Alessandro's POV

"What the hell is that supposed to be?" I looked again at the caged human, dancing on a pole, wearing nothing but shorts. The smoke from the disco dancing floor was already covering most of the room, and yet it was a sight hardly anyone could miss. The pole dancer was inside a cage.

Vangarde Luxe, this 6-tiered dancing club was my pet project. A million-dollar investment that was soon going to throw up money like an ATM, I was sure of it. The club had been open to the public for two weeks, and already an hour-long line of people waited outside, wanting to be let in, and still, only the exclusive people were allowed inside. The invitees from Hollywood, the US, and Britain. Spoilt children of billionaires who spend money like water, and a few rich wannabes who were going to do nothing but brag about the exclusivity of the place to people all over the internet.

I already have 16 individual chains of bars, restaurants, and hotels all over the world under my name, but this was our first dip into the business of nightclubs, and I was going to smash someone's head into the wall when I find out who did this to my precious business!

"Matteo? I asked a question." My second in command immediately came to the rescue. "The manager, Il Re (King), he said. It was his idea that he implemented without asking anyone. I felt my patience snap. This man had become a pain in my neck for the last many months. "Fire him," I told Matteo. "Literally," I added in case he thought I was talking about letting him go. I wasn't. He was going to burn after spending my money on fucking cages and making a laughing stock out of Vangaurde Luxe!

"As you command, Il Re." I stared at Matteo. "Also, tell Lorenzo to come see me in the morning, we will be needing a new manager after all." He nodded, and we moved on, looking around just to make sure everything was in order. Even though any one of my men could have easily done this part and reported back to me, I wanted to do this on my own. I wanted Vanguard Luxe to be perfect.

As we walked through the crowd of people gathered on the dance floor, some shaking their bodies to the blasting music, others just standing and enjoying drinks from the bar, I saw Matteo eying a woman dancing in the crowd, shaking her hips to the rhythm of the music. Her golden hair was open and flying as he shook her whole body like a free spirit.

Matteo noticed me looking at her. "Do you want me to fetch her Il Re....I can..." I shook my head. "Nah, not my type." I shook my head laughingly. I liked my woman to be tame and obedient, I only liked them to go crazy when in bed, and not like, making a public spectacle.

"Good idea," Matteo said with a teasing twinkle in his eye. "Or Viviana might get jealous again." I scowled at that. Viviana was one of the women of my Harem. A red-haired, green-eyed girl who used to be a model but left it all behind when she agreed to be one of my women. I enjoyed the nights I spent with her; she was innovative in bed and had the energy to have me inside of her for hours. But recently, she had started getting territorial. Being a jealous shrew when I had spent my Saturday with Anna instead of her.

And that did not fly well here. There were rules for the women here. rules that all women of Serpenti d’Oro have to follow. The rules from generations before me. Men of Serpenti did not marry, and even if they did, they were allowed to keep a harem of women for their pleasure. My father, Salvatore Moretti, had kept 15 women in the harem house. I only have 3. In the large complex of apartments, each unit was given to one of the women. And we visited them at times of our convenience. Harem women weren't allowed in the casa, the family home.

My mother, who was the daughter of Salevtore's business partner, was legally married to him when she was 19 and he was 32, in Church and under god's eyes, but she knew and understood the rules. She never complained or said a single word when he went to spend the nights with the women in his harem.

And here was Viviana, a nobody who thought she could control me with her seductive power. I snorted. "Matteo, do keep an eye on Viviana, another stupid word or catfight there, and I want her out. Send her back to wherever she came from." I don't deal well with stupid people. She knew the rules when she came here. I can't help it if she wants to change them now.

Matteo nodded. "Will do. So are you going to tomorrow's dinner at the Casa?" he asked, as we walked past the exit gate and reached into the cool air of the night. The chauffeur parked the car in front of us right then, just on time.

"Do I have a choice?" I groaned. My mother hosted a family dinner every Saturday, and this week was no different, though I was getting sick of her meddling in everything I do. Critiquing every little thing about my lifestyle. Including the absence of an heir. But no matter how many times she tries to get under my skin, there is absolutely no way in hell that I am going to have a baby.

The women I chose were modern and sophisticated, and knew the equation that they were here for mutual pleasure and nothing else. We pleasured each other in bed and I made sure that they lived like queens, with diamond necklaces, jewelry, the best designer clothes, shoes, and bags...or any luxury that one could ask for was at the tip of their fingers.

Except for a baby. Never. I wasn't going to have a child. Not with them, not with anyone else. My own horrible childhood had already told me what it costs, what it's like to be a helpless small thing in this kind of mafia world. This life was not for a child.

So, there was yet another rule that was imposed with highhandedness on the women of my harem. All were kept on a strict regime of contraceptives at all times. Because I was absolutely not having a child, no matter what my mother said.

---

Elena's POV

"Open your eyes." It was a woman's voice, harsh, strict, and just as scary as those men who had brought me here had been. My whole body was aching after being kicked, punched, and thrown around like a rag doll after I had tried to escape them once. I didn't want to open my eyes. I wanted to keep them closed, only if to stop the horrible reality of my condition from becoming even more real.

'God! I'd rather be dead!' I wished. With my eyes still shut tightly as I just sat there scrunched up on a soft carpeted floor. I wasn't even sure where I was. I didn't want to know, didn't want to look. I just wanted to be gone. My step-brother Joffery had sold me to a brothel owner, who had then resold me to an even higher bidder, some rich guy who wanted a virgin, I had heard Daneil say over the phone, before I had been drugged again, tied up, and bought here. I wasn't even sure how many days had passed since this nightmare had begun, how many hours? Months? I didn't know anything anymore. Apart from the fact that I was in grave danger.

"I told you to open your eyes!" That sharp, feminine voice shook me again, striking the cord of my fear, and I finally opened my eyes. Only to meet with the owner of that voice. A dark-haired, middle-aged woman, who sat on a cushioned highchair, like a queen of some kingdom. She looked scary, her blue eyes as hard and as cold as ice and scree as they stared into me, as if staring down at my soul.

I didn't dare move my eyes away from her, but still realized that we were in a library of some kind. Long and long rows of shelves were filled to the brim with hard bound books, a cosy fire burning in the pit on the left side, making the room warm. A heavy crystal chandelier on the ceiling glittered with the firelight. It was supposed to be cosy scene, a warm scene and yet all I could think of, all I could feel was chill, and the fear of what was about to come.

"How old are you?" The old woman asked, her voice just as harsh as it had been before. "18" I hadn't meant to answer but I did because something in that woman's voice told me that it wouldn't end well for me if I didn't comply. "The man who bought you here told me that you are a virgin, is that true?" I couldn't breathe as the woman looked at my body up and down like I was a commodity. what the hell was wrong with these people? I once again felt tears threaten.

"Answer carefully though, if you lie now and I find out about it later. Which I definitely will. It wouldn't end well for you." I wanted to close my eyes once again and pretend that I wasn't here, pretend that I wasn't having this conversation. Alas, that wasn't true.

"Answer me!"

"yes." I nodded, humiliated.

"Good." This time the woman looked satisfied. "Very good. I will send my maid here for you. You will change into a dress immediately and get ready before my son arrives for dinner." I was sure this was the man they had sold me to. her son? what kind of dystopian society was this, where mother and son sold and bought women? I felt like my chest would burst open with the fear and panic.

"Y-your son?"

"Yes, you will be presented to Alessandro Moretti, the don of Serpenti d’Oro, the mafia king of Sicily, Italy. And if he is satisfied with you, you will join his harem. You are young and thankfully a virgin. I did order them to bring me a virgin.....because, unlike my son's other mistresses, I wanted a pure, innocent girl...for this purpose. He only beds those western sluts..." The woman looked at her with purposeful eyes. "But you...you will have a special purpose...you will bear him a son."