United and Dangerous by Cherie Benjamin (the speed reading book .TXT) 📕

Ara smiled sweetly up at her grandfather, who, in the short time they had known each other, had been more loving than her parents had been for her entire life. "Good morning, Grandfather, how is Grandmother this morning?"

Zachary could not help but smile at the sound of Grandfather coming from her lips. He had often thought, and felt for a long time, that God was punishing him for all his wrong doings, when both his son and oldest grandson had turned out to be so cruel and evil, but this angel of a woman came in and all the dark clouds faded away.  "She is well. We both enjoyed the wedding very much."

Ara grasped his hand and gave it a tight squeeze.  "I hope she will be at lunch today."

"She will be."  Zachary said with a tight feeling around his heart.

Ara turned to Nazario, who also placed a kiss on each cheek, and wished her good morning. 

They walked into Kane's office to find that a new large desk had been put in, along with two matching high back leather chairs. A scene fit for the new Don and Donna of the family. Nazario and Zachary would be sitting in chairs on the side with Roaland and Tony standing behind them. Uriel and Erik would also be in the office during the meetings and several Leone guards would be stationed outside, in the case of things got out of hand.

Taking their seats, Kane was happy to see that the desk had been fitted with a special shelf under the desk where they could store their guns for quick access. Kane removed his gun from the back of his waist and Ara watched as he did so and followed suit. He placed the gun on the shelf, making sure the safety was off. With tensions as high as they were, every second would count. 

"Who is coming in first?"  Kane asked, looking toward Nazario and Zachary.

"We have the senior family members of the Morotti family."  Zachary said.

"All right, let's get this started then." 

Erik walked to the door and opened it to find five extremely pissed off looking Morotti family members waiting to be seen. Looking back into the office, he said with a grin, “Yeah, they ain't happy.”  Erik turned back to the lobby and stated, “The Don and Donna will see you now.”  Erik held the door open as the five senior Morotti family members zoomed past him. He couldn’t help but feel that everyone should have been searched and their weapons removed.

Alonzo, Dante, Luciano, Renzo, and Sal walked in, still disbelieving that their leader for the last fifty years was turning over the family to a rival family and a woman, no less. They sat down in the chairs in front of the large desk, and waited to hear how badly they were going to screw up the family.

"Thank you for coming this morning. We wanted to meet with you to discuss how the transfer of power will occur, and what changes we will be making."  Ara stated in an authoritative tone. It had been previously agreed that Ara would be the one to speak first, in light of her position as the rightful leader of the Morotti family.   "I want you to know that, even though I have not had the opportunity until now to meet with you, you have my love, respect, and loyalty as members of my family. It is my intent to protect our family and our interests, and I will do so with my life, if necessary. As members of this family, I expect you to do the same.”   She took a moment to pause and let the senior members absorb what she had said before continuing.  “As your Don and Donna, Kane and I have met with Don Leone and my grandfather, Don Morotti to discuss several pertinent issues that need to be addressed, and have decided that some much needed changes are essential for the good of both the Morotti and Leone families."

"What kind of changes?"  Renzo barked.

"As of today, the Morotti family will no longer be dealing in drugs or prostitution."

Alonzo jumped to his feet spitting fire, "What the fuck do you mean no drugs or prostitution?  How the hell will we be making any money?"  Turning to Zachary, he barked,  "What's next, is she going to put us in pink dresses, and make us the laughing stock of the criminal world? Fuck her, how the hell does she think she is going to protect us, give us lollipops and condoms?"

Ara had been prepared for negative responses, and had planned to respond with a show of force, if necessary.  At the conclusion of Alonzo’s outburst, she pulled one of her knives from her purse and threw it past Alonzo’s face, hitting the painting behind him. 

Alonzo jumped as he saw the knife fly by, and looked to see who had thrown it; he was surprised it had been the Ara. Sneering at her.  "Fuck, what kind of a leader are you; you can't hit a target ten feet away."

Ara smiled sweetly.  "If I was aiming for you, sir, I can assure you that I would not have missed, but if you look at the painting, you will see that the painting’s subject has been struck in the exact location for which it was aimed."

Alonzo turned and saw the knife was stuck in the jugular of the person in the print.  Had it been a lucky shot, or was she that good? Alonzo sat back down and waited to hear what was going to happen to his family; he wasn’t going to take any chances to find out.

At his withdrawal, Ara continued, "Yes, dealing drugs does make a lot of money, but the risks are too high.  How many of our family members have been arrested, or, even worse, hurt or killed. It is time we move both these families into the future."

"So how are we going to make money?"  Dante asked.

"There are several legal and illegal avenues we will be exploiting. There are many other families who are looking for someone who would be willing to help them with problems they are experiencing, and those families have approached us. There are families who need someone to be responsible for assisting them in removing ‘undesirable’ elements throughout the world. This group would be responsible for successfully completing the contract expeditiously and professionally. They would have access to and utilize all the latest technology and leave no detectable information as to their identities. Some people would call such a group assassins, some would say garbage men, but, regardless of the title, the profits are extremely lucrative. We, gentlemen, will be that group. We also plan to expand our legal operations in the areas of restaurant and nightclub ownerships and franchises," Kane stated.

The five men did not like the idea of giving up the profits they had enjoyed from drug dealing, but they knew that times had changed and dealing drugs were much more dangerous and cutthroat than ever before. In addition, the idea of a new group of mercenaries or assassins was intriguing. There had been nothing available to this extent since the Murder Inc. group back in the ‘30s. 

"Why not prostitution?" Sal asked, he enjoyed running the working girls; there was always a pussy available whenever he needed it.

Ara’s eyebrow raised as she looked him dead in the eye.  "Do you really think I would be part of any enterprise that degrades women?"

"But pussy makes us lots of money."  Sal said.

"That may be, sir, but I am betting the fringe benefits aren't bad either."  Ara snarled. "But, as of today, we are no longer indulging in that enterprise. Kane and I have a plan to help all the girls on your payroll to find paying jobs so they can survive."

The five men began yelling back and forth, arguing about how the fuck they were even going to make a living.  During the melee, Ara’s phone rang.  Normally, she would not have answered it, but looking at the caller id, she saw it was Simon.  Picking up her phone, she answered with a huge smile on her face, “Hello, little brother, how are you today?"

"Oh, sister, I am great.  I finished my one job; Mama is going to get me set up in learning Japanese, and I had my cereal for breakfast and a banana and coffee with lots of sugar and cream, because I don't like the black shit.  Oops, sorry, I didn’t mean to say that."  Simon said all in one breath.  "Mama said I couldn't call you until later, but I wanted to make sure you still wanted to talk to me."

"Oh, Simon, sweetie, of course I want to talk to you. It sounds like you had a busy morning and I am sure you are excited to learn Japanese."  Ara said in a sweet, caring voice. 

The five men stopped yelling and listened in on the conversation she was having. They all knew and had a soft spot for Simon and, listening to the way this woman, who had just met him, not only stop this important meeting to answer his call, but genuinely seemed interested in what he was saying, caused them to reconsider their preset ideas about Arabella Marie Morotti Leone. Make no mistake, they were still pissed as hell about the changes, but their reassessment of their new Donna was giving them reason to reconsider their position on the changes she and Kane were proposing. It wasn’t like any of them could afford to strike out on their own, but, to change after so many years was a hard pill to swallow, no pun intended. They continued to listen to the conversation, and, with one more look among themselves, and with a nod, it was decided that they would consider listening to what this woman had in mind. Pulling out their guns, which made Kane, Uriel, and Erik jump, they laid them on the desk showing their acceptance and allegiance to the new rule. Ara had missed this monumental moment because she was still listening to Simon talk about his new computer. Ending the call, she turned to find five guns lying on the desk.  When she looked up, she saw that Alonzo, Dante, Luciano, Renzo and Sal no longer appeared to be pissed off, but appeared to be accepting of hearing them out and possibly accepting of the changes to come.  Fuck, what the hell did she miss while she was on the phone?

Meanwhile, Nazario, Roaland, Zachary, and Tony were all smiling with the realization that Ara, just being herself, had turned the tide in the attitudes of the five men before her. It was a positive start.

After the Morotti members left, the Leone members entered.  It was decided that Kane would take control of this portion of the meeting. 

Years and years of attending meetings which were conducted under his father’s guidance, Kane had learned that it was not only what you said, but how you yourself as you presented the topics that mattered.  Don Nazario Leone always had an air of power and authority whenever he spoke with the family about important issues.  Looking down, he noticed