Chapter 2 Fire and Ice Collide

Elena's Gustaw pov

I glanced around in awe at the display of wealth, luxury and opulence from the attendees of Vienna Costa's private party.

I walked arm in arm with my childhood friends, Rosa and Alejandro, behind our security personnel, who always followed us out of the Gustaw family mansion.

It was a party for young adults but not just any, as Vienno only invited the children of the most influential and wealthy mafia families.

Alejandro observed my reaction to the opulence of the party, then he shook his head and said sarcastically, "Lena darling, you're going to have to close your mouth sometime, or something will fly in and breed there, with the way it's wide open."

Rosa snickered wickedly and replied Alejandro, "Would you blame her? She has been abroad for many years. Now, she is back, and this is her first Coasta party. Everyone knows that the Coasta family throws the shiniest parties."

Alejandro snorted, then said dismissively, "If that's the excuse, Rosa, okay. Elena, darling, we know you are new to this circle so we'll show you who you can converse with, and who to avoid. There are places we can and cannot enter or sit."

I looked at him with a scrunched up forehead. "Oh, really? Why's that?"

"Well, darling, the Gustaw is a powerful family in our world but there are higher powers that be, and those that are beneath us."

I shook my head in confusion trying to understand what she meant. I thought to myself, "I would never understand this mafia family hierarchy nor was I interested in anything that had to do with the mafia world. I left that world a long time ago since I was eight years old and went to start a new life in New York".

My father had taken me there and remarried, after my mother died in a ghastly accident and I had grown up in New York only coming back to Los Angeles fifteen years later. After my father summoned urgently, for something he called "Family emergency!". He hasn't told me what it was about and I still wasn't sure.

Then we found a table at the back of the large hall and I couldn't shake off the unease I felt curling in my stomach. There was always something dangerous about being in these circles. Nothing was ever what it seemed and today wasn't different.

Alejandro ordered a waiter to get us three glasses of champagne while he exchanged cheerful greetings with other elegantly dressed young adults that passed by their table.

After the waiters set our glasses of champagne on the table, we each took a well-savored taste. Then Alejandro sighed pleasantly and said, " This is one of the reasons I love Vienno Costa's party so much, they throw the best parties!"

He turned towards me and asked, "I heard about the scuffle with Kitana. What was that about, Lena?"

I couldn't help but hiss in anger and said, "That brat who calls herself my half-sister! I don't know her; she doesn't know me so what the hell is her problem? And she started the fight! Going on about how I think I am some British princess, strutting around the mansion like it's some palace, it's obvious I don't have a mama or I wouldn't do that."

Rosa opened her mouth in shock "No way! She said that?"

Alejandro shook his head disapprovingly and said, "Typical of her. Maybe we should always have Luca around her somehow because she is unbelievably sweet and well-mannered whenever he is in the same building with her, even though he would never glance her way. Not in her lifetime, but we need a break from her nastiness."

Rosa laughed quietly, trying hard not to make it a guffaw so she would not be tagged "unrefined" by the elite society gathered.

"Luca? Who is Luca?" I asked curiously, turning my head expectantly from one childhood friend to the other.

"Well, speak of the devil," Alejandro said, nodding his head towards the entrance just as the atmosphere in the party changed. A group of men just entered the party and there was an excited buzz as if a celebrity had just arrived.

People kept whispering amongst themselves excitedly and I caught a few excited whispers: "He's here! Luca's here!

I couldn't help but notice some of the ladies adjusting their clothes to look sexier while checking to see if their hair and make-up were still intact.

The guys, on the other hand, stood straighter and puffed out their chests, giving off an air of importance.

I turned so I could at least catch a glimpse of the man who had so much power; he influenced the atmosphere of one of the most influential parties by just making an appearance. He didn't even say a word.

I recognized him immediately, as Vienno Costa had left his high and mighty VIP table to go say hello to Luca.

Luca was tall, with a muscled torso that stood out proudly. He had jet black hair that was sleeked back from his very handsome poker face.

Vienno motioned for him to join them in the VIP section but he declined. He then scanned the length of the room until his eyes landed on our table, then took purposeful steps towards us.

I was already bored with all that was going on as I turned and continued savoring my champagne while scanning the menu.

I saw food on the menu that looked yummy, so I was about to show Alejandro what I wanted to order when I heard shocking gasps and felt an intimidating presence around the table.

I looked up and I couldn't lie but my eyes met the prettiest and most mysterious blue eyes I had ever seen. Then I saw a glint of recognition flash through his eyes, it was like he knew who I was.

I waited patiently to hear what he wanted and why he was at my table.

Then he broke the silence and said, "I want to sit on this table with my brothers and sisters that came to this party with me, so I need you all to disappear". He said rudely, in heavily accented English.

Alejandro and Rosa hurriedly stood up, their instinct to obey overpowering any sense of loyalty but I dragged back to the seat. They turned and looked at me with largely bulging eyes. I almost bursted into laughter just by looking at their faces but I couldn't because of the situation we were in.

I looked at Luca calmly and said, "There are three empty tables on the other side and even another private section at the back. If you're looking for a place to sit with your family, you should check them out."

He looked at me with his icy blue eyes fixed on mine, and there was a flicker of something- surprise, maybe amusement? I couldn't place it, but his expression quickly hardened.

"Listen here, Britannia. Two things: one, I know there are other tables but I am deciding to use this one. Two, I am not asking; I am ordering you to leave."

I stared back at him, unflinching. "That's your problem, not mine".

"You are intolerably rude and uncouth, and that is totally preposterous. Oh, leave me alone, you guys. Let him go find another table and allow me to enjoy this party without being raucous." I said angrily to Alejandro and Rosa, who kept pinching me under the table so I would stop going hotly at Luca Moretti.

Alejandro looked around to see that people had started gathering to watch the historical showdown that had never happened before. Then he whispered to me from the corner of his mouth, "Lena, in the name of whatever has possessed you, please stop this because you clearly do not know what you are doing.

Luca stared at me hotly, then said, "You better listen to him."

"And you better get out of my face," I replied harshly.

I was confused when I saw an amused expression on his face briefly.

The tension between us was thick, like the calm before a storm. He stared at me dangerously with a sly smile on his face like he was planning something evil.

He took a step closer to me and just when I thought things were about to escalate, one of my security personnel came forward and whispered into my ear.

"There is an emergency at the house, Miss Gustaw. We need to leave now" he said urgently.

I looked worried immediately and said, "What!? Emergency at the house... Alejandro, Rosa, we have to go."

I stood up and started hurrying out but then I stopped in front of Luca and even though I only stood as tall as his chest, I looked at him, pointing my fingers up at him and said, "You are so lucky I have to leave urgently, you unrefined man."

Immediately after I said that and walked away, there was a loud whisper of "ooouuu" amongst the crowd.

And just as I reached the exit, I heard Luca's voice, low and amused. "Mmm, I see my wife-to-be has a razor-sharp mouth.

"Wife-to-be?"

I didn't turn around, but I could feel the malicious gleam in his words as he added, "Yes, she doesn't know that but she is about to find out.".

I tried not to pay much attention to his words but I felt a cold shiver run down my spine as the words "wife-to-be!" echoed continuously in my head.