determination, yet with this sense of charm too. She continued moving, people moving out of her way as she did so until she was a few metres away from the one person who made her blood boil.
At the sight of the blonde Andrew, Jackson and Giovanni all put their hands to their weapons in threat seeing the boss of the rival mafia standing in front of them, but Carina’s hand stopped them from advancing. “She’s good,” She replied, folding her arms, the three reluctantly standing down.
Maya just smirked, “Thank you boys.”
“What can I do for you?” Carina asked, staring at the blonde’s cold blue eyes.
“A dance?” Maya proposed. “For the sake of peace in a neutral venue.”
Carina watched Maya’s body language, trying to gauge if there were any ulterior motives behind her request or not, it wasn’t like Maya was the most trust-worthy person she’d ever met.
“Fine,” Carina agreed after some internal deliberation. “One dance.”
Maya smiled and held out her hand as the brunette followed her to the dance floor where a slower song had begun to play, they held hands just below their shoulders as their other ones met at one another’s hip.
“You stole my oil,” Maya said as they began to move along to the music.
“So this is what this is all about,” Carina grinned, knowing she’d gotten under Maya’s skin.
“You aren’t even in the oil business,” Maya pointed out.
“Hm I figured we could expand.”
“Sure you did,” Maya scoffed.
“You can’t be the only one dealing in world commodities you know.”
“The drugs not going to well then,” Maya taunted.
“I’d say we are doing just fine,” Carina boasted, both of them knowing that Carina was doing more than ‘just fine’.
“So how did you do it?” Maya asked as they continued dancing around the floor, various diplomats and their partners joining in on the song.
Some of the spectators who’d chosen to stand back from the floor were looking on in curiosity and shock, as were the two teams of their mafia bosses. They were dancing. Together. And neither of them were dead - at least not yet anyway.
“You really want to know?” Carina asked smugly.
“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to know,” Maya replied bluntly.
“No need to be rude,” Carina quipped, enjoying having the upper hand.
“Just answer the damn question,” Maya said, her grip on the brunette’s waist tightening and her eyes narrowing.
“He just needed a bit of persuasion,” Carina answered. “A small incentive let’s say.”
“Sure he did,” Maya said, rolling her eyes - of all the people she had to be beaten by it had to be Carina DeLuca.
“Don’t beat yourself up about it Bishop - sometimes we all need a reality check once in a while.”
Maya held her tongue at that comment, watching an amused glint form in the eyes of her rival.
“Who knows what I’ll do next - the casino business is looking good-“
“I wouldn’t even go there if I were you,” Maya challenged in return.
“And why’s that?”
“Because if you do I’ll make sure you become an only child,” She threatened, with a charming smile on her face.
Maya then suddenly felt a sharp blade begin to press into her stomach, the angle almost inconspicuous to everyone else. Maya bit back a laugh as Carina’s eyes glared back at her.
“Oh I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Maya whispered with a grin, unfazed and very calm despite a knife being held against her stomach.
“Give me one reason not to?” Carina growled, pushing it further although not hard enough to actually damage the skin - at least too much anyway, although it would take her less than a second to do so.
“Because right now I have six armed men all with guns pointed to your head so if I am to suddenly drop to the ground you will be following me right after,” Maya replied, quickly spinning the brunette out before bringing her back in again, pulling their bodies back together sharply. “But I mean the choice is up to you?” She added with a smug smile.
A few days later…
Carina was sat in the dining room of the DeLuca family manor, another asset that had been passed down to her after her father’s passing. She lived there along with Andrea, the rest of their inner circle occasionally staying over from time to time. Most of their operations were based from the house - it being big enough to accommodate whatever they needed, over 10,000 square feet with twenty-four-seven armed guards as well as the best security systems that world could have. They lived in a fortress.
She, as well as her brother and the rest of the team were all gathered discussing the latest business opportunities that they had gained from the ball in the days prior.
“Where are we at with the oil?” Carina asked, her feet resting on the corner of the table.
“We have several countries who are willing to make deals - we are looking at a potential bidding war and the numbers are climbing,” Jackson replied.
“Finances?”
“Steady - the influx we will receive from whatever deal we make from the oil will be more than enough for signifiant future investments. But nothing to be worried about, we should also be receiving the transfer from the drug trade any minute now,” Isabella answered.
“Good. We need to start talking to our suppliers and-“
Carina was interrupted by someone opening up the dining room door, holding a man by his jacket. “I apologise Miss DeLuca but he said it was urgent.”
“Thank you Alex,” Carina nodded, the man walking back out of the room to stand guard. “What do you want?” Carina asked, slipping her feet off the table to stand go and stand in front of the man. He was visually shaking and looked nervous. Carina didn’t like when her men looked nervous - it was never a good sign. She stared down at him. “What do you want?”
“There was an issue with the drug trade off deal,” He admitted.
“What kind of issue?” Carina asked, her tone cold and menacing.
“There was a gun-fight at the docks - the drugs were seized and stolen, we lost everything.”
Carina closed her eyes in fury. Thirty-five million euros in drugs gone. When her eyes opened again they were full of anger, and it felt like if you looked into them for too long you’d turn to stone.
“Who took them?” She asked, taking a deep breath.
The man didn’t respond, audibly gulping as he stood there, his head bowed in shame.
“Who took them?!” Carina yelled, everyone in the room flinching at the sudden change in volume.
“Maya Bishop,” he whispered.
Carina was barely holding her anger together at this point. This was payback - clear as day. She stole her oil, so Maya stole her drugs. One for one.
“They were your men?” Carina asked, her hand slipping into her back pocket.
“They were,” he replied, his eyes raising to meet hers.
Less than a second later the man was clutching at his throat as crimson red spurted out as he gasped for air, falling to the ground, Carina’s shiny blade dripping in blood beside her. Everyone behind her was stunned into silence, not expecting to be seeing what was currently happening in front of them, of course no one voiced their opinion though and kept their faces neutral and let their boss take whatever actions she deemed necessary.
“Alex!” Carina called out, taking a napkin off the table and cleaning her knife of the man’s blood.
“Miss DeLuca,” He answered walking in and seeing the man now dead on the ground, a gash on his throat and a pool of blood around him.
“Clear this up,” she ordered, before circling back to her desk and tossing the red stained napkin into the bin beside her.
“Yes Miss DeLuca,” he answered, before grabbing the man’s arms and dragging him out of the room, the bone tingling noise of his rubber soled shoes squeaking against the marble floors echoing in the silence of the house, his blood being painted behind him as he was dragged. A bloody smudge across the previously white floors.
The room remained in silence for the next five minutes, Carina cleaning off her hands and face of blood - everyone else just keeping their eyes anywhere but the brunette.
“I want Maya Bishop dead,” She declared, everyone’s head snapping towards her.