Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Napoli, 18 years earlier...

The full moon shined through the window and cast a dim glow in the dark corridor before you. Trying your hardest not to make a sound, you tip toed to the door on the other side of the corridor and pressed your ear against the wall. From the other side of the door, your father's voice rang out loudly as he discussed something about "shipments", "partnerships" and "profits," with two other men. At the time, you understood none of it, but your father's work had always been a source of intrigue to you, like forbidden fruit. Even though you were young, you'd noticed how everyone tensed up as soon as it was brought up, and you didn't really understand why. According to your mother, it was dangerous and it didn't concern you, but curiosity always got the better of you in the end...

You'd always been taught to keep to yourself and be quiet, especially when your father was conducting business in his private study. According to Nonna, that was serious grown up stuff that your brothers would become in charge of when they grew up, so it would never concern you in the slightest. Whenever she'd say that, you'd ask her what your job in the family would be, and she'd tell you it was to "support". She never told you what you would be supporting exactly - she usually lost her patience with you before the conversation went that far - but if there was one thing you could remember about your childhood was having a lot of questions and very few answers.

There was muffled laughter and the clink of wine glasses coming from the other side of the door. Maybe your father was hosting a party ? It wouldn't be the first time, but parties were normally earlier in the day and required a lot of preparation. They were quite boring, really... you'd only be allowed to eat a plate of food before being dismissed along with your younger brothers while the adults "discussed business".

"Y/N ? What are you doing still awake ?"

Suddenly, you heard the door unlock with a metallic click, your father coming out with a smug grin, his business associates trailing in his wake. His eyes widened and he frowned slightly as soon as he saw you.

Before you could reply, your father kept talking.

"It doesn't matter. You're lucky I'm in a good mood. I'll finish things up with Mr Lucci here and then I'll accompany you back to bed,"

Mr Lucci ... you'd heard the name before several times. He belonged to another very influential family in the city, and, underneath his fashion brand, he had a very different business going on. Recently, he'd done a lot of business with your father, whatever that meant. If you remembered correctly, he also had a son around your age who you'd seen at functions a few times.

Your father turned back to Mr Lucci.

"I look forward to working with you. May our partnership be mutually beneficial for both our families,"

Mr Lucci gave him a nod and shook his hand, cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"I'm certain it will be. I'll be heading off then, Mr L/N. I wouldn't want to intrude on your family any further,"

Your father smiled at him, and something about it sent chills down your spine, before leading him out of the corridor and to the front door across the living room.

"Nonsense, my associates are practically family. We take care of each other,"

Mr Lucci met your father's smile with an equally unsettling one before nodding in agreement and walking out of the door to the parked Lamborghini waiting in front of your house. The windows were blacked out.

As soon as Mr Lucci left, your father walked up to you and took your hand in his own, the smile that had been previously disfiguring his face replaced with an almost tender expression.

"I'll let your snooping around slide for tonight, but don't make a habit of this, Y/N, or there will be consequences. Let's get to bed now,"

Chapter Text

Looking down at the campus map in front of you, you sighed in frustration. You were aware that Darkwick academy was big, but you didn't expect it to be so large to warrant a separate map for each dormitory. Right after taking the entrance exam, you'd been given a uniform with bright red accents and told you were in Sinostra, which was apparently located on a luxury cruise ship. Whatever, you didn't care. You just needed somewhere to be where the Russo family wouldn't be able to find you. Even after you'd moved to Japan to live with a family contact in an attempt to evade their continued pursuit, they'd kept tracking you down, month after month. It had been exhausting, moving up and down the country to keep escaping them. After a few years of living life on the run, you'd finally reached the age to apply for Darkwick academy, the one institution in the country where security was tight enough to keep your pursuers out, and, miraculously, you got in. If anything, you were grateful to that you no longer needed to continuously check over your shoulders for armed men running in your direction.

"Excuse me ? Are you looking for the Sinostra dorm ?" A lilac haired guy with a Sinostra uniform and a professional smile on his face asked you, breaking your train of thought. You looked him up and down. If you recalled correctly, he was the newest ghoul student in Sinostra, Ritsu Shinjo. As you were inspecting him, your eyes fell on a white device in his pocket, causing your instincts to immediately kick into fight or flight mode.

"Are you recording this conversation ? Who the hell are you ?" You didn't want to cause a scene on your first day, but equally, you weren't afraid to escalate the situation if need be.

"Don't be alarmed, Miss L/N. I do this for all my conversations. I'm Ritsu Shinjo, son of the greatest attorney in all of Japan. After graduating from here, I will follow in his footsteps,"

You felt your fists clench and your shoulders grow tense. You didn't like this one bit.

"How do you know my name ? I recommend you talk, and fast,"

Ritsu looked completely unfazed.

"I make it my business as an attorney to do an in depth background check on all the individuals I will need to work with. Y/N L/N, born in Naples to the L/N crime family. You lived in there until 2 and a half years ago, when your family collapsed due to an unexpected attack from another family, resulting in a complete takeover of both your business and your territory. You moved to Japan to escape the pursuit of your rivals, who are still trying to eradicate any remaining member-"

On impulse, you wrapped your hand around the gun tucked snugly in the waistband of your skirt. Your family had been relatively high profile, so that information was technically publicly available if one was willing to do some digging. However, you'd never imagined that someone in Japan would even think to investigate your family history.

"And just what do you plan on doing with all your knowledge ?"

You kept your voice calm, though there was an edge to it now, warning Ritsu not to cross you. However, he seemed completely undeterred.

"For now ? Nothing. I was thinking more that we could have a relationship of mutual benefit. You see, I was pretty irritated that I got put into this house, but I might as well make the most of it now, and I think you could help me,"

As Ritsu looked at you expectantly, you tried not to roll your eyes. You didn't have time or patience for schoolboy games or house competitions.

"What's in it for me ?"

"I trust someone from your background knows how useful it is to have an attorney as a friend ? I'm sure that I don't need to remind you that you are still technically on the run,"

Hand still hovering on your gun, you contemplated his offer. It was true that having a high profile attorney or two in your pocket could always be advantageous, but you still had no clue about whether you could actually trust the guy. Relaxing your body, you allowed your hand to fall back to your side.

"I'll consider it. For now, please just show me where the Sinostra dormitory is,"

Ritsu smiled pleasantly and turned on his heels, beckoning for you to follow. He didn't pester you any further, perhaps because he'd realised that you wouldn't be giving him anything rlse until he'd proved you could trust him. After around ten minutes of walking around twisting pathways and alleys, you reached an enormous cruise ship, its lights casting a bright glow on everything around it. Ritsu turned to face you.

"I'll be going to meet our captain now, and I'd recommend you do the same,"

As your eyes lingered on the ship, you let yourself consider the idea. You still had no idea if you could trust this guy, but meeting the captain sounded innocent enough. It wasn't like you had anything better to do.

Taking your silence as a yes, Ritsu led you through the entrance and into what appeared to be a large casino. You winced, the sight of poker tables and slot machines bringing back memories you'd long suppressed.

"Isn't this a university dormitory ? Why is there a massive casino here ?" You raised your voice so Ritsu could hear you over the excited chatter of the patrons.

"Apparently, most houses have a unique source of income, and this is Sinostra's. I'm sure you'll be familiar with how it works, given your background,"

You felt your eye twitch, but you knew Ritsu wasn't wrong. Having an income that was tied to something you already knew like the back of your hand could definitely have benefits, regardless of the fact you despised everything about casinos. Ritsu cleared his throat and approached a nearby student, breaking you out of your train of thought.

"Excuse me. Can you tell me where we can find the captain ? We're both new, so we wanted to meet him. His name is Taiga Hoshibami, right ?"

The student looked down at Ritsu, his face twisted on a scowl.

"He's not here,"

"Oh ? What about the vice captain, then ? Romeo Lucci, was it ?"

You felt your eyes widen a little at the name. Romeo Lucci... you'd heard the name before somewhere. Your father had had a business partner with that surname many years ago, who had also been the owner of a world leading fashion brand before his own family collapsed. Nowadays, his logo was still around, but it only had a fraction of its former prestige.

You focused harder, trying to match the name to one of the many faces you'd seen in your childhood. After a moment of frustration, violet eyes and dark hair suddenly flashed in your mind.

Romeo Lucci was his son. You'd only seen him a few times when you were both really young, but you were certain of it now.

"Y/N ? We can go meet the vice captain now," Ritsu's voice brought you back to reality, interrupting your thoughts. The satisfied smile on his face looked almost comical next to the other guy's scowl.

"Follow me. Fico should be able to meet you now,"

As you followed the two guys down a winding corridor, you wondered whether you'd misheard. Surely Romeo didn't make his subordinates call him "fico". After a couple of minutes, you reached an imposing door with a couple of Sinostra students positioned on either side of it. After giving a nod to the guy closest to the door, the newest addition to your party knocked and cleared his throat.

"Fico ? A couple of first years say they have business with you. Our house's new ghoul student Ritsu Shinjo and some girl called Y/N L/N -"

A deep voice cut him off before he could finish explaining. The owner had a Neapolitan accent, a bit like your own but less strong.

"L/N, did you say ?"

Your impromptu guide looked confused.

"Yes, Sir,"

"Bring her in. I want the rest of you to leave immediately,"

Seeing that Ritsu was about to object, Romeo's goons pulled guns and crowded around him. As he took a startled step back, one of them took you by the arm and shoved you through the door of the office.

Just as you were steadying your legs, you looked up to see a dull metal barrel pointed at your forehead.

"Don't take another step unless you want it to be your last,"

Chapter Text

You took a deep breath, steadying yourself as you met Romeo's cold gaze. While having someone from a former rival family point a gun at you on the first day of uni was unexpected, it wasn't the first or the last near death situation you'd experienced. In fact, at this point you practically lived life on fight or flight.

Once your senses were beginning to recover from the initial shock, you pulled out your own gun and held it to his temple, your movements quick and precise. You kept looking up at him, your gaze full of defiance. Ever since you were a kid, your entire life had been dictated by the whims of men like him, whether it was something small, like what events you could attend or what to wear out in public, or something life changing, like cutting all contact with your family and moving to the other side of the world. First, it had been your father, and after the collapse of your family, it had been Russo and his henchmen. Nothing in your life was truly yours, and you were sick of it - the more this realization dawned on you, the more you could feel the wave of adrenaline surging through your body.

Your voice laced with rage, you switched to Italian and addressed your attacker.

"What are you gonna do now, Mr Lucci ? You're in exactly the same position I'm in. Do you seriously think that, after all the time I spent escaping men like you, I'm going to let you intimidate me ? If you're doing this as some misguided attempt to get revenge for the collapse of your family at the hands of my father, don't bother. My family isn't doing any better these days. In fact, I don't even know if they're still alive. So, if you have something to say to me, put that thing away and say it. However, if you truly do wish to kill me, just know that I don't plan on going to hell without dragging you down with me,"

As you finished speaking, Romeo's expression shifted, the hint of a smirk playing on his lips. He almost looked ... intrigued ? Amused ? However, when he spoke, his voice was ice cold, just like the gun still pressed against your forehead.

"You're in no position to be making demands here, L/N. Don't forget whose office you're in, and whose people you're surrounded by," As he spoke, Romeo took a few steps towards you and gave you a sharp push, trapping you against the wall with his arm. Refusing to give up, you started squirming in an attempt to free yourself, but his grip on your arm merely got stronger, and he tapped his gun against your forehead to remind you that he too was holding your life in the palm of his hand. Lowering his head so that his face was mere inches from yours, Romeo started speaking again, his voice lower and full of unspoken threats.

"You think that I'd want you dead for a reason as infantile as the collapse of my family at the hands of your father ? That's ridiculous. My father was an idiot who gambled his life away at your family's casino, so what happened was inevitable. However, I'd never make the same mistakes as him, and I'll rebuild the family empire from the ground if I have to,"

Suddenly, you were very aware of how close you were to him. His scent was almost overpowering, the smell of expensive cologne assaulting your senses.

"That's a cool story and all, but what do I have to do with all this ? My family's casino doesn't even fucking exist anymore,"

Romeo chuckled, his frown turning into a mocking smirk.

"Considering you're moments away from your death, you're being very demanding. It's not like-"

"It's the bounty, isn't it ? The one the Russo family has on my head ? It's the only other thing it could be. €1,000,000 to take me out, right ?"

Romeo's eyes widened a little, but he made no attempt to deny it.

"Business is business. I'm going to discuss an increase in payment after this since you clearly won't make it easy,"

You chuckled. Romeo was right. At the end of the day, business was business, and there was little more to it than that, whether it was money, weapons, cocaine or lives. However, him saying that aloud had given you an idea for a potential way out of this mess.

"You know what's better than making €1,000,000 one time from a difficult hit, Mr Lucci ? Making hundreds of thousands of additional euros each month as you do nothing but sit back while the money pours in. Could I make a proposal that I think would be mutually beneficial ?"

Romeo frowned at you, but he put his gun away and wrapped his hand around your gun, snatching it before you could try anything. Having disarmed you, he nodded towards his plush couch.

"Sit down and start talking. I'll give you five minutes. Fail to convince me, and I'll carry on with the hit. Also, L/N ?"

You looked up at where he was standing, feeling the adrenaline punping through your body once more.

"Remember that this time, you don't have a gun to fall back on,"

You gave him a small nod, rolled your shoulders back and started your explanation.

"From what I gather, your captain is unreliable when it comes to managing the casino, and I'm sure that leaves you with the majority of the workload, which would make running it smoothly a lot more difficult. Also, despite the fact that this is meant to be an upscale place, when Ritsu and I made our way here I noticed that there was a slight stain on the carpet and that some of the drapes were fraying. Are you perhaps struggling with profits, Mr Lucci ?"

Romeo glared at you, but made no attempt to correct anything you said.

"I normally wouldn't even consider this kind of job, and, if it had to be done, I'd let an underling do it. However, I'd looked into you enough to know that that wasn't going to cut it,"

"Mr Lucci, my proposal is that you take me on as your assistant. Between us, we could drastically reduce your workload and manage the casino way more efficiently. Not to mention that I know how these things work. My family used to run the biggest casino in Napoli. I might have never directly participated in managing it, but I still know how to rig the system and get customers hooked at the same time. With our collected experiences, we could make way more money than that in the next six months,"

Once you finished talking, you realised that Romeo wasn't glaring at you with as much hostility anymore. In fact, he almost looked interested, if the eyebrow he'd raised slightly was anything to go by.

"And how do I know that you're being honest about all this ? Also, it's Fico"

"Give me a week to show you what I can do. If you still doubt me by the end of it, you can do what you want with me."

Romeo fell silent, contemplating what you'd said. After a few minutes, he smirked and walked up to the couch to sit next to you.

"I've got to give it to you, L/N, you're a fascinating one. Fine. You're hired,"

You grinned at him, but before you could express your gratitude, Romeo held out his hand and continued talking.

"Remember that this is temporary for now. Also, if you want to live past next week, I'd recommend doing everything I ask of you with the utmost care. I don't tolerate disrespect or incompetence among my subordinates,"

Giving him a confident nod, you held out your hand and he shook it firmly.

"It's a deal then, BB. On another note, come by my office tomorrow so I can give you a few good hand lotions and moisturisers because your hands are incredibly dry,"

"BB ?" You asked, ignoring the criticism of your handcare. Romeo rolled his eyes.

"It's an abbreviation. It means basic bitch,"

For all his big talk, Romeo was somewhat hard to take seriously. You tried not to laugh, biting back giggles as you turned around to face him.

"Mhm ok Fico,"

Romeo scowled at you, picking up on the mocking undertones in your voice.

"You'd do well to remember that your life is still effectively mine to do what I want with before being a brat,"

Widening your eyes in mock innocence, you continued.

"But you asked to be called that. I'll admit that I find the choice of title a little strange, honestly. Why do you want everyone to call you that ? Seems kinda path-"

"Get out, BB. I've had enough of your nonsense for tonight,"

Still biting back a smile as you took in Romeo's deepening scowl, you got up off the couch and walked towards the door. However, just before you could open it, Romeo spoke again.

"One last question. How did you extrapolate all that information about the casino based on solely the boss' absence and a few stains here and there ?"

This time, you let yourself smile, but it had a hint of sadness in it.

"When you're raised the way I was, with everything constantly being hidden behind a veil of lies and secrets, you learn to observe. Every observation counts, Mr Lucci, because everything you see holds implications about what the truth behind what you're trying to find is. Despite us coming from very similar backgrounds, I doubt the way we were brought up was anywhere near the same, with you actually being the heir to your family and all"

For the first time that night, Romeo was looking at you without any trace of hostility. His face had ironed out into a blank mask as he considered what you were saying. Finally, he chuckled a little and met your smile with a smirk.

"Maybe you're of some use, after all. Now get out, BB, and go to bed. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow,"

Chapter Text

As you were eating breakfast in the cafeteria the morning after your deal with Romeo, your phone buzzed from a message notification. Trying not to sigh, you opened it. Who could be bothering you this early in the morning ?

Unknown number: This is Romeo. Come to my office immediately after finishing breakfast so we can discuss your work for the next week.

You: Ok. How did you get my number ?

Romeo: I'll explain later. Stop wasting time and hurry up.

You put your phone back in your pocket, growing increasingly exasperated. The day had barely started and you already had a feeling it wasn't going to be an easy one. Unfortunately, it couldn't be helped, so after finishing up your coffee, you headed back to Sinostra and straight for Romeo's office.

Once you reached the door, the usual guy standing on guard waved you in dismissively. You assumed Romeo had informed him you'd be coming ahead of time.

"You're late, Y/N. In the future, if I call you to my office, I expect you to be there within five minutes of me sending the message,"

You tried to keep the irritation out of your voice. After all, this was still the man who could technically decide to kill you at any point.

"Mr Lucci, this campus is enormous. Unless I somehow develop the ability to teleport, how am I meant to go from one place to the next in five minutes,"

Romeo glared at you. Looks like you weren't the only one who was irritable in the mornings.

"That's not my problem. Also, it's Fico. I despise being addressed as Mr Lucci- it was my father's title, and I share nothing in common with that WTWUT,"

"WT what ?" What was it with this man and abbreviations ?

"Wall to wall useless trash, obviously," Romeo rolled his eyes at you as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and you sent a sharp glare in his direction.

"From my experience, Mr Lucci, all men of your ilk are the same. If you want to be called by a different title, you'll have to prove that you're different,"

Gritting his teeth, Romeo scowled. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see him clenching his fist around his expensive fountain pen.

"You'd do well to remember that I can still do whatever I want with your life, Y/N. Keep talking back and you'll see what happens,"

Glowering at him, you took a seat at his desk and decided to leave it at that.

"Why did you call me here ?" You tried to keep your tone as calm as possible, which was no easy task. Apparently, the Sinostra vice captain could get under your skin just as much as you could his.

"I'm here to discuss your work for today. If our agreement is to amount to anything, you should try to become familiar with how the Casino works. We still have an hour before we open officially, so read this,"

Romeo reached under his desk and took out a thick, leather bound notebook, which he thrusted in your direction. As you skimmed through it, you frowned.

"What is this ?"

"The full record of business activities, investments, costs and profits for the last six months. I'd recommend you read it before you start working,"

"Before ?? You mean I'll be doing something other than studying this tome all day ?"

Romeo sighed, and he glared at you as if you'd just asked the world’s stupidest question.

"Obviously ! You will experience all the positions in our casino. In the morning, you'll do all the front of the house work - that includes card dealers, cleaning, and waitressing. Then, in the afternoon, you'll experience some of the less ... public positions with a few of my underlings. You'll just be picking up cargo and dropping something off to a customer, so even you could manage that,"

You looked at him, trying to work out if he was joking or not, but when you met his gaze, his face was completely deadpan.

"You're trying to say that I need to do all that work today ? That would take like eight employees !"

Romeo slammed his hand down on his desk, causing piles of documents to collapse and flutter to the ground.

"Be silent ! If you want to live, you'll follow my orders,"

Taking a deep breath in, you looked down at the notebook and started to study it. There was no point in delaying the inevitable. You saw Romeo smirk to himself out of the corner of your eye as you started skimming the notebook, but you decided a reaction wasn't worth the effort.

After about half an hour of silent study of the records, you cleared your throat.

"Mr Lucci, I think I've located a potential issue. A lot of your slot machines have people winning too frequently, so you're not really making much of anything from them. If I had to make a rough estimate, I'd say halving the odds would maximise your profits. Also, with the roulette table-" you completely lost your train of thought as you noticed how Romeo was looking at you. His face was almost the same unreadable mask he'd worn last night, but now, he looked kind of interested, maybe even a little impressed. You could see a smirk forming on the corners of his lips.

"Keep going, BB. For once you're saying something of value,"

Deciding to ignore the jab, you resumed your explanation of how he could tweak the casino games to maximise his profits, trying to give him rough estimates where possible. By the end, he was fully smirking, and his face almost seemed to have lost some of that coldness.

"I knew you could be useful if you tried hard enough. Good girl,"

You felt your face heating up as he praised you, so you decided to avert your gaze. Maybe you were coming down with a fever after the stress of the last few days.

"Also, Y/N, you should take this. I can't stand seeing your hands in such horrible shape," This time, Romeo took out a jar from one of his desk drawers and placed it next to you.

You looked down. It was luxury hand cream, imported directly from Italy. Trying not to laugh, you thanked Romeo and put it on your bag. He did seem like the kind of person who would want to get everything from back home, no matter how expensive and impractical.

"Maybe I do have a last bit of advice, Mr Lucci. You should stop spending so much of your earnings on fancy trinkets and reinvest some in your casino," this time, you were the one smirking, your eyes glinting with silent laughter as you finally looked up at Romeo.

"I also have advice, BB. Keep such useless and ridiculous insights to yourself. Now leave, they're expecting you at the roulette table in five minutes,"

Rolling your eyes, you slung your bag over your shoulders and walked out of the office, mentally preparing yourself for the start of what was sure to be a very long day.