The Goddaughter Part 1 - Donna Melissa Gilberti
by Femavenger. email femavenger@hotmail.com
A Young Woman Seizes Control of her Family's Organized Crime Empire

(A large city on the east coast of the United States, circa 2012)
 
Melissa Gilberti smiled in deep satisfaction as she watched her faithful
underlings file out of her office. It was her 27th birthday, and they had
surprised her with champagne and a birthday cake. She always enjoyed
watching the combination of admiration, respect and fear in their eyes -
even in men who were more than twice her age!
 
It had been nearly two years since Melissa had seized control of the
Gilberti crime Family, one of the most powerful of such organizations in
America, but she still thrilled at the effect her mere presence had on
everyone around her. Part of it was her sheer beauty. At 5'11" Melissa
was quite tall for a Sicilian-American woman. She worked out and had an
awesome body. Her thick, long, mahogany colored hair cascaded in ringlets
past her shoulders, nearly down to her waist. She had classic high
cheekbones, an angelic face and an ever-present sweet smile that melted
everyone's hearts.
 
For the past two years, however, that sweet smile was known to have sent
shivers down the spines of the most fearless of men.
 
But Melissa's beauty was only a part of her overall presence. Along with
her angelic looks, she never raised her voice beyond a soft, sexy purr.
In fact the angrier that she was, the softer her voice would be and the
more serene the smile. There was even a nervous joke around the
organization that if she licked her sensuous lips while she smiled at
you, your days were numbered! Those who worked for her knew that as
rewarding and loving as she was to those loyal to her, she was equally as
cruel, vicious and ruthless with her enemies. So although they were
grateful to Melissa for the livelihood and protection she gave them, in
the back of their mind they regarded her with frightened awe. Despite her
youthful, breathtaking beauty, velvet voice and gentle demeanor, those
who knew her, allies and enemies alike, knew that behind it was a young
woman who was not afraid to use brutal violence and unspeakable treachery
to get what she wanted.
 
And Melissa always got everything that she wanted. She was more powerful
than either of the men who had run the Family before her had ever been,
and she knew how to use this reputation to intimidate her enemies. The
press knew this. The police and other law enforcement agencies knew it,
but they couldn't do anything about it! She had immense wealth, legal and
political protection, and she was insulated by several layers of command
who passed her orders down to the one who actually carried out the
orders. So as long as she was careful and didn't do anything foolish, she
was completely legally protected from any prosecution.
 
Still, despite the fear, the strongest feeling of those who worked for
her, and their families, was love. Love for their Boss, their Protector,
their Provider, their Donna - Donna Melissa Gilberti, the first organized
crime Donna, the first Female Don.
 
Melissa leaned back in her leather chair and stretched her long legs
across her mahogany desk. She watched as the last of her employees, her
fat-assed Consigliore Dominic Palermo, closed the door on his way out. He
was Melissa's father's Consigliore, and she had decided that it was in
her interest to keep him as a holdover for a while. But he was outliving
his usefulness, Melissa thought to herself. He didn't know it, but he
would be replaced soon. In a very permanent manner!
 
Once Palermo left, Melissa was left in her office with only one other
person, her older brother Tony.
 
Tony seethed in frustrated anger. This whole organization should be his,
he felt. But his kid sister, 8 years his junior, had outsmarted and
outfought him. Melissa had permanently disabled him in a way that one
look at him reminded people of his sister's treachery. In Tony's world,
to be defeated by a woman was unthinkable. Or at least it had been until
Melissa came on the scene.
 
And the further shame that Tony had to endure was that everyone knew what
Melissa had done to her brother. Aside from the humiliation of it,
Melissa had gotten away with it. Now, people who should have feared Tony
paid him little mind, and paid his little sister great homage. Tony knew
that he was lucky to be alive, though he often thought that the life he
now was forced to lead was a fate worse than death itself.
 
Melissa poured the last of the Dom Perignon into her glass and took a
long, slim Cohiba cigar from the humidor built into a drawer in her desk,
the desk that belonged to her father and grandfather before her. She saw
that Tony was being inattentive, staring blankly and miserably into
space. "Problem, Shorty?" she asked sweetly.
 
Tony, as always, bristled at being called "Shorty". He used to be more
than a head taller than his kid sister. And although he had been
well-trained by the women in his life for the past two years, at times
his despair was so deep that he momentarily lost his concentration.
Melissa had taught her brother to constantly observe her from his cage,
so the agony of watching her run the organization would be never-ending.
He had been given the job of Melissa's cigar lighter, and was expected to
rush to her whenever she took out a fresh cigar. Melissa's words
interrupted his daze and seeing his sister with her cigar, he quickly
hobbled over to her. His sister certainly had a cruel streak in her. She
placed her lighter on the desk just out of Tony's reach, making him jump
up several times before he could grab it. It wasn't easy for Tony to jump
up several times before he could grab it. It wasn't easy for Tony to jump
without his lower legs, and his kneecaps hurt like hell when he landed on
them.
 
Melissa stretched her legs further across her desk as Tony lit her cigar.
"That will be all for the day, Shorty!" she chirped. "You may go home
now, but make it snappy!" Still seething, Tony left the office, making
his way painfully and slowly down the staircase, hanging on to the rail
for dear life with his only arm. Melissa watched with amusement on her
closed circuit television system as he hobbled across the courtyard of
the Family complex to his house. He would spend the rest of the day and
night in the custody and under the strict supervision of his wife and his
daughter, and would return the next morning to the cage in Melissa's
office to watch in powerless despair as his little sister effectively ran
the organization that he thought should be his own.
 
Melissa stretched further back and lazily puffed on her cigar. 27 years
old, Melissa thought to herself. And she had already accomplished more
than most people dream of in a lifetime! But nothing had been handed to
her, she told herself with satisfaction, shutting her eyes and reflecting
on her success.
 
Don Angelo Gilberti, Melissa's grandfather, created the crime empire
through hard work, sound judgment, and the willingness to take risks and
drastic measures to amass his Family's wealth and power. He got his start
driving liquor trucks during Prohibition, and by the time liquor was
legal again he had formed an organization that controlled all of the
major gambling and loansharking business in the area. He controlled the
docks and labor unions back when those were important things to control.
He ran much of the prostitution and eventually the drug traffic in the
area and was looked upon with cautious respect by friends and potential
rivals alike. And along with these rackets, the Gilbertis became silent
partners in many legitimate enterprises.
 
The Gilberti's main rival was the Fabrizi Family. Don Carlo Fabrizi
wasn't as powerful as Don Angelo, but he controlled the area's
international airport, which became one of the most lucrative areas of
operations as more cargo went by air. Gilberti tried several times to
take over the airport but failed, and lost several key soldiers in the
process. Even with his considerable power, Angelo Gilberti died
frustrated that he was never able to take over the airport.
 
Melissa was seven years old when Don Angelo learned that he had a
terminal illness. His successor as Don would be his son, Melissa's
father, Vincent Gilberti. Melissa noticed how her father and grandfather
would go into the Don's study, and something told her that what they were
discussing would be very valuable to her some day. Melissa's bedroom was
directly above the study. Don Angelo set it up that way because he
figured that it would be more difficult to bug the study if they had to
go through his granddaughter's bedroom.
The thought that little Melissa would take it upon herself to bug her
grandfather's study for her own purposes never entered Don Angelo's mind!
But she knew that she could learn a great deal from him, so she threaded
the microphone of a tape recorder from her closet down the back of the
wall of the study. The microphone stopped by a central air conditioning
vent. It was a crude system but very effective, and quite ingenious for a
little girl like Melissa.
 
During the final few months of his life, Don Angelo dispensed all of his
wisdom to his son, and Melissa got it all on tape. She was too young to
understand most of what was said at the time, but over the years she
listened to the tapes over and over again.
 
As expected, after Don Angelo died, Vincent Gilberti became the new Don.
He ran the organization with the same firm control as his father. But
Melissa decided that she would continue to record the conversations that
her father, Don Vincent Gilberti had with his subordinates.
 
Melissa would leave the voice-activated recording device on all day long
and listen to it when she got home from school. As the years went on, she
learned every detail and every aspect of the Gilberti Family
organization's operations. All of the personnel and their roles, all of
their enterprises, and those of all of their rivals and enemies as well.
 
Although none of the men in the Family could imagine it, Melissa realized
that she had an exceptional aptitude for the underworld. As she entered
her teens, she was amused at how she could always think one step ahead of
the conversations she was listening to. She knew what her father would
say before he said it! She knew how he would react in nearly every
situation, and by the time she was fourteen she felt that if given the
opportunity, she could run the Family's operations even BETTER than her
father!
 
One of the most important discoveries that Melissa made was that she
wasn't faint-hearted. She had no problems with the extreme violence that
was sometimes necessary in her Family's line of work. In fact she
enthusiastically supported it whenever she heard her father talking about
how rival Families were trying to encroach upon the Gilberti Family's
territory. Once Don Vincent was talking about a traitorous underling who
needed to be "whacked", and Melissa wished that she could "whack" him
herself! And when she heard that the traitor was now "sleeping with the
fishes", Melissa jumped up in elation and pumped her fist in the air. No
one fucks with the Gilbertis! Yes, she told herself, she was a natural to
be a future boss of the Gilberti Crime Family.
 
Except for two factors. First, Melissa was a woman. And second, she would
have to deal with her older brother Tony, who everyone feared because of
his brutal, violent manner, as well as the common presumption that he
would take over the Gilberti Family some day..
 
Tony Gilberti was always a bully of a kid, and was able to get away with
it because he was the Don's son. He had always treated Melissa with
meanness. He was 8 years older than his sister, and though one would
think that he would be protective of her, Tony used to painfully pinch
her, just to see her wince in pain. He seemed to get off on scaring her,
and he was able to get away with it because he was Don Vincent's only
son. It was always assumed by everyone connected with the family and the
organized crime community that Tony was being groomed to take over as Don
some day.
 
One incident that was crucial in the development of Melissa's mindset
took place when Melissa was 13 and Tony was 21. Tony had been arrested
for the rape of a woman in the parking lot of a club where they met. Tony
was attracted to the tall, 18 year-old blonde college student named
Meredith Keaton, but she wasn't interested. Unfortunately, that didn't
stop Tony, who dragged Meredith to his car, slapped her around when she
resisted, and then completed the rape.
 
Someone called 911 and the police came and arrested Tony. But as soon as
they found out that the rapist was Don Vincent Gilberti's son, the
charges were suddenly dropped do to insufficient evidence. Tony was
released and the rape went unpunished.
 
Usually, Melissa took pride when her Family exerted their influence and
muscle, but in this case she was furious. She now hated her brother. Tony
had never shown her any love, and now he had committed the most
unpardonable act possible.
 
But Melissa was especially angry with her father for protecting Tony.
Rape was as cowardly an act as there was, she felt, and he was letting
Tony get away with it. This gave Melissa a new perspective on her Family.
And the more she learned about the prostitution market, the angrier she
got with the men in her Family, even her late grandfather Don Angelo. It
was more than simply "old school", this was the utter degradation of
women. Melissa knew all the facts and figures, and knew that the Family
could give up prostitution and would still be powerful and prosperous.
Now, more then ever, Melissa dreamed of taking over the Family some day.
She would end any Family association with prostitution and anything else
that demeaned women. She would liberate and empower the girls, and she
would recruit the smarter among them for leadership roles in her empire.
But first, she had to get control of the Family.
 
The problem was, of course, that women involved in organized crime
leadership was unheard of. Melissa knew that she could never convince her
father to let her become involved, and of course Tony would never stand
for it.
 
Melissa continued to tape her father's study daily, and knew every minute
detail of the Family's operations up to the minute. She graduated high
school, went to a local university and then to law school. All during
that time she dreamed of taking over the Family.
 
However, it looked as though Tony was poised to take over the Family. And
the more Melissa heard Tony talk to his father on the tapes, the more she
realized just how unsuited her brother was to take over the Family. He
overreacted to every situation. Violence was his answer to every problem.
Melissa wasn't averse to violence, at all, but she felt that it had to be
exercised with discretion and good judgment, neither of which Tony had.
And the fact that Don Vincent was willing to cover up for Tony's rape and
overlook all of his other deficiencies simply because he was Don
Vincent's only son and therefore the only heir to the Gilberti Crime
Family caused Melissa to lose respect for her father's judgment. And
though she was happy to have been able to record her father and
grandfather for all of those years, the fact that it went undetected
caused her to lose respect for her father's abilities. She had already
outsmarted him, and was more convinced than ever that she would make a
better Don than her father, or potentially her brother.
 
 Melissa then realized that she wouldn't be a Don. She was a woman, so
the proper terminology would be "Donna". Melissa would be creating that
title, since there had never been a female Don, or "Donna" before. "Donna
Melissa Gilberti", Melissa thought to herself with a smile. She liked the
way it sounded!
 
During the time that she was in College, Melissa found and contacted
Meredith Keaton. She had recovered from her rape and went on to Medical
school, and was now one of the most brilliant and well-respected young
surgeons in the area. Melissa and Dr. Keaton struck up an instant
rapport, which developed into a close friendship. Melissa extended her
personal apologies for what had happened, and of course Meredith assured
Melissa that there was nothing to feel guilty about. Dr. Keaton
appreciated it when Melissa promised her that one day she would help the
doctor get her revenge on Tony, but she never truly thought that that day
would ever come about.
 
While in law school, Melissa, on her own, got an internship in the law
firm that did much of the legal work for the Gilberti Family. The firm
was happy to hire her, thinking that it would please Don Vincent. But
instead, he was angry. He didn't even think that women should become
lawyers, let alone be leaders in organized crime Families. Don Vincent
was surprised when several partners at the firm spoke so admiringly of
Melissa's work, and he relented, though he insisted that Melissa only
work on matters unrelated to the Family. But this didn't stop Melissa
from going through the firm's computers to learn everything there was to
find out, or using her charm to pry information from the partners that
she befriended.
 
However, Melissa found it frustrating whenever she tried to figure out
how she could ever have a chance at taking control of the Family. If
anything happened to her father, she would still have to contend with her
miserable brother. If anything happened to Tony, it would still be
difficult for Melissa to convince her father to let her enter the Family
operations. And if someone "whacked" both of them, it would be either an
inside coup or an outside power play. If there was one thing that Melissa
had learned in her years listening to the tapes, it was that it is best
to be in control of the situation yourself. If she ever had any hope of
taking over the family, Melissa would have to be somehow calling the
shots, providing the element of surprise and excecuting the plan.
 
Then, suddenly, unexpectedly, Melissa's opportunity presented itself.
 
Shortly after Melissa graduated from law school, right after her 25th
birthday, Melissa was working at the law office when word came that there
was a serious situation at the Family compound. Melissa immedeately
returned to see a small crowd of father's associates outside of the
study, talking in urgent, hushed tones.
 
Don Vincent's Consigliori, Dominic Palermo, her father's closest
confidant and Melissa's Godfather, quietly took her aside and told her
that Don Vincent was dead, apparently of a heart attack in his study.
 
Melissa was in shock, her mind whirring trying to make sense of what was
happening, and also looking for an opportunity. She was too determined
and strong-minded to let the turn of events distract her. She knew that
for the sake of the Gilberti Family, she could not allow Tony to take
complete control of it, since she knew that he could destroy the Family
with his incompetence. Realizing this, Melissa went straight to her
bedroom to listen to the tape made in her father's study earlier that
day.
 
What Melissa heard confirmed her worst suspiscions about her brother.
Tony had walked into the office. Don Vincent thanked him, and Melissa
heard the sound of a glass on her father's desk. Then he took several
sips, gagged and banged his head onthe desk. What followede sounded like
he had slumped onto the floor. Then, Tony chuckled. "You were past your
prime, Dad!" he said. "It's my turn now!" There was a sound on the desk,
probably Tony picking up the glass, and then his footsteps out.
 
Melissa was outraged. Her brother had killed their father! She had lost a
great deal of respect for her father in recent years, but she would never
THINK of killing him. However, Tony had done it. This made Melissa
furious. The bastard got off of the rape charge against Meredith Keaton
thanks to Dad, and he shows his appreciation by killing him.
 
But Melissa knew that she couldn't let her emotions show. Instead, she
saw it for what it was - a great opportunity. She didn't want it to
happen, but now that it had, she realized that Tony had eliminated a
major obsticle in her path to power. Now she had to figure out how to
take control of the situation. If she could do that, she might possibly
be able to pull it off. Melissa figured that she had at most a month
before her brother solidified control of the Family in which to thwart
him.
 
However, as it turned out, Melissa found the need to act much sooner than
that. Tony had looked solemn but not grief-stricken at the funeral.
Afterwards, back at the house, he went into his father's study, telling
everyone that the business had to go on. He told Palermo the Consigliori
to come in with him to discuss business. Melissa was bitter. Her brother
hadn't wasted any time. An hour later, Tony and Palermo went into a car
and were driven off of the compound. Melissa immediately went to her
closet to listen to the tape of their conversation.
As Melissa listened, her fury built.
 
Her brother and her Godfather were discussing how they would kill her!
 
Tony told Palermo that Melissa was very dangerous to the Family because
of the knowledge that she had working at the law firm. She would always
get in the way, Tony declared, and one fuckup could dstroy the Family.
From the conversation, Melissa could tell that Palermo knew nothing of
Tony killing Don Vincent.
 
As outraged as Melissa was at what Tony had said, she was momentarily
staggered by Palermo's response. "Doo wot ya gotta doo, Tony." he said in
old-style Brooklynese. "I love da kid. She's my Goddaughter. But the
Family is nuthin if it's destroyed! We just gotta get tings calmed down
to where they were before your old man died!"
 
Melissa had remembered her Godfather Dominic from the time that she was a
baby. He would bounce her on his knee and bring her gifts of candy. He
always seemed a big, loveable bear of a man to her, but over the years
she learned how vicious he was. He had "made his bones" way back when he
was a teenager by blowing away an elevator full of gangsgters in the
1960's. He had been one of Don Angelo's and then Don Vincent's most
trusted aides since then, and that was why Don Vincent asked Palermo not
only to be his Consigliori, but to be Godfather to both Tony and Melissa.
 
For this reason, Melissa felt especially betrayed by Palermo. She decided
that eventually, she would get around to punishing him for his foolish
decision to support Tony's efforts to kill her. But she would need him
for a while, and would keep him alive as long as he was useful.
Just before he left with Palermo, Tony made a phone call. Melissa had
been bugging the phone for several years now, and she heard Tony talking
to two of his goons. He told them that he would lure Melissa to a
deserted warehouse the next day by planting an anonymous message
promising incriminating information against her brother, and that when
she arrived, they should massacre her. They would then call him on their
cellular phone, and he would come to the warehouse himself with a "big
bonus" for them.
 
Melissa had to act fast. There was one man who worked for the Family that
she felt she could get on her side. Her name was Bruno.
 
Bruno was Tony's age, but unlike Tony, he had worked his way up from
nothing until he had become one of Don Vincent's bodyguards. He was
extremely loyal to the Gilbertis, though he wasn't smart enough to be a
true leader in the Family. Still, Tony always disliked Bruno, and often
put him down and made fun of him.
 
Melissa, on the other hand, was much more fond of Bruno. She had always
been attracted to him, and she decided when she was 16 that he would be
the one to take her virginity, and she seduced him with little effort.
Over the ensuing nine years, Melissa and Bruno continued their affair
sporadically, whenever she wanted, either when she was between other
relationships or on the side even when she was otherwiswe involved. He
was very discreet, which Melissa absolutely required, and no one ever
suspected anything. Melissa knew that Bruno could be trusted. He was
devoted to her, and he resented Tony's insults. Melissa would use all of
these points to convince Tony to come on board and fight on her side.
 
Tears came to big Bruno's eyes as he told Melissa that he would do
anything to protect her from her brother. "By tomorrow night, Bruno,"
purred Melissa, "my big brother will need protection from ME if he wants
to keep living!"
 
Melissa then called another person who she knew that she could trust
implicitly. It was Dr. Meredith B. Keaton, now a respected surgeon, but
someone who still needed to pay Tony back for raping her and getting away
with it twelve years earlier.
 
Meredith was excited by what Melissa had in mind. She had dreamed every
day since her rape of getting back at Tony. Now, she would have her
chance!
 
Melissa was proud of herself. She hadn't panicked when she heard that her
brother was planning to kill her. She had put together a team of two
trusted friends and now, she went over her plan in her mind.
 
Melissa, Bruno and Meredith arrived an hour before the "meeting" was
supposed to take place. They all stripped naked - not for any erotic
reason, but as a practical matter, so there wouldn't be blood stains on
any clothing. But both Tony and Melissa marveled at Meredith. Her body
was just as awesome as Melissa's. She was as tall as her, with just as
dazzling a smile. She worked out and had a fantastic body, and her lush
blonde hair was nearly as long as Melissa's deep mahogany mane.
 
Twenty minutes later, Tony's two hit-men entered the warehouse. Bruno
surprised them by stepping out vfrom behind a pile of crates with an
AK-47. Before they could react, Bruno mowed one of them down. He then
pointed the assault rifle at the other thug, who dropped his gun and
nervously put up his hands.
 
The remaining hit-man was further staggered to se Melissa Gilberti, naked
and magnificent, walk out from behind the crates, light a cigarette and
walk up to him. She handed him a cellular phone and instructed him to
call Tony and tell him that the operation was a success and that Melissa
was dead. The thug did as he was told.
 
Melissa took back the phone and smiled at the man. "Thank you, dear!" she
purred at the miserably sweating goon. "Now that my brother is on his
way, I have no more use for you!" She blew a stream of smoke at his face.
That was her signal to Bruno, who blew the failed hit-man away as Melissa
leapt back from the splattering blood.
 
So far so good, Melissa thought to herself. Her heart was pounding like a
jackhammer as she waited behind the warehouse with an automatic shotgun
that Bruno had supplied her, waiting for Tony to arrive. Bruno stood
across the room, his AK-47 trained on the door.
Twenty minutes later, Tony arrived. But instead of seeing his two hit men
and the corpse of his sister as he expected, he was taken aback by the
sight and stench of the corpses of his two hit-men. Uncomprehending, he
looked up and saw Bruno pointing the assault rifle at him. He was too
stunned to react quickly, and he didn't notice his sister as she as she
approached him from behind. With a mighty swing, Melissa crashed the
barrel of her shotgun on the back of his head. Tony crumpled to the
floor. Quickly, Melissa and Bruno heaved Tony up into a heavy wooden
armchair, and tied his arms to the arms of the chair at his elbows.
 
Melissa lit a cigarette and blew a steady stream of smoke into her
brother's nostrils until he came to, choking on the smoke as he regained
conciousness. He tried to raise his hand, and realized that his elbows
were tied to a chair in which he was sitting! He was beginning to
remember what he had seen when he first stepped into the warehouse when
he looked up to see his sister Melissa standing in front of the chair.
 
The sight of Melissa staggered Tony even more. He hadn't seen her nude
since she was a baby but there she was, long legs, toned body and large,
firm breasts inches away from him as she smiled down at him, a cigarette
in one hand and a shotgun in the other.
 
Melissa waited to make sure that Tony was alert enough to realize what
was happeninbg to him. Then, without a word she put the cigarette in her
mouth, swung her shotgun around and smashed it into his right shin,
splintering it into dozens of pieces. Melissa thrilled to the unexpected
sound of an extremely loud, high-pitched wail. It was unmistakably Tony's
voice, but several octaves higher than she had ever heard before! She
never thought that such a sound could possibly eminate from her big
brother's throat, but she made it happen. Tony looked up in pain and
confusion as he writhed in agony, struggling against his bonds in the
heavy chair. He couldn't believe what his sister had just done to him.
 
"Oh, does your poor leg hurt, brother dear?" Melissa asked with mock
sweetness, cigarette dangling from her lips as she squeezed his leg at
the point of the fracture. He let out another bloodcurdling scream.
 
"I'm going to help you with your problem, okay Tony?" she mocked. Without
waiting for an answer, Melissa put her shotgun up to Tony's leg, just
below the kneecap. She pulled the trigger and blew the leg off of his
body.
 
Suddenly, Dr. Meredith B. Keaton stepped from behind the crates, as naked
as Bruno and Melissa, for the same reason, carrying her black doctor's
bag that she made sure to stock with supplies for the task at hand. She
was as beautiful as the day Tony had raped her more than a decdade
before. But Tony was in no position to appreciate her beauty as she
quickly and wordlessly went to work stanchig the flow of blood, suturing
the ripped-apart veins and arteries and bandaging up the remaining half
of his leg. She stood up, stepped back, smiled and nodded to Melissa.
 
Melissa then stepped back to her brother. "I think that it will be easier
for you to get around for the rest of your life if we evened things out!
she purred. She bend down and grabbed the ankle of his left leg, pulled
it up and put the shotgun to the same point at which she had blown his
other leg off. "NOOOOO!" Tony screamed, but Melissa smiled back at him,
the ember of the cigarette glowing brighter as she calmly pulled the
trigger, the leg coming off in her hand as she held it by the ankle. Dr.
Keaton reappeared and repeated her suturing and bandaging.
Tony's mind was spinning. The shock was replacing some of the pain, but
he still couldn't fully comprehend what was happening. Melissa stuck what
had been his lower left leg with its bloody bone fragments into his face.
"I guess that I've 'made my bones' now, haven't I, big brother!" she said
with a laugh.
 
Rage and fury once again took over Tony. He reached up with his bound arm
and grabbed his sister's lush, long hair and pulled on it. Calmly,
Melissa put the shotgun to Tony's arm and shot it off at the elbow. No
hesitation, no regrets.
 
Dr. Keaton hadn't expected this development as she had with the leg
suturing that she knew she was going to make. But she was prepared, and
as the separated arm and hand hung grotesquely from the arm of the chair
to which it was tied, performed the same procedure on what was left of
Tony's arm. As he babbled incoherently in shock, Dr. Keaton injected a
powerful sedative into Tony's neck and he slumped back into
unconciousness.
 
Melissa, Meredith and Bruno quickly put on their clothers. While the
other two sped away to the compound, Meredith called "911" from her
mobile phone to report that she had gotten lost in an industrial area and
heard gunshots. She said that she looked inside and saw two dead men and
a man who was still alive but with parts of his legs and an arm blown
off. Fortunately she was a doctor and was able to save his life. She
asked for an ambulance to take Tony to the hospital where she worked so
that she could complete her surgery.
Dr. Keaton was treated as a heroine for saving Tony's life. No one
imagined that the beautiful, blonde doctor was part of the assault on
Tony to begin with, or that she was involved in an underworld power play.
And as she worked on Tony in the operating room, no one, except for
Meredith's trusted young nurse Kelly Applegate, new that with the surgery
the doctor was completing the mutilation that Melissa had started.
 
After the operatiion, Meredith and Kelly wheleed Tony not into the
recovery room but into her own examining room in her office. Melissa had
offered to pay Meredith lavishly for her work on Tony but Meredith
refused, saying that it was her pleasure, but that she would like to add
a little "extra surgery" if Melissa didn't mind. Meredith didn't want to
reveal the details. She told Melissa that she wanted to surprise her with
the results of the surgery when she returned Tony to the compound in a
few weeks, after he had recovered. Meredith promised Melissa that she
would be very pleased with the "surprise", and Melissa gave the doctor
her approval.
 
Dr. Keaton had relived Tony's rape of her in her mind every day for ten
years, and now she was going to perform surgical revenge on her rapist.
"You're MY victim now!" she murmured to the unconcious form on the table
before her. She picked up Tony's huge penis, massive even in its flaccid
state. "This thing is going to look and function a whole lot differently
in the future, big boy!" she purred. Kelly licked her lips and the women
got to work.
 
Meanwhile, Melissa and Bruno returned, undetected, to the compound. They
brushed past the bodyguards and went directly into the Don's study.
Palermo started to hurry into the study after them, but was stopped by an
aide who had an urgent phone call for him in his office.
Palermo's face whent white as he was told by a Family source within the
police department that Tony had been found with his legs and one arm
blown off and was now at the hospital after surgery. He was also told
that the massacred bodies of his thugs were found as well.
Palermo hung up. Instantly, he realized that Melissa and Bruno, from the
way they purposefully entered the house and the Don's study, knew what
happened and were probably responsible for it!
 
The fat Consigliori's hands were shaking. He had made a major tactical
error in supporting Tony's plan to kill Melissa. He wondered if she knew
about it. He was astonished by his Goddaughter's boldness and audacity.
Could she REALLY be thinking of running the organization herself? It was
unthinkable!
 
Palermo's nervous thoughts were cut short by Melissa's voice on the
intercom. "Get into the study immedeately, Palermo!" she hissed in a low
but firm voice.
 
Palms sweating, Palermo got to his feet. He now knew that he was in
trouble. Not just from Melissa's tone of voice, but also because of how
she addressed him. All of her life, her Godfather had been "Uncle
Dominic" to her. Now, his Goddaughter was calling him more
disrespectfully by his last name, Palermo. It wasn't a good sign.
 
Palermo nervously shuffled into the study, stunned to see Melissa
comfortably settled in behind the desk that had been used by her father
and grandfather before her. Both she and Bruno, who sat in a leather
chair off to the side, were puffing on Cohibas, Havanna's finest cigar,
which Don Vincent had kept in his well-stocked humidor.
 
Melissa gestured for Palermo to take a seat in a hard, wooden,
straight-backed chair that she had placed directly in front of the desk.
Palermo was taken aback; Dons Angelo and Vincent had made people sit in
front of them this way when he was displeased with them. She leaned back
and stretched her long legs across the desk, the bottoms of her shoes
dangling contemptuously in the Consigliori's face.
 
"You fucked up, Palermo!" she bagan in a low, powerful voice. "You fucked
up big time! My own Godfather, my father's most trusted friend,
supporting my asshole brother's plan to have me killed! I should have YOU
killed for that, Palermo!"
 
Sweat was now pouring from Palermo's bald forehead. "B-But M-Melissa!"
the fat man stammered. "It was business, not personal! Nothing could have
stopped your brother so I went along! I have always loved you, M-Melissa!
P-Please have mercy on me!"
 
Melissa felt a surge of power at that moment that has remained with her
to this very day. She had turned this brutal, vicious Consigliori, who
had killed dozens of people, into jelly! He was genuinely afraid of her!
But Melissa was in no mood to show the traitor any mercy.
 
"If it was a business decision, Palermo," responded Melissa, "it was the
stupidest business decicision that you could have made, I'm sure you now
realize! You have shown me nothing but extremely poor judgement, Palermo!
And to overlook your personal disloyalty to me would be foolish
sentimentality on my part, Palermo!"
 
The fat man nervously looked back and forth between Melissa and Bruno,
wondering if his life was about to end. But Melissa still had the use,
indeed the need for Palermo's services at the moment. So instead of
killing him now, she would get him firmly under her thumb, use him as
long as he was useful, and then, when she found the right replacement for
him as Consigliori and he had no more value to her, she would have him
liquidated. For now, however, she was simply going to cement her control
over him.
 
"You're right, Palermo," remarked Pamela as casually as if she was
discussing the weather, as anylitically as looking at a stock market
chart. "Killing you just because you approved of killing me would be
personal. Now if I killed your granddaughter instead, that be business,
not personal!"
 
"N-N-N-Nooooo, M-M-Melissa!" cried Palermo, barely able to get the words
out. "My little Maria has nothing to do with the Family business!
P-Please leave her out of this!"
Melissa smiled serenely. "Of course she has nothing to do with the Family
business. She did nothing wrong personally, so that proves that if I
killed her it would be business, not personal!"
 
Melissa smiled to herself with pride as she looked into Palermo's
horrified eyes. Instinctively, she had known that threatening Palermo's
granddaughter struck a raw nerve with the fat man that nothing else
would. She was enjoying watching her Godfather's agony. This reassured
her that she had the temperment to run her Family's empire.
 
Of course, Melissa would never actually harm Maria. She was actually fond
of the girl, and was planning to befriend her, and hopefully get her to
eventually disrespect and betray her grandfather. But Palermo didn't know
that. She was enjoying putting him through the agony, and it would get
her the desired results of fear and loyalty from him. She continued to
scare him: "It doesn't matter that she's not involved, Palermo, it would
be to teach YOU a lesson! And it would be poetic justice! I have nothing
personal against her. She seems like a sweet girl. No, this would be
business, not personal!"
 
Aside from her powerful words, Palermo was unnerved by the continued
matter-of-fact tone of voice Melissa used to talk about such brutality.
 
"B-But Melissa," pleaded Palermo, "in our business, we leave the women
alone, whatever we may do to the men!"
 
Melissa chuckled. "How chivalrous!" she purred with amusement. "You men
are so squeamish about hurting women, yet you were willing to let me be
the exception because I threatened your power!"
 
"P-Please, M-Melissa!" whimpered the once proud Consigliori. "I would do
anything for you if you would just spare my little girl, I beg of you!"
 
An evil smile curled up on Melissa's lips. "Tell you what, Palermo: If
you prove your worth to me, I'll let you and your precious little
granddaughter live. Now due to my brother's unfortunate accident, I am
taking over as boss of our Family. And you will help me, Palermo."
"Anything, Melissa!" Palermo eagerly gasped to his new boss.
 
Melissa was beginning to like this. "When you leave this office,
Palermo," she instructed, "you will call our contacts in the police
department and District Attorney's office and make sure that they
determine that Tony was being attacked by the two men and that he killed
them in self-defense while being seriously wounded himself.I don't want
the authorities to get involved. I want Tony to be returned here when he
leaves the hospital, and I'll take care of his punishment. Understand,
Palermo?"
 
Palermo was astonished by Melissa's cool demeanor. She was obviously in
control. For the first time, the thought occured to him that maybe
Melissa had inherited the traits from her forbearers to make her a
formidable leader. "Y-Yes, M-Melissa!" he blubbered.
 
"After that is taken care of," Melissa continued, "you will immedeately
reassure all of our associates that everything is under control, that the
Gilberti Family is now in the capable hands of a new Don - a 'Donna'
actually - Donna Melissa Gilberti! Make sure thaqt all the "numbers" and
other gambling establishments of ours are informed."
 
Melissa then went through a list of various other Family enterprises.
Palermo was amazed at the depth and detail of Melissa's knowledge of the
Family businisses. From top to bottom, the young woman rattled off the
names of all of the Family's operatives in all of the businesses,
including recent changes in personnel, and gave Palermo their marching
orders.
 
"If the transition goes smoothly, Palermo," concluded Melissa, "maybe
your precious little Maria will live long enough to become an old lady
after all!"
 
Before he even realized what he was doing, Palermo sprang to his feet,
took Melissa's right hand in both of his and kissed it. "Thank you,
Goddaughter!" he gushed in gratitude. "I won't fail you! I promise!"
 
At the same moment Palermo realized what he had just done and became
ashamed of himself for it. Melissa felt another surge of power. Her
Godfather, nearly fifty years older than her, was deathly afraid of her,
no less fearful of her as he had been of her father and grandfather
before her! On this day she was tasting power for the first time, and she
was now certain that she was going to make an excellent Donna.
 
Palermo now stood at respectful attention in front of his new Donna's
desk. Donna Melissa stood up and chuckled to herself as she rose past her
Consigliori. She was a head taller than him! Her "Uncle Dominic" who used
to bounce her on her knee! From the time she was in her teens, Melissa
had laughed as she grew taller than many of her father's associates that
she used to think of as great, big men. She had even grown taller than
her own father before he died, and she loved it when these macho men had
to crane their heads upward to look at her. She was going to enjoy having
men, some old enough to be her father or even grandfather, subservient to
and fearful of her!
 
I like that, Palermo!" purred Melissa. "'Goddaughter' is a respectful and
appropriate name for you to call me! As long as you realize that your
Goddaughter is your boss, that your life is in your Goddaughter's hands,
we'll get along fine. And kissing my hand whenever you enter or leave my
presence may help you and your granddaughter live longer!"
 
Palermo's eyes betrayed the horror that he was feeling and trying to
cover up, but he quickly recovered and became the loyal Consigliori
again. "Y-Yes, Meliss- I mean Goddaughter!" he sputtered. "I won't fail
you! You will be proud of me, I promise you, Goddaught-"
 
"Shut up, Palermo!" interrupted Melissa with quiet intensity. Enough of
your bullshit! Now get your fat ass out of here and show me some results!
If you don't, I will be VERY DISAPPOINTED!"
 
Palermo shuddered at Melissa's words. Whenever Don Vincent had said that
he was "very disappointed" in someone, he was drastically understating
his emotions, and that person usually didn't live much longer.
 
"Yes, Goddaughter!" cried Palermo. "Right away, Goddaughter!" The fat
Consigliori turned on his heel and hurried to his office to carry out his
new boss's orders, knowing full well that he was very lucky to still be
alive. And as long as he thought that his dear Maria was in jeopardy,
Palermo would continue to be an obedient Consigliori and faithful
underling to his Goddaughter
.
Melissa picked up her Cohiba and puffed it several times until it was
burning at full strength. She smiled at Bruno. He didn't have what it
takes to be a Consigliori, but Melissa wanted him around for other
reasons.
 
By that evening, the entire American underworld was aware of a new
leader, a female leader, in their midst. Most of them felt that this was
the beginning of the end of the Gilberti organization. It was the first,
but not the last time that Melissa would be underestimated.
Melissa knew this and anticipated it. But Consigliori Palermo was
carrying out his orders, and the Family's operations would remain stable
and solidified. Any attempts to encroach on Gilberti territories would be
promptly and violently repelled. In fact, Melissa was eagerly
anticipating the first opportunity that her enemies would give her to
show them just what a formidable woman they were now up against.
 
Later that night, Dr. Meredith B. Keaton called to say that everything at
the hospital had been successful. Her explanation as to how she had come
upon Tony was accepted by the authorities, and she was given free rein to
oversee his "recovery". Meredith alluded to her"special bonus surgical
procedure", but despite Melissa's questions insisted on keeping it as a
suprise present for Melissa when she returned Tony to her from the
hospital in several weeks.
 
After Melissa hung up with Meredith, she poured herself a snifter of
Louis XIII Cognac and lit another Cohiba. By the time her former "big
brother", now her "little brother", returned to the compound, he would
see just how total her iron grip was on the organization that he always
dreamed of running himself. She would make him live shamefully in her
shadow.
And not only would Tony become envious of his kid sister and others more
powerful than herself, he would suffer constant indignities around the
clock. She knew that there was no love lost between tony and his wife
Lisa, and it didn't seem to him that there was much affection between
Tony and his 14 year-old daughter Laurie either.
 
Melissa smiled evilly. Her brother had put her through hell, so now
Melissa would, along with Tony's own wife and daughter, make the rest of
his life one long miserable existence.
Melissa puffed contentedly on her cigar. Her plan had gone off perfectly,
but she knew that there was still a great deal of work ahead of her.
 
Melissa's mind returned to the present as her cigar burned into a stub.
Since it was her 27th birthday, she decided to treat herself to a snifter
of Louis XIII and lit a fresh Cohiba, as she had that first night.
Stretching her legs, her mind drifted back to the satisfying
recollections of what she did with the Family after taking it over.
 
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2":
"MELISSA SHOWS UP THE BIG BOYS & TONY'S HUMILIATING RETURN