The Mistress of the Mafia

Chapter One- The Dante Legacy

“You are going to be killed!” Lyle said to his father who held his hand against his inner breast pocket where he held a semi-automatic pistol and prepared to shoot if necessary. “This is not worth your life.” He pleaded with his father who looked to him with the very same facial structure that he shared with his son. They differed on their hair and eye color however as Lyle had piercing green and Giuseppe had dark emerald. With their locks, the young son had sable while his father had salt and pepper hair.

“If I do, it is for the family.” Giuseppe spoke to his son as he placed his hand on the side of Lyle’s head.

The flashing of red and blue lights could be seen illuminating the space around them as Giuseppe and Lyle found themselves trapped by police officers with guns pointed directly onto them.

“Giuseppe Dante, come out with your hands up!” A bull horn delivered the message throughout the air while son looked to father with tears brimming his eyes. “Get out of here.” He said to his son as he jumped up from behind the large box of transported fish and began shooting blindly, giving his son enough time to take a back exit into the alleyway. Just as his hand touched the rail of the door to push it open, he could hear the grunting of his father and the ceasing of his gun as he had been stricken down with bullets. Not only one or even two, but dozens of casings fell onto the ground as his body followed suit. Lyle turned just to see his father’s lifeless body-having been killed before he hit the ground, fall with a blank gaze until making contact with the ground.

There had been only one good thing to come of his father’s death and that was the fact that Lyle was able to make an escape as the police officers focused on his father whom they had been searching for for an extensive period of time. But Lyle found himself to feel guilt that would never cease even until his own death as he knew he was now the one in control of the Dante family. There would be no more skeet shooting conversations with his father about the “family business” or dinners where extended family came to visit and they carefully spoke around the women of the family and their children. It would now be a time of action as Lyle was prepared to continue in his father’s footsteps-unaware of just what kind of man it took to fill such a pair of shoes.

One Year Later

The bustling sound of a busy club became the setting for Lyle as he had fully accepted his birthright and position of being the head honcho of the Dante family. He was once a timid kid who hid behind his father as he spoke with intimidating allies, but now, he was sitting in his designated chair at the most sinful stripclub in town. There had been one woman in particular that he always asked for by the name of Cherry as she had been the very woman to entertain his father, it was his twisted way of keeping connected to his lifeblood even after this time had passed.

Lyle found himself to be the center of attention by Cherry as she used her feather boa to pull him into her breasts and gently slid herself to the left and then the right, allowing him to be squished against her bosoms. Her curving physique made her alluring for any man uninterested in the stick figure type of girl, and as she was composited of dark ebony skin, she was a club favorite but always reserved for Lyle Dante. He found himself drawn in by her sultry voice as she spoke to him of his handsome features that had now slightly aged. His once innocent eyes had now grown dark with even the color itself having faded into a lighter green than before. Along with this, he came to shed the virtuous boy he once was and embraced his intimidating name and the respect that came with it.

“Do you want more?” Cherry asked as she placed herself behind Lyle, having her hands upon his shoulders as her voice was low against his ear. He nodded as she then came back around the front of him in her white corset top and matching stockings and a thin thong that seemed to disappear upon turning around. It was the uniform for the job, however, as she then proceeded to girate upon Lyle, giving him a lap dance until a certain amount of time had passed. When coming to finish this, he withdrew a wad of hundreds from his pocket and set it into her open palm.

“A pleasure as always Mister Dante.” She said before losing interest in her paid client and turning to another man awaiting her attention. Lyle then picked up his thick cloth coat and threw it over his arms and slid from the club and down the street for his nightly stroll of New York at midnight.

Across from the strip club had been a young girl who found herself sixteen hours into a shift that was only supposed to be for a few hour cover. Her usually pristine and carefully placed raven hair found itself strewn around as she had no time to adjust to it. With her arms covered in dishes of satisfied customers, she made her way into the kitchen to find the door to swing open and knock the plates from her arms. This made the glass shatter at her feet, scraping her feet-but the voice of her boss to take her from the instant pain of glass cutting her.

“Selene! What the hell did I tell you about this? Watch. Your. Steps.” He spoke coldly to her as his gaze caught the piece of her cleavage that was peaking out due to her uniform and making her roll her eyes to the thought of it. But due to the fact she was in desperate need of a job, she kept her lips tight and her opinions inside. She then moved to her feet to pick up the glass before finding a gentle hand to make its way onto her back.

“You go take a minute…” A sweet voice spoke as Selene took comfort in the kindness. It was welcomed as it had belonged to that of her slightly younger but far more mature best friend who always came to treat Selene as more of a daughter than a friend. “You are bleeding!”

“Gia-”

“Go.” She said sharply as Selene picked herself up from the ground and back through the kitchen doors to the diner bathroom where she locked the door behind her. With tremulous fingers, Selene pulled her hand to the mirror above the sink to remove the first aid kit before finding her own reflection staring back at her. For a moment, she felt pity for the girl she saw-knowing her potential had been greater than that of a waitress who could barely pay her bills. She thought of how sad the sight was before shaking the thought off and proceeding to turn on the water before hearing the sound of the diner bell ring to inform whoever was on the floor that they had a new customer. But even with being locked into the bathroom, she could feel something different about whomever had just entered as she could feel a shift upon the air. She continued on her task however and finished her aiding her small cuts before making her way back outside and finding herself pulled back near the kitchen by Gia.

“OH MY GOD!” She said while squealing.

“What is it? Is it Richard?” She asked in reference to an older gentleman who came into the diner every so often and flirted with Gia. However, due to the excitement she had, she found that this had not been her reason for excitement. “Did Sam get hurt and be forced to leave?” She spoke of her boss whom she came to loathe with a deep passion due to his anger and sexual innuendos.

“No. Look at this Adonis in my section!” She spoke upon pulling Selene around the corner to spy upon the man who had just entered. It was Lyle Dante. He sat with no company and no ring upon his finger which is what alerted Gia.

“Go talk to him.” Gia spoke to her as Selene looked to her with shock.

“Are you insane? I think you have been breathing in too much hairspray.” She joked as Gia always wore her hair big and full almost as if she was stuck in the 1980s.

“When is the last time you met a nice guy?” As they spoke, his gaze fell to the giddy girls as they pulled themselves back into hiding before both blushing to his gaze. Upon their turning, Leon turned from them with a smirk and gently shaking his head, very much aware of his attractiveness and for that being the reason they were looking to him.

“How do you know he’s nice?”

“Those eyes. Even if he’s not, he would be a great fu-”

“Back to work!” Sam yelled to them as they both parted quickly in fear of losing their job. However, Gia did not attend to the newest customer as she quietly motioned for Selene to take him instead. It was a thought that made her blush and her heart race as she found nerves to come to her without even speaking to him. She shook her head “no” to her before finding her friend to turn her back. In fear of Sam finding that the man had not been waited on, she went against these very nerves and made her way to Lyle.

His gaze began at the tip of her shoes and slowly made its way up her thin legs and towards the curvy waist that was hidden beneath a solid black skirt. With his ascending gaze, he then saw her thin stomach and large bust that was accentuated with the tight t shirt that was white. Lyle’s eyes paused for a moment upon her neck as he saw a pearl necklace placed elegantly upon her neck while a thin yet porcelain face looked back at him. He analyzed her features upon beginning with her lips, how they were dabbed with just a small layer of red lips that made her appear like a classic 1940s movie bombshell. Her long hair had been pinned from either temple and brought back into a bun with pens sticking from them however as she would always come to set them down. But his eyes came to focus on her light blue eyes that looked back to him.

“Sit.” He spoke as she began to right it on the pad before realizing his request.

“Sorry?” She questioned, making sure it was what she had heard and now what her mind hoped he would say.

“Sit down.” He said as he motioned to the booth seat across from him as he appeared as if this was a normal request for the waitress. “You seem exhausted.” His full New York accent could be heard through these words as she found it normal but still somehow more alluring than any other accent spoken in New York. “How long have you been working today?”

“Um...uh…” She found herself at a loss for words for him as she began to scan him-finding him dressed in solid black with slicked back hair and a chiseled face. He had brought his gaze back up to her as she did not come to answer him due to her nerves and his effect on her.

“Fourteen hours?” He asked as she shook her head and she then gave him the correct amount of sixteen and a half as she brought her gaze to the watch upon her left wrist. When she met with his gaze again, she saw him to have his jaw cocked to one side as if thinking.

“Can I get you anything to eat?” She asked as she saw Sam from her peripheral vision and watched as he was fuming. He noticed this and motioned for the man to come towards them, finding his attitude to have completely flipped as he was accommodating to the man as well as pleasant-something none of the workers saw of Sam.

“Is she bothering you?” Sam asked regarding Selene as she closed her eyes tight, praying it was only her imagination to hear such things. But due to Lyle’s response, she found it to be truly spoken.

“No. You are, however. Get me a cup of joe, a grilled cheese, and some of those curl fries.” Lyle then turned to Selene. “Did you want anything?” She shook her head “no” as she found herself severely nervous in front of the mysterious man.

“I don’t take orders.” Sam spoke against the mysterious man before finding a glare to come towards him.

“And I have very little patience left.” He spoke to him as he then ignored Sam as he stood in awe of how the man spoke to him. Lyle ignored the man standing there as he turned his attention back to Selene.

“Take your hair down.” He spoke to her as she looked to Gia who had her mouth open during the entire exchange and watched in excitement for her friend. “Please.” He asked as she found her hands to move against her better judgement as she pulled the pens from her hair as it released her long locks as it cascaded in front of her face. She nervously looked at him through her long lashes as she looked nervously at the surface in front of her.

“Do I make you nervous?” He asked upon finding her to swallow hard upon being addressed by him. She brought herself to nod before finding his eyes to move slightly past her and into the street outside as he let out a sigh before looking back up to her.

“Am I able to ask something of you?”

She nodded. “Some ice.”

“Ice?”

He nodded. “It is in the back right?”

She nodded. “How much do you need?”

“Just enough for a makeshift ice pack.”

“Are you hurt?”

“Nah. If you don’t mind getting it now…”

She threw herself upon from the booth, catching her leg on the table and wobbling away from embarrassment. She closed her eyes tight before moving to the back of the diner and pulling a set of keys from her side as she shuffled through them. Finding the one belonging to the ice chest, she placed it in the hole and turned it before finding the large blocks of ice to be in front of her. With the hammer beside the thick blocks of ice to break them, Selene picked it up into her hand and hit hard against the frozen squares of water. Upon doing so, she thought she heard a loud noise but ignored it as she grew fearful of making Lyle wait-even though she did not know his name. Selene continued to hit the block several more times before then pulling it into a rag and carrying it back inside.

When she made it to the front of the kitchen, she watched as the cooks were upon the floor, seemingly acting as though an earthquake had just attacked them. She made no comment aloud but came to question it internally as she carefully crafted the ice pack and pulled it to the front of the diner to find the man standing by his food. Upon bringing a fry to his mouth, Selene saw how there had been bodies strewn across the floor while blood pooled around them. She found herself speechless as the man approached her, making her shiver as she saw him put a gun back against his side. He then took the ice pack and set it onto his knuckles to aid the subtle bruising that was beginning to form.

Her gaze fell to the bodies as they came to a count of five, each man dressed similar to Lyle but appearing less sophisticated. Along with this difference, none of them appeared as intimidating, alluring, or careful as he was as they were lifeless and he was chewing on some fries as if it was a typical Sunday night.

“Take a ride with me?” He asked upon extending his hand to her and she found adrenaline to rush through her blood. Absolutely every human notion she had installed in her body had been shot to hell as she accepted his hand, finding curiosity and an allure to the darkness to overcome reason.

She then accepted his grasp as they moved from the diner, as she looked back and saw Gia looking to her in complete shock-half mortified and half impressed.

“Where are we going?” She asked him as he set his arm in such a way that she could hold onto it instead of holding his hand.

“I am getting you off tonight.” He said as she looked to him with a bright crimson color coming to her cheeks.

“Off work.” He said with a smirk, knowing very well that he meant the more sexual version of his words but wanted to appear as a gentleman to her as he then brought her to a long black car that was placed about a block from the diner. It was this moment that Selene felt reality come back to her and she began to question what had happened in the last half hour. She withdrew her hand from his arm and stood cautiously on the curb as he held the door open for her. “I don’t bite.”

“I am actually really tired.” She said trying to not offend the possible mass murderer who seemed to take interest in her. “Raincheck?”

He nodded. “Can I at least take you home?” He offered with such a kind face, one that spoke he could be trusted. But she just witnessed him murder nearly half a dozen people as if it was the same as pulling money from an ATM.

“I live just around the corner.” She lied upon knowing she lived nearly on the other side of town. When speaking this though, he did not dispute it and got into his car, wishing her a good night before rolling down his window and looking to her.

“Have a good night…” He waited for her name as her body refused to give it in fear of what he would do with such information but some part of her itching for adventure allowed her name to be spoken. “Selene Covell.” She spoke as he gave her a devilish grin before offering his own name; “Lyle Dante.” He spoke it with such pride along with a cocky grin that spoke volumes of his persona-all of which were red flags to any reasonable girl...but not for Selene. Not for a girl who had lived a mundane life her whole existence and her body was going against each fraction of reason and placing her further and further into danger. But she couldn’t dispute how alluring it was.