Page 1 of Until Death or Defeat

1

Giselle

“There is absolutely no way you expect me to go tonight,” I shoot my father a warning glare from across the kitchen counter.

“Please don’t start this again. We do this every single time, Giselle, and you know damn well I won’t tolerate your acts of rebellion tonight. It’s an important night for your brother,” he warns in his typical no-nonsense tone.

Everything is always about my fucking brother. Somehow, no matter how unfit for something someone can be, they can still earn shit simply because they’re a man.

I slam my glass down on the counter, surprised when it doesn’t shatter from my force as I storm out of the room. He calls out to me, but I keep walking until I find the comfort of my bed as I leap onto it face first.

Tonight is the night that my father gets to announce to all the other Families that my brother is preparing to take over as the new head of the Santoro Family, something that my father knows should have been meant for me one day. I worked tirelessly throughout high school to get valedictorian even whilegrieving our mother’s death, got myself into Columbia and then worked my ass off even harder getting my business degree.

What was my charming, perfect brother doing while I was in college? Well, I’m sure he made his way with his dick through half of New York, if you can even count that as an achievement worthy of the Head of a Family.

I sit at my large vanity and begrudgingly start to do my makeup for the event tonight. As I stare at my reflection, I truly do wonder what the fuck I’m supposed to do with my life now.

I had hoped working hard to show how smart, independent, and reliable I am, that my father might finally open his eyes and see thatI’mthe one who belongs by his side, the one who canactuallybe worthy to be his predecessor.

But here I am, putting on my makeup to prepare to just be the perfect daughter of a mafia don who knows her place and doesn’t complain.

I fuck up my eyeliner the moment I realize what this means, the long, black line shooting out from my eye as I drop the pencil.

He’sgoing to be there.

He’s going to watch my father basically say that I’ve lost to my brother.

I can’t even imagine the foul things he’s going to spew from his mouth, the boisterous laugh that’s going to echo through the country club walls as he watches my life crumble before his eyes. My jaw tightens as I grab a makeup wipe to try to fix my eyeliner.

How am I going to survive this night at all?

“You know what? I won’t give him the satisfaction,” I say to no one as I jump up from my vanity bench and walk over to my closet. “Where the hell is it?” I rummage through my hangers until my eyes spot the sparkling red fabric and grab it from therack with a wide smile. I’ve been saving this dress for a special occasion, and tonight is the perfect night for it.

I won’t let anyone see me as the girl who fades into the background to let someone else shine.

Ever.

The car ride is unbearable. Sharing this stuffy Lincoln with my brother and my proud father is going to make me crack.

“Cheer up kid,” my brother whispers as he lightly jabs my elbow.

I sigh and keep looking out of the rear window. It’s so hard trying to hate Caesar for taking everything that belonged to me when he’s consistently been the one person in my life who actually respects me.

Always the only one to notice his poor, forgotten little sister and make her feel loved.

My brother is one of those people who just walks into a room and everyone loves them, everyone turns their head and smiles; just happy to be in their presence.

I have never been one of those people, and I never could be.

“Stop worrying about me so much, aren’t you more worried about your speech?” I ask as I finally turn my head to the side he’s on.

“Well I thought I’d just wing it,” he says casually as he shrugs his shoulders.

This is one of the many things I despise about my brother, he doesn’t think anything through before he does it. He just goes with the flow at every corner and it drives me up the fucking wall.

My father chuckles as he overhears us talking, looking in the rearview mirror as he smiles at my brother. “You know Caesar, tonight is going to be the start of a whole new world just at your fingertips, yet you always surprise me with how collected you are in times where anyone else would be nervous.”

My eyes roll so far back in my head it hurts. Of course my father finds a way to turn my brother being lazy and carefree into being so ‘cool and collected.’