Romero Cancio

**Romero Cancio** (born April 1994) is a main character in the Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles and a minor character in the Camorra Chronicles and in the Sins of the Fathers. He is the eldest child born to unnamed parents and is older brother to Tamara, Keira and another unnamed sister. He is also the husband of Liliana Scuderi and is the father to Sara, Flavio and Inessa.

## Personality

Romero is a murderer and torturer but lacks the bloodthirstiness of Matteo or the occasional hot-headedness of Luca. With his notably kind eyes, he is incredibly good at blending in with outsiders just as much as Made Men. He is kind to children and protective of them and innocents or those who are weak, sick, or injured. He is capable of brutality but is far more peaceful and level-headed, acting much more diplomatically, and is a peacemaker when fighting amongst the Vitiello brothers occurs. The only exception is his love for Lilliana. He attacks Matteo for his inappropriate joke, beats a soldier, and sadistically takes joy in torturing Scuderi.

He is responsible, vigilant, and protective and makes a good guard for Aria that Luca trusts, though Luca and Romero both know that he would still choose Lilliana over Aria.

Among the most moral of Made Men, he does not hurt innocents or children or women. When learning that Luca had spared Aria on their wedding night in Luca Vitiello he states that he respects Luca even more for treating his wife with care and respect. After having kids with Lily he states to Matteo he enjoys domestic life, especially as it compares to his job. Romero has an interest in cars and is briefly insecure about his finances being less than what Lily was used to and loved her even more when she said he was what mattered. As a partner, he is romantic, thoughtful, and generous. As a father, he is protective, loving and supportive. Romero is also incredibly intelligent. When the Vitiello brothers needed to fake a suicide Romero was able to find an angle that would make it look believable that he shot himself even when he was killed by a knife.

Romero is also very family-oriented. While incredibly loyal to Luca and the Famiglia and vigilant in his duties, he still made time for his mother and siblings and was protective and caring of them. He regrets not being closer to his father and consoles Lilliana when her mother is dying.

## Early Life (1994 to 2011)

His father died before the events of the book, leaving him the man of the house responsible for his mother and his sisters. His mother protested, but at age 14 he became a Made Man to support the family. At age 16, he started working for his future Capo, Luca Vitiello.

## Bound By Blood Series

### Bound by Honor

Romero is first seen in attendance at Luca and Aria's engagement party, as one of two bodyguards accompanying Luca and Matteo.

After dinner, the men all convene in the longue to drink and smoke and discuss whatever else needed to be discussed. After some time Fiore Cavallaro, Rocco Scuderi and Salvatore Vitiello convene elsewhere to discuss details leaving only himself, Luca, Matteo, and Cesare in the lounge. He then turns to Romero and Cesare for there opinions, to which they both declined to comment, with him just glancing up and then quickly back down at his drink. Matteo then jabs at Luca, asking if he threatened to cut off their dicks if they so much as even looked at Aria. Luca simply says she's mine. Luca then sends Cesare to fetch Aria's bodyguards Umberto and Raffaele.

When he returned, Rocco was a step behind them demanding to know the meaning of the summon. Luca just wants to speak to those who will protect what is *his,* but Rocco insists they are both good soldiers. Luca says that he would like to decide for himself whether or not to trust them. He questioned Umberto and decided he was a good choice. He then moved onto question Raffaele, to which Raffaele proclaimed that Luca is not a member of the Outfit, that nobody would tell him anything even if he raped Aria. Going on to say that he could break her in for Luca, and even offered to film it for him. Before Aria could even blink, Luca had thrown Raffaele to the ground, dug a knee into his spine and twisted one of his arms behind him. He struggled and cursed but Luca held him fast. One of Lucas hands gripped Raffaele wrist while he reached under his vest with the other, pulling out a knife. Luca looked at Rocco, honor demanded he get permission form the Consigliere since Raffaele wasn't one of his soldiers, Rocco gave a nod and Luca brought the knife down and cut Raffaele pinky off. Gianna screeched and then threw up, alerting the men to there spot behind the secret door. When they came out Rocco slapped Gianna across the face and then went to do the same to Aria when Luca stepped in. Rocco was enraged, and everyone in the room, with the exception of Raffaele whom was huddled on the floor, whimpering over his hand, had their weapons drawn. Luca then proclaimed that Aria is no longer Rocco's responsibility. That he no longer had the right to punish her when he made her Luca's fiancée, and that she is his to deal with now. Rocco agreed, but then said that since she will be living under his roof until the wedding, that he will have to find another way to make Aria obey him. He then slapped Gianna again, telling Aria that for everyone of her wrongdoings, Gianna will get the punishment in her stead. Umberto then took them both back to their rooms on Rocco's orders.

Romero is seen again when him, Matteo and Cesare accompany Luca when he goes to talk to Aria at her suite at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Manhattan, Lily answers after Luca knocks and Aria then allows Luca, Matteo and Romero into the suite, while Cesare stands guard outside. Matteo goes over to Gianna, who sneers at him, while Lily asks to see his gun, to which Aria responds that she cannot. Luca could not keep his eyes off of Aria, to which Gianna gave her a I-told-you-so-look. Gianna notes that the men should not be alone with the sisters, that it is not appropriate. Luca then questions where Umberto is, with Aria saying he must be in the bathroom or having a cigarette. Luca is upset that they were left without protection, and asks how often that happens, to which Gianna snipped and says that they are left alone all the time, and that they sneak away very weekend and bet on how many guys they each can pick up, which made Lily laugh. Luca just looks at Aria with a cold stare and tells her that he would like to have a word with her. Gianna tried to step between the two, saying she was just joking, but Matteo gripped her wrist and pulled her back. Lily looked on with wide eyes and Romero stood against the door, pretending this didn't concern him. Gianna snaps at Matteo to let go of her, or she will break his fingers to which Matteo grinned then released her. Luca led Aria to her bedroom in the suite, with Gianna screaming that he can't and that she will call her father, but her threats fall on deaf ears, as Luca jut shut the door.

During this meeting Luca tells Aria that Cesare and Romero will be her guards after the wedding when she moves into his penthouse, but until then Romero will stay by her side. Aria protests saying she has Umberto, but Luca says that he is taking too many "breaks" for his liking, and that Romero won't leave her side.

When Aria and Luca emerged from her room, Umberto was there beside Gianna and Liliana, looking annoyed. He questions Luca on why he was there, to which Luca admonishes him for leaving them and tells him to take less breaks in the future. Umberto insists he was only gone for a few minutes, and that there was guards on the other doors. Gianna smirked, catching Matteo eyes locked on hers. She asked him what he was looking at to which he responded her hot body. Umberto told him to stop, then Luca informed him that Romero would take over the watch duties until the wedding and that he could watch the door. Matteo invited him to the stag party, but Umberto declined. Luca, Matteo and Cesare then left and Umberto took up his post outside the door while Romero stayed and started his guard duty.

They begin asking him question and he reveals that her is 20. Gianna then asks how long has he been working for Luca, and Romero says for four years, being a Made Man for six. She points out that he must be good, if Luca trusts him enough to protect Aria, Romero says not only that, but that Luca knows that he is loyal, and that he can trust him with what is his. When Gianna pushed and asked that if Aria came out of her room naked and Romero got a hard-on, because he couldn't help it, Luca wouldn't cut his dick off? Romero just stared at Aria, like he was actually worried that she would do that, to which Aria assured him that she never would.

They move onto questions regarding the stag party, with Gianna berating the differences in rules for men vs. women in there world, pointedly that the men can go out, but they cannot. Romero contends that her did not make the rules. He also points out that he is protecting Aria from the men who do not know who Aria is, as Luca would kill anyone who dared to touch her. Gianna says that Luca is not her fiancé, but Romero says that her father would do the same as Luca, since he would not want anyone spoiling his most prized possessions.

On the morning of Aria's bridal shower, he was in her room with her when Aria's cousin Valentina, with Umberto behind her, knocked on her door. She asks Romero to wait outside as bridal showers are no place for men, which he obliged, and Umberto sat back in his chair outside the door.

***To be continued...***

About his life as Aria's bodyguard

## Appearances

* *Bound by Honor*
* *Luca Vitiello (novel)*
* *Bound by Duty*
* *Bound by Hatred*
* *Bound by Temptation* (protagonist)
* *Bound by Vengeance*
* *Bound by Love*
* *Bound by the Past* (mentioned only)
* *Bound by Blood (Anthology)*
* *Twisted Loyalties* (mentioned only)
* *Twisted Emotions*
* *Twisted Pride*
* *Twisted Bonds* (mentioned only)
* *By Sin I Rise: Part One*
* *By Sin I Rise: Part Two*
* *By Fate I Conquer*

## Trivia

* Cannelloni al forno is a dish that has been in the Cancio Family for generations. Romero's mother taught Liliana how to make it since it's Romero's favorite dish.
* For Valentine's day 2023 Romero asked his mother and sisters to watch the kids, so he and Liliana could enjoy a relaxed evening at home. He bought Liliana’s favorite rosé wine and some delicacies at a local gourmet grocer so they could cook together.

## References

1. ↑ *Bound by Blood*
2. ↑ Cora Reilly's 02/14/2023 Newsletter